Fieles A Su Llamado 2021
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. Mark, you do not appear to be at home. Where are you as we record this?
Mark Prater:
I'm actually in Juarez, Mexico sitting in a hotel room. I'm here attending the Fieles Conference which is hosted by Iglesia Gracia Soberana Sovereign Grace Church here in Juarez Mexico, led by Carlos Contreras. And this is an annual pastors and wives conference that is held here in Juarez. This year there are over 300 pastors, along with their wives, from throughout Mexico, San Salvador, Colombia, and Bolivia. These are just some of the areas I heard announced last night. And it's just great to see the number of folks that are here. This conference is so strategic because obviously it draws together pastors who are either in or pursuing Sovereign Grace, but also for pastors who are just looking for care. That's why a lot of them come. They're exposed to grace and our gospel-centered values in a way that I think ministers to them. I saw some of that last night after a message and we were just praying for pastors and their wives who were just going through suffering. So it's been a great start to the conference and I just can't wait to walk through the next couple of days. It's all day today and all day tomorrow and on Saturday. We’re recording this on Thursday so folks watching this will get it Monday.
Benjamin Kreps:
Great. Sounds like a great experience. What is the theme of the conference? What are you guys talking about?
Mark Prater:
The theme of the conference, which I think Carlos chose so well, is leading through suffering. Yesterday afternoon, Carlos did a message out of Acts 20 that was just wonderful. And then Miguel Nuñez who is a friend of Sovereign Grace from Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic is here speaking as well, and just did a great message last night on how God uses suffering basically to draw us closer to him. And out of that message, we were able to pray for some pastors and their wives last night. Other guys that are speaking at the conference: Jeff Purswell is here, Bob Kauflin, Joselo Mercado is preaching today. Rich Richardson is preaching today.
And then I have the joy on Friday, with Carlos, we're just inviting any pastors who are unaffiliated who have interest in joining Sovereign Grace throughout Latin America to come and just hear a little bit more about our family of churches. So it's just an exciting conference. And it's off to a great start. For me, it's amazing to see the work that God is doing here in Mexico and Central America and throughout Latin America. And much of that is due to men like Carlos Contreras, Abelardo Muñoz, Hellman Avila, Joselo Mercado, and Rich Richardson. Those men, in particular, have been laboring here for years and its bearing much fruit.
Benjamin Kreps:
That's wonderful. It's always good to hear about what God is doing in Mexico. It's actually thrilling whenever we get an update, because there is so much going on through our humble small family, global family, of churches. So, Mark, thanks for your investment.
Mark Prater:
Let me give you one more update. I just forgot about that so let me just jump in. They had a regional meeting the morning the conference started that Rich Richardson led through. So it was kind of a Mexico Regional Leaders meeting, and they gave them the new Statement of Faith translated in Spanish. They talked about the BCO, that's now translated in Spanish and going through a final review, and they discussed a partnership agreement. So there is the possibility that in November of 2022, so a little over a year from now, that our Council of Elders may be voting on whether to make Mexico a nation or not. So just an exciting development that occurred this week. There was unanimous support for the items discussed: Statement of Faith, BCO, partnership agreement. So, again, exciting times here in Mexico.
Benjamin Kreps:
Yeah. Great. Well, thanks for the update. God bless you as you continue through this conference and thank you all for watching or reading this. And we'll see you here, Lord willing, next week. Bye for now.