VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Benjamin Kreps:

Hey everyone, and welcome to the Mark Prater podcast where our aim is to connect our global family of Sovereign Grace churches with our executive director.

Mark, back a month and a half ago or so, we announced on the podcast that there are some changes coming, hopefully improvements, but definitely some different things on the horizon. And we are here, we are at one of those changes, one of those new things that we're trying on the podcast and that is soliciting questions from the audience and answers being given on the podcast to those questions. So we have a couple of questions from a couple of friends, a couple of pastors in Sovereign Grace. Remember, if you have any questions that you would like Mark to talk about on the podcast, go to markkprater.com and you can just fill out, very easily, fill out the form there and submit your question. We have some other questions in the hopper. It's not just for pastors by the way. So there'll be two pastors on this episode, but we've also gotten some from church members as well, which we're eager to hear from folks in our churches.

But today on our first Q and A, we have a couple of questions, and the first one is from our friend Riley Spring, Senior Pastor in Soveriegn Grace Church, Parramatta Australia near Sydney. And here's the question. Thanks for submitting the question, Riley. He says, thanks for the pod guys, keep it up. Here's this question. Will there be, or are there any resources that churches have made to go through our new catechism? We're going to read, he says through one question a week starting in February, but I'm wondering if there's more I should be doing to help get it into our people's hearts and minds. Yes, I know the New City Catechism has the kids' version. I've seen that. It is nice. Has anyone reduced our catechism for little kids as well?

So, Mark talk to us about how we might think about using the catechism in our churches. And is there a kids' version on the way?

Mark Prater:

Riley, thanks for the question. When I read it, I thought that's a good pastor because you want to get our catechism into people's hearts and minds, to use your language. So that echoes the heart, I think, of Sovereign Grace pastors, and again, I think Sovereign Grace pastors are just some of the best. So thank you for thinking that way about your church, Riley.

In terms of additional resources, we don't have anything developed at this point. I do know at Covenant Fellowship, we are intentionally leading the church through a question and answer per week and then calling the church to memorize it, to memorize the question and the answer. Doing our best to try to memorize the catechism as much as we can. And so obviously every Sunday morning until we get all the way through the catechism, which is 78 weeks, I believe it's 78 questions we will read. In fact, whoever's preaching that morning will read before they preach, the question and the answer. And it's not connected to the sermon, it's just reading it out loud together and then calling, reminding the church try to memorize the next one this week. So that's something to do. Now, we also decided to give one copy to every household in our church. So that would be another idea. If a pastor hasn't done that, you can order copies off of our website. Obviously there's a cost to those, we don't make any money on it, it's just to cover the expenses. And if you don't have the budget for that, you can download the PDF online and somehow distribute that in your church. So there's a free option, there's a cost option, and that's essentially what we're doing. The other thing that you could do during this time is to teach a separate class, like a Sunday morning class before your service starts, to just teach through the statement of faith and just remind folks of why this catechism is so important in a more teaching context, a didactic context.

One other thought is that I would encourage parents to be using this at home, and I would encourage parents or have pastors encourage parents to use the catechism at home. It's sort of a ready-made devotional for you. Look at the relevant scripture passages there. You can either find those in the catechism or you can go to our statement of faith and look for that section, the catechism speaking at too, and look at scripture so that you're connecting the catechism to the word of God. And that is sort of ready-made devotionals for someone 78 weeks in a row. That might help fathers or single parents think through, okay, what am I going to do for family devotions?

But now to get to his question about a kid's version, I'm not aware of any development of a kid's version at this point, but Riley, I'm going to submit that idea to our director of publishing Jared Mellinger, and we'll see if we can do that or not, which would probably be a pretty good amount of work, but it's an excellent idea. Can't promise, we'll deliver on it. But again, thank you for caring for your people. One other thing, if you are a pastor and listening to this and you're using the catechism in a specific way that I haven't mentioned that you found helpful, please let me know because I'd love to get the word out through this podcast.

Benjamin Kreps:

Excellent. Yeah, we have not really gotten into that utilizing it the way you guys are, but your example is compelling and it's getting me thinking. So hopefully that's helpful to everyone who's checking out the podcast as well. I mean, just a very small thing I saw recently, Redeeming Grace Church, Jeremy Hetrick leads that church at Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. They're utilizing their Instagram with the catechism, so they're regularly posting questions and answers. And so another small way to get that in front of the folks in your church. So that's very helpful, Mark. So thank you Riley for the question. I too would love to see a children's version, but we'll see what happens there.

Second question is from our friend, Jeffrey Jo, Senior Pastor of Cross of Christ Salvation Gospel Ministries in Manila, Philippines. And he asked this question, and this, we'll probably spend a little more time on this one, "how do we keep discipleship in our home in the midst of this self-entitled generation?", Jeffrey asks.

Mark Prater:

It's a really good question. In fact, I emailed Jeffrey back and said, I think I understand what you mean. Tell me a little bit more about when you're referring to self-entitlement, what you mean? I haven't heard back from him, but I thought let's go ahead and take a stab at answering this question. And if I get more qualification from Jeffrey, we may hit this question again, but I think it's a very timely question and it links to the first question where the statement of faith can actually be helpful in doing your devotions at home, seeking to build a godly family as scripture calls fathers and single parents to do so. The statement of faith, I think, is at least a tool that can be used, but as I understand self-entitlement, it's really this exaggerated understanding or mindset of deservedness that I deserve things. Even some of the things that I haven't worked for, if that exists in your home and with your children or maybe your teens in particular, what you're up against as a parent, as you well know, Ben is a clash of worldviews.

Benjamin Kreps:

That's right.

Mark Prater:

Because a worldview that I deserve what I want, when I want it, I'm sort of in an immediate sort of sense and I'm not happy until I get it sort of self-entitlement that is very different than the Christian worldview. And so that's a part of what you're up against as a parent. And I think the place to start, even before I began to sort of lead through devotions, I would want to ask my child, my teens, some questions. You seem to have this mindset that you deserve these things. Just tell me a little bit about that. Why is that? What's affecting your thinking there? Because I think as you were saying, Ben, one of the things that parents face is this sort of constant bombardment of worldliness. Isn't that what you were talking about just a moment ago

Benjamin Kreps:

Before we started? Yeah. Galatians 4, Paul is warning Christians about now that they've been redeemed by Christ and saved out of this world system that's aligned against God, to not go back to the elementary principles of the world by which we were enslaved before Christ. And really he's just getting at this fact that we all, including our kids, are sort of born because of our fallenness, engage in a project to please ourselves and all sorts of things that the world is eager to press into our lives. And now our kids, I mean just the ubiquity of social media, smartphones and so forth, there's just a constant, an ocean of worldliness flowing into our kids. And it's really one of the things that's so important when it comes to discipling our kids and parenting our kids wisely, is being aware of the world, constantly encroaching into our kids', lives through a million different ways, and seeking not only just to police that, but to wisely help them process that because they're going to live in this world that's full of all of this stuff. And so helping them learn how to love Jesus, follow Jesus while facing an onslaught of constant worldliness that the world is just pouring into their lives, into all of our lives actually, is an important part of thinking about how to cycle our kids in this current generation. I mean, worldliness has always been a problem. Self-entitlement always been a problem going back to our father, Adam, but there are unique temptations and challenges in this current generation, even more so than maybe we faced those of us who are getting older when we were younger.

Mark Prater:

Right, right, exactly. Yeah. And I think in that, for parents that are facing that, the first overall thought is actually for them. If you're facing that and many parents are, and maybe grandparents are in our homes right now, I think for us it is an issue of faith. It is a faith in God himself, a faith in his power that can be at work in someone's life and faith in God's word that does transform. And that's the mindset a parent has to have in keeping devotions and believing that they will have an effect. I mean, you see it in Romans, for example. Paul lays out this eloquent theological treatment of the gospel in the first 11 chapters and chapter 12 verse 2, it sort of moves towards the imperatives in that sense. He says in chapter 12, "I appeal to you brothers, therefore brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice wholly and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship". And then verse 2, "Do not be conformed to this world". And that's what you're up against; somebody being conformed to this world, "but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

And so how does the mind get renewed? We all need our minds renewed even as Christians, maybe people have been Christians for decades. We still have this ongoing need for our minds to be renewed. Some of the answer is found in those. I think in the first 11 chapters of Romans, there is gospel power that is presented in those chapters. Certainly that transformed a sinful heart to become more like Christ and certainly can transform a mind to think more like Christ. There is the wonderful Romans 8, the first 13 verses talk about the spirit's work in our battle against the flesh. And that can be very, very helpful. Do we have faith that God's spirit is at work in our lives and in our kids' lives to transform their hearts? Because it's a battle that we're not in alone. The spirit of God is with us to battle it. That gives parents hope. And then just the faith in the word of God overall just it is living and active. There's no other book like it.

