AGWM Personnel in Germany, Mike Tyler, relates the following incident showing God’s care and timing. “About a month ago, we received an invitation to a birthday party for some friends in Dresden. We love these friends, but it’s about a nine hour drive to Dresden from our present home! The party was scheduled for a Saturday, and Cara and the boys had school on Friday and Monday. It seemed like a nobrainer: We should decline. But neither Cara nor I could shake the impression that I was supposed to go. “Regardless, I procrastinated in making a final decision. Finally, the week of the party, I said, ‘If there is even a chance that this is truly the Holy Spirit leading us, I should just go.’ So on Wednesday night I made my plans to go.

Thursday morning I woke up to find an email in my inbox from the leader of a Chi-Alpha University Ministry in the Midwestern U.S. bA mutual friend had given him my name. One of his former students from China whom he had led to Christ, had been living in Dresden for a few years and was in a really tough spot. He was looking for recommendations for a church to send this young man to. I replied, ‘I haven’t been to Dresden in almost 3 years, but I’m going there tomorrow! So I can do better than recommend a church. I can pick him up and bring him to a great church.’

“The young man got in touch with me, and we decided to meet as soon as I got into the city on Friday night. Though we had never met, right away he started pouring out his story and his struggles. At an early point in our conversation his eyes welled up with tears and he said to me, ‘’I’m sorry if I’m sharing too much. I know we just met. But I haven’t really spoken with a Christian face-to-face in two years!’ He had tried going to a few churches, but he didn’t speak German well, and couldn’t really connect with anyone at a deeper level so he had been feeling incredibly lonely. I told him the story of how I got to Dresden that weekend, and we both knew, God had sent me just for him.

“Beyond that, God used our conversation at this critical juncture in life, to give this young man some much needed assurance on several key issues in his life. Dresden isn’t a very international city, but I knew of an international church that operates in both English and German. We went there together on Sunday morning. He looked around after the service and said, ‘I fit here. Look at all these people, and they’re from everywhere.’ The church was like a glimpse into the nations - and it was truly a perfect fit for my new friend. Only God could arrange an encounter like that. Yes, it was twenty hours in the car, but it was worth every second, to show a struggling young believer just how important he is in God’s eyes.

“And at the same time we can’t ignore the fact that it was for us too. Whereas we have started German-speaking churches in the past, we have been feeling that God is calling us to launch an international church that will minister in both English and German. It will take time to get going, but if anything is clear from this experience, it is that everything happens in God’s timing.”

AGWM Personnel in Germany, Mike Tyler, relates the following incident showing God’s care and timing. “About a month ago, we received an invitation to a birthday party for some friends in Dresden. We love these friends, but it’s about a nine hour drive to Dresden from our present home! The party was scheduled for a Saturday, and Cara and the boys had school on Friday and Monday. It seemed like a nobrainer: We should decline. But neither Cara nor I could shake the impression that I was supposed to go.

“Regardless, I procrastinated in making a final decision. Finally, the week of the party, I said, ‘If there is even a chance that this is truly the Holy Spirit leading us, I should just go.’ So on Wednesday night I made my plans to go.

Thursday morning I woke up to find an email in my inbox from the leader of a Chi-Alpha University Ministry in
the Midwestern U.S. bA mutual friend had given him my name. One of his former students from China whom he had led to Christ, had been living in Dresden for a few years and was in a really tough spot. He was looking for recommendations for a church to send this young man to. I replied, ‘I haven’t been to Dresden in almost 3 years, but I’m going there tomorrow! So I can do better than recommend a church. I can pick him up and bring him to a great church.’

“The young man got in touch with me, and we decided to meet as soon as I got into the city on Friday night. Though we had never met, right away he started pouring out his story and his struggles. At an early point in our conversation his eyes welled up with tears and he said to me, ‘’I’m sorry if I’m sharing too much. I know we just met. But I haven’t really spoken with a Christian face-to-face in two years!’ He had tried going to a few churches, but he didn’t speak German well, and couldn’t really connect with anyone at a deeper level so he had been feeling incredibly lonely. I told him the story of how I got to Dresden that weekend, and we both knew, God had sent me just for him.

“Beyond that, God used our conversation at this critical juncture in life, to give this young man some much needed assurance on several key issues in his life. Dresden isn’t a very international city, but I knew of an international church that operates in both English and German. We went there together on Sunday morning. He looked around after the service and said, ‘I fit here. Look at all these people, and they’re from everywhere.’ The church was like a glimpse into the
nations - and it was truly a perfect fit for my new friend. Only God could arrange an encounter like that. Yes, it was twenty hours in the car, but it was worth every second, to show a struggling young believer just how important he is in God’s eyes.

“And at the same time we can’t ignore the fact that it was for us too. Whereas we have started German-speaking churches in the past, we have been feeling that God is calling us to launch an international church that will minister in both English and German. It will take time to get going, but if anything is clear from this experience, it is that everything happens in God’s timing.”