It was a long trip from Iowa to Germany, nearly 15 hours. Yet when retired missionaries Rick and Elaine Fessel stepped off the airplane in the fall of 2025, they drank in a sweet sense of anticipation: they would see their grandchildren again! It wasn’t a reunion with their biological grandchildren that drew the Fessels back to Germany. It was the opportunity to see people they cherished with the same affection: their spiritual grandchildren. 

Theirs is a story of missions that has truly gone full circle. It started with a BMM missionary team that planted a church in Ingolstadt, Germany, in 1992. One of the missionaries, Charles Ellis, led a man to the Lord: Christoph Rüttgers. Christoph was exceptionally hungry for God’s Word. Charles and his coworkers spent countless hours pouring into him the equivalent of a Bible college education. When the missionaries were ready to turn over the church to national leadership, Christoph was the clear choice for its pastor. 

Church Multiplication

As the church steadily grew under his leadership, Christoph wanted to replicate what others had sacrificially done for them: send out church planters to reach new areas for Christ. The choice of church-planting pastor was equally clear to Christoph and the church: Willi Slischewski. Willi had a story of his own. Growing up in the Ingolstadt church, he had been something of a wild child after his father died when he was six. Seeing that Willi lacked a fatherly influence, Christoph took him under his wing. Just as Charles had poured into him, Christoph mentored Willi extensively. 

This relational discipleship ignited a fire in Willi. He wanted to be a pastor too and help others know the unsurpassed joy of walking with the Lord. The church helped Willi get a degree from the missionaries’ alma mater, Faith Baptist Bible College in Ankeny, Iowa. There, Willi met his wife, Heidi, and after marrying in 2009, they returned to Germany. Christoph’s mentoring continued in the form of a long-term internship to further prepare his “Timothy” to be a church planter. Willi took on responsibilities with children, youth, and music, and had numerous opportunities to teach and preach.

Spiritual Grandparents

By 2013, the Ingolstadt church was reaching 100 in attendance—a very large church for Germany. Rather than just grow and grow, they looked outward. The Ingolstadt church identified a city of 15,000 that had no gospel witness, Eichstätt. It became the church planting target for Willi, Heidi, and a strong core group from the Ingolstadt church. In sending out the young church-planting team, Christoph wisely arranged one more element for their success: a seasoned missionary couple who could serve as spiritual grandparents to the team: Rick and Elaine Fessel. 

The Fessels formerly served with EBM in Germany and had developed a friendship with Christoph and his wife, Maike. When Christoph contacted the Fessels in 2013, Rick was serving as pastor of Temple Baptist Church in Charles City, Iowa. Their church saw God’s hand in Christoph’s request and formally commissioned Rick and Elaine as their missionaries to Germany, sent through BMM the following year. 

All Hands on Deck

How good it was to be back on German soil! The Lord had brought in the Fessels’ support in 15 months, and they joined the Eichstätt team in 2015, just in time for the church’s formal organization in November. For Rick and Elaine, it was the ultimate missionary joy to come alongside the younger couples. The Fessels’ role was never to be lead missionaries but to provide stability and be the go-to people when the team needed counsel. The plan was a brilliant arrangement by Christoph. It would help the team avoid needless mistakes and would expose them to wisdom that can only be learned over time.

Willi had a clear vision for the church plant, but he had to work 30 hours a week to support his family. With his time being limited, it meant all hands on deck for the team. Team members willingly stepped up and engaged in evangelism and helped with the ministries. The Fessels organized the children’s ministries and trained its teachers. From the beginning, discipleship formed the church’s DNA—the same pattern Willi learned from Christoph, and Christoph learned from Charles.

The spirit to reach others for Christ was infectious within the church. A church member named Daniel began sharing Christ with his coworker Michael. Rick had already been discipling Daniel, and they turned their meetings into an evangelistic Bible study with Michael. Within four months, Michael gave his life to Christ, and he later married Doris, a young woman from the church.

Continuing in Truth

Rick and Elaine served five years at the Eichstätt church before retiring in 2020. It brought them great satisfaction to have seen the church blossom with strong leadership, a well-trained congregation, and new members being added regularly. Their capstone joy was to return in fall 2025 to attend the church’s 10-year anniversary. Willi and Heidi welcomed them back to a church now running 80 in attendance. Doris and another church member are now capably leading the children’s ministries that Rick and Elaine started.

Best of all, the church is making plans to start its own daughter church in the city of Beilngries. A core group of seven is already in place, and the church will be led by Aaron Brudtkuhl, son of former BMM Germany missionaries Tim and Rochell Brudtkuhl. Aaron, his wife Elizabeth, and the core group are preparing to launch the church plant this fall. Meanwhile, Willi’s 2026 goal is to continue building up more men for the work, whether they stay in Eichstätt or go elsewhere.

Rick and Elaine echo the words of 3 John 4 when they say, “It’s a great joy to see people continuing in the truth.” What greater missionary joy could there be than to see the missions cycle going full circle.