In the picture above, you can see a brief glimpse of my public interrogation for the office of elder at Christus Gemeinde Wien. It is a joy to share that our church installed me as its third elder in early February. Bobby and his family were also able to briefly return and reap some of the joy of their labors. He, Kai, and another brother pastor from Klagenfurt (southern Austria) participated in the Einsetzungsbeirat (Installation Advisory Council).

This installation also set a precedent for our ministry in Austria, and what kind of ministry we would like to see here. As Kai, myself, and other trusted friends have worked here, we have noticed a certain bottleneck in ongoing church planting efforts. There is a severe shortage of qualified elders/pastors in Austria. Our hope is that this installation process would serve as a template that our sister churches can consider. Also for our own church, we wanted to set a high standard for eldership whereby men who become elders would be truly qualified - both morally and in theological acumen. Additionally, it also sets a target for our trainees. We formulated over 150 practical theological questions that will serve as our question bank for interrogating new elders as well as a kind of curriculum for training new elders.

I was also eager to follow in the footsteps of a certain historical hero of mine. Andrew Fuller, when he came into his second pastorate at Kettering in 1783, delivered a public confession of faith to his congregation. This was common for the time and served a unique and largely forgotten purpose. While an elder is first and foremost a moral example to the congregation, an elder must also be apt to teach. Therefore, by way of a public confession unique to that elder, they articulate what kind of elder and what kind of teaching ministry they would like to perform. Maybe that sounds odd to our modern sensibilities, but many in the congregation said that it was the highlight of our process of installation. Please click here to read an English copy of my public confession.

Evangelism(?)
Since our church was founded, we have always had a steady stream of new church members and new believers to disciple. That is until now. Recently, Kai and I have noticed that our church does not see the number of visitors that we used to, and fewer persons are applying for membership.

Recently, we've also seen some seeds that fell on rocky soil, which has been disheartening. Please pray that those who once confessed Christ as Lord and faith in Him alone would come back to the fold. Pray also for renewed vigor for us all to reach out to the lost and not be consumed by the worries of this world.

"Sermon Nuts and Bolts" Elder's College
Shortly before my installation, Kai and I led a meeting of our elder's college with attendees from a few sister churches plus our trainees. I think that it was a helpful discussion on the nature and purpose of introductions, conclusions, applications, and illustrations among other things.

Please pray that Austria would have excellent preachers one day. By God's grace, I believe that the church in Austria would be greatly strengthened by a few good men confident in the Word of God. Pray also for the edification of our church, the church in Krems, and the church in Klagenfurt.

Preaching
I'm glad to have wrapped up my James series with a solid sermon on James 5:19-20. It was a great encouragement to me in our weekly sermon review with Kai and the trainees to hear that it was among the best sermons in the church's history. I am by no means the preacher that I want to be, but I am also not the preacher that I was. In this, please join me as I pray that my progress is being made evident to all.

Counseling Needs
The past few months have also revealed a strong need in our congregation for pastoral counseling. For a variety of reasons, some counseling issues have come to light that need attention. As we come into our 3rd year as a church, this is a typical time when churches are tested, and we are feeling it. My first few months as a pastor revealed how much I still have to learn, and why my biblical counseling classes were so important.

Please pray for unity for the church, strength in the battle against sin, and love that bears with one another.

Our daughter, Bomi, just turned one year old on April 4th. She continues to be everyone's favorite baby on three continents. Her smiles are infectious and irresistible. Fortunately, she inherited most things from her mother. Lina and I are continually amazed at how different she is from Jonathan. Whereas Jonathan was uninterested in communication at this age, and physically rambunctious, Bomi is calm, communicative, and constantly smiling.

For her birthday, we followed some funny Korean traditions and invited a good many people over to our new home. It was an exciting time to practice hospitality and bring some of our non-saved friends into contact with our church members.

Please pray for our children and our parenting. Full-time pastoring for Matthew and parenting for us both is a new frontier. As our responsibilities increase, we are still adjusting to the new normal. We are thankful that you would pray for regularity in our family worship times, faith for our children, and endurance for Lina's health.