The Church with the Sign

My name is Heike. I have been married for 18 years to my wonderful husband and we have four sons. We are from Germany and have lived  in the USA since 2005.

As parents of four boys our main goal in raising them has been that they live their life for God and the Kingdom. Our oldest son is 17 years old. He was born and raised in the church in Germany. And he loved it. The church was big and he had lots of friends. When he was 13 , we moved as a family to the USA. My husband had quit his job, we sold our house and stepped into the training for the full time ministry in our church.

Our life changed completely. For the boys it meant they were no longer in a big church. Friends were not always around them. Then two years later we became Pastors and moved to New Orleans to start a ministry in the area of the City most devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The boys experienced life in a way they had never known before.

Since we had given up our good old German lifestyle, we also experienced lots of disagreement and accusations from our family in Germany. After moving back to Florida our home church started in a new ‘old’ way to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that Jesus is the only Way and there is no other. We also put the focus on Islam and how deceiving and violent this religion is. On 9/11 we did a march to remember the victims, to proclaim the truth and call the nation back to God.  All our sons took part in it with their whole heart.

During this time our oldest son had to write an assignment for school. They had the task of writing a poem with the theme  “Where I come from!” This is what Andreas Terry  wrote. It touched my heart deeply and I pray that it will touch yours as well as it encourages you to take a stand for God and His Kingdom

By the way, Opa means Grandpa in English, Dorsten is a town in Germany and gans means goose. My father used to cook it for christmas.

I am from the streets of Germany, from the factory of beer surrounding my home

I am from NOLA, Where drugs and violence have become a common thing

I am from 8 o’clock curfews, for If you’re white, who knows when the bullet will find your heart.

I am from the trashed neighborhood, Where McDonalds hires the oh so smart college students.

I am from Opa Dorstens gans, sadly a thing of the past

I am from his last breath, luckily in peace.

I am from my family becoming my enemy,

As in the words of my cousin, “You have become a monster.”

As Jesus was hated and persecuted,  I wonder if the same will happen to me,

For whoever gains his life will loose it,

But who loses his life for my sake will find it.

I am from the memories,

no matter if happy or sad,

Only left in my head,

But now I am here loudly proclaiming with a joyful voice

“I AM FROM THE CHURCH WITH THE SIGN!!!”

If you want to find out more about us and the church with the sign click on www.doveworld.org