Who we are
Who we are
In 1985, when I gave my life to Jesus at a tent crusade at the age of seven, I felt a deep joy and fulfillment. This certainty that my life belonged to God remained with me all my life, through the storms of my youth. As far as I was concerned, it was clear that I wanted to serve God – this true God for whom I longed. Very soon I “knew” in my heart that God must be different from what I was told by those around me – greater, more powerful, more loving, more capable – and I wanted to know this God!
In 1997 I experienced God in an intimate, personal way that intensified this “knowing” – I wanted to know the true God and give my life to Him!
In 1985, when I gave my life to Jesus at a tent crusade at the age of seven, I felt a deep joy and fulfillment. This certainty that my life belonged to God remained with me all my life, through the storms of my youth. As far as I was concerned, it was clear that I wanted to serve God – this true God for whom I longed. Very soon I “knew” in my heart that God must be different from what I was told by those around me – greater, more powerful, more loving, more capable – and I wanted to know this God!
In 1997 I experienced God in an intimate, personal way that intensified this “knowing” – I wanted to know the true God and give my life to Him!
All crucial decisions of the next years were based on this longing: To experience the true God in everyday life, to grasp His love, to surrender to Him and to represent the true God!!! I felt immediately when something was being done or demanded based on religion and legalism and everything in me revolted against this pressure, the expectations and the shame which were imposed on me or other people in ” The name of God”.
Yet the imprint I had in my life of shame, fear, the feeling of worthlessness and not being enough again and again took over in my emotions, which made my life a very painful experience.
Today I look back and realize that with identity, dignity and the certainty of being loved, all these situations would not have had the power to plunge me into such distress and pain.
I am realizing and grasping more and more that Jesus is not just another Religious figure in all the “Christian Jargon”, but everything comes from him, through him and for him, because he accomplished everything and through him we can be free – free from ourselves, free to accept his perfect love and represent him in a worthy way. What I used to feel about religiosity, I can now put into words and clearly distance myself from it.
Revelations around the New Covenant, the heart, and what it means to truly love (and what is only masquerading as love but really is codependency) have catapulted me in recent years. and brought me to the place where I am increasingly experiencing the true God in everyday life, embracing His love, surrendering to Him, and representing that true God.
All crucial decisions of the next years were based on this longing: To experience the true God in everyday life, to grasp His love, to surrender to Him and to represent the true God!!! I felt immediately when something was being done or demanded based on religion and legalism and everything in me revolted against this pressure, the expectations and the shame which were imposed on me or other people in ” The name of God”.
Yet the imprint I had in my life of shame, fear, the feeling of worthlessness and not being enough again and again took over in my emotions, which made my life a very painful experience.
Today I look back and realize that with identity, dignity and the certainty of being loved, all these situations would not have had the power to plunge me into such distress and pain.
I am realizing and grasping more and more that Jesus is not just another Religious figure in all the “Christian Jargon”, but everything comes from him, through him and for him, because he accomplished everything and through him we can be free – free from ourselves, free to accept his perfect love and represent him in a worthy way. What I used to feel about religiosity, I can now put into words and clearly distance myself from it.
Revelations around the New Covenant, the heart, and what it means to truly love (and what is only masquerading as love but really is codependency) have catapulted me in recent years. and brought me to the place where I am increasingly experiencing the true God in everyday life, embracing His love, surrendering to Him, and representing that true God.
I grew up in a traditional Christian church. I can still remember how, even as a child, I was the one in our family who didn’t want to go to church on Sunday. No, I often resisted with all my strength. Today I know that already back then I felt something inside me that resisted, and that was the same feeling that I experience today when I am confronted with religion.
So I grew up in this traditional Christian background after all. My deepest moments with God, however, were not in church, but when I gazed at the starry sky at night and became aware of the greatness of God.
I grew up in a traditional Christian church. I can still remember how, even as a child, I was the one in our family who didn’t want to go to church on Sunday. No, I often resisted with all my strength. Today I know that already back then I felt something inside me that resisted, and that was the same feeling that I experience today when I am confronted with religion.
So I grew up in this traditional Christian background after all. My deepest moments with God, however, were not in church, but when I gazed at the starry sky at night and became aware of the greatness of God.
When I was about 19 years old, I had a great need for personal development and God met me by letting me discover Joyce Meyer’s sermon series, which I then listened to practically every free minute. I became aware of how I lacked identity and self-worth, how I was not given my identity as a man in my childhood.
