How did this portal come into being? Twenty years of an incredible origin story. God uses people who are willing to be used and builds something that will later inspire amazement. By Kai Mester

They did not know one another and, as complete amateurs, founded a magazine and a supporting nonprofit organization—“hoffnung weltweit.” For nearly twenty years now, they have been publishing articles and videos, and they still cannot believe it. It is a miracle!

All the best conditions for failure were in place: They had no professional experience in editing, graphic design, or video technology. Only one of them had gained some publishing experience while working on his own, and at first they had no financial resources whatsoever. Nevertheless, a publishing house and a film studio came into being.

They had little experience in church diplomacy and politics, and they knew Bible retreats only as participants. Yet this year hoffnung weltweit organized its seventeenth Bible retreat—the second with a livestream—and has repeatedly succeeded in inviting well-known Adventist speakers to present seminars there.

What is the secret of its success? Or is that the wrong question?

It is indeed the wrong question! God can write straight on crooked lines. He is the conductor who, after the discord of instruments being tuned, draws symphonic worlds of sound from the orchestra—provided it is willing to follow the score without taking its eyes off the conductor.

All too often, the musicians in the orchestra are themselves overwhelmed by what the conductor’s spirit makes of the music. We feel the same way. We have experienced miracle after miracle. The latest miracle is this portal!

This article takes readers step by step into the past, all the way back to the beginnings of hoffnung weltweit. Those who want to learn more can click the blue hyperlinks, where various historical documents can be found.

www.hoffnungweltweit.info

“Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.” (Matthew 5:15)

For more than ten years, hoffnung weltweit e. V. has operated the website www.hoffnung-weltweit.de. It contains articles from the magazine Versöhnungstag and audio recordings from the Bible retreats. Yet somehow everything remained under the bushel—it could be found only by those who actively searched for it and lifted the basket.

Now, on the new portal www.hoffnungweltweit.info, the latest content appears at the top, as it does on news websites. In addition, every article and video is automatically announced on Facebook. In this way, the light that continually warms our hearts is meant to shine much more brightly into the darkness.

God sent two brothers at just the right time to make this possible: architect Jens Giller to design the concept and software developer S. Lachmann to implement it. At our Bible retreat in Hohegrete in August, the new portal was officially inaugurated and dedicated to God. To me, it is nothing short of a miracle.

Bible Retreats in Hohegrete (2012–2014)

For the third time, the Bible retreat is being held in Hohegrete in the Westerwald. More and more young people are becoming involved in the organization, helping everything run smoothly and growing into leadership responsibilities. Our Jens is also behind this new organizational structure. He joined our team as an adviser after being elected at our members’ meeting in the fall of 2011.

In Hohegrete, participants could expect a great blessing not only from speakers who had shared their messages at earlier retreats, but also through seminars by Anne-Marie Scott, Emiliano Richards, Enoch Sundaram, the Humes couple, the Meyer family, and such well-known Adventist figures as Ingrid Bomke, Richard Elofer, Tim Riesenberger, and Sylvain Romain.

The Gilmore, Struksnæs, Reich, and Eberle families, Esther Bosma and her team, Maria Rosenthal, and many other volunteers have been involved in the accompanying children’s program since the camp meetings began in 1997. The program has since taken on the character of a seminar in its own right, with several workshops.

Versöhnungstag (2011–2014)

Since March 2011, our magazine has appeared under the new title Versöhnungstag—Day of Atonement. With this new title, we wanted to define our mission more precisely and emphasize the prophetic time in which we have been living since 1844. We feel called to carry the spirit of reconciliation into families, among the various organs in the body of Jesus, and to other Abrahamic cultures. For Christ is coming soon!

From now on, both old and new articles from Versöhnungstag will be posted weekly on the hoffnung weltweit portal. Through these regular and frequent posts, we want to connect more closely with our readers. The comment function provides an opportunity for interaction and conversation.

Current articles like this one will appear on the portal so that we can not only talk and pray about profound topics, but also discuss new developments and current news.