And so I think if parents can have that heart and mindset, certainly faith that's going to help a lot in terms of how they approach helping their kids. But with the worldview, that's what you're up against. And that worldview of self-entitlement is really just so opposite to what Christ presents as his worldview. He left his glory. He gave up everything to come and be a living sacrifice on the cross for all of our sins so that we could be rescued from wrath and have eternal life. That's the gospel. But the way that he gave up his own rights in that sense without changing his deity at all, is a remarkable example. And then he calls us to pick up our cross and live like that daily because that is the kind of life that we find most fulfilling. We don't find fulfillment in the things that the world offers us and we think we're entitled to. Jesus was very clear. Those things will never satisfy. And that's what we got to help our kids to see what real life is about. What fulfillment in real life is about is a life of sacrifice. And as you do that, you experience a joy that the world will never be able to give you. And it's helping our kids to see that and to continue on in devotions.

One other thought and then you share any thoughts, Ben? I think if I'm leading in my home and I've got some kids who are self-entitled, I'm really asking the question, are they really Christians or are they not? Because if they're Christians, there's ways to disciple them. If they're not Christians, and they maybe even say that they think they are, but you're not certain, your whole strategy changes to one more of evangelism than discipleship because you want them to know Christ, because without that, they will never have their mind renewed and transformed apart from the grace of God.

Benjamin Kreps:

Amen. And as any parent knows who's raised children, I mean there's in some sense when kids are really little, while there are unique challenges with small children, essentially mom and dad just say, do this, don't do that. No. Yes, no. But as our kids are getting older and thinking for themselves, of course the strategy changes because we need to help our kids see the compelling beauty of Christ as superior to everything that this world offers.

But a wise parent understands your kid's getting 14, 15, 16, there's only a couple more years. And so helping them actually not just say yes and no, but being thoughtful in thinking about what the world is throwing at them. I mean, you were talking about that Romans 12 text, which is crucial. So I would say the same about 1 John 2, where the warning is do not love the world, the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world. And so of course, this kind of entitlement, it's not new. I mean we have God's word thousands of years ago, same issues. But there are cultural challenges that I think parents need to grow in wisdom and discernment. And I'm sure lots of parents are doing a good job in that, but it's incumbent on us to seek to understand what are the temptations and challenges our kids are facing and then seek to guide them through that.

And certainly a big part of that is the world of technology. We live online, we live on social media apps so often and sometimes necessarily so. But in a world of social media influencers and materialism and consumerism and worldliness, that's just important to our kids' lives to help them understand the distinction between what you're talking about, the way of Christ and the way of this world. It's just massively important. And I hope our parents in Sovereign Grace churches are being thoughtful and having discernment and not just unthinkingly I mean to say to a teenager, we don't want you to have an iPhone or be on social media for your good. Well, that's going to be challenging. There's going to be pushback. And we have to help our kids walk through a world where they will appear peculiar because they're not just following a long lockstep with the way of the world. And so there's a number of fronts that we need to help our children with.

We're not just looking of course to raise our kids to be courteous citizens. We want to help them follow Jesus. And when they leave in a few years to continue to follow Jesus in a world that is so often opposed to him. And so, I mean, I think there's things that pastors can do to help as well, and I'm sure lots of our pastors are doing, but teaching into this world of technology, social media, smartphones, I think is important. We need to equip our parents. I think there's a real hunger from a lot of parents in our churches looking for help. They're looking to be equipped to help disciple their children in this modern era. And so we're wise as pastors to think about how can we do that? Is there a class we can teach? Maybe it's preaching through First John. I think preaching through the book of First John can be very helpful because first John's addressing so many of these issues. And then honing application, directing application at times toward helping our parents with their kids in this discipleship process can be really important as well.

Mark Prater:

Right? And parents may choose to allow their kids to have a phone. There can be good reasons for that. It's not a wrong thing to do, but that if you're making that decision, you have to be diligent to help your kids know how to use it and be aware of what they're being exposed to. So in light of that, I am going to do a spontaneous giveaway, Ben.

Alright, so this is our first giveaway. That was another thing that we mentioned. I didn't come into the podcast necessarily thinking I would do that, but if you submit another question, I'm looking for more questions to be submitted. Ben and I are going to choose one of those as a winner for this giveaway. So it's one of two books. And if you want to put in your question which book you prefer, they're both by Tony Reinke. The first is 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You. That's a little bit of an older book. And then the other one is God, Technology and the Christian Life. That's a newer book and a little longer treatment regarding technology and a broader treatment regarding technology. So I will send you as a gift, one of those books. The way that you get sort of entered into that possibility of getting a book is to submit another question. It could be a follow-up question to this podcast episode, or it could be a whole different topic.

Benjamin Kreps:

Excellent. Can I enter?

Mark Prater:

Yeah, sure. <Laughter>

Benjamin Kreps:

I like free books. Excellent. Yeah, we really do have the finest pastors in the world in Sovereign Grace as far as we're concerned. And so I'm sure there's even thoughts, follow up thoughts maybe potentially in that, that we could talk about in a future podcast.

But, thanks for the questions. Hopefully there was some helpful thoughts in there in response to those. We came into the podcast saying, Hey, excellent Qs, hopefully we have at least some average A's, so we'll continue to field those questions, keep submitting 'em, interested in a broad range of topics to be able to talk about so that we can seek to make a contribution to serving the folks in Sovereign Grace; pastors and members in our churches. And even beyond. If you're watching this and you're not a part of Sovereign Grace, you can submit your question too. And we just might answer, not exclusive to Sovereign Grace people. So anything else to add before we end, Mark?

Mark Prater:

No, I'm grateful for our family of churches that as we build relationally, we're really trying to help each other grow as disciples of Jesus Christ. And that's what these two questions that we chose today represent. It's a family trying to grow in Christ together. And that's one of the reasons I love being a part of our small family of churches.

Benjamin Kreps:

Amen. So thanks, Riley. Thanks Jeffrey Jo, I look forward to checking out more questions the days ahead and doing more episodes like this. Hopefully they serve. So thank you, Mark. Thank you all for checking out the podcast. We'll see you here, Lord willing, next week. Bye for now.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Benjamin Kreps:

Hey everyone, and welcome to the Mark Prater podcast where our aim is to connect our global family of Sovereign Grace churches with our executive director. Mark, as we record this Thursday before, this is going to drop the Monday after Super Bowl Sunday for those in the states and care about it.

Mark Prater:

Oh yeah.

Benjamin Kreps:

Right? Yes. As we record this, Eagles Chiefs Go Birds. I will not make a prediction. I am a pessimistic and angry Eagles fan, but I feel somewhat hopeful. In any case...

Mark Prater:

A stereotypical Eagles fan, by the way.

Benjamin Kreps:

<Laughter> When I got to the senior pastor retreat for the northeast a couple of weeks ago, I was with Jeremy Hetrick and he informed the guys who were gathered there that "the Eagles had just won a playoff game against the Rams and Ben has been angrily ranting about it the whole trip". In any case, we're up here in the northeast of the States, it's cold. We're looking at freezing rain over the weekend. You are not in the northeast, where you live. You are in sunny and beautiful Florida.

Mark Prater:

I am.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yeah. What are you doing there?

Mark Prater:

Well, it's been a wonderful week, not only weather-wise, but I've been down here this week because as I mentioned in the last podcast, this week we've held our leadership team regional leader retreat. It began on Monday. Today is Friday and it has been a wonderful week. I wanted to thank you if you've prayed for the retreat. I mentioned that in the last podcast. So if you did happen to pray, I just want to thank you and want to report how God answered your prayers. I wanted to start with our time with the regional leaders, and of course we had other leaders with us, other leaders like Bob Kauflin, Director of Sovereign Grace Music and Joel Shorey, Director of Church Planting, Brian Chesemore at the Pastor's College, Josh Blount, Jim Donohue, who is helping us with evangelism, and Bart Lipscomb, who's our area leader in Africa. So those guys joined our nine regional leaders and we had a packed out meeting, obviously, with the leadership team added upon that, but they came in on Monday.