I often went weeping before Jesus, presenting this mountain to him, which in my eyes was insurmountable. I knew the only thing I could do was to surrender to Him and trust Him to change me. So the days, the weeks, the months, the years passed. Again and again I looked back in amazement at the journey Jesus had already taken me on and how He had changed me without me realizing it.
After some time, the fire I had inside me began to overflow. I wanted to pass it on, but once again got stuck in religious structures that always gave a structure so that the fire of all these young people would not get out of control.
I experienced various Christian congregations, tasting in part what freedom and strength our identity in Christ can give us, but then also experienced again and again how church structures and positional thinking can be constricting, manipulating and controlling.
These experiences have brought me to the point today where I know what I don’t want and where I know that only my devotion to Him, that which is burning in me, will bear fruit in my life.
When I was about 19 years old, I had a great need for personal development and God met me by letting me discover Joyce Meyer’s sermon series, which I then listened to practically every free minute. I became aware of how I lacked identity and self-worth, how I was not given my identity as a man in my childhood.
I often went weeping before Jesus, presenting this mountain to him, which in my eyes was insurmountable. I knew the only thing I could do was to surrender to Him and trust Him to change me. So the days, the weeks, the months, the years passed. Again and again I looked back in amazement at the journey Jesus had already taken me on and how He had changed me without me realizing it.
After some time, the fire I had inside me began to overflow. I wanted to pass it on, but once again got stuck in religious structures that always gave a structure so that the fire of all these young people would not get out of control.
I experienced various Christian congregations, tasting in part what freedom and strength our identity in Christ can give us, but then also experienced again and again how church structures and positional thinking can be constricting, manipulating and controlling.
These experiences have brought me to the point today where I know what I don’t want and where I know that only my devotion to Him, that which is burning in me, will bear fruit in my life.
So both of us have had encounters with God that have shaped our awareness and perception – and our longing to live in God’s true identity. To represent Him well, beyond religion, manipulation, control, position, and a desire for recognition.
This alignment of our hearts is also what has allowed us, as such different personalities, to become a powerful unit, and together we have embarked on the journey.
The defining realization on this journey was the reality that being a “Christian” is all about Christ.
It was the fact that in Jesus we are reconciled to God and free from any condemnation or guilt we can accept His love.
So both of us have had encounters with God that have shaped our awareness and perception – and our longing to live in God’s true identity. To represent Him well, beyond religion, manipulation, control, position, and a desire for recognition.
This alignment of our hearts is also what has allowed us, as such different personalities, to become a powerful unit, and together we have embarked on the journey.
The defining realization on this journey was the reality that being a “Christian” is all about Christ.
It was the fact that in Jesus we are reconciled to God and free from any condemnation or guilt we can accept His love.
That we are to stand up as sons and daughters of God and anchor our identity ever more deeply in faith in what Jesus accomplished on the cross!
We may now be free from ourselves, because it is about Jesus – and what we are in him: Participants in his inheritance, the fullness of God!!!
It is this reality that brings freedom into every life situation.
That we are to stand up as sons and daughters of God and anchor our identity ever more deeply in faith in what Jesus accomplished on the cross!
We may now be free from ourselves, because it is about Jesus – and what we are in him: Participants in his inheritance, the fullness of God!!!
It is this reality that brings freedom into every life situation.
“This property is for people from all nations, all walks of life, circumstances, and backgrounds who are on their way to this freedom and have made it their goal to know Jesus and live by what He did on the cross..”
Twenty-five years ago, I was part of a mobile team that traveled throughout Bolivia to support local churches. It broke my heart to see all those pastors who had committed their lives to the church they were leading, and to see them crying, crushed by the responsibility, the burden that the “church” system had placed on them and that the members of the congregation were putting on them. Although I was filled with compassion, I did not know how to express God’s love for them – but my prayer was that one day God could use my life to bring freedom and restoration to their lives.
Twenty-five years ago, I was part of a mobile team that traveled throughout Bolivia to support local churches. It broke my heart to see all those pastors who had committed their lives to the church they were leading, and to see them crying, crushed by the responsibility, the burden that the “church” system had placed on them and that the members of the congregation were putting on them. Although I was filled with compassion, I did not know how to express God’s love for them – but my prayer was that one day God could use my life to bring freedom and restoration to their lives.
Today, a quarter of a century later, my heart’s desire has become a reality: This place is specifically for people who want to break out of the religious system and enter into a heart-to-heart relationship with God through what Jesus accomplished on the cross, and live from their heart.
