Matthew Prechter
Host Church: Church of the Resurrection
Hub: Wheaton, IL
About
When I was 17, the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit summoned me to a life of faith in Jesus. This summons took the form of an ardent longing for prayerful communion with God. St. Augustine’s accolade in his Confessions aptly describes those early days of prayer for me: “Stir us, O Lord, so that praising you may bring us joy, because you have made us and drawn us to yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.”
After high school, I attended a Bible school in southern Germany called Bodenseehof. Bible school created space for me to commune with God more intimately. My spirituality was cultivated through prayer walks in apple groves and wine vineyards along Lake Constance. In addition to spiritual growth, I experienced the truth that we encounter Jesus bodily in other believers in the life of the Church. Some years after Bodenseehof, my conviction that Jesus is available to us through other Christians began to extend to Word and Sacrament also. When I came to Church of the Resurrection on Good Friday 2018, I experienced the beauty and mystery of God’s self-giving love through the Scriptures and in the Eucharist.
After my time in Germany, I returned to the U.S. to enroll in Wheaton College to study theology. Afterwards, I completed a master’s degree in Divinity from the University of Chicago Divinity School. In the midst of my schooling, I met and fell in love with Christina Festen (now Prechter) who serves on staff at Resurrection. We are excited to continue deepening our love for Jesus and his Church through our life and ministry at Resurrection.
Ministry Residency
My ministry calling began with an encounter with God in 2015. Since then, I have served in a variety of ministry roles including working with youth at three English camps in Germany, working as the interim children’s pastor at a church in Frankfurt, Germany, and working with RezKids at Resurrection. These experiences led me to seek a ministry residency with Resurrection in order to discern my ministry calling on my life.
In my residency, I will be involved with the youth ministry at our cathedral church. My residency will include assisting in RezYouth ministries, and discipling students. RezYouth has been expanding in size and deepening as a community of students, opening up new opportunities to see God at work within the lives of the youth at Rez.
I am excited to be a part of the work God is doing in RezYouth. It is my hope to provide meaningful service while also learning from the wisdom of our ministry leaders.