AGWM personnel in Germany, Mike Tyler, experienced God’s orchestration of details in his ministry. Mike shares, “Somewhere along this church planting journey that we’ve been on in Germany, I have learned to deal with things differently than I used to. I have learned to keep in focus the fact that God wants churches to be planted more than I want to plant them. After all, it is his Church—not my church. So when problems arise, I have learned to put them in the hands of the one who cares most about them. I simply say, “God, you’ve got a problem that needs a solution.” He hasn’t failed to provide one yet.
“One of the problems that I have encountered in attempting to plant a church in Weil am Rhein, is that this small city just doesn’t seem have many places where people hang out. That makes it really hard to meet people. So I have been talking to God about this problem and looking for solutions.
“Last week I was working on a project and needed to borrow a truck. The project took way longer than expected, and I ended up returning the truck at 10PM. On the way home, I was driving through a small town, when I saw a young guy hitchhiking.
“Oncoming traffic at a narrow point in the road forced me to stop right next to him. He thought I was stopping for him. With my friend and his son in the car, I wasn’t planning on picking up a stranger, but I also didn’t want to leave this guy stuck in the middle of nowhere. He told us the bus schedule had recently changed and he was not aware of the change, so he had just missed the last bus out of town. He wasn’t likely to see many vehicles passing through that little town at night, so I offered him a ride. He said he would be happy to go anywhere that would offer him a bus into the city. I asked, “Where are you actually headed?” He said, “I just want to get home. I live in Weil am Rhein.”
“I could only laugh at the timing of all of this. Of all of the cars that could have picked him up, he ends up in the car of a pastor who wants to open a church in his home town, and who is praying about finding ways to meet people. Clearly, I offered to drive him home. We chatted as we drove and got acquainted with each other. He told me that he works at a cafe and bakery in Weil am Rhein (one that I didn’t know about), and he invited me to come visit him at work some time…. He also seemed genuinely interested in the church plant.
“I love God’s little “coincidences.” It seems that I didn’t want to find a cafe to meet people nearly as much as God wanted me in Alex’s cafe. This is God’s church. And there are no problems that he cannot solve. So Alex just might be the first guest in our new church.”