So what we did on Monday is we really just listened to the regional leaders. We had each regional leader give an update and Jon Payne just led this so well. He said, give strengths, give weaknesses, and any significant updates in each region. Of course, we're all taking notes because we learn from that as a leadership team and it does influence how we lead and it does directly impact our planning of the pastor's conference. That's in the fall, and I just came away from the time, just so grateful for the United States regional leaders. These men, they work very hard. They serve with wisdom, with carefulness, but with courage and with truth. And these men, I just thank God for, because as they report, they're telling us about some of the encouraging things that are happening in the region and then some of the challenges that are happening and they were actually helping one another as they talk about those challenges.

And then to hear some of our churches are going through a difficult time. Eric gave an update on Pasadena, for example, the Sovereign Grace Church in Pasadena and how the Eaton Fire really had just wiped out that area of Pasadena where they meet and they can't meet in the school where they're at because the cities had to store a lot of things there. They're meeting in a home, they can't quite find a meeting place. And so that's difficult among all the other significant tragedy that they've had in their church, that's just one illustration. And yet that region, Eric and that region, they're caring for the Pasadena church. So as they gave the updates, just thanking God for how they lead on the frontline serving our pastors. And as they gave those updates, it was just a picture of how they're helping one another as regional leaders. It was a wonderful picture of partnership as well. So that was on Monday and then on Tuesday morning we had Jeff teach on the pastoral epistles, and it was in typical Purswellian fashion. Outstanding. It was so, so good. And a little update a little mark this in your calendar. He's actually going to teach a PC class, A class at the pastor's college on the pastoral epistles in April of 2026.

Benjamin Kreps:

Let's go.

Speaker 2:

It is the week following Easter. I forget the dates, but put that in your calendar. That's the tentative date. Every pastor in Sovereign Grace should be there for those pastoral epistles. So he taught on that. It was a wonderful morning. In the afternoon we had Josh Blount teach on biblical masculine leadership and it had this aim towards discipling men and even discipling sons. It was so, so well done. Some other things that happened. There's many other things that happened afternoon, but I'll just give one. Joel Shorey just gave a church planting update and really talked about some things that he's been thinking about with the church planting group about how we approach church planting. And you're going to be hearing more about that in the days to come. So that was just Monday through Wednesday morning with our regional leaders and the other leaders we invited. And it was simply an outstanding time.

Benjamin Kreps:

Excellent to hear. I'm so grateful for our regional leaders and the crucial work they're doing. They are, man, those guys, they're serving their churches, caring for their churches, and then putting in countless other hours to care for the churches in their region. So we thank God for you guys and I'm so glad that you were able to benefit together in the leadership team with the regional leaders. So that was the first half of the week and the second half of the week, which is continuing actually today, we'll conclude today is more exclusively for the leadership team. So what's been going on in the second half of this retreat?

Mark Prater:

Yeah, the regional leaders and the other leaders left around noonish on Wednesday, and then we go right back into retreat mode as a leadership team. The very first thing that we do while it's fresh in our mind is we just debrief from that time for our regional leaders, what were some of the big lessons we learned? What were some of the things that we heard that we may need to bring leadership to for all of Sovereign Grace? Because there were some consistent issues among regions that we were hearing. One example is just this growing issue of leading a region that has a group of multi-generational pastors, first, second, and third generation pastors. That would be one illustration. And we just talked about just issues like that, which then shaped how we planned the pastor's conference. The other thing we did after in the debrief is we had some new proposals we were running by the regional leaders to get their input.

So we just went back through those, incorporated their input to find next steps to move those forward. So we're reviewing our adoption process, trying to improve that, the Pastoral Development and Deployment Program, which is a grant program for churches that they can receive some grants or funding from Sovereign Grace Central and potentially a region to equip and develop young men for pastoral ministry, PPC internships, pastors college scholarships, and post pastors college graduation residencies, for example. So we talked through that and made some next steps on that. So those are just some of the programs we were talking to them about. We talked about leadership development, we talked about just a number of other things that we're moving forward. That was the rest of that afternoon.

And then on Thursday morning, we just took by far the morning and into the early afternoon to plan the pastor's conference for both 2025 and 2026. And we've got breakout session topics defined. We've got speakers' ideas for main sessions for 2025 and 2026. And I can't wait for our pastors to hear that. It won't be long. And we'll be putting up registration for our pastors conference in November, and I can't wait to communicate actually some very exciting news to you about our pastor's conference, so stay tuned for that as well. We were also just working through just a number of leadership issues that we're addressing in Sovereign Grace and the time has just been very, very rich.

I think the other thing about our time together as a leadership team is that we continue to build relationally. So we work very, very hard, but we laugh a lot and we care for one another and we pray for one another. And I had this moment yesterday with the leadership team, I'm sitting with them outside at a table, we're planning, and I just said, guys, I can't believe I get to be on this team and I get to serve alongside of you and that we together get to serve this wonderful family of churches that has deeply impacted and changed my life. And it was just one of those moments that you're just so grateful, not only for the family of churches that you're in, why do I get to be in Sovereign Grace, and then to serve alongside of these quality men on the leadership team. So it's just been a wonderful retreat and again, thank you for praying.

Benjamin Kreps:

Excellent. Thank you for the update. Our polity I think is a gift that we've enjoyed and as it's functioned and we've been working on it and tweaking it, I think we've largely seen so many benefits from our polity that was introduced 12 years ago, but we could approach our polity in a more business-like fashion that wouldn't necessarily be wrong, but it is wonderful to hear in keeping with what we've enjoyed historically in Sovereign Grace to hear how you guys are building within the structure of our polity. You're building in relation, there's love and unity and learning from one another going on. And so for those of us out here, that is very gratifying to hear about and to get an update on.

Just wanted to say as well, keep praying for Pasadena. You mentioned them earlier, Pasadena. Hey guys, we prayed for you at our monthly corporate prayer meeting on Sunday night. I'm sure there are many others praying for you. Just so you know, we love you guys.

And can't wait to hear about the 2025 pastors conference registration opening soon. Somewhat shocking to hear, but then you think, well, we're in February. So actually not. Time moves on. We're not that far away from our next conference.

So thank you, men, everyone who attended the retreat this week; for your investment, for your sacrifice, for the thoughtful way that you care for your regions, and leadership team, how you care for us and Sovereign Grace. Mark, how you care for us as our executive director, couldn't be more pleased. So thank you so much for the update. Thank you all for checking out the podcast. We'll see you here next week. Lord willing. Bye for now.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Benjamin Kreps:

Hey everyone, and welcome to the Mark Prater podcast where our aim is to connect our global family of Sovereign Grace churches with our executive director. Mark, as we record this podcast, you are preparing to head out of town to attend a leadership team retreat. And these are regular events each year in Sovereign Grace where you and the leadership team meet together for several days, but not only the leadership team, you also include the regional leaders and this time, even others on top of that. So talk to us about the upcoming leadership team retreat and who all is going to be there and what you're going to be doing.

Mark Prater:

Yeah, thanks for asking, Ben. It's a very strategic retreat for a number of reasons. It begins on Monday, February 3rd. So when you receive this podcast, that's the day it's starting. And I thought it'd be good just to let you know it's happening, but also to ask for your prayers. We have found that this particular retreat in February is very strategic because we as a leadership team gather, but the first half of the week we have all of our US regional leaders join us, and then we've invited some other leaders as well. So just some reminders on who those people are. Regional leaders here in the United States are Rob Flood, John Loftness, Steve Teter, Josh Murphy, CJ Mahaney and Jayce Hudson, Greg Dirnberger, Darryl Schiel, Eric Turbedsky, and we've also invited Walt Alexander who helps CJ lead the region. CJ wonders if he's a future regional leader in his region. So those are the regional leaders that will be there.

