The special speaker this year was Dr. Kai Soltau, of Vienna, Austria. Dr. Soltau spoke on the Old Testament and its relationship to the believer’s life in Christ. In the first few sessions, he explained how the book of Deuteronomy is the foundation of the Old Testament. Deuteronomy expounds the main themes of God’s dealing with people: God has given His law, but people are unable to obey it. But Deuteronomy also promises that God will give His people a circumcised heart, so that they will be able to obey Him (Deuteronomy 32:10), and that God will provoke His people to jealousy through a people who are “No-People” (Deuteronomy 32:21). These promises have both been fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament. The promise of the circumcised heart has been fulfilled in the regeneration of believers and their union with Christ; the promise of “No-People” has been fulfilled by bringing the church into the New Covenant. Dr. Soltau concluded his teaching on these themes with a sermon that he preached on Sunday morning from the book of Judges. [Audio recordings of the sessions and of Dr. Soltau's sermon will be available soon on EBC's sermon page.]

After each of the sessions, the people of EBC and visitors enjoyed fellowshiping together. Events included  marshmallow roasting, s’more assembly (and eating), hot-cider drinking, and dinner together on Sunday afternoon. Sunday concluded with games for children—such as a donut-eating contest, a pumpkin-wrangling game, and an apple-bobbing challenge. And of course, the children weren’t the only ones to have fun: our pastor, his wife, and our distinguished speaker also took their turn bobbing for apples.

(Photos courtesy of David Molitor.)