Hello dear colleagues,

I am very happy to look back on my history with ‘Christians at Daimler & Benz’, which started 12 years ago. At that time I came into Helmut’s prayer group and through the annual Christian meetings and further contacts I got to know and appreciate ‘being a Christian in everyday life’ more and more. Today I can’t imagine my job without this important basis.

When Helmut retired 5 years ago, I was allowed to continue one of his former prayer groups. This is a privilege, because prayer for the company and the people working in it is so immensely important – especially in challenging times like these.

For 3 years now, I have been privileged to coordinate our great leadership team and at last year’s Christian Meeting, the official passing of the baton from Helmut to me took place. I sense a great unity in this important ministry, which reminds me of Psalm 133:1 where it says: ‘Behold how fine and lovely it is when brothers are together in one accord!’

Besides my work here at Mercedes-Benz AG (recently in the VAN division), I enjoy spending time with my 4 girls (1 wife and 3 daughters), very much in the garden, around the house and yard, and most of all going on pilgrimages and hiking in the mountains. There I always like to come to rest before our Lord.

I have already experienced many blessings through praying together, through the encouragements and sharing testimonies and I am convinced that the blessings for us and our company will continue if we do not let up but persevere in prayer.
Thank you for all your support!

Be blessed,
Yours Hannes

(posted in December 2022)

Dear colleagues,

First of all, it is an absolute privilege for me to serve here on the team. I am grateful to God for such great work and fellowship over the past years/decades! Each and every one of us is valuable and can make a great contribution and I think – with our Lord – we can not only manage situations but also influence them positively.

My name is Jakob Josua Moses (formerly: Yahkub Bugday) and I am a Swabian Aramaean – a full-blooded Aramaean with a distinctly Swabian accent. 🙂

Besides my work here at Mercedes-Benz AG, I have some voluntary activities, both in church work, youth work, scouting (Royal Ranger) and in preaching ministry for our Lord. My favorite activity is telling people about my great God. I get to do this not only every Sunday in the community/church, but also in other places.

I look forward to standing up for our companies with you and bringing God’s Word and His heavenly principles to life here at work.

Be blessed,
Jakob

(posted in November 2022)

Hello dear colleagues,

My name is Marcel Mast and I have been ‘with Daimler’ since I completed my training as an automotive electrician in September 1999. My journey into the leadership team of ‘Christians at Daimler & Benz’ has had a great impact on me and I am very grateful to our Father in Heaven for allowing me to be involved here.

From September 2016 to August 2017, I allowed myself some professional time off, during which I completed a theological study in Beatenberg (Switzerland).

After this time, I experienced how our Lord Jesus brought me more and more to prayer – especially in the company. Inspired by the experiences I had in Beatenberg, the partnership with Hannes Ackermann became very important to me. Together with him I experienced the way into today’s leadership team as a new calling.

In addition to my work in development at Mercedes-Benz, volunteer activities are my heart’s desire. In church leadership, youth work and also as a lay preacher, I am able to contribute to the Kingdom of God and these ministries fill me with great joy. Like Hannes and Jakob, I am looking forward to standing up for our companies and to make God’s word and His heavenly principles tangible in my daily job.

Heartfelt blessings,
Yours Marcel

(posted in December 2022)

Hello everybody!

My name is Benjamin Orschel, or simply ‘Benni’. I am married, have 4 children and am responsible for all organizational matters in the leadership team, especially when it comes to preparing the annual Christian meetings.

I joined Mercedes-Benz directly after my studies in 2004 in the car development department in Sindelfingen. At that time I was told during the Sunday service that there was a prayer group at ‘Daimler’. The idea of being ‘salt and light’ at work as a Christian appealed to me, and so I contacted them directly.

Some years later, after I had actually decided to focus my involvement in the Kingdom of God on the voluntary tasks in my church, the YMCA Esslingen, I heard the call of God at a Christian meeting to get involved in this ministry.

So even after my move to the Van area in 2015, it was no question to start a new prayer group there. To this day, I am fascinated by the encouragement that comes out of these meetings with fellow believers in the workplace!

Be blessed,
Yours Benni

(posted in December 2022)

Hello and shlomo ahlechu together!

My name is Ilyas Yildiz, I am married and have three children. After the separation of Mercedes-Benz and Daimler Truck, I joined the leadership team as coordinator and contact person of Daimler Truck AG.