And for this retreat, we invited some other important leaders as well; Bob Kauflin, Director of Sovereign Grace Music and leads Sovereign Grace Music, and Joel Shorey, our new Director of Church Planting, a non-leadership team director. So both those guys are non-leadership team directors along with Eric Turbedsky. He's a regional leader in the West. He is also our Director of West Coast Development. And then we've also invited Brian Chesemore from the Pastors College, Jim Donohue, who leads our evangelism efforts to stir evangelism in Sovereign Grace. We've invited Josh Blount and we've invited Bart Lipscomb, who is an area leader in Africa, but based in the States so he can make it to this particular retreat. And those are just the guys that are really helping us lead our family of churches; our regional leaders plus those other men.

And that's why this retreat is specifically important and strategic for the leadership team. We want to stay connected to our regional leaders and the other leaders as well. And we want to communicate that we lead Sovereign Grace with them because they're very much on the front lines of leading and helping serve our churches. So that's why it's very strategic. Another reason it's strategic is because typically this February retreat and the things that we cover there do influence the regional assembly of elders that our regional leaders lead typically in the spring, somewhere between March and April of the year. So that's why we do it. That's who's coming. And please be praying for our time together because as I've planned and prepared, I feel both an excitement for how God is going to work and a dependence upon God to work while we're together.

Benjamin Kreps:

Excellent. Yes, it's quite an assembly of wonderful pastors that you'll be gathering with next week, including my favorite regional leader, Rob Flood. Shout out to Rob. So during this week, what are you guys going to be covering, well, especially during that time together as the leadership team meets together with everybody, what will you be covering?

Mark Prater:

Yeah, on Monday, the retreat starts on Monday, and on that day, we're really just doing regional updates. We just want the regional leaders to give an update on what's going on in their region. That's always been very helpful and informative for us as a leadership team, and at least in the past, some of those updates have surfaced issues that are consistent across regions that pastors are facing. And that will help us actually structure the pastors conference in the fall and what do we preach on, as an illustration of why it's so important. So we'll get updates on Monday, and then on Tuesday morning we have Jeff doing a longer session on the pastoral epistles, which I can't wait to hear. Jeff is always going to be gold in that type of a session, so he'll spend the morning doing that. And then Jon, we've got a particular program we're working on that we want the regional leaders input on.

And then that afternoon, the rest of the afternoon, we've asked guys to give updates. So Joel Shorey will give a church planting update. Jim will give an evangelism update. We've got Brian talking about the pastors college students and the issue of the importance of Godly character, just learning from him there and things like other things we're working on. Jon's going to give an update on church adoptions, for example, I'm going to just draw the regional leaders in on our pastoral development and deployment program, grant program that we're launching. So that will be Tuesday. And then we have Wednesday morning with them, and we've asked Josh Blount to do a longer session teaching on biblical masculine leadership, which I can't wait to hear that from Josh. And then Jon's going to teach on boldness in partnership, and then we'll close the retreat with them around noon.

The leadership team will stay for the rest of the week, Wednesday through Friday morning. So most of us are there all week, and we've got a number of things planned for our time together as a leadership team. We always begin once the regional leaders depart and the other leaders depart, just to do a debrief from that time with them, what are the big things we're taking away? What did we learn? How might that shape the things we need to address as a leadership team? How might it shape our pastors conference? And then we've got that afternoon, just a number of updates and things that we're working on, like the ordination standards ad hoc committee that the Council of Elders voted that we should do as a leadership team. We've got some principles we're discussing for that committee. And then we'll choose who's on that committee as an example, we'll be talking about leadership development in Sovereign Grace, got Jared giving an update there.

And then on Thursday, we're going to spend all morning planning the pastors conference, not only for 2025, but 2026 as well. Sometimes when you do pastors conferences, you want to make sure that you're addressing certain things in both years. So that's why we at times do them together. And we've just got a session I've wanted to put in on missions and church planting. I think just trying to bring a little bit more definition to who a Sovereign Grace missionary is, for example, which is one of the things that is actually very exciting, that's sort of emerging from our churches; people who want to do cross-cultural mission work and can they be a Sovereign Grace missionary? And what would that look like? And just wanting to try to bring more definition to that to help our churches. So those are just a few of the things that we've got on our agenda.

There's a longer list. I always have a longer list than what we get through, but please be praying for our time together. Our hope is that this time encourages and strengthens our regional leaders and the other leaders, and that it also, that God would work in such a way that the decisions we make and the things we move forward do two things; that they serve our churches and our pastors, that's why the leadership team exists. We exist to serve the pastors and churches of Sovereign Grace. And then the most important thing we hope it accomplishes is that as we do all of that, we bring God much glory.

Benjamin Kreps:

Excellent. Yeah, just a few things, huh? That you're covering? Yeah, right. Just a few things. Just a couple. Well, it sounds like a full week, but we'll be praying for everyone who's gathering at this retreat. And we should, because we experience the fruit and effect of that gathering each year when we gather in our regional assemblies and when we attend the pastors conference. We are experiencing what you guys have spent time planning and praying about at these retreats. So looking forward to hearing about how it goes. Praying for God's blessing on all who gather and on you, Mark, as you lead the leadership team in Sovereign Grace.

So thanks, Mark, for the update. Thank you all for checking out the podcast. We'll see you here next week. Lord willing. Bye for now.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Benjamin Kreps:

Hey everyone and welcome to the Mark Prater podcast where our aim is to connect our global family of Sovereign Grace churches with our executive director. Mark, anyone who knows what's going on in Sovereign Grace over the past few years knows that there's this expanding global partnerships that are happening wonderfully all over the place, really. And one of the things I think that is very healthy and God glorifying is the way that this isn't just, Hey, we're happy to be connected to some other countries and regions and we're seeing about what partnership looks like. There's actually a lot of work being done. There's a lot of give and take. There's guys in the states and vice versa, back and forth seeking to serve others. There's partnership in the way that we're growing together globally. And you wanted to give us an update about some strategic trips that are coming up in order to serve that expanding and growing global partnership.

Mark Prater:

Yeah, I just wanted to mention a few of the trips that are very, very important, as you said, to building partnership globally and to continue to do that with our relational value of building relationally. And so I just want to mention three trips, I could mention more, but just three, one that just ended. Marty Machowski, who is the executive pastor at Covenant Fellowship Church where I'm a pastor, just got back from a 10 day trip in Seoul, South Korea. He was there January 10th through the 20th serving the Sovereign Grace partner church there, Lord's Grace Church led by Songhwan Kang.

And Marty just worked really hard. He told me before he left, he was teaching like, I don't know, 16, 17 times on that 10 day trip. So when Songhwan invites you, you work really hard, he just maximizes the time because he loves his church. And really sort of the theme of many of what Marty was asked to do was the Spirit's work in the family home which is just a wonderful topic and one that I'm sure Marty just did a great job with. And that strengthens partnership in Sovereign Grace because in Seoul, South Korea, they're the only Sovereign Grace Church. And so when Marty goes, and I think this is his third or fourth trip, that's very meaningful, not only for the pastors, but for the members feeling connected to Sovereign Grace. And Marty's not the only one that has left. Cornerstone Church in Knoxville has sent teams over there and pastors over there. Walt Alexander from Trinity Grace in Athens, Tennessee is, I think it was just there last year, taking a team of folks. So there are other churches participating that really invest into our partnership in South Korea. And one of the things we're praying for and hoping for there is that eventually that church will plant another church in South Korea. But that happens through the support of other churches and pastors in Sovereign Grace. So that's a trip.

There's a second trip I wanted to mention, it's actually happening right now this week. We're recording this on Friday, January 24th. But Ed O'Mara, who is the lead pastor of Chiesa Grazia Sovrana in Torino, Italy, a church that he's planting there. And also our area leader in Europe has traveled down south to Sicily. He's going to Katanya Italy. And he is spending time with Giuseppe who is the lead pastor and the other leaders in congregation there, Chiesa Grazia di Verite. And Verite means truth by the way. And they are continuing to discuss next steps in the pursuit of adoption. So it may be in the coming years that that church is adopted by Sovereign Grace as they work through our adoption process. And when that occurs, if it occurs, that would be our second partner church in Italy. So pray for Ed and pray that the fruit of that particular trip, Ed's hard work would really result in a partner church there in Italy. And I believe Rocco the co-planter there in Torino, I believe went with Ed as well. So that's an important trip.

