Blog

We celebrated Easter last week which in Austria means colorful  Easter markets…

…there was a big celebration at church of course…

…and, like the Austrians, we took off the Monday after Easter (instead of  Good Friday) and took a quick trip to Salzburg with our friends.

If you would like to see all of our pictures like our Facebook page (top right hand box), follow our twitter feed, or follow us on Instagram (texmeck).

Last week we were visited by our old roommates from Russia-Randall and Joy…

…they have been living in Bulgaria and made us a tasty Bulgarian meal while they were here…

…we showed them around the city and helped Randall find where his grandparents lived when they served in an international church here.

If you would like to see all of our pictures like our Facebook page (top right hand box), follow our twitter feed, or follow us on Instagram (texmeck).

This week Liz and I finally got some time to enjoy some of the musical history of the city…

…we enjoyed a concert at Schubert’s birthplace for a date night…

…and we spent a family day in the the “House of Music”

If you would like to see all of our pictures like our Facebook page (top right hand box), follow our twitter feed, or follow us on Instagram (texmeck).

A few random pictures this week…this is the central station in Veinna (Wien Mitte)

And this is our subway station…as you can see it’s gotten colder this week.

We ended the week on a high note with our BTCP class meeting at our apartment for a concetraited weekend of class.

If you would like to see all of our pictures like our Facebook page (top right hand box), follow our twitter feed, or follow us on Instagram (texmeck).

Find Vienna on a map and draw an imaginary line north to south through the middle of the city. Now look to the right of the line and what do you see? Eastern Europe as far as the eye can see. It’s easy to understand how Austria or Österreich, which literally translated means Eastern Kingdom, got it’s name. Considering this there the hope that our team here and in Romania might not only have local but also a regional impact.

In the fall I had the opportunity of visiting some Bible Training Center for Pastors (BTCP) students in Romania. Denton Bible Church has been training pastors there for the last 15 years and the courses continue to bear much fruit in the life of the church there. In an effort to further their training, several of the top students have come in for extra courses that go deeper than the general material. In October, my new field director, Tim Ford, and I attended the course where we both lead devotionals before the lectures. After that we were invited to travel to Moldova, a small neighboring country to help open up a brand new BTCP there. Moldavian culture is heavily influenced by both Romania and Russia, so it was a little bit like going back to Russia for me.  One of the Romanian pastors that Denton Bible has trained has started the course so it is amazing to see how the course is not only multiplying, but being taken into other countries. It was a real honor to be there and help start the first class. I’ve been told that the students enjoyed having us there and I have been invited back.

This has given me a glimpse into the possibilities of our team having not only a local but global impact. Pray with us as we make steps to see where God might lead us in this endeavor.

to see more pictures of the Moldova trip be sure and like our Ecksfiles page on Facebook

Last week was Naomi’s second birthday…

…we celebrated with family thanks to Skype…

…and we even had a special day at the Zoo!

If you would like to see all of our pictures like our Facebook page (top right hand box), follow our twitter feed, or follow us on Instagram (texmeck).

As you can see it snowed again last week…

…and I got caught out in it one day..

…but that didn’t keep me from teaching BTCP!

If you would like to see all of our pictures like our Facebook page (top right hand box), follow our twitter feed, or follow us on Instagram (texmeck).

“Is that a cult?” It is a common question that we get here in Austria. The evangelical church is not a historically established entity and so many people don’t trust it. It is part of the reason that we meet in Starbucks for our Bible study because many Austrians are leery about going to a church service at a Freikirche or “Free Church,” so named because the church is not supported by tax revenue from the state. Not only are the Free Churches not accepted by society as a “real church” they are actually not even recognized as a real religion by the Austrian government. That means that most Free Churches are not technically churches, but religious organizations  That might not sound so bad but consider for example that Free Church weddings are not recognized unions, or Pastors are not considered clergy-they really can’t even take the title of pastor. Recognition might even open up new avenues for missionaries that are working with registered churches here. Currently the only visa we can get is one that does not allow us to “enter the job market” here which puts limits on the amount of time that we can spend here.
It seems like it would be easy for the evangelical church to become recognized, after all you only need 0.02%  of the population to be adherents of your religion to apply. Buddhist  Muslim  even the Mormons are all recognized, why not the Free Church. Sadly there is no one evangelical denomination that has the required 17,000 members to apply for official recognition. That is a sad commentary on the state of belief here in Austria.  However, there is currently an effort for five denominations to come together so that the Free Church can finally be recognized here. For any of you who are interested in reading further about the developments on this here is an article on church recognition by the European Baptist Federation. Please be in prayer that this process opens up avenues for the Gospel to go out here in Austria.

Last week was cold and snowy. The snow started Tuesday morning early when Matt was at the church…

…and went through Wednesday night when Matt was a heading to the Oasis refugee ministry center.

Liz and Naomi managed to keep warm though 🙂

If you would like to see all of our pictures like our Facebook page (top right hand box), follow our twitter feed, or follow us on Instagram (texmeck).