Jesus heals, and Jesus is coming! Jesus sets us free, and Jesus triumphs! That has been our motto for many years. Families need this message, the church needs it, and the world needs it. This is the message of the new portal.

Bibelstream Studio (2010–2014)

The portal contains more than text and beautiful images. It also links to every new film that Bibelstream offers on its website, appealing to the eyes, ears, and heart. Existing video clips are publicized and incorporated according to topic. “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” (Psalm 34:8, NKJV). This is the message of every video—and it can be understood literally in the vegan cooking demonstrations. The gospel can indeed be tasted.

Beginning in 2010, heaven miraculously opened the way for Bibelstream to move into its own film studio. Since then, we have received not only beautiful films shot outdoors, in living rooms, or in church halls, but also studio productions. The first studio was located in the health-food store opened by the NewStartCenter in Herbolzheim, and the second in the Elisa School in nearby Tutschfelden. The studio produced, for example, an interview with the well-known evangelist David Gates, songs by the popular singer Derrol Sawyer, and the fascinating series about God’s Ten Commandments.

Waldemar Laufersweiler, the founder and operator of Bibelstream, moved with his family to the nearby idyllic Black Forest community of Freiamt. His move prompted other families to settle there as well—including the Fickenscher family with their NewStartCenter, a mail-order business for natural foods, natural cosmetics, kitchen equipment, and spiritual literature. Yes, we experience God’s message holistically, with all our senses, and we stand together as families.

At the time, Waldemar was also ahead of us in another respect. As early as 2010, he lifted the basket so that Bibelstream’s light could shine more brightly. He no longer published the films only on the Bibelstream website, but also on Vimeo, YouTube, and Facebook. Producing a new film every week, however, is impossible because it requires far too much work. That is why the combination of articles and Bibelstream films on the new portal is ideal. It provides weekly news, like the Adventist Review once did—the newspaper founded by James White. At last, God has made it possible for us to follow inspired counsel and publish much more frequently than once a month.

In 2010, Bibelstream—which had been a joint production of the Laufersweiler family and hoffnung weltweit from the beginning—became even more closely connected with hoffnung weltweit. At the time, our magazine was still called Fundament für ein befreites Leben (Foundation for a Liberated Life). To mark the occasion, we published an article about the history of hoffnung weltweit. Since then, it has repeatedly carried reports about Bibelstream and announcements of new films.

All these innovations were often the result of difficult times, such as financial dry spells, as well as other challenges. That is why they were always miracles. But “all things work together for good to those who love God” (Romans 8:28).

Missionary Booklets (2008–2013)

Let us go one step further back. For a total of five years, several times a year we published very special gems of truth. These were special issues intended for distribution on a larger scale. The new portal will make them more accessible and perhaps allow them to truly fulfill their intended purpose. People’s reading habits have shifted into the digital, virtual world. On the portal, we will select individual articles from the special issues and link each one at the end to the corresponding thematic booklet in PDF format. This link leads to an example.

So far, a total of seventeen attractive informational booklets have been produced: seven teaching booklets on the immortal soul, the Sabbath (two), prophecy (two), the sanctuary, and trust; two lifestyle booklets on nutrition and country living; five Reformation booklets on Luther (two), the Waldensians, the Hussites, and the Huguenots; as well as one Christmas issue and two Easter issues. They have all been made available online and were beautifully designed by our graphic designer, Waldemar Laufersweiler.

The seeds for these thematic booklets had been sown much earlier. Together with Amazing Discoveries, we published Ellen White’s bestseller Steps to Christ in 2007 under the new German title Schritte zu Jesus. Patricia Rosenthal’s sensitive translation and Henry Stober’s outstanding photographs continue to give this brochure a unique atmosphere.

This had been preceded in 2002 and 2004 by the two booklets Sehnsucht nach Jesus (Longing for Jesus), featuring excerpts from Ellen White’s Steps to Christ and another of her bestsellers, The Desire of Ages. For a long time, the LORD had filled us with the desire to present the good news to those around us in language and design that were as appealing as possible.

