Churches Serving in Our Shared Mission

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Ben 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. Hey, Mark, as you can see, I am not where I normally record from.

Mark Prater:

You don't seem to be at home, Ben. You have got to turn your camera and show us your view. That's really important. Oh, yeah. There we go. We could just leave it there. <laugh>, play some music, sit down, you know, in your chair, and just relax. Is that what you're doing this week?

Ben Kreps:

It is. And I'm so chilled out. I'm just hoping I can make it through the podcast. <laugh>.

Mark Prater:

I hope you can too,<laugh>.

Ben Kreps:

On a more serious, but joyful note, anyone who's been around Sovereign Grace for any length of time is aware that we are not a parachurch organization. When we engage in missions, we do so with pastors and members of Sovereign Grace Churches. It's embodied mission coming from the churches in Sovereign Grace. You have a number of updates about what pastors and members are doing to engage in our global mission, our shared mission together. Tell us first about several things that are happening with the pastors of Sovereign Grace.

Mark Prater:

I would love to. I would love to do that. First, just to echo what you just said, Eckhard Schnabel, in his book on missions, it's a two volume set which is excellent, says that gospel missions spring from the local church and leads to the establishing or the planting of new churches where disciples are made and disciples are served and grow in Christ. And so that's our view of mission. It springs from the local church, and we do that together in partnership in Sovereign Grace. And right now, I'm just so encouraged from my seat and what I see in my role. I'm just so encouraged about how both our pastors and our members are participating in our mission to advance the gospel throughout the world, which is one that Christ gave us right before his ascension.

He says, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and Son and the Holy Spirit. And so, I just want to give you just a few ways of how I'm seeing that happen in Sovereign Grace. Let me start with pastors. We have pastors from different countries traveling to other countries to serve other pastors. And so right now as we record this podcast, Jeffrey Jo, from Manila Philippines, along with one of his pastors in Manila, Ray; they are in Nepal with also Billy Raies from Midland, Texas. So a pastor travels from the states, two pastors from the Philippines, all to serve our friends and pastors in Nepal this week. That's happening right now.

Dave Taylor and Riley Spring from Australia were just in Liberia where they trained pastors throughout West Africa. All of those men and the churches that they lead, want to be adopted into Sovereign Grace. So, two pastors from Australia in Liberia serving a number of pastors in West Africa.

Joselo Mercado, as most people know, keeps a busy travel schedule. And just some of the places he's been until this point of the year: he's been to Columbia where he did a pastors and wives retreat with pastors who lead churches that want to be adopted into Sovereign Grace. He spent time in Costa Rica as well with pastors; equipping them, pastors who lead churches who want to be adopted into Sovereign Grace. And he was in Guadalajara, Mexico where he had this wonderful privilege to speak at a women's conference led by Nancy Lee DeMoss, where 8,100 women throughout Latin America attended. So, you know, that's sort of rockstar status for Joselo. But his impact is not just serving pastors, it's also their wives and women at the conference that he was at. So those are just a few of the trips. Those are not all the trips, just few of the trips. Joselo is from Puerto Rico, he lives here in the States and travels to three different countries in Latin America. And it's just a wonderful way that our pastors are participating in fulfilling the great commission and strengthening our partnership in Sovereign Grace.

And, one evidence of that is we're going to have a Sovereign Grace Europe Pastors Meeting in Warsaw, Poland in June. And I just learned this week that there'll be three churches in Belarus who will sign letters of intent to become candidate churches or that phase one step while we're there, which will be a wonderful moment for us as, as a family of churches. So those are just a few of the ways that I see our pastors serving so well. I thank God for each of the men that I just mentioned, and for each of the men I didn't mention who are traveling and serving brothers and sisters throughout the world.

Ben Kreps:

Excellent. Yeah, I had the privilege of being on a Zoom call with those pastors, or a number of them from Belarus. It was a humbling experience. It was a happy experience and can't wait to see what God has for Sovereign Grace in the days ahead as influence grows in that part of the world. But it's not just pastors who are engaged in this good work. There are a number of members throughout Sovereign Grace in Sovereign Grace churches who are also engaged in global work.

Mark Prater:

Right. As I mentioned in the last podcast, actually, our mission is strengthened by the members of our churches. And it's through their participation in our partnership. Last podcast I mentioned financial giving, but I wanted to highlight in this podcast their involvement in mission trips that really do serve partners that we have in Sovereign Grace. So these are just a few examples. I don't have a complete list, but Cornerstone Church of Knoxville is yet again sending another team from their church of members who are going to serve at Rancho 3M, the orphanage just outside of Juarez. They've had a longstanding relationship with them. And so they're continuing to invest in that relationship, which is wonderful. My church, Covenant Fellowship Church, in June, we'll be sending a team to Costa Rica to serve a candidate church, doing missions work down there, looking to reach out with the gospel and to help that church reach their area for Christ.

Greentree Church in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey is sending a team to London in September. And the purpose of that trip is to reach out to Muslims in that city with the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So those are just some of the trips that I'm aware of. There are so many more. Just about a year ago, there were two churches that partnered together, Risen Hope Church in Somerville, South Carolina, and the Sovereign Grace Church in Midland, Texas who sent a team to Rancho 3M, just outside of Juarez. So, if you want more information on those trips I just mentioned, you can actually go to the SGC Missions website. And if you click on Emerging Nations and you go down to Short-Term Missions, click on Learn More, and you can click on Find a Trip. For our pastors who are leading short-term mission trips, you can submit a trip on that same page as well.

So I'm just so grateful for how not only our pastors, but the members of our churches, are doing what Jesus called us to do. Where we started, "to go and make disciples of all nations". And that's why we do mission trips. We don't just do them because it's something to do or it's a way to invest into the members of our churches. We do it primarily to reach more people with the good news of Jesus Christ. And I'm praying that each of these trips would result in more people hearing the clear good news of the gospel and be born again and added to some church, whether that's a Sovereign Grace Church or not. And so be praying with me that there would be much gospel fruit from these labors over the next several months.

Ben Kreps:

Excellent. Yeah. It is so encouraging to watch from my limited perspective, not only the engagements, the friendships and relationships that are forming because a number of guys from different countries are approaching us. But in my church, and I've seen throughout Sovereign Grace, just this growing passion for mission and to see the gospel advance and to see our pastors and our members in our churches engaged in that mission together, locally and globally, is gratifying. And it builds faith for what God is going to have for us in Sovereign Grace in the days ahead. We're only just getting started as far as I can tell, Mark, by God's grace. So thank you, Mark, for the updates. And thank you all for watching or reading, uh, reporting from Clearwater, Florida. Um, see you back home, the next podcast, Lord willing, next week. Bye for now.