And then a third trip I wanted to mention is one that is going to be to Brazil. Bert Turner, who is a pastor at Covenant of Grace Church in Akron, Ohio, is also really our leader from the states in Brazil. He's traveling to Brazil February 9th through March 17th. It really is a five week trip where he's just going to serve in Brazil. And what's unique about him and his wife Karen, is that Bert and Karen a million years ago were missionaries in Brazil and therefore learned the language and they still speak fluent Portuguese, which is a real benefit in trying to serve churches in Brazil. And so he is going to work very hard. I think Karen may be going with him on this trip. They're going to be in nine cities in that period of time, meeting with 12 different pastors. Some of those cities he'll be in; is Rio Grande, Sao Paulo, for example. Porto Vere are just some of the cities they're going to be in. There are several churches in Brazil that do have interest in being adopted into Sovereign Grace. So while Bert is down there trying to help them with that process and assess whether they're compatible theologically and with our values and virtues with Sovereign Grace. So we're very, very grateful for that.

And then when he is in Rio Grande, the plan is for him to formally ordain Emerson Soares, who is the senior pastor of Igreja Nova Vida in Rio Grande. He graduated from the pastor's college a couple of years ago, is almost completed with, almost finished with the ordination process. And while Bert is there, that'll be March by that point, the first week or 2nd of March, the hope is that Bert will ordain him and we will have our first ordained Sovereign Grace elder or maybe the second, maybe second Sovereign Grace elder because Fabiano was ordained a few years ago, who's in Sao Paulo, but our second Sovereign Grace elder in Brazil and certainly our first one in Rio Grande, Brazil. So just some things that are happening where guys are working really hard and strengthening our partnership and just those are strategic trips that help us to, again, partner, build our partnership carefully, thoughtfully, and relationally.

Benjamin Kreps:

Wonderful to hear. So takeaway, anybody need someone to come to their church and preach 17 times, Marty is your man. He's got some messages. What a wonderful development to hear about a second church in Italy after we're just, we've been praying for the past few years for the first one. And to hear about a potential second one is thrilling. And I actually got to sit in on Fabio's ordination in Portuguese as Bert translated. And even with that challenge, that hurdle of the language there, it was one of the most edifying ordination exams I've ever sat. And there were tears in that room as we felt cared for even in his answers in Portuguese as Bert translated, which is just another really cool expression of how we are growing globally. And when you think about that, and we talk about it a lot, it's a big deal in Sovereign Grace, actually, is expanding global partnership reality. What are your thoughts as we continue to move forward and build relationally in global partnership?

Mark Prater:

Yeah. Well, the first thought that comes to mind is that our global partnership is expanding and being strengthened not just because of the work of the leadership team, but actually the work of pastors in our churches. They are committed to our partnership and they are taking trips and making sacrifices to strengthen our partnership. And they're doing that eagerly and voluntarily and enthusiastically. So I'm very grateful for all the pastors that are doing that. I mentioned Marty and Ed and Bert, but there's so many more pastors that are doing that in Sovereign Grace. So that's my first thought. Thank you guys for just your heart, for our mission and our partnership in Sovereign Grace.

The second thought is each of those guys that I just mentioned are coming from churches and pastoral teams who are supporting them in sending them away. They're giving them time away from their responsibility locally. I'm sure they're investing financially and there's a cost and a sacrifice to that. So I'm grateful for our churches and pastoral teams that remain in the states. Of course Ed is in Italy, but remain at home doing pastoral ministry while they send one of their guys out to strengthen partnership. And I'm just grateful for the generosity and heart of our churches as well.

And then just the commitment to build relationally. Just as you think about what these guys are doing and how they've scheduled the time and who they're with, it's very intentional to build relationally because we want to continue to be a family of churches. We don't want to be a professional denomination. Now we are denomination because of our polity, but we don't want to be professionals in that sense. We want to be brothers in Christ. And so I'm very grateful for the intentionality of these guys, just time with pastors and wives, long meals with pastors and wives, conversation and laughter and building a friendship. That's the kind of partnership we want to bring. And these men and so many other pastors in Sovereign Grace are doing that well. So those are some quick overview thoughts.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yes, I mean, you've said it before and I heartilly agree. We just have the finest pastors in Sovereign Grace. And so it is such a joy to see these high quality and qualified men being deployed into global relationships. And actually through that process, we're adding more wonderful pastors and churches into that partnership with Sovereign Grace. And those guys in turn are then interacting internationally with other churches there. It really is a joy to observe and to hear updates about. So thanks for the updates, Mark. We'll be praying for these relationships going forward. Thank you all for checking out the podcast. We'll see you here, Lord willing next week. Bye for now.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Benjamin Kreps:

Hey everyone and welcome to the Mark Prater podcast where our aim is to connect our global family of Sovereign Grace churches with our executive director. Mark, everybody who's checking out the podcast this week by now is aware of and is probably paying close attention to the fact that California is on fire. Southern California and historic devastating wildfires are sweeping across the area. It's just so sad to hear the stories about all the loss that's being experienced there. But for us, while we certainly, some of us, have friends, family members and so forth out there in the Los Angeles area, we also, in case people aren't aware, we also have brothers and sisters out there in a Sovereign Grace Church in Pasadena. So for us, this isn't theoretical at all. We have family out there in Pasadena who are also suffering loss as members who live in and around the fires are experiencing the effects of those fires. Talk to us about what's going on out there in Pasadena.

Mark Prater:

As everybody looks at headlines or pictures or even video, whether it's a news reel or online. It's very sad, as you said Ben, and devastating, really, a tragic loss for so many regarding these wildfires that have occurred over the last week approximately and aren't done yet apparently.

And it is more than theoretical for us. It is family that we have out there within Sovereign Grace. We have three churches in Southern California, one in Santa Ana, California, one in Orange, California. And as you mentioned, Sovereign Grace Church of Pasadena. And that church in particular has been impacted by the fires and it's the Eaton fire in particular that directly impacted people in that church. And so first of all, I want to dedicate a podcast to it simply to call us to pray. Pray for Sovereign Grace Church of Pasadena. Pray for Tim Owens who just became the lead pastor there back in the fall and is really early on in his lead, Pastor tenure, and has had to lead through just a difficult situation. And the other pastor there is Bill Fisher who's a bivocational elder. So pray for those men as they shepherd and lead the church.

Jon Payne sent out an update today that he got from Pasadena and in working with the regional leader in the West, which is Eric Turbedsky, who happens to be the lead pastor of Sovereign Grace's Church in Orange, California, who's doing all that he can to serve the church in Pasadena. But that update, if a pastor hasn't seen that email from Jon, you can get an update there.

But many members in Sovereign Grace churches listen to this podcast and wanted to give them some information so they can be praying and potentially even help give to disaster relief. But the impact there in Pasadena, initially 24 households in that church had to evacuate. Currently there are 13 households who are still impacted by either evacuation orders or significant smoke damage or contaminated water and they can't move back to their home. They're still displaced in that regard.

And then two families have lost their homes. One of them happens to be Bill Fisher, who is the bivocational elder there, and then a third family, Ron and Tami Boomsma. Ron led that church for 20 plus years before moving to Bozeman, Montana back in the fall to take the lead pastor role of Emmaus Road Church in Bozeman. Ron and Tami had their home still in Pasadena, kept it so they could rent it out, and they lost their home as well. So these are the families that are impacted with the loss of homes. And so it's all just very tragic and very hard and they are experiencing real suffering. And the church, from what I can see, is just doing a great job of caring for one another. But we as a family of churches, we want to come alongside them and not only pray for them, we want to try to help in any way we can.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yes, at Living Hope on Sunday, so Tim and Bill and anybody from Pasadena who is listening, we prayed for you, I'm sure a number of Sovereign Grace churches did. And so we are praying and we'll continue to pray for you, Sovereign Grace Church. Beyond our prayers, which of course are the most essential piece in all of this, our appeals to God for Mercy, there's actually practical ways that are being sort of developed and a fund that's been created for people who want to help out with the challenges that are there. Talk to us about that.

Mark Prater:

Yeah, I've been asked for several days now, "Is Sovereign Grace as a denomination going to start a disaster relief fund for California?" And what we've chosen to do instead, we think this is a better approach, is to work with Eric Turbedsky, the West regional leader and also Tim Owens, and for the money really to go directly to the Sovereign Grace Church in Pasadena. So I'll give you a URL address, a web address. We will put this in the transcript. There's a couple of ways that you can get to the Give page really. You could just put in sgcpasadena.org and they have a banner at the top to visit the church hub to get to disaster relief. Or you can go here and that'll take you right to the page that describes really what's been happening and gives you an opportunity to give.

