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To Becky and Dave McMoil, Brian Nelsen is an amazing example of Christ's love in action.

Becky met Brian in a "Focus on the Family" chat room on the World Wide Web in January 1996. A teacher, Becky saw an article about education in a copy of "Focus on the Family" magazine. Noticing an Internet address, she thought the Focus chat room would be a "safe place" to visit.

Becky was experiencing rough times emotionally and wanted help. Every night after the children went to bed, she questioned Gail, the chat room host, about God. Brian, a chat room volunteer, noted Becky's questions and offered to help Gail reach out to Becky. Gail put the two in contact.

For several months, Brian and his wife, Patty, ministered to Becky by phone and computer. The Nelsens live in Minnesota; the McMoils were in New York. They ran up huge long-distance bills. "We both talked to Becky a lot," Brian said.

Brian and Patty explained how to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Becky made that commitment.

One day, Brian escorted Becky on a "virtual tour" of his church, Evergreen Community Church, in Bloomington, Minnesota. From her New York home with husband Dave and their four children, Becky jokingly said, "When can we visit?" Brian extended the invitation—"Come anytime, we have plenty of room."

The McMoils began planning a Minnesota trip—part vacation, part job search. Dave knew his job was going nowhere, and he thought the Twin Cities area might offer more hope. In June 1996, the McMoils set out for the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

It was not a hassle-free journey. In Pennsylvania, their 1986 minivan blew a tire, and they had to be towed to a service station. In Indiana, the power-steering belt broke. The McMoils made it safely to a hotel; the repair would wait until morning. "We kept saying, 'Is this really what we're supposed to be doing?'" Becky recalls. Then the worst happened; halfway through Wisconsin, the engine seized.

In tears, Becky called Brian. He told Becky not to panic; he and Patty would be there as soon as they could. The McMoils were stunned by the offer; the mechanic at the garage where they had been towed was flabbergasted—a stranger was going to drive six hours one way in the middle of the night?

Brian rented a tow-bar. At 1:30 a.m., he and Patty arrived in Wisconsin, and met the amazed McMoils face to face. Heading back to Minnesota, Brian towed the McMoils' van behind his 1973 pick-up truck while Dave drove Brian's van.

The McMoils stayed almost two weeks with the Nelsens, a week longer than expected. They watched Brian, a former mechanic who at the time operated a machine shop from his garage, replace their van's engine and transmission (for free) in miserably hot weather.

"He had an old box fan blowing on him in his driveway," Becky says.

The McMoils couldn't believe how gladly their hosts, who had taken vacation time from work, accommodated their four young children: Zachary, Sara, D.J., and Anna. While Dave used the Nelsen's van to scope out the job market, Patty and Brian set up their water sprinkler for the children.

"We were in awe that these people who didn't know us would do this," she says. "It really was the catalyst that changed our lives." For the first time, Becky saw God's love modeled in a person.

The Nelsens and McMoils kept in touch. Then in April 1997, Dave had great news: he found a job in Minnesota. Today, the McMoils live in Hopkins, twenty minutes from the Nelsens. The two families worship at Evergreen Community Church together—virtual friends who became best friends.

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