During The King’s Academy’s recent Spring Missions week, students were challenged by the personal testimony of Michael Furchert, author, speaker and pianist.

Over the course of three morning assemblies, Michael told the riveting story of trial, tribulation and faith behind the Berlin Wall in Communist East Germany.   Students listened intently as Michael recounted his family’s faith in God and their refusal to join the atheistic Communist Party.  He also shared personal stories of how he and his siblings refused to join the Young Communist Pioneers at school.

During the final assembly of the week, Michael told the gripping story of witnessing the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, at age seventeen.  He highlighted the strategic role played by Christians.  He said the communist authorities were “prepared for everything but not for candles, faith and prayer.”  Michael also sat at the piano and played his original composition, Cascades of God’ s Passion and Love, inspired by his experiences in East Germany.

Michael Furchert grew up behind the Berlin Wall. He comes from a Christian family who lived their faith throughout turbulent times of European history and brings a challenging and inspiring message of hope, faith and freedom to America. From the Nazi regime of Hitler Germany, throughout Communism, from the rise of the Berlin Wall to its celebrated fall, three generations of his family held on to their faith in God. His grandfather was among the 3% of public school teachers under Adolph Hitler who refused to join the Nazi Party, endured persecution for his faith, was sent into WWII and later became a preacher. Michael's father was a pastor behind the Berlin Wall, his mother a Sunday school teacher, who faithfully served their East German churches for over thirty years despite challenges and resistance from the Communist regime.

At a young age, Michael learned about Christ's Salvation and that he had to make choices for his faith under a totalitarian atheist regime and socialist education system. As his family had done before, he refused to join the mandatory Communist organizations and had to choose between his faith and his rights and privileges, from a driver's license to a college education. On November 9th 1989, when Michael was seventeen, his greatest dream came true. His family saw the Berlin Wall come down and gained freedom.