Introducing . . . Doro

It's been on my heart for a while to start introducing you to the members of our group, or in some cases, those who are new to our group whom we are believing for ... just so you can get an even greater sense of how God is working here ... what exactly, He is doing . . .

For instance, meet Doro. She is a high schooler who, having grown up in an extremely dysfunctional and religious family, left home and ended up living with three abusive male roommates. Her primary circle of friends over the last years have been Satanic worshippers. And I have never seen her wear anything except for gothic clothing . . all black from head to toe.

I will never forget, though, the first day I saw her. She came to church with a friend of hers and her boyfriend . . . and being a small church, well, it was very noticeable to see her trudging in her large black boots up the aisle to the very back of the room where they sat. She experienced worship for the first time. And then as Lenny Konschewitz, my co-leader for our campus and youth and ministry, began to preach, tears began to run down her face. The ran and ran, I think, throughout the entire service. What did Lenny talk about that so profoundly touched her? Jesus' finished work on the cross . . . His Grace. She had never heard about Grace before.

God touched her so deeply that day, that she and her friend immediately signed up to join us on our C4 (College and Career) weekend retreat the following weekend . . .a HUGE step for newcomers--especially here in Germany. Then, by the end of the weekend she told me that she had been so touched by Lenny's message earlier, and also by the weekend's worship, that she knew that our church was her church.

Since that time, she has begun to regularly attend a weekly foundational Bible Study that one of our guys, Kevin, leads. And from what I hear, she asks questions non-stop. She is absolutely hungry.

Over the weeks, I have thankfully also had some opportunities to get to know her. Once she told me that she is absolutely amazed by the kindness of Christians and said that she sees in us a geniune love and desire to help others--exactly what she wants to do in life--help others! I have also had a few opportunites to pray for her and each time she tells me how incredibly strong she can feel the presence of God!

He is absolutely moving in her life! Since she began coming to church, she has moved away from her abusive roommates and into a much safer situation and she has begun to bring her new boyfriend (also Gothic) along to our church and U-NITE services--even though he generally stays outside of the room during the worship and the message, he still comes and is willing to meet and talk with us afterwards.

What a miracle! We are so so thankful for this girl whom God has sent to us. We want to love her with Christ's love and trust that He will continue to reveal Himself to her, to heal her broken heart, and to restore all things new to her as she becomes a new creation. Please pray along with us for her as she makes progress towards stepping into the Kingdom. Please pray that as we that she will also feel safe and comfortable enough to attend our girl's group (often an intimidating thought in this culture) so she can really begin to get grounded in her relationships here. And also pray for her boyfirend as well as her other friends, that God's love poured out in her will overflow to them and produce a harvest much greater than we can imagine.