Back in the late 1990s, we had produced the newspapers Freiheit in Gefahr (Freedom in Danger) and Siehe, er kommt! (Behold, He Is Coming!) for mass distribution in cooperation with Cornerstone Publishing. This awakened our desire to create more effective booklets. The American magazine Last Generation, published by Hartland Publications, always inspired us through its compassionate approach to people who were lost.

With the portal, we are now adopting contemporary forms of communication. We certainly still have much to learn so that the message can better reach those who long for it.

Beginning in 2008, our magazine Fundament für ein befreites Leben, which until then had been produced in A4 format, appeared every month in the more convenient A5 size. That was a decisive step forward toward our present online portal with weekly updates.

Bible Retreats in Rehe (2007–2011)

Our annual Bible retreats in Rehe in the Westerwald were the first retreats we held at a Christian conference center rather than a youth hostel. Sadly, Thomas Schmidt, the organizer of our retreats and our longtime treasurer, died at the age of only thirty-five, shortly before the final retreat in Rehe, after an illness that rapidly worsened. It was a severe blow. Just the year before, he had programmed the registration software that we still use today and that Benjamin Kiene continues to adapt to our changing needs.

Thomas’s wife, Sonja, served as our secretary for many years and remains an adviser to the board today. Thomas’s death was truly a great loss to us. His dedication to this work remains an example to us. The areas he had covered—finances, computers, tax law, and retreat organization—had to be distributed among many people. Our shared pain drew us closer together in the hope of the resurrection. It felt as though we had reached the end. But God performed a miracle and multiplied the number of workers.

Daniela Weichhold, one of our staff members who works as a secretary at the European Commission in Brussels, assumed the office of secretary and now plays a leading role in organizing registrations for the retreat in Hohegrete. She had assisted Thomas several times with administrative duties at the retreats, initially together with her friend Tanja Bondar, who remains one of the most important proofreaders on our editorial team.

At the Bible retreats in Rehe, we heard the Nebblett family’s message about family life for the first time. Pat Arrabito, Frank Fournier, Derrol Sawyer, and Ron Woolsey also left a lasting impression in Germany. Their interviews and messages can still be watched on Bibelstream today. Freedom from fear and despair; freedom from addiction and sin—these were vitally important messages that gave everyone courage, because the speakers had experienced these things themselves.

Juan Campos, Marcelo Villca, Hugo Gambetta, and Alberto Treiyer served us as experienced evangelists and Bible teachers. Younger preachers such as Male Bone Laing, Chris and Nayelith Pfeiffer, Daniel Pel, Norberto Restrepo Jr., and Giovana and David Restrepo especially inspired the young people to live for Jesus, while Marco Barrios presented his foundational seminar on the two prophetic charts.

2005—The Year That Set the Course

Our journey takes us a few more years into the past. In 2005, Waldemar Laufersweiler founded the Bibelstream website. He had joined hoffnung weltweit as a layout designer in 1998 and became its second paid employee.

In 2005, Kai Mester, the author of this article and an editor at hoffnung weltweit since 1996, wrote his first column on Islam under the title Adventist Surrender.

Both ministries have since become increasingly committed to reconciliation. “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:20)

Also in 2005, Margit Hast began her communications ministry for hoffnung weltweit. She became the new friendly voice on the telephone and looked after subscribers and donors. She coordinated the printing and mailing of the missionary booklets and served as the onstage moderator at the retreats. Our treasurer Steffi Fickenscher and our moderator Norbert Lauter have followed in her footsteps.

A closer editorial collaboration with Patricia Seifert also began in 2005. In 2008, she married our vice-chairman and editor, Alberto Rosenthal. This was the third marriage to grow out of our work: Waldemar Laufersweiler had married Maria, a reader of the magazine he designed; Thomas Schmidt had married Sonja, a participant in a retreat he organized; and now Alberto Rosenthal married Patricia, one of the editorial team’s longtime translators. God continued weaving the beautiful and durable family tapestry without which hoffnung weltweit would never have approached its twentieth anniversary.