Since June 2021, I have been working in high-voltage component development at Daimler Truck. Before that, I worked in the Diesel engine development for almost 20 years. In this context, I spent three years in Detroit (Michigan/USA) together with my family, where I was employed as an expat at the Detroit Diesel Corporation (DDC). Together with an American colleague, I founded the first prayer group there.

I am very thankful that the Lord gave us grace so that we could start two more prayer groups in Mannheim and in Wörth after the separation from Mercedes-Benz AG.

Privately, I have also been involved for many years in various areas, such as a church elder and translator (German – Aramaic) on a voluntary basis in the Aramaic Free Christian Church in Bietigheim-Bissingen. The service for our Lord gives me joy and it is the Lord who gives me the strength and perseverance for it.

Best regards and God’s blessing,
Yours Ilyas

(posted in January 2023)

Dear Christians at Daimler Truck and Mercedes-Benz,

My name is Helmut Keller, I am married and have three grown-up children. After completing my studies in electrical engineering and working for four years as a research assistant at the ‘Institute for Control Systems’ at the University of Karlsruhe, I joined the passenger car testing department of the then Daimler-Benz AG on January 1, 1987. During my 32-year career at Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler, I worked as a project and team leader on numerous developments of vehicle dynamics, chassis and driver assistance systems. Since March 2019 I have been retired.

In all my business activities, it was and still is very important to me to focus on people and to live and pass on basic Christian values. For this reason, I founded the network ‘Christians at Daimler’ (now ‘Christians at Daimler & Benz’) in 2006, which aims to ensure that basic Christian values are visible in personal working life within the company and in social responsibility outside the company.

Looking back, I am very grateful to God for the network that has grown to more than 1,500 members, for the more than 50 worldwide prayer circles, and for the Christian meetings that have been held annually since 2006 and in which most of you have already participated.

The increasing workload, especially the organization of the annual Christian meetings, as well as the fact that I am no longer in active working life since 2019, led to the decision to hand over the leadership responsibility and to distribute the tasks on several shoulders. Therefore, since 2020, we are forming as a 6-member leadership team, led by Hannes Ackermann. The official handover of the baton took place in 2021 during the 16th Christian Meeting.

I am still responsible for everything that has to do with public relations, maintaining contacts, correspondence, looking after the worldwide network of Christians and prayer groups within Mercedes-Benz and Daimler Truck. I hope that committed voluntary supporters can be found to take over this role in the medium term.

Heartfelt blessings,
Yours Helmut

(posted in January 2023)

Hello everyone,

My heart burns for Jesus. As a father of 2 children and 3 godchildren abroad (two in Uganda and one in Thailand), I try to treat people with unconditional love, even if it is sometimes difficult for me.

I have been working at Daimler Truck since 2005 in various roles, currently in supplier management. I started with a dual study programme at the Gaggenau plant. It wasn’t until 2023 that I found out from a colleague (thank you, Jimena!) that there was a network of “Christians at Daimler & Benz” in our company. She invited me to the prayer group, I was warmly welcomed and got to know some great people.

It was new for me to talk to colleagues about faith, as this was considered a taboo subject for me in a business context. Since these meetings, my heart has been burning for the network and I have it on my heart to inform everyone at Daimler Truck about this community. The unity of Christians, the sharing of testimonies, praying together for the success of the company, for products, for reorganisations and for collegial cooperation – I think that’s simply powerful!

In September 2023, I answered Helmut’s call and have been taking care of the LinkedIn presence ever since. I’m not an expert, but I have the will to get things done with God’s help and make the network grow. In addition, I want to facilitate access to the “Christians at Daimler & Benz” network. It took me almost 18 years to find out about it, so others should be able to do it more quickly.

Why am I doing this? I am fascinated by the story of the lost sheep and I want to gather the “Daimler & Benz” sheep for Jesus and motivate them. If just one lost sheep comes back to the shepherd (Jesus), my work will have been worthwhile. I am very pleased that I was asked by Ilyas in April 2024 to support him in his interface role with Daimler Truck.

In my free time, I like to be active, go hiking with via ferrata, do sports and enjoy being in the playground . In the course of my life, I have searched a lot for meaningfulness in the area of spirituality, as I feel a longing for a relationship with God deep within me. Ultimately, God showed me the way back to my Christian roots and gave me a lot of forgiveness and grace. I have found my spiritual home in the EFG (Evangelical Free Church) in Kirchheim.

I am passionate about uniting Christians, learning from each other and following Jesus. I look forward to getting to know you all.

Blessings to you all,
Matthias

(posted in May 2024)