Partnership in the Philippines and Remembering Larry Malament

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 to our Executive Director. Mark, you've shared a number of times over the last couple of years in this podcast about what God is doing in the Philippines and the growing partnership that we share in Sovereign Grace with churches in the Philippines. How's that going?

Mark Prater:

It's going great. I've got to tell you some stories in this podcast to illustrate God's good work in the Philippines where for some reason he's involving our small family of churches. But before I share those stories, what these stories illustrate are a number of things. First of all, they illustrate how our partnership among our churches is actually functioning and working throughout the world. Secondly, they illustrate the fruit of the Council of Elders decision last year to approve BCO amendments that make a clear pathway for churches outside of Sovereign Grace to become partner churches in Sovereign Grace. We're seeing the fruit of that. Third, that our ordination standards are being applied evenly throughout the world, which protects us theologically and strengthens us theologically. And fourth, that this all happens because of the gift of leadership and that we need leadership to bring about and to follow-up on all of the opportunities that God has given us. So the stories that I want to tell really do illustrate those things, and they are amazing evidences of God's grace among our family of churches.

Ben Kreps:

It's excellent and gratifying to see Dave Taylor and his team, their good leadership, function in this way, serving us so well in these growing partnerships that we have globally. You said you have some stories for us. One of them involves my friend, Nilo Ebo, who I went to pastors college with.

Mark Prater:

It does, I look forward to telling everyone, that story. Dave Taylor, our Director of Global Missions just got back from the Philippines just a few days ago. And on that trip, it was not only Dave in that nation, but Riley Spring from Parramatta, Australia, in the Sydney area, Dave York from Roseburg, Oregon, Lynn Baird, who's now in, Phoenix, Arizona, and Tony Walsh, who is from the Denver area. And so those men were there working hard throughout their 10 days in that nation.

So one story is about Jeffrey Jo, a senior pastor of a church in Manila, Philippines of about 1200, a man that's planted about 15 or more churches in the Philippines near Manila area, had passed his ordination exams. And on a Sunday a couple weeks ago, they ordained him, officially ordained him as a Sovereign Grace elder in Sovereign Grace on the same Sunday that that church was celebrating their 30 year anniversary. So it was just a wonderful service. Dave was sending me videos and pictures, and Dave York actually preached a sermon that Sunday morning. Dave York is on point for the Philippines as a member of Dave's Emerging Nations team. And he and Jeffrey Jo have become very, very good friends. So that was just a wonderful morning to celebrate with that church and with Jeffrey Jo, who is an important leader for us in the Philippines.

And then after that weekend they spent the week giving ordination exams. There were 15 pastors that represented 15 different churches that took their oral exams, 10 of the 15 passed those oral exams. And so a couple things to note there, it tells us that the men giving those ordination exams, they're applying our ordination standards in a way that we had hoped for, and they're gonna help those men and they'll potentially take those exams again. What it also means is that with those 10 men that represent 10 different churches, by the spring of next year, probably March or April, 2023, we will move from having two partner churches in the Philippines to 12 partner churches in the Philippines. And that is the fruit of the Global Partnership Plan, BCO Amendments, that the Council of Elders passed last year. And it's the fruit of our ordination process that applies the ordination standards. So that's just wonderful to hear how quickly God has not only given us these opportunities, but how quickly in a year's period of time that our partnership is moving forward in the Philippines.

And then the next weekend they were in Cebu City, and on that Sunday, they officially ordained Nilo, Cornelio, we call him Nilo, your PC student classmate. And this man has been in pastoral ministry at least 30 years, maybe 35 or more. And so to see him ordained as a Sovereign Grace elder in his church on that Sunday was just another celebration. We now have officially two Sovereign Grace ordained elders in the Philippines. And because of those ordinations in Emerging Nations partner churches in the Philippines we will soon have 12 partner churches there.

A couple of other stories really illustrates why we need leadership. Dave York and Dave Taylor and Riley Spring, and Lynn Baird and Tony Walsh were all working very, very hard to not only give ordination exams, but also to continue building relationally. Lynn Baird has been traveling there for, I'm guessing 20 years or more. And he decided this would be his last trip to the Philippines, and it only seemed appropriate that he would be involved in the ordination services of those two men, Jeffrey Jo and Nilo. But also, this new group of pastors that will one day be Sovereign Grace elders in Sovereign Grace were able to be there. So that was something to just rejoice in, and those men are bringing really good leadership and moving our partnership forward in the Philippines.

But another story I've just gotta tell that illustrates Jeffrey Jo's leadership, one of the pastors that was just ordained. Jeffrey Jo's been really relating to Dave for a number of years. And when he first met him, he was a pastor leading a Pentecostal church. And when they first met together, they had seven male pastors and five female pastors. So they're coming from a Pentecostal egalitarian theological perspective. And so Jeff just met with them and just opened up the Bible with them regarding our complementarian convictions and spent two or three hours just talking about it. And at the end of that conversation the five female pastors actually resigned because they were just saying it's so clear in scripture. And then as they developed the relationship over the years, this church has obviously not only had changes in their complementarian convictions, but also their pneumatology and Reformed theology, and they are solid theologically. But I share that story because it's a wonderful expression of leadership from Jeffrey Jo who was bringing biblical leadership to a situation that clearly needed it and didn't know what would happen, but trusted God. And now this man is gonna be an ordained elder at some point in Sovereign Grace.

Ben Kreps:

A great story. Certainly grateful for Jeffrey Jo and his influence over there. Shout out to Jeffrey Jo.

Hey, the podcast is getting a little long, but we just can't end this podcast without talking about our brother, Pastor Larry Malament and his passing this past week. Right?

Mark Prater:

Yeah, it's so appropriate that we do at the end of this particular podcast because, I didn't remember or realize, but Larry was actually in the Philippines in 2014. One of the brothers in the Philippines, after I sent the email about Larry's passing, responded and said he was there in 2014. We just love Larry and we'll miss him, obviously. The other thing is, and most guys know this that have been in Sovereign Grace for some time, Larry has traveled for Sovereign Grace throughout the world. He's one of the first pastors to really do so. And he built a number of relationships in places like India and the Philippines and in Burma, but especially in South Korea. And we have a partner church, Lord's Grace Church in Seoul, South Korea because of Larry. And so we just thank God for him. We thank God for his contribution to our family of churches. And we do grieve his loss, but we don't grieve without hope, knowing that one day because of Christ, we will see him and enjoy glory with him.

Ben Kreps:

Yeah. I'm sure we're all praying for strength, peace, wisdom, comfort for Grace Church and for Devon and John and Larry's family. Praying for blessing and strength in the days ahead. It's not exaggerating to say that Larry's faithful service globally over the years was sowing into some of the things that are being reaped and are becoming fruitful now. And so we're grateful for men like him and their sacrifice and their service. I guess we could paraphrase Billy Sunday and say, "You may have heard that Larry Malament has died, but don't you believe it. He's more alive than he's ever been." Thank God for the hope of the gospel.

All right. Thank you, Mark. And thank you for watching or reading. We'll see you here, Lord willing, next week. Bye for now.