Few Global Updates
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Benjamin Kreps:
Hey everyone. And welcome to the Mark Prater podcast where our aim is to connect our global family of churches with our Executive Director. And today let's keep the emphasis on the global nature of our family of churches because you have a few stories just hot off the presses this week that you want to share.
Mark Prater:
There are just those times. Ben, when I, I really do wish I could gather all the pastors in Sovereign Grace into my little office here and let them see what I see and hear what I hear, especially this week over the last five days. I want to tell you just three quick stories of how God continues to give our small family of churches opportunities to expand globally. It really is humbling and encouraging and amazing all at the same time. So, I was texting with Joselo Mercado over the weekend who flew to Santa Marta, Columbia, and he spent several days there with a church there called Inglasia Biblica Soberana Gracia led by Jacobis Aldana, a pastor that Joselo has been relating to probably for a couple of years now. And the purpose of that trip was to go to the church with Jacobis and just communicate their desire for the church to formalize a partnership with Sovereign Grace, to be adopted into Sovereign Grace. And Joselo texted me after the Sunday service and said it went really, really well and thank you for praying.
In an email he sent several guys yesterday, he said there were five key leaders who were so encouraged by this step and are eager for partnership, partly because of the care that Joselo has provided Jacobus over the last couple of years. So that was very, very exciting. He said in his email yesterday that while he was in Santa Marta, he met with two pastors from Barranquilla, Columbia. It's a city of 2 million people. That church was planted out of Santa Marta and that church is now interested in being adopted into Sovereign Grace as well. So that's just from Columbia.
Last night, Dave Taylor messaged me. And in that message, he sent me a video and the message basically said that there's a growing number of churches in the Manila, Philippines region who are hearing what Jeffrey Jo is doing in terms of his desire to join Sovereign Grace and now they want to join Sovereign Grace.
So, Jeffrey Jo leads a church of about 1200 in Manila. He's currently working through the ordination process, the Sovereign Grace Churches ordination process. He may be ordained before too long. And so other churches are hearing about this and he sent me a video where Jeffrey visited one of those churches in the Manila region called Cruciform Church. And it was just exciting to watch this video and to see Jeffrey in action representing Sovereign Grace, really, and in many, many ways. So that's in the Philippines.
And then yesterday I did another FaceTime call with Rodrigo Fournier who is the lead pastor of LaVina Escazu in San Jose, Costa Rica. And he has formally requested his church be adopted into Sovereign Grace. I think it's a church of about 600. After our last conversation, I sent him our new Statement of Faith, believing that it would be ratified, our Book of Church Order and Seven Shared Values.
So, he and his elders have read through those things. And they're saying, “We agree with this Statement of Faith. And we really like, at least in a general way, your Book of Church Order. So, what do I do next?” And so, I talked to Rodrigo yesterday about ordination. He would like to go through the ordination process. And so, I'll be sending him the ordination guide and most likely you've got another pastor in Costa Rica by the name of Chespi who also wants to be ordained in Sovereign Grace as a means to get his church adopted. And I think those ordination exams will be given by Joselo’s region, the Mid-Atlantic region led by John Loftness. So that's just in the last few days. A bit of the look into my world and I think you can see my enthusiasm and my desire for our guys to know how God is at work in Sovereign Grace throughout the world.
Benjamin Kreps:
That's excellent. Thanks for bringing us into your office in that way and helping us know and experience the things that you are as God continues to grant an ever expanding global family in our denomination. Now, there's a lot to this. We have limited resources. We have limited manpower. We've talked before about a plan being developed on the Leadership Team for how to process and steward these increasing relationships. You have a draft, I believe, of a plan that you've come up with. You want to share a little bit about that, and maybe what some process looks like?
Mark Prater:
Be glad to. It's still a working draft. We haven't even agreed on it as a Leadership Team. We've had one really good long conversation about it, and we'll discuss this again at our next retreat. But we're trying to figure out how we be a global denomination and preserve our theological convictions and our Seven Shared Values. And then structure it, you know, based on our polity and BCO. So, our desire is to come up with some sort of draft plan asked Dave Taylor to get his core Emerging Nations team to take a look at it and give us input. We want to take it to the Executive Committee. And, on behalf of the Council of Elders, that committee give us input, then we'll make some more changes. And then after that, our desires to bring it to the Council of Elders so that all elders have a chance to look at it, give any input. And we would love for that plan to be affirmed by the Council of Elders because I just think it could be a wonderful moment for us as a denomination where we've got a plan about how to build globally. And I think that could be a wonderful Council of Elders conversation vote that Lord may have for us in the future.
Benjamin Kreps:
Yeah. I think there's humility and wisdom and trying to process it that way as well. Can you give us just a taste maybe of the kinds of ideas you're working with just real briefly?
Mark Prater:
At least now, we're thinking in terms of a church that's interested like Jeffrey Jo's church in Manila, we would say they are candidate church. And they're saying to us through a letter of intent, we agree fully agree with the Statement of Faith, fully agree with the Seven Shared Values and had general agreement with the Book of Church Order. And we're going to sign on the dotted line. And so, the next real step for them is for at least one elder in that church to go through the Sovereign Grace ordination process, which is what Jeffrey's doing. Let's assume that Jeffery is ordained as an elder in Sovereign Grace. Then the church would move from a candidate church to an emerging nations church, full partnership with Sovereign Grace. Again, a complete agreement with the Statement of Faith, Seven Shared Values and the Book of Church Order, including its process of adjudication, because now somebody is an elder, charges could be brought against them. So at least an agreement on how adjudication works. And they would become an emerging nations church, full partnership with Sovereign Grace. And then to move to the third phase would be become a nation. A church has labeled a title as a nation. And that really hinges upon developing a BCO for that nation and a partnership agreement specific for that nation or possibly region of the world. So that's just some initial thoughts of what we're trying to work through. And there's a lot of sort of sub issues under that that we're trying to work out before we bring it to the Executive Committee.
Benjamin Kreps:
Great. Sounds like there's a lot of good in the way that you guys are thinking as we embrace our brothers and sisters globally. So, thank you for your work in this Leadership Team and Dave Taylor, and thank you everyone for watching. We'll see you here soon. Bye for now.