Pray for the Leadership Team Retreat

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Benjamin Kreps:

Hey everyone. And welcome to the Mark Prater podcast where our aim is to connect our global family of churches to our Executive Director. Mark, we were just talking about how you are going on yet another retreat next week, this time with the Leadership Team. You are a man of many retreats. In fact, you might need a retreat from all the retreats that you go on. <laugh> Next week you'll be with the leadership team. What's that gonna be all about?

Mark Prater:

Yeah, we gather three times a year as a Leadership Team. It's just a time I always look forward to, not only to be together as a team, but also to discuss a number of important topics that we hope will serve our family of churches. I'll give you a bit of an idea of what we've got planned for next week. And a lot of that has to do with God's goodness towards us as a family of churches, there's a lot of good things happening in Sovereign Grace right now that we can't as men take credit for, it really is the Lord's doing and it's marvelous in our eyes. And so the retreat is really a response to God's activity and goodness towards us. So we've got a session planned asking what does it mean for us to move from a small denomination to a midsize denomination.

Now in bringing up that topic, I wanna be clear. I still think we're a small denomination, but if we adopt the number of churches we think we'll adopt in the next couple of years and plant the churches we plan to plant, we begin to head towards being a mid-size denomination and that kind of growth has new issues that arise and new ways of thinking that we're trying to get out ahead of a bit as a Leadership Team, as much as possible, just to kick that around for us as a Leadership Team that hopefully will help us lead more effectively should God allow us to continue to grow. After that, we're gonna talk about a global expansion plan. And what I mean by that is last year at the Council of Elders, they approved the global partnership plan BCO amendments, and that provides a process within our polity structure for churches to be adopted into Sovereign Grace throughout the world and a means to plant churches as well.

And that's beginning to happen. In fact, just this morning, I signed an Emerging Nations partnership agreement for Calvary Gospel Church in the Andhra Pradesh state of India. The Southeast part of India. JP leads that church there and is our first ordained elder in India. So that's an illustration of what's happening. So now that we have a process we wanna step back and ask what is that we're trying to build as a denomination? What does it mean for us from a structure standpoint? How do we lead effectively as a Leadership Team through that expansion plan? So we just want to kick that around a little bit more and think about what this looks like even 10 years down the road, much as we're able in our little finite minds. Then we're gonna talk about global responsibilities for Leadership Team members.

Right now in our plan, at least for the foreseeable future, even though we may have nations in different parts of the world, is to keep one Leadership Team. So we have to think carefully about our leadership team responsibilities. What that might mean is Sovereign Grace Music serves in the states, but outside of the states as well. So Bob's gonna keep doing what he's doing and the Sovereign Grace Music team will keep doing what they're doing, but that may look different for the Director of Church Development. So Jon might focus on the states, or should he focus outside the states? I kind of think that he should focus on the states and we have Director of Church Development type guys in different parts of the world. But we'll kick that around.

We're gonna then talk a little bit about global theological education and how do we best leverage Jeff and his influence and experience as we seek to train pastors theologically throughout the world. That's very important because as we continue to grow, should God grant us that growth, theological consistency will be very, very important.

And then Dave Taylor has a proposal we're gonna take a look at from a working group he put together. The proposal is an unreached people's group proposal that I'm really excited for us to review to discuss. We'll also do some more planning with the Pastors Conference, as well as the Council of Elders. All that is gonna be exciting. So I'm really looking forward to the retreat and those are some of the things that we have planned and really need your prayers for wisdom as we talk about each of those items.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yeah. Exciting news. It's wonderful to see how God is is growing us. And we're certainly grateful for your labors and the Leadership Team, all of you guys, to serve us effectively, to lead us through growth and expansion and potentially moving us to be a mid-size denomination. It turns out that the reports of Sovereign Grace's demise have been slightly exaggerated. And just like you said, this is God's goodness to us. So this is a lot on your guys' plates to handle, to interact and deal with. What particular burdens do you carry into that retreat next week?

Mark Prater:

Yeah, the main burden I'm carrying is to ask for all those that are listening or reading this podcast to pray for us. The topics I just mentioned feel very beyond me. And I think the leadership guys and Leadership Team would say the same thing. I don't know how we should expand globally. I've got thoughts, but I really don't know what it means for us to shift from a small to a mid-size denomination at some point in time. So I just really feel the need for God's help and for God's wisdom. To say it another way, I'm feeling my finiteness and we need divine, infinite impartation as the spirit fills us and leads us next week. So if you're listening or reading this podcast, please pray for us. This podcast will come out on Monday. We begin meeting on Tuesday, so please pray for us asking God to not only lead us, but give us wisdom and give us thoughts and give us ideas we didn't even come to the retreat with. And I believe God will answer those prayers, but I'm desperate for them.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yes, Amen. Well, we will be praying for you. We can pray in faith knowing that God promises wisdom to those who ask in faith. So expecting to hear back next week about how God has met you during the retreat in just a few days. So thank you, Mark. Thank you everyone for watching or reading. We'll see you here next week, Lord willing. Bye for now.