Couple's marriage was born as a partnership

May 27, 2002

Couple's marriage was born as a partnership
___By Ferrell Foster
___Texas Baptists Communication
___YOAKUM--Mission trips bring people together from far away places. Jim Erwin and Heike Herbert have experienced that togetherness in a unique way. They married April 27 after meeting on a mission trip.
___Erwin, 31, is pastor of Hope Baptist Church in Yoakum, about midway between Houston and San Antonio. Herbert, 34, is a member of the Baptist church in Kirchheim-unter-Teck, Germany. They met in July 2000 when Erwin participated in a mission trip to Germany as part of an ongoing partnership between the Baptist General Convention of Texas and German Baptists.
___It all started with Erwin teaching about discouragement during a Wednesday night service at Herbert's church. He opened the session to questions, and a young woman, Herbert, asked one question after another.
___Afterward, he spoke with Herbert and discovered the source of her concern. She had Lupus, an immune disorder, and had experienced kidney failure requiring dialysis, Erwin said in a telephone interview.
___On the next Saturday night, some youth and young adults went to a coffee shop after a meeting at the church. Erwin and Herbert were part of the group. He escorted her home, and they exchanged phone numbers and e-mail addresses.
___During the next six months, they wrote and talked. By December 2000, she was on an airplane headed to Texas for a visit.
___She cooked dinner at his house one night, and Erwin said that's when he began "thinking she was the one." A few days later, Herbert heard him preach, and she thought he was "the one."
___Before Herbert got on the plane to go home, she was engaged, unofficially. In the spring, Erwin went to Germany, and they made it official, planning a June 2001 wedding.
___Getting married didn't turn out to be so easy. Red tape in both countries slowed the process. Part of the difficulty involved her health condition. She needed a kidney transplant, and people in Germany and Texas began praying for a donor.
___Someone in Texas came forward as a potential donor, but Herbert's friends in Germany thought she shouldn't have to go so far. One friend, Simone, stepped forward to offer a kidney for the transplant.
___They set the date for the transplant--Sept. 11. But on Aug. 30, a transplant committee failed to approve it.
___Erwin and Herbert pushed for more prayer, sending out e-mail updates every two weeks. During the Christmas season, they got the committee's approval. The transplant took place Feb. 6 this year, and "it worked perfectly," Erwin said.
___The April 27 wedding was held in Yoakum. Now, however, the couple will be saying goodbye to Texas. They are going to live in Germany, where they can continue insurance coverage for her medical condition.
___"There was no way she was going to be able to stay down here," Erwin said.
___God calls people to go "anywhere he wants, and my thought is, 'Who am I to argue with that?'" Erwin said. "I'm still struggling with the idea of leaving here, but you make a commitment to a wife, you make a commitment to God, and if he says you need to go somewhere, you go.
___"He has confirmed that call all over the place," said Erwin, who probably will be pastor of a church in Germany. "Arrangements are being made so that I can go over there quite easily. God seems to be taking care of everything."
___His wife's medical problem and their long-distance marriage have generated news coverage on both sides of the Atlantic. Reports in the German press have included the strong element of faith and prayer in the couple's lives.
___"It has surprised everybody," Erwin said. "God is using this. ... God has been all over this. God has changed her life. God is definitely changing mine, and the power of Christ is being shown more completely."

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