But Duane had a unique gift of being able to listen well to every person he encountered – and to the Holy Spirit.  In 2015, what he would hear was this: he should pull back from the Wittenberg 2017 initiative.  He expressed this in a very appropriate way, with honor for the vision and the team.  Duane’s decision was absolutely right and was made in the right way. He would continue to pray for us.  He fully hoped to join us in 2017 at the final gathering (though he ultimately was prevented from doing so by personal matters).

One of the legacies that Duane left with the Wittenberg 2017 initiative was the communication of our vision. He was an experienced and thoughtful communicator who knew the importance of image, word, and website. One of his first actions was to begin the search for an appropriate logo.

He put out the word to designer friends, organized a design charette, and in the end a beautiful logo was created by Jason Person of Pearpod Design.  A variation of that logo has been used for the cover of Unity Through Repentance.

Amy and I do not have many griefs as we look back on Wittenberg 2017.  But one of the few is that Duane and Patty were not able to experience firsthand the joys and developments of the later gatherings.  We are still seeing God honor their expansive vision in surprising ways.  

Thank you, Duane and Patty!

First, a family was there who was new to AHOP.  After listening, the man spoke up and began asking questions and making comments.  Slowly, it began to dawn on me that this person knows *a lot* about Germany and the Reformation.  I inquired after the meeting, and he explained that he was a professional translator who had written his PhD, in German, on the topic of Jews in Germany.  Wow!  What were the odds of that? His name was John Martin.  He and his wife, Susan, and their (at that time young) daughter joined AHOP and became faithful friends.  John ended up leading the translation team at several of our meetings, and his good work is also evident in this book, which contains many quotations for which he was the translator.

Then, as we were closing up the building after it was all over, another couple approached me – John Michael and Diane Wall.  They pressed two $20 bills into my hand.  “We know it’s not much, but we want to sow into the vision of Wittenberg 2017,” they said. I was blown away.  We had not asked for money.  Nobody had ever given any money, other than individuals covering their own travel expenses.  “Thank you,” I replied, “the two of you are the first to seed money into Wittenberg 2017.”  Over the years, I always remembered their act of faith.  It was a sign to me that God would always provide.  And provide God did, from the beginning to the end.  John Michael and Diane now live in the ministry center for Christ the Reconciler, with us.  As I was reviewing the final draft of the manuscript for the book, I read it out loud to them over the course of a couple of weeks.  (It was very helpful to read it aloud, I caught errors as well as ways to improve the writing.)  I told them at one point – “You two are the first to hear what will become the audio book version of Unity Through Repentance … and I sense that this is one small part of God’s reward to you, for that initial gift of $40 a decade ago.”  God is so good!