How WorshipGod Strengthens Churches

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Benjamin Kreps:

Hey everyone and welcome to the Mark Prater podcast where our aim is to connect our global family of Sovereign Graces Churches with our executive director. Mark, the WorshipGod conference that happens every two years led by Bob Kauflin concluded at the end of last week. I was there, had a wonderful time. But a question to get your thoughts on is, why do we have a WorshipGod conference every two years?

Mark Prater:

Yeah, it's a great question. In fact, I'll say this again, but let me echo what you just said. Bob is a gift to our family of churches. Bob Kauflin has been serving us for decades, I'll say it that way. And he has served us so well and led Sovereign Grace Music so well. He is a unique gift to our family of churches and he really does put a lot of time and effort and leadership into planning our WorshipGod conferences every two years. But the question is why WorshipGod? I think it's good to start with that because we've got to understand that this is not just a standalone conference. It's a conference that connects churches, and our churches in particular, because Sovereign Grace Music pulls off this conference every couple of years, and of course they're connected with Sovereign Grace Churches.

And so here's why we do it. First of all, it serves churches to honor and apply God's word. And what I mean by that is that our Bibles are filled with songs. God wants us to sing, and the content of the songs that we sing is important to him. You see that in scripture, and the way we sing and the way we conduct our worship is important to him in scripture as well. You see that in scripture. And so the Lord talks about that. God talks about that as he inspired the writing of the word of God. And that's really important because that's what we do every Sunday when we gather. We're essentially honoring God's word in a way that he wants from us by singing and conducting our services in a way that pleases him and that gives him great glory and it brings us real joy. So that's one reason, and I'm just giving a couple, there are several, but I wanted to highlight two by the way.

The other one is, I would just say zeal. And what I mean about that is our zeal for Christ. And again, it's one way. It's another way that we can continue to stir zeal for Christ, not only now, but in future generations in Sovereign Grace. I mean, one of the things about going to a WorshipGod conference is that you see different generations that are there. And that's really important to us as a family of churches; continuing to have zeal for Christ, not just collectively as a denomination, but each and every local church and each and every member in our local churches has zeal for Christ.

And so what I'm trying to say is that, again, this is not a standalone conference. The WorshipGod conference is very connected to our ecclesiology, very connected to who we are and what we do as local churches. And again, I thank God for Bob. I thank God for his music team that helps pull this off; David and Devon, Fabrizio, Grace and Becca. I'm sure they're tired after the conference, but filled with joy because of the conference as well. So that's why we do it.

Benjamin Kreps:

Well, I love the WorshipGod Conference. That's the first Sovereign Grace event I think I ever attended in 2008, not long after we came to Living Hope. And I have loved that conference ever since. I haven't been able to go except for a few times. But each time I go, I have an incredibly edifying experience. But for those who have not gone to WorshipGod before, what exactly happens at the conference?

Mark Prater:

Yeah, Bob's very thoughtful in what he plans out and very intentional in really executing his plan, leading his plan, if you can say it that way. So there's obviously, there's rich theological teaching because if you're going to honor the word of God every Sunday and how you conduct your worship service, it needs to begin with solid theological preaching. And this year, as I understand, I wasn't there this year, was no exception in terms of the quality of the preaching, which is wonderful.

Obviously there's just passionate singing as well, and that stirs you in a couple of ways. It affects you presently, but you take that home with you. So when members and pastors of our churches and of really other churches that attend, they'll go back home and that'll strengthen their local church. But it's also important because certainly within Sovereign Grace, you realize that we're a family that loves singing to Jesus together. That my church is very similar in that way to another Sovereign Grace Church because you meet people from different churches in Sovereign Grace.

And then there's breakout sessions that really are intended to equip people, members of our churches, who serve frequently almost every Sunday. That can be sound tech people, that can be musicians, vocalists, it can be worship leaders and pastors as they think through planning a service. It's really important. And plus, on top of that, there's usually a breakout session like there was this year on songwriting. And we want to continue to write congregational songs to say it that way, songs that can be sung by local congregations that bring Christ much glory. And so that's not only important now, that's important for the future generations of Sovereign Grace, that we're equipped to continue what really scripture calls us to do. And again, keep in mind that because it serves local churches, at least in churches in Sovereign Grace, then that conference and the equipping you receive there strengthens your church. It's connected to our ecclesiology.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yeah, I had an amazing week there. It's a distinct conference certainly from our pastor's conference because of the diversity of the folks that are coming and attending WorshipGod, many of them, maybe the majority aren't even in Sovereign Grace churches, but they have benefited from Sovereign Grace Music and eagerly attend.

I know I was telling you before we started recording that some folks when they go to a conference like WorshipGod, they have this incredible spiritual high, this wonderful mountaintop experience and then feel a sense of loss just going back home to ordinary life. And I informed my church coming back from WorshipGod, that I'm unfamiliar with that feeling. What happened over the course of several days at WorshipGod, is I found myself, I could not wait to be gathering with my church on Sunday. And so far from it being this experienced divorced from local church, it actually informs an eagerness to gather with the local church.

And the theme was Union with Christ. So I commend the resources, when they are live, whenever that happens, to listen to those. But it was really a focus on how our union in Christ informs our personal lives of communion with God, but also our corporate gatherings together. And so the teaching covered a whole gamut regarding that aspect, that important, wonderful, glorious reality of our union with Christ.

And the breakout sessions, were just an amazing mix of spiritual and edification, but also practical application. And even a breakout just for sound guys, like you said, our sound guy, Darryl Wenger, who's been doing sound for 40 years at Living Hope, someone came to me and was like, Darryl was amazing. He did a breakout on sound production using all kinds of terminology that I don't understand, but there was a packed room full of guys eager for that kind of instruction as well. So it is wonderful to see just how thoughtful and thorough Bob and the team is with their planning.

Before we go though, in connection to the local church, the reality that this conference is connected to our ecclesiology, you wanted to give a shout out to a Sovereign Grace Church that helped with the conference.

Mark Prater:

I do. I thank God for this church. I've already mentioned we thank God for Bob Kauflin and his team and I mentioned them by name. They are all gifts to our family of churches. But the conference was held in Louisville, and I want to commend the members of Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville. After the conference. Jon Payne, who was at the conference with his son actually, and Jared Mellinger, who was one of the main session speakers, they sent emails to the leadership team and they were just going on and on about how good the conference was. And Jared said this, Jared said, one thing I want to add is just to commend the members of Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville who were serving at the conference and just how they served really was excellent and reflected what scripture calls us to do in that regard. And of course, the Sovereign Grace Music staff was there serving and Sovereign Grace staff, some of the Sovereign Grace staff, was there serving as well.

But it was the members of the Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville who wanted to be there to serve others. And that just commends how we build our churches. We want to build churches that build servants, create servants in that way. And so thanks to CJ Mahaney, obviously, who leads that pastoral team, Bob, who's on that team, Jeff Purswell, Brian Chesemore, Steve Whitacre, Gary Ricucci, Tyson Ziegler, and Chad as well. So you men have done a great job building your church and because of that, we've been strengthened, not just by your example, but by those who attended the conference last week. We've just benefited from your service. And again, it's another way to illustrate how a conference is connected to our ecclesiology.

Benjamin Kreps:

Excellent. Not surprising, but it is wonderful to hear about a Sovereign Grace church embodying the shaping virtue of servanthood that we hold dear and that we see present throughout Sovereign Grace churches. So thanks SGC Louisville for serving us by serving at the conference.

Thank you, Mark, for your thoughts and for everyone checking out the podcast. We'll see you here possibly not next week, we'll see, but soon. Lord willing. So bye for now.