Register for the 2023 Pastors Conference
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, as most guys that follow along in this podcast are aware by now, recently the registration opened for the Pastors Conference this November. I was eager to register and did so immediately and very much look forward to the Pastors Conference. You talked in a recent podcast about why we do pastor's conferences, but you actually have a couple more thoughts for us about that topic. So why don't you share them with us?
Mark Prater:
I do. And I can't wait for our Pastors Conference in November. That's November 14th through the 16th in Orlando. By the way, if you're attending the Council of Elders meeting, that will be on Monday, November 13th. This is my favorite conference of the year. I love this conference because I think it's an important and strategic part of the annual rhythm of our family of churches. And, there are a number of reasons why it's important for us to gather together. Why even come to a conference like this? First of all, it's such a joy to worship the risen Christ together as pastors and wives and leaders. And that is a reminder of who we ultimately serve, Jesus Christ.
And it's a reminder that our churches are not our churches. They are the churches of Jesus Christ. And he is the great shepherd who oversees and cares for his people, and we simply serve him. So it's important just to come and sing to Jesus because it reminds us we ultimately serve Jesus Christ. It's also important because it's a time of year when we can equip, intentionally equip, our pastors and their wives, and the leaders that come for relevant issues that they face. When we design the main sessions and breakout sessions, which I'll talk about in a minute, we think long and hard, and we pray about topics that could best serve our pastors and the leaders of our churches. And and by the way, the theme of our conference this year is the Church of Christ and the Triumph of the Truth.
And so, we were just thinking about such an important element of what we're facing today as cultural pressures face our churches, is to be able to stand on the truth courageously and to communicate it graciously in a way that strengthens our churches and protects us from really false doctrine. But another reason that we do a pastors' conference and why you should come, is that we are a family of churches. We build relationally and we want to continue to build relationally as a family of churches. And so this conference is one aspect of doing that, though that's not the only way. We like to call it our annual family reunion because it just has that feel; brothers and sisters back together. Maybe you haven't seen each other since the last conference. And it's just a joy just to be together.
So it strengthens us relationally as a family of churches. It also provides a context for our pastors to bring present leaders or future leaders from your church. And what it does is it just exposes them to Sovereign Grace on a little bit larger scale. And they get a better idea of how what they do in serving the local church strengthens our partnership in Sovereign Grace. It also is a context for you as pastors to invite guests or a pastor that's unaffiliated and he's wondering about Sovereign Grace. This would be a great conference to invite him to.
And I think lastly, one of the effects of the conference that we pray for and hope for is that it strengthens our mission in a way that we leave Orlando saying, you know, we're not alone. We are doing this mission together in linked arms with other brothers and sisters in Christ who are like-minded in terms of gospel centrality; like-minded in terms of our shared values and virtues, like-minded in our desire to reach the lost with the gospel of Jesus Christ. So those are just some of the reasons why you should come to the conference this year. And I can't wait for the conference and I can't wait to see you at the conference.
Ben Kreps:
Yeah. So much anticipation around here for the conference. And talk about singing, I have a lingering memory, I think it was the last night of the conference last year when we were singing the Sovereign Grace Psalm 62 song. And it just seemed, it felt like the roof was going to come off the place. It was glorious. It was sanctified rowdiness, as so many people raised their voices together to sing to Jesus. So, can't wait for that and I am grateful about how the conference can be utilized in a number of ways that you described. And we're planning on bringing about 14 people, and that includes existing pastors here at Living Hope, and a guest, a guy that's exploring coming into Sovereign Grace, potential future elders, and then an older godly couple that's been in the church forever that we just want to bless. So it's wonderful how this conference can be utilized to really strengthen our local churches, and grateful for how you and the leadership team really do put so much prayer and thought and effort into trying to design a conference that does equip and strengthen everyone who attends. That includes a number of breakout sessions that you mentioned that you wanted to talk about. Why don't you tell us about that?