And that giving goes to Sovereign Grace Church of Pasadena because they're coordinating their efforts to care for their folks. And then they're also working with three, I think it's two or three, other churches there in Pasadena where people in the area can just drop off things that are needed like water and diapers and clothes and food. So obviously most of us are not in the Pasadena area and can give, and what they're going to use their money for, they've got it outlined on that page. They want to be able to purchase and deliver drinking water to areas where there's contaminated water. They want to coordinate professional cleaning of a home or two of a member of a church. They possibly, they're considering helping to pay insurance deductibles for a few families in the church or at least help in some way. And then they're looking to provide places for people to live for one or two weeks just until the insurance gap kicks in and they can find some other housing until they're able to move back in or until they're able to rebuild.

So those are just some of the ways they want to use that money. And it's just a wonderful way to express our love and affection for when a church is going through a tragic situation like Sovereign Grace Church of Pasadena. And if you live in the Southern California area and you want to drop stuff off, please do that as well. So that's the information in terms of being able to participate and give. And if you do that, I want to thank you for caring for one of our churches because we are family in Sovereign Grace. We're a family of churches as we say. So we weep with those who weep and we want to care in any way we can.

I'm very grateful also for partnership because immediately, right away, I was texting with Eric Turbedsky, who's the regional leader, again, and he's in Orange, California and the churches, both in Orange, Sovereign Grace Church in Orange and Cross of Grace Church in Santa Ana just immediately contacted the Pasadena Church and said, we've got families in Santa Ana and Orange that'll be glad to open up their homes. If people just need a place to stay during evacuation period, for example, please let us know. So just another wonderful picture of partnership, in a tragic situation, that we share in Sovereign Grace. So thank you for praying and possibly for even giving.

Benjamin Kreps:

It is our privilege to bear one another's burdens even when it's brothers and sisters maybe we haven't met and don't recognize their faces and yet we are united together by the same spirit in Christ. And so this is a wonderful opportunity, hopefully, as churches have opportunity, to share wherever you put announcements to share that link. We've had some folks coming off of praying for Pasadena on Sunday asking how can we help, which I would expect is going to be a common reaction among our churches. So thank you to everyone who's praying. And Tim and Bill, we got you in prayer. We're for you guys and we will continue praying and asking God for mercy and all of this. So thank you, Mark, for the update. And thank you all for checking out the podcast. We'll see here next week. Lord willing. Bye for now.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Benjamin Kreps:

Hey everyone. Welcome to the Mark Prater podcast where our aim is to connect our global family of Sovereign Grace churches with our executive director. Mark, we've talked about this on podcasts before, but it is a remarkable thing to observe what God is doing among the young adults in Sovereign Grace churches. I mean, we're in a culture where the gurus are informing us that kids are growing up in the church to graduate from high school to leave and to never return. But we're not seeing that exactly. We're seeing a lot of young people actually setting the example when it comes to zeal and a desire to follow Jesus and to be faithful. And one evidence of that is the huge crowd, 650, 700, that gathered again at the Relay Conference just at the beginning of January. You were there. How did it go?

Mark Prater:

I was there. It went so well. It was my first Relay. I wasn't able to attend last year for a number of reasons. And it was outstanding for just a number of reasons. As you said, 650 to 700 young adults gathered at Covenant Fellowship Church in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, and they represented 60 different Sovereign Grace churches, which is a wonderful expression of partnership. I think just in the numbers themselves, it was one sweet sweet time.

I've got some just big takeaways from last week that I've just been thinking about and praying over, and so I just wanted to share this. I got three of them, first of all, after being there and just watching all that's going on.

I think the spirit of God is at work in the third generation of Sovereign Grace's churches in a wonderful way and possibly even in a unique way. And I'm always very careful with that word unique. But there is something really the spirit of God is stirring. You see that in just their passionate singing to God during worship. And I would say it was very close to the Pastor's conference and that's a high commendation because you know how we love to sing at the pastor's conference, but these kids, they sang with all their heart and with passion, there's an obvious hunger for God and the word of God, just how they just leaned in during the preaching of the word, for example. And they just love being together. They just hung out together. It is just a wonderful expression again, of partnership and how our partnership's being strengthened relationally in that third generation. I mean, some people, they just know one another from a different church and they follow up, they stay in touch after the conference via text or however they communicate. And it was just a wonderful work that man can't fabricate. We can't, the Sovereign Grace leadership team, can't fabricate that, it is a good work of God. That is the divine work of the Holy Spirit and I was just so affected by it. So that was my first big takeaway.

The second one is we are at this point in our denomination going through a generational transfer of leadership. First generation is transferring leadership to the second generation. And Relay is a wonderful conference and context where the second generation is actually leading and the third generation gets to experience the leadership of the second generation. So Jon Payne and Jared Mellinger have responsibility to plan and lead this conference. They did an outstanding job. They're leading throughout the conference, but not just them. They are wonderful second generation leaders like Walt Alexander and Jace Hudson and Joel Shorey, Ricky Alcantar and so many others that are serving publicly, teaching breakout sessions, leading pastoral prayers. And the third generation in Sovereign Grace, they're able to say, Hey, those are my leaders and the generation old guys like me, we're just there encouraging all of it. We just want to encourage them on. So that is really wonderful and maybe a picture of our future, our short-term future even as these transitions occur.

And then the third thing, because of the generational transfer of leadership, we're at a place as a denomination like a lot of, I think other denominations right now where we just have a need for men to aspire to pastoral ministry, whoever God may be calling to that desiring and noble task as it says in 1 Timothy. And so there was a pre-conference session, a couple of sessions pre-conference for men who are considering pastoral ministry or aspiring to it. And 40 men were at that pre-conference sessions. And it was just, Jeff, first of all, was telling me who taught there and Josh Blount, he said it was really stirring to see the men that were there that were earnest for pastoral ministry. So those are just some of the big takeaways where I just see God at work being good to Sovereign Grace for another generation, this third generation in Sovereign Grace.

Benjamin Kreps:

That's excellent. Sad to miss this one. I did go to the first one last year, didn't make this one, but I mean it was a pure delight to have lunch actually a couple days ago with a guy who's been to both Relay conferences, 23 years old, aspiring to ministry and just expressing how Relay has made just a huge impact on the way he thinks about pastoral ministry and his desire to grow in knowing God's word. He has this flame that's been lit within with this passion to know God's word. And so that's a joy to interact with these young folks that really, like you're saying, this is not something that is being fabricated by anyone. It's more like you guys are coming in the wake of what God's doing, just seeking to serve. And one important way that you guys were serving those who gathered at the conference was the many main sessions and the breakout sessions. You taught one of 'em, but talk to us about the different speakers and the different sessions.

Mark Prater:

Yeah, and first of all, lemme say Jon Payne and Jared Mellinger again just did a great job of planning and leading this conference. And so they chose messages. Really what we're trying to accomplish is to communicate teaching on the doctrines of grace, just that fundamental Reform theology that you want to communicate to the third generation. And so on Thursday evening, our founder, CJ Mahaney opened the Relay Conference with a message on election from Ephesians chapter 1. And Ben, it was so good. I think I first heard him preach that maybe 20, 25 years ago, I don't remember exactly, but hearing it the second time, was so good, maybe even better. It was just wonderful. So not only it served my own soul, but what really impacted me as he was preaching was just thinking about and actually observing the third generation in Sovereign Grace. Hearing this from our founder, our first generation founder in Sovereign Grace, and transferring this such important doctrine to them, it just brought tears to my eyes and it was wonderful.

That was followed the next morning on Friday morning with Jeff Purswell teaching on Justification by Faith alone, obviously from Galatians 2, and it was so, so good. You got to listen to that message. I told Jeff after he got done preaching, I think I was born again. Again. After hearing that sermon, so please listen to it as well as CJ's. So, so good.

That was followed by Jared Mellinger doing a wonderful message on Grace. It's kind of an overall message on Grace, how Grace is only a gift, but how operates in our lives. And that was from Isaiah 31. He did an outstanding job, listen to that. And that was followed by on Friday evening, Jon preaching on Sanctifying Grace from Titus chapter 2. And just a wonderful call to godliness, obviously in that sermon, that Jon did so well.

