Dieter is an accomplished man, and if measuring is your thing, you better get an industrial sized rolling tape. Dieter has helped change lives as a pastor and worship leader. He's an accomplished musician, singer, and songwriter. He's considered one of the first pastors to target Gen-X as a generation found, not lost. Many credit him as the pastor of the first Gen-X church in America. He's a published author.

What's left for a guy like this? Well, most recently Dieter added the title of survivor to his resume. In 2008, Dieter suffered a stroke as he lay in bed next to his wife. That stroke took much of what gave him the ability to accomplish so much in his life; it took his voice.
As Dieter rehabilitated, he came to the realization that the part of his brain affected by the stroke made it physically impossible to play the piano again. Not only did he lose the movement of his right hand, his mind no longer yearned for music as it once had. Here's a man who had everything to give and actually gave everything he could to other people. He did this with his voice, his music, and his written words - none of which he can share any longer. Dieter's mind still takes in everything crystal clear, but his thoughts are held prisoner by his nervous system.

I encouraged Dieter to start taking pictures again. I told him more or less, "Dieter, you can't talk, but you can see and you can speak with the images from your camera." Dieter didn't have a camera. He was a successful man, but now a disabled pastor with very little money. So, I gave him a [camera] and he got right to work (Emphasis mine).