Having given a Mission Sunday presentation at different SELK congregations across Germany every weekend this month, my travels will bring me back to the U.S. on July 28th for the LCMS Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Along with two other missionaries, I have been invited to report on the work happening in Europe. I will share … Continue reading Summer Greetings
“As you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to Me.” Last Sunday, Immanuelsgemeinde (SELK) in Stuttgart (pastored by Texas-born Rev. Scott Morrison) kindly invited me to speak on Mission Sunday. I preached on Mt 28:19-20 and reported on my evangelization work with Iranians and teaching at Riga Luther Academy. … Continue reading Thank you, LCMS Brothers and Sisters!
“…There are some who trouble you and want to distort the Gospel of Christ” (Gal 1:7). *** I recently chatted with Saman, an Iranian parishioner in Hamburg who will begin pastoral formation at Riga Luther Academy this September. He commented on how in Iran, Muslim theologians claim that there are many contradictions in Christianity, with … Continue reading The Bible in Iran
I recently spotted something amazing along the waterfront in Hamburg: branches growing out of seemingly dead pier pilings. Have you ever noticed how God sometimes brings life to things that look dead? *** At Riga Luther Academy’s Intensive Study Weeks, I chatted with our student Rev. Bahadir Argönül from Turkey. He is a Lutheran pastor … Continue reading New Life
Week 2 of Intensive Study Week of Riga Luther Academy. After a week by the coast in Mazirbe, we are now at the St. Gregory Education Center in Saldus, a small town in central Latvia. Yesterday morning I sat down with Rev. Traian Niculescu, a seminarian from Romania who is already an ordained Lutheran pastor … Continue reading A Lutheran in Romania
As this month concludes, I am once again in Latvia, attending Luther Academy’s Intensive Study Weeks. It is a blessing to interact with our students on a person-to-person basis after five months of seeing them every week only over Zoom. But it is also wonderful to fellowship with my fellow LCMS missionaries / Luther Academy … Continue reading Lone Ranger Christians?
Currently back in Latvia, with the other faculty and seminarians from Eurasia and Africa for Luther Academy’s “Intensive Study Weeks.” Once or twice a year we see our students face-to-face and supplement online instruction with in-person classes. This past semester I taught “Lutheran Confessions of Faith,” in which we worked through the entire Book of … Continue reading Seeing Clearly
On my way back to Hamburg recently, I had a layover at Hannover central train station. I went to a discount supermarket and picked up my favorite beer that they sell only there. A man who looked like he was down on his luck picked up a few too. I saw him again at the … Continue reading Jesus Loves You, Gerhard
I recently started a new Bible study, which some Iranian parishioners whom I baptized on Easter are attending. We are studying Ephesians, which I selected, among other things, for its wonderful opening chapter on the doctrine of election—that is, that our triune God chose every one of His people from before the beginning of time. … Continue reading Coming to the Father
“Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20). Last Sunday, on the Day of Pentecost, we had yet another wonderful Persian-language Divine Service. My friend and colleague Rev. Marko Turunen officiated, and I gave the sermon on the Coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2), … Continue reading Foreigners
The Tiews in Germany 