I (Toby) became a Christian in February 1989 (for details of my conversion read my exciting Testimony), the year communism collapsed and the wall that had separated Germany fell. A short time before this historic event, I had been on an evangelistic outreach to Hungary with Campus Crusade for Christ, where we had a blast talking to many people from Eastern Germany about Jesus, even though many of them expected us to tell them how they could flee to Western Germany! About two months before the border eventually opened, I and a friend smuggled some Christian literature and tapes to a man in East Berlin whom we had met in Hungary. Quite an adventure! For the remainder of my studies, I continued to be involved with Campus Crusade. Together with Christians from different churches we started a monthly service at our university. For more than two years we met every day at lunchtime for a time of prayer in the basement of the university cafeteria. At a student protest rally during the First Gulf War, I had the opportunity to address a gathering of about 1,500 students and be a witness for Christ! I did a lot of street evangelism with my local church and helped with bigger evangelistic events in the city. The desire to serve the Lord in full-time ministry grew. After three years of prayerful consideration, extensive research and advice from many people, I felt the Lord leading me to “check out” YWAM (read “why-wham”), as my pastor had encouraged me to do. Youth With A Mission is a large international, interdenominational mission organization with operating locations in almost every country on the planet. So I enrolled in a Discipleship Training School in Los Angeles, California, and decided after a short break home in Germany to return to YWAM L.A. as staff. Here is a brief overview of the major milestones of my ministry with YWAM:
- Sept. 1993 - March 1994: DTS in Los Angeles, outreach in Mexico (incl. evangelism in tribal villages with hundreds of salvations; children´s ministry; walked 3 hours in a carnival parade with about 300,000 people along the streets of Mazatlan, doing a tambourine dance and handing out 20,000 tracts!)
- July 1994: Joined YWAM staff in Los Angeles
- Jan./Feb.1995: Led outreach to France and Belgium (incl. outreach on the Champs Elysee, Paris, on New Year´s Eve; red-light district and work with homeless people in Brussels)
- April/May 1995: Co-led an outreach to Mexico (drove 1,000 Miles down the Baja California; built a church in La Paz)
- Summer 1995: Mission Adventures staff in Los Angeles (hosting about 1,500 youth from dozens of churches all over the U.S. and Canada for training in L.A. and outreach in Mexico)
- Jan.-May 1996: Led the Winter 1996 DTS in L.A. (incl. weekly outreaches to Skid Row in downtown L.A. at night; street evangelism in San Francisco)
- April/May 1996: Led outreach to Brazil (street evangelism, prison ministry, teaching and preaching in various churches in Curitiba, Rio De Janeiro and Sao Paulo)
- Summer 1996: Mission Adventures staff in Los Angeles
- Sep.-Nov. 1996: Prayer and explorer tour to Thailand, India and Uzbekistan, together with a friend from Switzerland (Devali in Calcutta; tea plantations in Darjeeling; view of Mt. Everest...)
- 1997: Served @ YWAM L.A. in different capacities (accounting, Mission Adventures, mobilizing youth groups for outreaches to 10/40 window); 4,800 miles tour to visit youth groups in the Western U.S. and in British Columbia, Canada; visited a youth group in the Cayman Islands!
- Feb.-July 1998: Internship with YWAM Thailand in Bangkok and Chiang Mai (student ministry, hosting teams)
- July 1998: Led outreach to Turkey, participating in the Reconciliation Walk, with a combined team of youth from the Cayman Islands and Torrance, California
- Oct. 1998 - July 1999: Led an English language center in Chiang Mai (hosting many international teams, extensive outreach to schools, homes and hill tribe villages, assisting local pastors)
- July 1999 - Feb. 2001: Served @ YWAM L.A. (administration, worship, Mission Adventures)
- March - Dec. 2001: Thai language study in Chiang Rai, Thailand
- 2002-2004: Pioneered “Father’s House Ministries” (FHM), a YWAM ministry doing outreach to university students and establishing Mission Adventures in Thailand to challenge and equip Thai churches for evangelism and missions
- September 2004: Passed on the leadership of the university ministry; increased involvement at CPS Dormitory with 250 children (not a YWAM ministry), while still serving on the leadership team of YWAM Chiang Rai
- Nov. 2005: Left YWAM to work full-time at CPS Dormitory, a dormitory for children from various hill tribes at a small Christian school on the outskirts of Chiang Rai; my responsibilities included leadership of the boys’ dorm and staff, maintenance and accounting
- January 2008: I was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease
- July 2008: Burnout - left CPS Dormitory, to focus on mentoring, one-on-one discipleship, teaching, and my health
- January 2013: Re-joined YWAM, focussing on mentoring, networking, discipleship, teaching, helping with international outreach teams, research, writing
- March 2014: Moved to Ubon Ratchatani in Northeastern Thailand to help YWAM there
- Sept./Oct. 2014: Spent five weeks in the USA, visiting friends, and had the opportunity to spend two very refreshing weeks at Bethel Church in Redding, California
- Oct. 2014 - May 2015: Time out in Germany
- June 2015: I got married to Naphaphon ("Nuu") from Kalasin province in Northeastern Thailand, a fellow YWAMer and good friend for many years
- July 2016 - Oct. 2017: ministry with YWAM Chiang Rai
- Oct. 2017 - Present: In Germany
- After Corona: Return to Thailand to help local pastors, teach, mentor/make God´s love tangible esp. to Thai youth, research and write, seeking to build God´s Kingdom the best way possible :)
Here are a couple of videos about my life on the mission field:
Watch this video in Thai ดูวีดีโอนี้ในภาษาไทย