Mark Prater:
Yeah, we think about that and design the main sessions and we're still developing those. We've asked CJ to preach again, Jeff is going to speak about the importance of building our churches solidly theologically, and maintaining theological integrity and why that's important. So that's a little heads up on Jeff's sermon, and we really thought through the breakout sessions as well. Let me just quickly describe them and I hope they pique your interest in registering for the conference.
So we are going to have a women's breakout session that Jared Mellinger will teach. It's entitled, God Delights In You: Encouragement and Counsel for the Pastor's Wife. Our wives are indispensable when it comes to pastoral ministry in the local church. They have unique opportunities and they face unique challenges in caring for others and helping us care for the people in our church. And yet their labors are not really seen that much. And we want them to know that in God's eyes, they are very valuable and very important to what we do. And then just some wisdom on what to do with those opportunities and challenges. So that's the women's breakout session. You don't have to be a pastor's wife to attend that, by the way. Any woman will benefit attending that breakout session.
We also have one that we asked you to do, Ben, because we think you model this really well. The title of the breakout session is Building a Culture with our Shaping Virtues. And these shaping virtues really describe sort of the essence of what someone experiences when they walk into a Sovereign Grace Church. Or it's sort of the flavor we pray for in a Sovereign Grace Church and that are seen in other churches. Let me be very clear about that. But it's really the working of the gospel in our lives that you see humility and joy and encouragement and gratitude, those kinds of virtues. And you've led your church so well in that, in fact, you have those virtues painted up on the wall of the coffee shop in your church. And we just thought, you are the guy to teach this. We're also going to do a panel that will join you after you teach this to do a Q & A. So thanks for doing that breakout session. I hope you registered for your own breakout session.
Ben Kreps:
I did; almost reluctantly, as I looked at the other breakout sessions. <laugh>. They look so good. But tell us about the other ones.
Mark Prater:
Yeah, exactly <laugh>. The other ones: Josh Blount is going to do one entitled Complementarianism Culture and our Churches, subtitled, Living our Convictions in the Age of the Gender Wars. And, you know, our complementarian convictions are so important to us in Sovereign Grace. We want to live those out. But, with what's happening out in the culture and all these different kinds of definitions related to masculinity and femininity and what that looks like in the day to day, we just wanted to have a breakout session where we teach clearly into that and equip our pastors to go home and teach clearly into that, into their local churches. Jon Payne is going to do a breakout session on team ministry entitled, Pastoring Together: The Privilege and Pitfalls of Team Ministry. And we wanted to dedicate a breakout session to team ministry because it is always something we need to keep our eye on. Regardless of what local church team you're on, whether you're in season of health as a team, this is for you. Whether you may be facing challenges as a team, this breakout session is for you. And Jon just teaches this so well. He actually is going to take some of the material he's taught at the Pastors College in this area and sort of refine it for a breakout session.
And then Jeff Purswell is going to do a breakout session entitled The Pastor and Politics, to answer practical questions like, how should a pastor think about politics? What's the role of the pastor with politics? How do politics affect the way we lead our churches? Everything is so seemingly politicized today. We just thought this is a good time to equip our pastors in that area as well. So Jeff will be doing a brilliant job, I'm sure, on that breakout session. So I think there are five breakout sessions, including the ladies that are all good reasons for you to register for the Pastors Conference in Orlando. And again, I can't wait to see you there.
Ben Kreps:
Yeah, can't wait to see everyone when we gather again in November. It's an honor to be asked to do that breakout session and I look forward to gathering with the one or two people who decide to choose this breakout over the other excellent topics that are going to be addressed in the breakout sessions. <laugh>. So thanks, Mark, for your thoughts about the Pastors Conference. Register, guys, if you haven't already. And consider who you can bring to this wonderful time of equipping, strengthening, and glorifying God. So thank you for watching or reading this podcast. We'll see you here next week, Lord willing. Bye for now.