Thank you to the Elders of Central Christian

Serving at Central Christian Church during these last 3 1/2 years has been a great privilege and joy. Now they are partnering with us to see the city of Austin reached with the love and mercy of Jesus Christ! Robby and I are profoundly grateful to these men and how they have been a blessing to us and our families!

This is part of a letter I sent to them this past week.


Dear Elders of Central Christian Church -
Karl, Dave, Danny, Dave, Ryan, Mike, Jim & Allen

As Andrea and I reflect over these past couple of months, our hearts are so grateful for the support you have given to us. We were blessed to be a part of Central for 3 ½ years. Our lives were changed by the opportunities for outreach and ministry, and we grew in our love for Christ and our dependence on Him. Thank you again for giving me the opportunity to teach, preach and lead, and permitting me to mature my gifts in service.

We saw God move in our ministry as we prayed for growth and for men and women to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and fill our services for the Glory of God. I will never forget the first Sunday in the Gallery. It was an amazing process to pray for a deeper ministry and see God move in ways only He could! Soli Deo Gloria!

These past months have stretched us and have been full of God’s intervention, even in minute details. Most of my time through the end of November has been spent studying church-planting in general, researching demographic and psychographic information, praying, walking the various parts of the city, doing surveys with people in different parts of the city and asking God to give us a heart for the city.

I remember a couple of months ago when I was here on my own, I was talking to Andrea on the phone about the people of Austin and how much I desired them to be gripped by God’s love and be reconciled to Him. As I was talking to her on the phone all of a sudden I completely choked up and started weeping for the people of Austin who do not know the love of God. It was a powerful experience, as I am not normally a crying kind of guy!

We have now completed our training phase with Glenn Smith a church-planting expert and consultant from New Church Initiatives in Houston and have been given the green light from the church-planting team and the elders here at Hill Country Bible Church as to where we will be planting the new church. We were given the downtown area of Austin. If you look at a map of the city we have everything north of Lady Bird Lake, east of the river, west of I 35 and south of Koenig. The area includes the area around the Capitol, downtown, 6th Street, the Campus of the University of Texas, and a number of family neighborhoods. We are thrilled to be allowed to focus on this area, even though we anticipate this area to be a challenging location.
We are dreaming of reaching the next generation of influencers not only of Austin, but men and women, future leaders and creative minds that will shape the culture and future of our nation and possibly the world. The slogan of the University of Texas at Austin is this: “We are Texas, what starts here changes the world!” That is exactly what we believe as well. We are profoundly grateful for your love, prayers, and financial support. We are so blessed with our partnership for the Gospel and the glory of God. We are amazed at the outpouring of love and support given to us by the people of Higher Ground, the Gallery and Central as a whole. Your partnership in the Gospel during this time is so precious to us. We pray that God will enrich your ministry greatly as you seek His glory and fame.
May God richly bless you during this Christmas season!
Matthias & Andrea

Would you join me in praying that God would greatly bless the ministry of Central Christian and the leadership of these elders.