After 4 years of preparation, our church installed its first lay elder. Michael Kastenberger was publicly examined before the congregation in October of this year. His theological acumen was found to be orthodox, eloquent, and edifying. He was shortly thereafter confirmed by a unanimous congregational vote and installed on November 2nd.

Michael completed a one year apprenticeship program that has since become Trinitas Academy. Before that, Michael had labored extensively in teaching in our congregation. He wrote a Sunday School class for our church on the history of Baptists and Anabaptists in Austria. Also, he is a gifted preacher. Our church has profited from Michael's sermons from the book of Philippians, Ruth, and the Gospel of John.

He is a godly man and the husband of his beloved wife Naomi. Our church is very rich to have Michael to bless all the saints in his teaching, preaching, and exemplary Christian life. I am thankful to have him now also as one of my pastors.

Additionally, on two Saturdays in November, I had the opportunity to assist in 2 other installation examinations from a sister church. I am rejoicing about new elders/pastors in our setting, because that is the bottleneck of healthy church planting. When churches are developing qualified pastors who are able to teach, then church planting becomes a matter of prayerful cooperative strategy. Please join me in prayer that Christus Gemeinde might be able to install one more elder in 2026.

A few weeks ago was my first opportunity to baptize some new believers into the church. By God's grace, our church has seen much of our growth over the years through baptism. Christus Gemeinde was founded with 8 members, and over the years, we have seen 34 members come in. Amazingly 16 of those who came into membership were baptized by our church (1 member shy of 50%). Therefore, while I thank God for the growth that we have had through folks seeking out a healthy church, I am especially humbled by how God continues to use the evangelism and discipleship of our church to save sinners. Now, I was not one of the founding members, but I rejoice that I get to participate in that legacy of evangelistic zeal. Hallelujah!

On November 9th, we received 4 new members by baptism and one by transfer. If our current trajectory holds, we may have another baptism in February. So please pray for our membership class which begins on December 17th. We are delighted that the Lord has chosen this time to add to the number being saved, and we want to be faithful to our calling to disciple those who have renounced the idols of this world and trusted in the Savior.

Michael's Installation
Our recent elder installation afforded me the opportunity to reflect on the ministry of a pastor from Paul's final words to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20. If anyone is interested, it is actually possible that YouTube automatically translates foreign languages with subtitles or audio! It usually gets about 80-90% of the original German. Here's the link.

2 Samuel
I recently delivered a sermon on 2 Samuel 8-10. Until now, our church has found great encouragement in seeing the Lord Jesus in the foreshadowing of David's Kingship. Preaching the Davidic Covenant in 2 Samuel 7 was a special highlight. Now, as things turn to a grimmer period of David's kingship, we will continue to meditate on God's mercy to us as sanctified sinners in Christ.

Christmas: Isaiah 9
This coming Sunday, on December 21st, I will be preaching on the coming of Christ as proclaimed by the prophet in Isaiah 9:1-7. My previous sermon from Samuel actually landed right upon that text as our congregation meditated upon what a good reader of Samuel Isaiah must have been. How appropriate then, that Isaiah 9 will accompany us into the Christmas season. Please pray that some of our church members might bring friends and family to church this Sunday and that the message of the Messiah who has come and is coming again would save souls.

Trinitas is well underway at this point, and I am indebted to many other brothers who have also invested in this ministry. Many of us are praying that it would continue to develop and that the Lord might establish a seminary here in the near future. Here are some of the classes I have been involved with:

Introduction to Reformed Theology
Brad Hunter - the Chancellor of Trinitas Akademie - led an introduction to Reformed Theology to start off our classes for this year. Many of the instructors got to participate by taking brief 1-3 hour segments. I was tasked with instructing on the history of the reformation and the defense of the gospel in the 16th Century. It was meant to give the students a foretaste of their coming Church History class in 2028.

Ethics Seminar
Nathan LaDuke and I led a Saturday seminar on Christian Ethics. I was humbled to be able to work together with Nathan, who is a gifted apologist and ethicist. The students gave feedback that the course material was dense but also very helpful in answering many of the ethical difficulties of our day.

Biblical Theology (upcoming)
This Thursday, three of us instructors will get together to discuss our upcoming Biblical Theology Course. Lord willing, this co-teaching format will expose the students both to the discipline of Biblical Theology as well as areas of sincere difference among Christians. Putting the Bible together is one of the most important considerations for a Christian, and my foremost concern is that the Lord Jesus would be glorified as the one whom the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings bear witness. Please join me in praying for His glorification among our students.