Major Dieter Zimmerer: Following His Plan, Wherever That Takes Me
Major Dieter Zimmerer was not a Southerner. But the story of how God brought him to America and what he has done in service to the Lord, both in this territory and in three others in Europe, certainly qualifies him for that title.
Growing up in Göppingen, Germany, Dieter wanted to enter a profession that would help people. So, upon graduation from high school, he set out for a career in nursing. Ironically, the only high school class he flunked was English. Today, he is fluent (or at least near fluent) in several languages.
For the time being, Salvation Army officership was not in the plan for the third-generation Salvationist, although as an accomplished bandsman he was quite involved in the Army’s mission and ministry at his corps.
Having parents, grandparents, and other family members as stalwart Salvationists was nearly a hinderance to young Dieter’s Christian Walk, causing the boy to simply presume he was saved well into his adolescent years.
In his teens, he “began having bad dreams about the Rapture occurring, and I’ve been left behind,” Dieter recalls.
Then, at age 15, at a Youth Councils in Nuremberg, Dieter realized that he had never formally asked Christ into his heart.
“During a Sunday evening meeting immediately after Youth Councils ended, I invited Jesus into my life. As soon as I did, those nightmares never came back.”
Around the same time, the (then) Captains Siegfried and Maria Hackbarth were appointed corps officers in Göppingen, and with them came their three children. And it was their daughter Barbara who captured Dieter’s heart.
Born-again, but not yet called, Dieter pursued his training for nursing certification, enrolling in a medical education program at Esslingen am Neckar.
“I had the opportunity to work in many different fields in the hospital, and I saw myself as an RN (resident nurse) for life, especially in the ICU (intensive care unit).”
He cycled to and from work every day and would often stop by the corps to chat with Barbara “to practice his English” (great excuse!). They married years later in 1985, with half an idea towards a future relocation to the States where his life’s work would remain in the medical field.
“Certification in Germany is different from here in the United States,” he explains. “Here, the emphasis is on academics. In Germany, there is some of that, but the emphasis is more on something resembling internships.” The more years of supervised on-the-job training, the higher nursing levels one can reach, along with higher pay.
“As an RN in Germany, I saw my whole life as being spent working in hospitals,” Dieter admits. “I even got Barbara a job in the same hospital, and together we lived comfortably and were making pretty good money.”
Barbara had felt called to become a Salvation Army officer for some time, but since she had met Dieter and fallen in love with him, she reasoned that since God brought him into her life, this must have been another path for her.
“Unless, of course, Dieter were to become called by God—and that’s something I prayed for for a long time,” she says.
Her prayers were answered in 1987 when Dieter applied for a Green Card for the couple to come to the USA Southern Territory, where Lt. Colonel David Holz (then divisional commander for North & South Carolina) arranged for corps helper positions at the Durham Corps. His
seismic shift in career choices went from saving lives to saving souls!
Shortly before Dieter’s Green Card status expired, he became a naturalized American citizen. He and Barbara entered the Evangeline Booth College in Atlanta in 1988 as members of the Witnesses for Jesus session of cadets. They were commissioned with the rank of Lieutenant in 1990.
After corps appointments Stateside, a series of wonderful foreign assignments began in 1993. The Germany Territory (as it was known then) knew that this German-fluent couple were Southern officers, so a request was sent to Atlanta for them to pastor the Solingen Corps.
“The four years back in Germany were easier for me to work in that setting than (adjusting) to working in the American culture,” Major Dieter admits. “Still, these were challenging times, but we were able to witness great spiritual successes while we learned a lot and grew in our overall service as Salvation Army officers.”
The Captains Zimmerer returned to the Southland to serve as corps officers in Danville, Virginia. During that time Captain Barbara’s parents had a friend that visited the Army’s Camp Saron in Spain, a year-round retreat operated by that territory. The Hackbarths were approached to serve there but had to decline.
“Barbara overheard the conversation, and after a lot of ‘arm-twisting’ I finally agreed to apply for our second overseas service,” Major Dieter recalls. “So, in 2001 we went to Madrid to learn the Spanish language before our appointment” to Camp Saron would commence.
“During our times overseas, we never had any employees like here in the U.S.—it was just us. So, I became an electrician, plumber, gardener, maintenance worker, and several more unlikely duties.”
Also, during that time, the Zimmerers were asked to take an additional appointment overseeing the Spanish/English Corps there in town. Even though they say they had a huge amount of work, the couple looks back on their years there as probably the most satisfying of their career.
After an intervening corps appointment to Greenwood, South Carolina (“Our best U.S. appointment!”), the Majors Zimmerer received their third overseas appointment to a corps in Hamiliton, Scotland. They later agreed to a second term there that became abbreviated due to Major Barbara’s decline in health.
Their service in Scotland presented yet another challenging culture shift.
“It was completely different there than what we became used to in the U.S., Germany, or Spain!” he exclaims.
Years later, the leadership at Camp Saron became open again, and they were reassigned to that post in 2017. On arrival, Major Dieter found the camp had run down; much of what they had accomplished years earlier was lost.
“The weight of the challenge became almost unbearable, and I asked God, Why have You sent us here? Then I heard God say to me, ‘Dieter, I want you to rebuild the camp again!’”
As if the rebuilding were not enough, three natural disasters brought further decimation, and the COVID epidemic completely shut down the camp’s revenue.
“We calculated that by that year’s end, our bank balance would be zero.”
But God was faithful throughout, he insists.
“We know that hundreds of people gave their life to Christ, while several thousand experienced a deepened relationship with God,” he reports. “Some people were called into ministry, while other Christians found their life-partner there.”
“We’ve seen spiritual battles fought and won; we’ve seen people’s lives changed to the good.” And that can also be said of all their appointments as corps officers or administrators. These Southern officers actually spent more years overseas (21) than in the South (11).
His advice to others considering overseas service? “You definitely will see yourself on your knees in front of God’s throne—but you also will see God moving in mighty ways you’ve never imagined!”