My goals for my last 5-year term:

  • Beginning November 2018, I will spend 6 months in Leipzig, where I will attend language school. I will be a short train ride away from Dresden.

  • After my German has reached a conversational level and I have passed the B2 proficiency exam, I will join my team in Dresden.

  • My first year in Dresden will involve a lot of transition and learning. Therefore, I will first become an intern for the Evangelical Free Church of Dresden. My internship will give me the opportunity to learn more about German youth culture and the ministry methods of the FeG. This internship will include involvement in youth group, VBS, DASS (summer) Camp, and special events. 

  • I will regularly meet with Jeff Ingram (Dresden Initiative Leader) and his team for prayer, coaching, and debriefing.

  • During my year of internship, I will work on launching a youth program for EV Free Dresden-South. This will involve networking, evangelism, and discipleship. 

  • Currently, our team is brainstorming and researching how to open a coffee shop, which we intend to use as a center for outreach.

How things worked out:

  • I did, indeed, move to Leipzig, where I attended language school for 8 months.

  • I completed A1 through B2 level classes, but I did not pass my B2 level exam before moving to Dresden. I repeated the course and exam in Dresden. I then went on to complete C1, which is typically the highest level language course in Germany.

  • I moved to Dresden in August of 2019. My internship with the youth program of FeG Dresden was extended to 2 years because of COVID. Though difficult, those were great years of learning and character building. I built a lot of relationships with leaders and youth in that church, which helped me network a lot when I finally moved over to the church plant (FeG Dresden-Süd).

  • This began officially in the fall of 2022. A small group of 7 students grew to 12 before I left for my Home Mission Assignment/furlough year. Before leaving Dresden, we were able to recruit and train 5 new volunteers. 

  • This was a fantastic idea, but it proved to be too great a challenge while the church was being planted. Instead, the Ingrams joined another coffee shop project in a nearby city. They help out there once a month.