And then Dave Taylor, who was there all the way from Sydney. Thank you Dave for being there. He finished up the conference on Friday morning preaching on Future Grace from 1 Peter 1, just looking at what we have in eternity. And in doing so, obviously talked about the perseverance of the Saints. Really, really good message from Dave.

So all of the main sessions and breakout sessions hopefully will be available soon. You can go to the events page of the Sovereign Grace website and look for the Relay logo and click on that. They should be available soon.

There were also several breakout sessions that you can potentially listen to. Ricky Alcantar did a breakout on evangelism, which I look forward to listening to. Walt Alexander did a breakout session entitled Spurgeon on Joy, a wonderful topic. I can't wait to listen to that one. Jace Hudson did a breakout session on the Psalms and worshiping from the Psalms, and then Josh Blount did a breakout session on men and women. I think the subtitle is God's Complimentary Masterpiece, something like that was in the title, which is Josh's fastball, so you've got to listen to that one. And then Joel Shorey did a breakout session titled True Friendship that I heard was packed out and heard he just did a great job. I can't wait to listen to that one. And then I did a breakout session entitled, Called to Work. It was really a breakout session on a biblical theology of work and vocation and included obviously some of the practical challenges in that.

And all the breakout session speakers gathered for dinner on Friday night, and we all had the same experience; these kids were just leaning in during all the teaching, but then they had a lot of good questions. So after my breakout session, I finished a bit early so I could do a little bit of q and a. I did that, didn't want to go over too much at the end of the breakout session and then stayed for almost another hour just answering questions that kids had.

So that was the teaching component, but there were also other facets of Relay that really just were a wonderful work of God, I think is the way to say it. There was a ministry time following Jon's message on sanctifying grace on Friday evening, and kids were just coming up and asking for prayer and many repenting and just wanting to grow, not in godliness, but in their passion for God. It was just a wonderful work of the Spirit again. And then they're sharing meals together, lunch and dinner served there at the building, and so they don't have to go anywhere and they're just hanging out together and getting to know one another across churches.

Again. It was just wonderful to observe all of that. And then both on Thursday evening and Friday evening, they had what they called an after party, which means they just had a bunch of games set up everywhere in our building from cornhole to a trivia game out in the heated tent outside. And you just heard a lot of laughter and a lot of joy and food late at night. Thursday night session ends and there's pizza and wings, and I'm thinking, man, at my age, if I ate wings at this time, I would not sleep well. But those kids, they ate it, man. They ate all, all the pizza and the wings and they just had a great time. So it was just a happy conference where you're seeing the wonderful work of the Spirit of God in the third generation of Sovereign Grace. And I couldn't be more enthused about our future because God's being very good to us.

Benjamin Kreps:

Excellent. Thanks for the report, the good report. It seems inevitable that we're going to start seeing some Relay weddings at some point. It's an unspoken aim for the leadership team in this conference. <laughter>. But one that, yeah, we hope to see in the future as these young adults get together and they're growing together, this conference really is, it's you guys and the leadership team. It's taking the stewardship of what God's doing seriously. This is something to steward, not to manufacture like you were saying when we started the podcast. And it is wonderful to be able to hear about what God is doing in the lives of these young folks. And I wasn't there, but anybody else like me who wants to hear those messages. Well, we have something called the wonder of the interwebs where apparently soon we will be informed about how to listen to this session. So looking forward to all of that.

Thank you, Jared and Jon for leading. Thank you to all the guys who served in teaching and leading throughout that conference. Thank you, Mark, for your role as well. And thank you all for watching the podcast. We'll see you here next week. Lord willing. Bye for now.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Benjamin Kreps:

Hey everyone and welcome to the Mark Prater podcast where our aim is to connect our global family of Sovereign Grace churches with our executive director. Mark, Happy New Year.

Mark Prater:

Happy New Year, Ben.

Benjamin Kreps:

It is January 2nd as we're recording this podcast. So it's the first podcast of a new year 2025. Last week or a couple of weeks ago we announced about changes to the podcast, hopefully some improvements coming in this year including fielding questions from folks that are checking out the podcast. We've already started to get some questions.

Mark Prater:

We have, we received three questions, all really good questions. Two of them are from members of different churches and one from one of our pastors. So I was really encouraged to get a quick response and just a reminder to everybody, you can submit questions by going to the markkprater.com website and there's a form right on the homepage where you can submit a question and we will be answering those. We can't promise we'll answer every question, but we will review 'em and those we choose we'll probably devote some episodes to, or we might take an episode and do several questions. It kind of depends on the questions that we get. But I'm really encouraged that we received three already. And if you have questions you would like Ben and I to speak into, please submit those.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yes, please keep the questions coming. Grateful for those who've already submitted some, it will help us we trust to be able to produce content on the podcast that will more helpfully serve folks in our family of churches. But like I said, it is January 2nd as we're recording this at the beginning of a new year. Each year at the pastors conference, and last year was no exception, in November, you shared with us really an envisioning, some ideas to envision us about the upcoming year in Sovereign Grace. Things that God has put on your heart for our family of churches. We don't want to leave those behind as we enter into a new year. And so you have some hopes for Sovereign Grace that you want to share with us this year.

Mark Prater:

I do. These are hopes that I have that I pray about that I'm working in cooperating with the spirit of God to lead us in these directions. But I think the place I want to start is my overall hope is that we would be a family of churches that has an enduring faith for the good gospel work that the Lord gives us this year and in future years, depending on how long God allows Sovereign Grace to exist. And as you well know, Ben, that kind of enduring faith according to Hebrews 11:6, it pleases God. So, may all that we do this year in laboring for the gospel and in future years may it be done with an enduring faith, with an aim to please him as Hebrews 11:6 says. And so all that we would do in 2025 would give God glory. That's our ultimate goal is to glorify God in all that we do.

But that enduring faith really is expressed in some specific ways that I've been praying about. Now I just want to share a few of those for us as we start 2025. First of all, enduring faith to train future pastors and make any generational transfer of leadership that might occur this year in some of our churches and in the coming years. And if you look at scripture, it can be very humbling at times. For example, James 4:14 reminds us that our life is but a mist. We are here for a very short time and then we vanish, we vaporize like a mist. And so for the Christian, for the short time that we are here is given to this task of transferring the gospel to the next generation so that future generations not even yet born will hear the good news of Christ. I mentioned Hebrews 11 before, that's the wonderful chapter in our Bibles known as the Hall of Fame of Faith in that chapter. And Peter T. O'Brien in his commentary makes this wonderful observation about that chapter. He says, "it is noteworthy that in the list of Hebrews 11, attention is given not only to the faith of the Old Testament examples, but also particularly to the salvation historical events themselves. The examples are set in historical sequence so as to provide an outline of the redemptive purpose of God advancing through the age of promise until at last in Jesus' face, pioneer and perfecter, the age of fulfillment is inaugurated."

So we want to take what we do in Sovereign Grace and we want to lay it into redemptive history. And first of all, what you realize is Sovereign Grace is small. I mean we say that, we know that anyway just by numbers. But really we're small in comparison to all that God has done and will do in redemptive history. And yeah, we're playing our small part of advancing the gospel, the promise of God in saving sinners like us as we wait for the culmination of the age of fulfillment. That's where we fit in redemptive history. So let us use the short time we have, including 2025 to just equip the next generation to take this gospel and run with it and to equip future pastors as well.

And as we're recording this, one expression of that is Relay. Our young adults conference actually begins tonight and I'm so excited about it, there's a pre-conference that young men are going to that are interested in pastoral ministry. And then the conference is for 18 to 30 year olds roughly. And I just can't wait to be a part of that just to watch God work in the next generation. So we're taking some efforts that way, but let's continue to pray to invest into the next generation. So that's one expression of enduring faith.