In 2009, for the 160th anniversary of the Adventist Review—originally called Present Truth and later Review and Herald—Alberto and Patricia published the commemorative volume Morgenröte seines Kommens (Dawn of His Coming). This marked the beginning of several special issues written by Alberto. Since this year, they have also appeared as issues of Versöhnungstag, reminding us with particular clarity of our mission and the time in which we live.

Thus, fundamental developments took place in both content and structure in 2005, without which the new portal could never have assumed its present form. For the tenth anniversary of hoffnung weltweit in 2006, I gratefully wrote the article “How God Has Led Us.”

Bible Retreats at Lake Edersee and in the Rhön (2000–2006)

Our journey through time has now reached the turn of the millennium. The special feature of hoffnung weltweit’s Bible retreats was that they presented messages that were rarely heard in Germany at the time. Another blessed characteristic was that Adventists from a wide variety of groups came together at the retreats in a spirit of reconciliation. Although the first retreat in 2000 was still officially a Hartland camp meeting, the following year we took the step of organizing a Bible retreat entirely on our own.

Since then, the messages of Maurice Berry, Margaret Davis, John Davis, Daniel Garcia, Dwight Hall, David Kang, Zita Kovács (now Witte), Jesús Morales, Gerardo Nogales, Paul Osei, Jeff Pippenger, Norberto Restrepo Sr., Enrique Rosenthal, and Emily Waters (now Schlittenhart) have all left their mark on people’s hearts. Righteousness by faith and prophecy were the two predominant themes. More reports from these retreats can be found here: 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006.

A special treat is this video clip about the Edersee retreats in 2001 and 2002. Politically, the 2002 retreat nearly cost us our necks because we allowed an ordained elder from the United States to conduct a baptism at our retreat without obtaining prior permission. We learned from this for the future. Nevertheless, it was a great blessing for the baptismal candidates and all the participants.

The Bible retreats also inspired several families in neighboring countries to hold similar annual retreats there, some of which continue to this day.

In the spirit of all these messages, our magazine Fundament, published eight times a year in A4 format, encouraged its readers and invited them to the next retreat as well as to other events in local churches—especially seminars presented by the Waters family on the subject “Jesus Heals Heart and Home.” Some of the places where the Waters family held their seminar over the years were Het Kervel, Hamburg, Donaueschingen, Offenburg, Heilbronn, Karlsruhe, Zurich, Aschaffenburg, Cologne, Freudenstadt, Freiburg, and Bad Krozingen.

In this same spirit, the portal is intended to bring good news to hearts and homes in the future.

Lay Ministries

From the very beginning, strengthening and supporting lay ministries has been a major concern of hoffnung weltweit. These private initiatives truly bring local churches to life and are essential spiritual filling stations for many people. There is the Angermühle in the Altenburg region, a farm founded by Patricia Rosenthal’s family. Then there is the Mittelsinn Mission House in the Spessart, which served as our address for a time, with Karin Vockenhuber as secretary. The NewStartCenter in the Black Forest is led by our founding member and team member Marius Fickenscher and, together with Bibelstream, is one of hoffnung weltweit’s closest partner ministries.

Het Kervel in the Netherlands has been a great inspiration for our Bible retreats. It was there that I first became acquainted with camp meetings in my youth. MHA in Rudersberg printed our magazine for many years and continues to offer our special missionary issues. Our Margit Hast served for several years on the board of the Immanuel School in Munich. Amazing Discoveries in Nuremberg will probably always remain an inspiration to us through its courage and professionalism. Our chairmen helped found the Bolivian children’s village operated by L’ESPERANCE Children’s Aid. The other Bolivian children’s village, operated by Fundación El Sauce, was founded by Bertram Hipp, a close friend of the Rosenthal family.

Annemarie Mayer experienced a personal revival through Margaret Davis at our Bible retreats. This led to her booklet and her readings on Bibelstream under the title Verheißungen für dich (Promises for You). Through their ministry Future Is Now, the Bläsing family helped make the Adventist pioneers’ interpretation of prophecy better known again.