Today, a quarter of a century later, my heart’s desire has become a reality: This place is specifically for people who want to break out of the religious system and enter into a heart-to-heart relationship with God through what Jesus accomplished on the cross, and live from their heart.
“Today, a quarter of a century later, my heart’s desire has become a reality: This place is specifically for people who want to break out of the religious system and enter into a heart-to-heart relationship with God through what Jesus accomplished on the cross, and live from their heart.”
Our “Freedom Strike”
When we came across Reinhard Hirtler and the teaching about the new covenant in 2020, it was a “freedom strike” for us.
The more we immersed ourselves in this subject matter, the more it was as if a veil was lifted from our eyes. Many things we had long intuited or perceived suddenly made sense. Something we had vaguely sensed before was suddenly put into words. From then on, our lives accelerated;
In October 2020, I (Jeanne) translated Reinhard Hirtler’s first videos from English into German – this evolved into a translation team in the German-speaking world, which today consists of about 15 people.
In April 2021, we left the church.
In October 2021, we decided to sell our house (the house where Benny grew up).
At the beginning of December 2021, the idea of emigrating came up.
In the middle of December 2021 it became clear that we were emigrating to Paraguay.
On January 7, 2022 we emigrated to Paraguay.
In March 2022, we began to understand what God had in mind for us here in Paraguay. We bought a piece of land that came to us in a very special way, as we tell here.
In September 2022, I, Jeanne, took over the coordination of building the Spanish translation team from Reinhard Hirtler.
For March 2023, we had the privilege of organizing an event with Reinhard Hirtler, which took place here in Paraguay, this in German and Spanish.
When we came across Reinhard Hirtler and the teaching about the new covenant in 2020, it was a “freedom strike” for us.
The more we immersed ourselves in this subject matter, the more it was as if a veil was lifted from our eyes. Many things we had long intuited or perceived suddenly made sense. Something we had vaguely sensed before was suddenly put into words. From then on, our lives accelerated;
In October 2020, I (Jeanne) translated Reinhard Hirtler’s first videos from English into German – this evolved into a translation team in the German-speaking world, which today consists of about 15 people.
In April 2021, we left the church.
In October 2021, we decided to sell our house (the house where Benny grew up).
At the beginning of December 2021, the idea of emigrating came up.
In the middle of December 2021 it became clear that we were emigrating to Paraguay.
On January 7, 2022 we emigrated to Paraguay.
In March 2022, we began to understand what God had in mind for us here in Paraguay. We bought a piece of land that came to us in a very special way, as we tell here.
In September 2022, I, Jeanne, took over the coordination of building the Spanish translation team from Reinhard Hirtler.
For March 2023, we had the privilege of organizing an event with Reinhard Hirtler, which took place here in Paraguay, this in German and Spanish.
Since May 2022 we live now on this property. Paraguayan friends have built us a simple wooden hut of 35sqm, in which we live until our house (probably end of 2023) is built.
In our wildest dreams we would never have thought that one day we would own a plot of land of 8 hectares – with a forest stand, a spring, palm trees and parrots, with homely clearings – everything prepared for us to realize what has been dormant in our hearts for a long time.
Since May 2022 we live now on this property. Paraguayan friends have built us a simple wooden hut of 35sqm, in which we live until our house (probably end of 2023) is built.
In our wildest dreams we would never have thought that one day we would own a plot of land of 8 hectares – with a forest stand, a spring, palm trees and parrots, with homely clearings – everything prepared for us to realize what has been dormant in our hearts for a long time.
The last months were very intensively filled with pioneering work.
There was no road leading to our property, no electricity, no internet, and no deep well to provide enough water for everyone even in the dry season. There was no building on the property – only forest, bushes, thorns and overgrown clearings.
Within a few months we have now built 2 bungalows, a large hall and our house, whose foundation and walls are standing, and have created a large garden and a chicken enclosure with 10 chickens.
The last months were very intensively filled with pioneering work.
There was no road leading to our property, no electricity, no internet, and no deep well to provide enough water for everyone even in the dry season. There was no building on the property – only forest, bushes, thorns and overgrown clearings.
Within a few months we have now built 2 bungalows, a large hall and our house, whose foundation and walls are standing, and have created a large garden and a chicken enclosure with 10 chickens.
In all this, the question became more and more urgent; What is our vision? What is our heart beating for? What do we believe God has in mind for us here? What can we, through who we are, bring into being here?
Here it continues to our vision:
In all this, the question became more and more urgent; What is our vision? What is our heart beating for? What do we believe God has in mind for us here? What can we, through who we are, bring into being here?
Here it continues to our vision:
