Recruiting for the Pastors College
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, before we started recording, you were informing me that we have a new Pastors College roster for the fall, graduation for the last class happened in June this month, but we have a whole new class that's coming in in just a few months. Talk to us about that.
Mark Prater:
Yeah. Last week I got the new Pastors College roster of the students that are in the process of transitioning, moving to Louisville over the next couple of months to start classes near the end of August. And it's just exciting to get this roster every year and to see their faces and their names and the churches they're being sent from and most likely will return to. It will be a roster I use to pray for them as well. So I wanted to just tell our Pastors about it. We have nine students in this next class, nine students that represent eight different Sovereign Grace churches from two different nations. Those two different nations are the United States and Australia.
And let me just tell you the churches that are being represented, where the students are come from; Cornerstone Church of Knoxville in Knoxville, Tennessee is sending a student, Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville in Louisville is sending a student, which they've faithfully done for many years. The Cross of Grace Church in El Paso, Texas is sending a student, Sovereign Grace Church in Midland, Texas is sending a student, which is very, very exciting. Living Hope Church in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Yeah, not you guys, but the Living Hope in Fayetteville is sending a student. Covenant Fellowship Church where I am and Jared is, in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, we're actually sending two students this year, which we're excited about.
And then two students from Australia, one from Sovereign Grace Church of Sydney, which is in Wahroonga, and then Sovereign Grace Church of Paramatta. So it's really, really exciting to see the names and really to think about two men and their families, both those guys are married and have kids moving from Australia to come to the Pastors College I think is just a wonderful example to all of us. So I'm excited about this class because like recent classes, these men represent the future of Sovereign Grace and it's one of the reasons I'll be praying for them.
Benjamin Kreps:
Excellent. Yes, I encourage everyone checking out the podcast to pray for those men. I guess we'll get some names and faces here in an update at some point before PC, around PC. And so talking about our future, on the last podcast you talked about how you and the leadership team spent a week discussing what Sovereign Grace might look like 10 years from now and how you guys can help us stay faithful over the next decade as there's a transfer to the next generation. The Pastors College plays an important role in what our future will look like in 10 years. Talk to us about why the PC is important to our future.
Mark Prater:
The Pastors College, in my opinion, is vital. It's crucial to our future in Sovereign Grace in a couple of different ways. First of all, to help us stay committed to our theological convictions as expressed so well in our statement of faith. And the second way is they train future Pastors. So let me speak about the first one. First of all, just remaining committed to our theological convictions. I mentioned this in the last podcast. We had a discussion at the leadership team retreat about how do we stay committed to our theological convictions as a denomination, especially as we expand globally. And mentioned that if you just look at denominations historically as they expand, there can be a tendency for some where you see factions or wings within the denomination form a conservative wing and a progressive wing. And is there any way we can lead in such a way that doesn't happen in Sovereign Grace?
And we talked about a number of ways, but one of them is theological training. And we've got to make sure that our Pastors College remains committed to our theological convictions. I don't have a lot of concern there, but we as a leadership team have that responsibility. And so the leadership team has to stay connected to the PC in that regard because in other denominations you see a denominational leadership sort of disconnected from seminaries and they can begin to drift. And then the second thing that you see is just a denominational leadership that drifts itself. So we've got to stay committed to our theological convictions as men on the leadership team. So with that in view, we need to send men to our Pastors College who are trained not only in our theology and what we believe, but also in our values that we share and the virtues that shape our churches. So that's the first reason why it's very, very important.
And then secondly, it's important for our future. I mentioned this before. Over the next 10 years, we will experience I think the largest leadership transition at a local, regional, national, and global level that we've experienced so far in 40 years because we have our first founding generation of pastors that are getting older and will be transitioning primary leadership to the second and third generation. And so this is a way for us to have men that can step into those roles not only in the next couple of generations, but hopefully, Lord willing, generations in the future. So the Pastors College is vital, which is why I spent time at the leadership team retreat, a whole session, exhorting the guys on the leadership team to recruit for the Pastors College. Recruiting for the Pastors College is not just Jeff Purswell's responsibility, it's our responsibility as a team, as a leadership team, collectively and individually. And I really want to exhort our pastors. It is our shared responsibility for our future that we would all take responsibility to recruit capable, gifted young men who have character for our Pastors College.
Benjamin Kreps:
Church history is just littered with evidence that so often liberal drift in a denomination is because it's downstream from seminaries and theological centers of education that were there years before it was discerned in the denomination. We see that happening right now. So couldn't agree more about that. Even if class sizes stay around 9 or 10, it's encouraging to think, and we want larger classes, but even if that was a trajectory in 10 years, we've got like a hundred more pastors trained by the PC and that will make a discernible difference in what our future looks like. So seminaries are good and helpful. We thank God for seminaries, but the Pastors College makes a unique contribution that is different than the seminary experience. Talk to us about that.
Mark Prater:
Yeah, as you just said, Ben, men do benefit from seminary theological education. There are things that our Pastors College does that a seminary can't do. It's designed that way. It's always been that way. It's the way it was founded when CJ started a Pastors College over 20 years ago, 25 years ago maybe now. And that hasn't changed. And so the person who I think articulates that difference between the PC and the seminary experience, the person who articulates that difference best is Jeff Purswell, the Dean of our Pastors College. And so you and I, we recorded a podcast with Jeff on January 22nd of this year, January 22nd, 2024. And I would encourage all Sovereign Grace Pastors to listen to that. Again, it's available on the website and just be equipped in knowing how to talk to young men who are thinking about going to seminary, which isn't wrong, but how the Pastors College uniquely prepares them for pastoral ministry and leadership in Sovereign Grace. And Jeff articulates that very well. I would say take notes as you listen and that will help you recruit for the Pastors College.
Benjamin Kreps:
Yes, it's very good. Please go check that out if you haven't or maybe revisit it. Also, if you're on social media, you can follow the Pastors College on Twitter and Instagram and there's been a lot of content from Jeff about the Pastors College about philosophy of what they're doing there and among other things. So check that out as well. So before we end, there are certainly guys watching or listening to this podcast, reading this podcast who are thinking, well, I'd love to send a guy to Pastors College, but there's a number of challenges. What would you say to guys who feel the challenges, very real challenges that come with sacrifice and the sending of men to PC?
Mark Prater:
Yeah, there are challenges and there are sacrifices. What I've seen over the years, and all guys in Sovereign Grace have seen this. You meet those challenges and sacrifices on the front end. You count the cost and then you go, and then on the other side of graduation, you're like, oh, that didn't feel like a sacrifice at all. It wasn't a challenge at all. In fact, we would do it all over again because how we benefited, how we grew in Christ, how our marriage grew, how we received theological education, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So I think the challenges and obstacles feel very big on the front end, and if you can have faith to just address those on the other side of PC graduation, they don't feel like sacrifices at all.
So there's the common one of financial need, how do you pay for tuition and books to attend, and living expenses while in Louisville at the Pastors College? I think there's a lot of ways to raise money for PC students today. And so I think that's an easy one to address, but it's a challenge. There's the disruption of life of moving. If you're married and you have kids, moving a family to Louisville for 10 months, that can seem a bit overwhelming, but I would talk to guys about how much their family will benefit, that it's worth the disruption. And tell stories of guys that you either have sent or know who've benefited from the PC in a number of different ways.
There's also the obstacle of guys maybe having a very good job. They leave it, there's no guarantee they can go back. And so there's the question of can we bring this guy back on our pastoral team? Maybe not. He's going to need to work possibly as a bi-vocational elder. That's a real challenge. And I think that one is another sort of faith issue that you can trust God, that he will provide either the job you did leave or he will provide another one suited to provide for your family and at the same time participate in ministry. So those are our common obstacles we talked about this at our leadership team retreat.
One of the things I was saying to the guys in our leadership team is we've got to be an example. And you see that in this list of students that are coming this year, Jeff Purswell is in Louisville. Louisville has consistently sent PC students. And so they're a great example. We see the example of Covenant Fellowship where Jared and I are at, and we're sending two this year. We've got another guy or two we're thinking about in the future at Covenant Fellowship. We sent students in the past. Obviously there is Tommy Hill who's in Knoxville at Cornerstone Church now. Tommy is not an elder or a pastor, but those elders, that pastoral team has consistently sent guys to the Pastors College.
There's Dave Taylor's example and Riley Springs example of a huge sacrifice to travel around the world. The other part, the other side of the world to come to the Pastors College. Rich, who's at Center Church in Gilbert, he sent a PC student last year. Jon Payne, who's in Austin at Redemption Hill Church has a student he plans to send, not this fall, but the following fall. So we're trying to lead by example as well. And I just really want to highlight this important point. You may not have a PC student or prospective PC student now. You may not be able to send one in a couple of years, but do talk with your team and wrestle with the question, who do we have that maybe we could send three years from now or five years from now? Because as you said, Ben, collectively over a 10 year period, we've got like a hundred more Pastors, which we're going to need 10 years now. So be thinking long term and not just short term when recruiting for the PC.
Benjamin Kreps:
Well, having attended the PC myself, having sent Kevin Busch to the Pastors College with all those experiences, I'm eager to send more guys. We have a couple guys that we're exploring right now for potentially next year. And so I couldn't amen your encouragement anymore. So thank you, Mark, and thank you all for checking out the podcast. We'll see you here next week. Lord willing. Bye for now.