Four Reasons for the Annual Pastors Conference
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, the Pastors Conference is on the horizon. So many of us that are going are getting excited about gathering together as a global family of churches at the Pastors Conference. But you wanted to share some thoughts to remind those who are watching or reading the podcast or maybe for the first time, the reasoning behind why we have pastors' conferences. Why do we have a pastors' conference every year?
Mark Prater:
Yeah, it's a great question, because as we begin to pack to go to a pastors' conference or our wives are arranging childcare for the time that we're away, we can wonder why are we going to this conference again and why do we have a pastors' conference every year? Those are common questions I think we can all have. And we hold a pastors' conference annually for, I would say, four reasons.
First, it gathers all of us together, the pastors and wives in Sovereign Grace. It gathers our guests, it gathers the leaders from our churches and it gives us an opportunity to cast a theological vision for who we are in Sovereign Grace and how we do ministry together. And any pastor listening to this podcast or reading it knows that you have to keep casting, you want to cast vision for your local church, you've got to say it over and over again. And so the Pastors Conference gives us that opportunity to cast a theological vision for Sovereign Grace churches, who we are and how we do ministry together. So that's the first reason.
The second one is that we see this as an opportunity as a leadership team to care for the pastors and wives that are attending this conference. Obviously we know best those that are in Sovereign Grace, but we want to care for pastors and wives that are coming outside of Sovereign Grace. And this is a conference that pastors and wives can attend where they don't typically have responsibility unless you're teaching a main session or a breakout session. This is a conference that you can come to and just receive. And that's one of the ways we pray as a leadership team that this conference would be both a spiritual and relational highlight for our pastors and wives because the pastors in Sovereign Grace and their wives, they labor so hard throughout the year. And so this is a time to just come and receive and be cared for. So that's the second reason we do it.
A third reason is that we want to cast vision for our mission, the mission that we do together, because we hope one of the effects of this conference is that pastors and wives leave the conference saying, I'm linked in arms with brothers and sisters who have the same heart and same desire to advance the gospel throughout the world. And it just encourages you, it emboldens you, it strengthens you not only for your local mission of your local church, but for our shared mission in Sovereign Grace. And that happens obviously through teaching and through testimonies and updates. So that's a third reason that we do it.
And I've kind of hinted at this a little bit. It's an opportunity to continue for us to build relationally. We are a family of churches and so we've said this in previous podcasts, the conference very much has the feel of a family reunion where we're together again with brothers and sisters maybe we haven't seen for a year. And we get opportunity to just sing to Jesus with them, which can be strengthening itself. We get opportunities to have meals together, to pray for one another, to catch up with one another. And that's something that we don't want to lose as we expand as a small family of churches throughout the world. So the Pastor's Conference provides that unique context and we try to design the schedule to foster that relational element. So those are the reasons that we do it. And I believe we will continue to do it annually should the Lord lead us because we want to continue to exalt God when we are together and strengthen one another relationally for the mission that Christ has given us.
Benjamin Kreps:
Wonderful. Yeah, can't wait to get there and gather with you, Mark, and everybody else. I saw the new Sovereign Grace Journal dropped recently. It's all about church partnership and full of wonderful articles. And that pastors' conference is a vital piece of that partnership that we enjoy. It's a tangible expression that we enjoy together. So there's a lot of people coming. I think over 700 have signed up, something like that. And not just, of course, from the States. We are a global family of churches. So talk to us about who's coming.
Mark Prater:
Yeah, I want to give you a little bit of an idea of who will be coming to the conference. I think registration is around 750. We'll have walk-ins. So we'll have more than that at the conference. And we have pastors and wives attending the conference from 22 different nations, which is really exciting and encouraging and humbling all at the same time. So let me tell you just about a few of them. Dyonah Thomas is coming from Monrovia, Liberia, I think Dyonah hasn't been to a conference for about four years. He told me there were complications in getting a visa. He's got a visa, he's going to be there. In fact, you're going to hear from him during one of our main sessions.
Benjamin Kreps:
Freshly ordained.
Mark Prater:
Freshly ordained. Yes, the first ordained Sovereign Grace elder in West Africa. So if you see Dyonah, welcome him. We also have a gentleman coming from Belarus. His name is Leonid Kovich, and he is the head of the Baptist Union there in Belarus. We've been relating to a number of churches in Belarus. They're potentially interested in pursuing partnership with Sovereign Grace and they're also loosely connected with this Baptist Union. So I'm so glad that Leonid can be there and if you have a chance to greet him and meet him, thank him for coming.
We also have several churches coming from Costa Rica, two that are in the San Jose area. For example, Casa 2:42 led by Rodrigo Fournier, and then a church that just recently signed an Emerging Nations candidate church agreement; Iglesia La Gracia, which is also in San Jose, Costa Rica. So those are just some of the folks that are coming from different parts of the globe.
Also, there are a number of guests who are coming for the first time who are not a part of a Sovereign Grace Church. And those primarily are coming from within the United States. There are churches who have interest within the United States of partnering with Sovereign Grace. And so one of the ways they're exploring that partnership is coming to our conference. So what that does is it highlights our need to just reach out to those we don't know and interact with them. I mean, think about it. You go to a conference for the very first time, you don't really know many people at all, and you're trying to understand should we be a part of this or not? And so when someone reaches out and welcomes them and prays for them, or maybe even invites them to a meal, that gives 'em a glimpse of who we are and why we build relationally. So just to give you a little bit of an idea of who's coming and my encouragement to reach out to those around you that you don't know.
Benjamin Kreps:
It's very encouraging. 22 different countries represented. The more we grow as a global family of churches, the more our Pastors Conference looks like heaven when we're singing together and gathered together. So what are a couple of things that we can pray for in anticipation of the conference?
Mark Prater:
Yes. Please pray. Pray for the conference. Just first of all, pray that God would work in a way that he would glorify his name. Our first prayer request is that our time together in Orlando, both in the Council of Elders meeting and during the Pastors Conference, would please God and bring Him glory. If that happens, we'll be happy pastors and wives.
Secondly, pray for the Spirit to work and to work in a way to do things that we just haven't planned. I think some of the things that I think about in terms of past conferences and ways that God has worked and some of the ways that people were affected were areas and categories that we just didn't plan for. So pray for the Spirit's leading and for the Spirit's help. And obviously that comes through interactions with individuals. It can come in the preaching of his word through the main sessions and breakout sessions. It can come through testimonies. It can come just in announcement slots where we decide in the moment spontaneously to make a change and maybe go a specific direction. All of those things happen at a conference, but they can't happen without God's help and through the Spirit's leading and help as well. So pray for that.
And then I think thirdly, just pray that it would be a time that we are strengthened relationally and that our unity as a family of churches therefore is strengthened as well. We can't assume upon our unity. And so a conference is a wonderful opportunity for us to be strengthened together in the gospel, unified in Christ and unified therefore as a family of churches. So thanks for praying for the conference in those ways and many more. I'm grateful for your prayers.
Benjamin Kreps:
Yeah, please do pray, and we will be praying. I just have in my mind's eye remembering our singing from last year and I am so excited for that first song on first night of the conference. I can't wait to gather with you, Mark, and everybody else for that week. So thank you, Mark for the updates. Thank you all for checking out the podcast. We'll see you here, Lord willing, next week. Bye for now.