When Lina and I got married in November of 2015, Lina told me that it was her childhood dream to visit Pompeii. Now, nearly eleven years later, we were able to realize that dream. At the top of this page, you can see happy Lina and sad Augustine in Pompeii. The small picture below (or to the right if you are viewing on computer) is Lina at an even older archeological site south of Pompeii. It was great to get out of town with the family and enjoy some great food and fellowship. At around 13,000-17,000 steps per day, I do not know how relaxing the vacation was, but we sure had fun bouncing around Italy for a bit.

Evangelium21, the parachurch organisation headed by my brother pastor Kai and a few other pastors in Germany and Austria just wrapped up their third regional conference in Austria. Around 80 participants gathered in Salzburg to a series of sermons on Psalm 23. Additionally, Verbum Medien, a local publishing house was able to translate Jonathan Gibsons excellent book, "The Lord of Psalm 23" into German.

The larger gospel-centered church planting movement has seen some setbacks in the last year in Austria, but I was encouraged to hear of a church planting effort in western Austria. Please pray for Lukas, the man heading up the church plant, that he would have wisdom and seek out wise counsel. If the Lord opens a door, I know our church and other likeminded brethren would love to assist this missional community of about 20 people in Wels, Austria.

I was able to participate in a recent civil demonstration for the sanctity of life. Historically in Austria, this has been an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic endeavor, but praise God the small number of evangelicals are beginning to get more involved. Granted, participants ranged from conservative atheists to evangelical Christians, so parts of the demonstration were a little off putting. However, our church members are rejoicing that the pro-life position is entering more into the public sphere.

Presently, there is one political party in Germany and zero political parties in Austria that have an explicitly pro-life platform. Austria has also taken the radical step to no longer require any reporting for abortions in Austria (something even Germany has not done). So please pray for Austria and for the Austrian elected representatives to do their duty as the civil magistrate and end the modern version of child sacrifice.

We were elated to host some likeminded brethren from Florida who came and taught our RENEW network on subject of deacons. RENEW is a joint initiative of 6 churches or so in the Vienna area. It is subset of the work that we are investing into Evangelium21, the larger German-speaking network of confessionally reformational churches.

Our church is growing, and we have had some interesting conversations about church plants in other parts of Austria, as well as possibly integrating some folks into our membership to see them go back out again for a church plant. Those discussions are pretty half-baked right now though, and we are seeking the Lords will in prayer and counsel. Christus Gemeinde is a geographically dispersed church. Our two furthest church members live 1 hour and 42 Minutes away from each other by car.

My recent preaching ministry has centered on the book of Acts where we have finished through Acts 14 and Pauls first missionary journey. Recent sermons have focused on generosity, courage, certainty, and clarity in the midst of the Christian mission to evangelize the world. My brother pastor Kai is currently walking our church through the minor prophets. I am also looking forward to doing some pulpit supply this weekend for a brother pastor south of Salzburg, so that he and his family can take a vacation.