Peace in the storm.
I was born in 1988 and come from Germany. I have been married to a Colombian since 2020, with whom I have a son, and we currently live together in Popayán, Colombia. In times of the pandemic, we were looking for new ways to serve God. We started to get involved in youth ministry at a local church and I shared the gospel with the students I was teaching in English or German. We also mobilized churches to get more involved in God's mission and reach the world. Then we also volunteered as English teachers in a Christian foundation, a school with students from 1st to 10th grade. 2022-2023 we worked at a Bible institute for indigenous people groups and designed a new discipleship program there, among other things. One day we would also like to serve in a country to directly reach the least reached.
I didn't grow up in a Christian family. Nevertheless, I know today that God has been with me since childhood and protected me from many things. I heard the gospel for the first time when I was ten years old, and three years later it was time for my personal decision to build a relationship with Jesus. I learned that he wanted to be my friend, just as my leaders from the Christian youth ministry were my friends. And so I began volunteering as a youth leader myself. I found stability in this ministry while chaos reigned at home. I had always been fascinated by the Bible and enjoyed studying it and sharing it with others. But it wasn't until I was 19 and started living on my own that my faith really began to impact my daily life. However, the biblical teachings on love relationships, self-control, pride, and drunkenness did not allow me to realize how far my life still deviated from biblical standards and how much I could still grow in my relationship with God. My life was no different from that of the people around me who did not believe in Jesus. But God was working in my heart and I went to church more and more often to study the Bible in a small group. With a girlfriend who had grown up in a Christian family and church, the changes became even more evident. In my new charismatic church, I was baptized, went to weekly small groups, served in scouts (youth ministry) and worship (media ministry).
At the age of 27, I experienced a serious life crisis in which my family and friends stood by me, but no one could ultimately change the situation. No one but God could help me. He carried me from the first moment to the last. I felt his peace and love even when my heart was broken and my life was turned upside down! I have never experienced anything like it, and I could do nothing but surrender my life completely to my heavenly Father. God did not bring back my old life as I had expected when he gave me peace, but after my faith matured further, he gave me a new and completely different life. Today, I get to serve God with full devotion and a wife by my side who also has a heart for the lost.
I was involved in youth ministry in Germany for more than 15 years, including scouts. But in 2018, I began my journey into world missions. In the process, I quit my well-paid job as an electrical engineer, sold most of my belongings and said goodbye to my very comfortable apartment. I served on a book ship (which aims to pass on knowledge, help and hope) until 2020, where I worked as an electrician, was active in various ministries (including as a preacher) and also met my wife there. During a break in my time on the ship, I also served in Thailand for 3 months.
My spiritual dream is that all my brothers and sisters in the global church will recognize their responsibility to this broken world and be equipped and empowered by the Holy Spirit to fulfill that responsibility. I want to be a leader who invests in people and encourages them to become leaders themself who evangelize, plant churches and invest in other leaders.