Enduring faith for theological fidelity, which is really important not only because of the cultural influences that any church or any denomination face right now, but also given our current global expansion. And as we expand, we could be vulnerable to losing our gospel fidelity. And what we want to do is we want to have this enduring faith to remain faithful to God's word, which will not only strengthen us as a family of churches, it will help preserve and protect and even strengthen our unity as well. So just a reminder to members and especially to pastors who listen to this podcast, please utilize that Sovereign Grace catechism. We have a plan at our church, we're giving it to every member, every household in our church. And we're going to read through that together as a church family in the next 78 days. And we're going to memorize verses in that catechism as well. So that's not the only way to do it, but that kind of a utilization of the catechism does help strengthen our theological fidelity. So just a reminder on that.

A next expression, enduring faith to continue to plant churches, you know this Ben very, very well. It requires faith to send your best and it requires faith to give generously financially to the work of church planting. And we do all that to obviously reach more people with the good news of Jesus Christ. But it's that kind of faith and those kind of sacrifices that please God. And when a church prioritizes gospel mission and sacrifices for gospel mission and they feel those sacrifices, my experience has taught me that those are the kind of churches that actually flourish in gospel ministry when they do that. And you know that from sending your best just a little over a year ago. And yet how God has blessed your sacrifices at Living Hope. So, enduring faith to continue to plant churches. And please pray; in the next couple of years we plan to plant six churches in the United States, nine outside of the United States, a total of 15 over the next couple of years. So let's have an expression of enduring faith by praying for those church plants.

And then one other thing, enduring faith for joyful generosity. I mentioned this in a previous podcast last year. I just see God doing this wonderful unique work in our family of churches right now. He is stirring members and churches to give not just sacrificially financially, but joyfully. There's just a joy in giving and it's something that I see evidence of that I think is a unique, wonderful work of God that we can't take credit for. But that work of stirring generosity is very timely given the number of gospel opportunities he's giving us throughout the world that need that financial support. So in the coming year purpose to have an enduring faith, to give generously to your church, to your local church, and to our mission in Sovereign Grace.

And let me just wrap up with this. I started with just as a family of churches, us having an enduring faith that would sort of mark our lives. And in doing so in 2025, I want us to think about the generations to come that we will never meet who will be in our churches. And maybe we'll look back and say they had an enduring faith that was compelling. And I'll end with this quote from William Lane who's commenting on Hebrews 11 again. And he says this, "the author of Hebrews brings before his audience, a long series of exemplary witnesses to an enduring faith. The catalog shows that throughout redemptive history, attestation from God has been based upon the evidence of a living faith that acts in terms of God's promise, even when the realization of that promise is not in sight. Such faith is able to move beyond disappointment and the sufferings of this world and to bear a vibrant testimony to future generations regarding the reality of the promised blessings." And so I pray that we would have an enduring faith this year as a family of churches and that would leave a vibrant testimony as Lane says, for future generations to follow. May that mark us as a family of churches.

Benjamin Kreps:

Amen. The new year, there's a sense in which there's sort of an artificial nature to these kinds of evaluations or resolutions. We haven't even talked about that for an upcoming year. But I think a wise Christian, we'll take advantage of moments like a new year to evaluate and to pray and to think about what God has for us in the future. And so just even this beautiful, simple but transcendent category of pleasing Christ through faith-filled study and serving and sacrifice and so forth, that's a thrilling prospect. And my prayer is joining with yours as well, is that we would be a family of churches that we're really just in this upcoming year and in the days ahead, just banking everything on the faithfulness of God because some of these things that we're talking about; church planting, generosity and so forth, they do take faith and there is sacrifice. But we can please the pioneer of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ, through what may appear to some people to be sort of just ordinary Christian activity done in faith. We can please him and we can see him working in our churches.

So thank you, Mark, for your encouragement in this new year and we look forward to seeing you next week. Lord willing. Bye for now.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Benjamin Kreps:

Hey everyone, and welcome to the Mark Prater podcast where our aim is to connect our global family of Sovereign Grace churches with our executive director. Mark, anybody who checked out the podcast last week knows and is now aware that we have been working behind the scenes in smoke-filled back rooms, seeking to figure out how to utilize this podcast more effectively to serve the folks in Sovereign Grace and anyone else who wants to check it out as well for that matter. And those who have been waiting with bated breath since last week, wondering what are these new changes? They're about to be happily surprised by what you're going to share because we have some new changes coming to the podcast that you want to talk about.

Mark Prater:

Well, I hope they're happily surprised. We'll see. Yeah. We met last week, Ben and I, the week before Christmas. We're recording this on December 26th. We met last week, as I mentioned last time in Denver, Pennsylvania at a diner there. Had lunch together and talked through just all options. In fact, in that conversation, Ben and I, we just threw everything on the table. Do we just end the podcast? Do we cancel ourselves? And by the way, we have chosen not to do that, which is why we're recording this. We just said, should we continue to publish 'em at the same frequency, produce 'em at the same frequency, which is weekly, and try to do that in the 10 to 15 minute range. And we talked through that and thought, let's just keep that same frequency for now. We talked about changing the name of the podcast, and I think we decided not to, just to prevent confusion and probably because we couldn't come up with much better, actually, as we sat there and had lunch, was the main reason why. So we just started by just throwing everything on the table. I think we came up with some good changes though that I'm eager to announce.

Benjamin Kreps:

Excellent. So changes are coming. This is the last podcast of 2024. We're getting ready next week when we record to do our first podcast of 2025. So what are the changes that we can anticipate heading into a new year?

Mark Prater:

Yeah, we've got five of them that we sort of, I think it's best to put 'em in categories. So five new changes that we are eager to announce. First of all, we want to devote an episode somewhat regularly to answering questions. Followers of this podcast have pastors and members of our churches, even those outside of Sovereign Grace. And so you can do that by submitting a question on the markkprater.com website. Right on the homepage (under the contact tab), Erin's got a form in the middle of that page called "Submit a Question (or a Topic) for the Podcast". It's just put your name and your email and your question and submit it. And we would just love to hear what questions that you have. We're eager to take several of those and devote an episode to it. Now, how frequently we do that will depend upon the number of questions we get, but we want to spend some time answering your questions. So it's a bit of a mailbag sort of approach that we're adding into our podcast in 2025.

The second change is we would like to hear what topics you would like us to address. So you can use that same form on the contact page where you submit a question, just put in there your topic and submit that to us and Ben and I will review it. And we want to do that because as Ben mentioned last week, this podcast exists to serve the members and pastors of Sovereign Grace churches. And if it ever stops doing that, we'll cancel it. We'll shut this thing down because that's our desire to serve you.

So tell us what topics you want us to speak into, which leads to the third new change. We've decided to choose some topics that might require a little bit more time and be more conversation between Ben and myself in format. So we've been trying to get into that 10 to 15 minute range in terms of length of time. We're not going to go much longer than that, but depending upon the topic, we might inch up above 15 minutes just so we can treat it fairly again, depending on what topic we do address. And I think on some of those topics, we want to be more conversational, meaning that I'm talking less than I normally do because Ben is talking as well. We're just having a conversation about the topic. So that's the third change that will be coming in 2025.

Number four, we're going to continue to look for guests to join us. We've done that occasionally. I've had Jeff Purswell on this podcast. I've had Steve Whitacre on this podcast, but you and I just kind of listed a whole list of names that of folks we'd like to reach out to and join us now and then, so I'll be looking for guests to join us in the future and in 2025 in particular.

Fiftth and lastly, we are going to give occasional giveaways. Let's go. And we're going to approach that in some different ways. We might make it a competition. We might make it a first responder by using the form on the markkprater.com website. We're not sure yet, but we're going to do some giveaways throughout the year, so be listening for that. And we'll try to make 'em not lame giveaways. Right Ben? We'll make them really good giveaways so that you actually would like to receive what we sent you. That's right.

Thank you for listening to this podcast. It is an honor and a joy for Ben and myself to serve you, the members and pastors of Sovereign Grace Churches. And I've been thinking a lot about that as 2024 begins to just close. I was just thinking about this morning how much I thank God for each of you, and thank you for listening to our podcast.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yes, well, hopefully that is a belated Christmas gift to our tens and tens of followers of this podcast. But seriously, we do hope that going into the new year that these changes will serve to help us be able to do more effective podcasts that really do serve the folks in Sovereign Grace because we love you.

And Mark, I'm so grateful to be a part of Sovereign Grace and grateful for everybody who checks out the podcast. So thank you, Mark, for another year of the podcast. We're a few years in now. Let's do another one by God's grace and for his glory, and we'll see you here next week. Lord willing. Bye for now.