I also think of the family ministries of Heidi Kohl, Monika Pichler, Manfred and Monika Graser, Irma Kovács, and her daughters Hilda Kovács and Zita Witte, whose concern for education and health we share. I think as well of the still relatively young ministry advedia, founded by Ilja and Tanja Bondar, and of many others, some of them abroad.

Our desire, prayer, and goal for the new portal are that this family network will grow and flourish, revitalize the church, and contribute to spiritual growth. It is also intended as an invitation to the many searching and desperate people who do not know—or do not truly understand—God’s liberating message of grace.

Founding the Association and Becoming Independent (1996–1999)

We have almost completed our journey through time—but not quite. We had already taken with the magazine in 1997 the step that we later dared to take with the Bible retreat in 2001. At first, Hope International in the United States printed our magazine using articles that we had primarily selected from ten years’ worth of monthly issues of Our Firm Foundation and then laid out graphically. They actually shipped the magazines to Germany. That was how inexperienced we were in publishing! Eventually, however, we dared to take the printing into our own hands. On one occasion, a shipment intended for us had gone astray to Portugal, and we received copies of the Portuguese edition instead!

From the beginning, we selected and translated the English articles from that magazine ourselves. Soon, however, we opened ourselves to other sources and began writing our own material. The path toward independence was short. After all, every dependency had been voluntarily chosen because we lacked experience and expertise. We were grateful for every form of assistance, which was offered with extraordinary selflessness. This is one reason why, despite all the political considerations brought to our attention, we maintained a close friendship with Hope International for many years.

It was a time of miracles as God directed our paths. At the time, I followed the call to enter this work full-time immediately after completing my studies and after the birth of our eldest daughter. The third issue of our magazine Unser festes Fundament (Our Firm Foundation) was just about to go to press. Its cover displayed six foundations: Christ our righteousness, the sanctuary, the three angels’ messages, God’s law, the Sabbath, and the mortal soul. To this day, we have remained faithful to this liberating message.

On November 27, 1996, the association was founded in Königsfeld in the Black Forest. Friedebert Rosenthal and his son Alberto were already serving as chairmen. Gerhard Bodem became treasurer, and Kai Mester became secretary. The other founding members were Maria Rosenthal, Ruth Bodem, and Marius Fickenscher.

I wrote my first editorial for January 1997. Immerse yourself in Jesus as in water and blood; let him enter your heart as bread and flesh enter the stomach; and put on his righteousness like a garment, so that we may consist entirely of him. That was the message of this editorial. It remains the goal we pursue for every reader through the online portal.

Shortly afterward, we organized the first two Bible retreats for Hartland. At the first, in Biberach, the presentations were still held in a large tent on the grounds of a youth hostel. At the second, two years later at a youth hostel in Träg near Trier, there were two smaller seminar tents. Who could have imagined what would grow from this? How different—and how blessed—life would become as a result?

The Beginnings (1994–1996)

At the very beginning stood the Rosenthal family, awakened through a Hartland Institute camp meeting in the Czech Republic in June 1994 and its powerful preachers Colin Standish and Russell Standish, as well as Ron Spear, the director of Hope International. For two years, Ron Spear had been praying for a German magazine modeled on the American lay magazine Our Firm Foundation. The Rosenthal family caught fire, and the American brothers promised every possible form of support.

Wolfgang Faber, Renate Granger, and Samuel Minea offered to help with the translation and, together with Torben Nybo, soon became pillars of moral support for the project. Gerhard Bodem, a pioneer in independent publishing and the founder of Edelstein-Verlag, answered the call to help as early as 1995. An initial readership was drawn from his customer base. At exactly the right time, once the first issue had been translated, the miracle occurred: Mike Lambert telephoned the Rosenthals and offered to help with the design.

Through the Rosenthal and Bodem families, God gave the work spiritual parents who have shaped the family atmosphere of our ministry to this day. Their commitment to revival and reformation, together with their hospitality and warmth, were essential ingredients in the long-term survival of hoffnung weltweit.

This has been a glimpse into the history of this portal—the story of a large family that wants to be a blessing because God has blessed it.

KAI MESTER