Gospel Partnership Growth in the Philippines
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. Mark, you're preparing tomorrow morning to get up quite early and spend all day traveling to the Philippines. Tell us why you're going to the Philippines.
Mark Prater:
I'm very excited about this trip to the Philippines. I'm going for a number of reasons, and I wanted to record this podcast this week because when folks receive it next week, I'll actually be there. And I would really appreciate your prayers, as well as Dave Taylor and Jeffrey Jo.
So, I'm going to the Philippines first of all, on Saturday, we're going to be with a group of Jeffrey Jo's leaders in the Philippines, about 120 folks, doing a leader's summit. We'll be with Jeffrey Jo's church on Sunday and will be a part of an ordination service where a couple of men are being ordained. So that's just the start of the trip. But I'm also going, because we will be adopting 10 churches this spring in the Philippines. We'll go from 2 to 12, and there are at least another 20 or more that will be adopted in the next couple of years. So, we are going to have quite a presence. Sovereign Grace will have quite a presence in the Philippines. And so it seems like this is a timely trip, a strategic trip to just go and invest into the pastors and wives who will be attending a conference.
Secondly, I'm going just to get time with Jeffrey Jo, who is a key leader. So pray for him. I thank God for him. That's a way to invest into him. I'm also taking a person with me who's given very generously to the Asia-Pacific Development Fund, and I want him to see the fruit of his generosity. And there'll be another person who's given generously to that fund from Australia. And so getting those guys together in Manila to see how their generosity is having an impact is another reason to, to go. So those are just some of the reasons that I'm going.
And, again, if you would please pray for our trip. We need your prayers. We want to be led by the spirit of God. Of course, we want to be faithful to do what we're asked to do next week, but nothing will happen of any significance, and we will not be able to give God glory, if the Spirit doesn't fill us and lead us. So please pray.
Ben Kreps:
Absolutely. The podcast will be dropping on Monday, so it'll be Monday when guys see this when you'll be there in the thick of it. The weekend will have passed. So some of these things already have happened, but yes, we will be praying. Tell us about this conference and what's going to happen there.
Mark Prater:
Yes, the Leadership Summit is on Saturday. I mentioned previously that we'll have about 120 leaders. The theme of the Leaders’ Summit, is The Joy of Gospel Partnership. Jeffrey Jo and I texted this morning and I asked how I could pray for him. And he said, could you pray that the time you're here would be used to build us together as a family in the Philippines, within the family of Sovereign Grace Churches? So that theme of the Joy of Gospel Partnership is intentional. Dave Taylor will teach on Together in Partnership; the joys and strengths and wonders of what we enjoy in partnership. And then Dave will do a second sermon on Together Around the Cross.
We just want to keep our partnerships centered in the gospel and the finished work of Jesus Christ from the cross. And then I'm going to do a message on Together Abiding in Christ from John 15, that we want to be leaders who abide in Jesus, for apart from Him we can do nothing. We want to live that way with that kind of desperate abiding in Christ. And then, as I mentioned, on Sunday we'll be at Jeffrey Jo's Church. I'll be preaching that morning. And then Dave and I will be participating in ordaining two more elders there, elders who have faithfully completed the Sovereign Grace ordination process. That's going to be just a real joy. And then Dave will be preaching, and I'll go with him, to another church in Manila led by Caloy, the name of the guy who is also pursuing partnership and will soon be part of Sovereign Grace. We'll spend time with them.
And then that following week, beginning on Tuesday afternoon, is the Asia-Pacific Pastors and Wives Conference with pastors and wives from not just around the Philippines, but also from India, from Nepal, from South Korea, San Juan and Miriam will be there, for example, from Australia. And so there'll be a collection of pastors and wives from the Asia-Pacific part of the world, either pastors who lead churches that are in Sovereign Grace or pursuing partnership with Sovereign Grace. And the theme of our conference is The Beauty of Pastoral Ministry. So Dave will open the session on Tuesday afternoon; The Pastor and the Cross. Again, we want to center everything we do in the gospel. On Wednesday morning, I'll be preaching on The Pastor and His Flock: Our Call to be Shepherds, as I mentioned in the last podcast.
And then that afternoon, Jeffrey Jo will be preaching on The Pastor and His Soul. And on Thursday morning, I'll be preaching on The Pastor and His Team, talking about the joys of team ministry and why team ministry is important in Sovereign Grace. And then Dave will end the conference on Thursday afternoon talking about The Pastor and Taking Risk, the right risk in advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ. So I think there's at least 300 folks, maybe more, that are coming to this conference, and I just can't wait to see what God is going to do there. My faith has been strengthened as I've prayed. My heart is happy, and I'm just looking forward to see what God is going to do. Mostly though, I hope that Dave and Jeff and I can serve our brothers and sisters who labor so faithfully in the Asia-Pacific part of the world.
Ben Kreps:
Well, thank you for the way that you do serve all over the world in investing in partnership. It is gratifying to hear about not just connection and relationship, but sturdy partnership being built globally; ordination and adoption and so forth. So thank you, Mark and Dave for your investment. Thank you, Jeffrey. I know Jeffrey checks out this podcast. So thank you brother, for the wonderful gift you are to our partnership as a key leader in the Philippines. Thank you all for watching or reading. We'll see you here, Lord willing, next week. Bye for now.