VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Benjamin Kreps:

Hey everyone. 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 the podcast, you were talking about how at the recent leadership team retreat you had a discussion about church planting and why we plant churches. We definitely don't plant churches to merely spread the Sovereign Grace Church brand or anything like that. We actually have biblical convictions about church planting. You guys were talking about that. Talk to us about your discussion.

Mark Prater:

Yeah, it was a wonderful discussion that actually Jon Payne led us through, did a great job of leading us through the discussion that he had put together, just a document, really a conversation piece, about our church planting assumptions in Sovereign Grace. And the reason he did that is because he's had this conversation with the Church Planting Group. They are not this independent isolated committee or group in our family of churches. They're actually an extension of the leadership team. So we want to make sure that we're all on the same page, the leadership team and Church Planting Group when it comes to how we think about church planting and why we plant churches in Sovereign Grace. And so I know Mike Seaver has seen this. Joel Shorey, our new director of church planting has seen this. And then Jon brought this draft working document that I'm just going to mention here in just a moment. He gave 'em some input and they'll talk about it again at the Church Planting Group retreat in August. But I thought they were really, really helpful.

I will say before I give these 12 assumptions, that we're thinking of the United States in using these; there are certainly assumptions that apply in other nations, but not all of them will, and would encourage guys that are planting churches outside of the United States, and Dave Taylor will help guys think this, about how can they take these assumptions and have them for their own nation. So just some introductory comments before I walk you through these 12 assumptions that we discussed.

Benjamin Kreps:

That's excellent. Glad that you guys, you're not just kicking around thoughts, you're actually wisely highlighting things that are helpful to the pastors and members of Sovereign Grace churches. When we think about church planting and people talk about church planting all the time, so of course there are assumptions connected with that conversation. So what are some assumptions about church planting that you would like us to be aware of?

Mark Prater:

Right? As I mentioned we have in the working document anyway, 12 assumptions. Those might change. We might reduce that number, but I thought they're all good. So it was worth dedicating a podcast to it. Assumption number 1: we want to plant churches, and here's the reason why. We as a family of churches, we desire to reflect the New Testament model of advancing the gospel by sacrificing for the mission and sending people to plant new churches to reach people that haven't heard Christ or reach an area that may not have a solid gospel preaching church. So that's a biblical conviction. That's a New Testament model that we are wanting to reflect in Sovereign Grace.

Assumption number 2: we want to plant for endurance. So we want to plant churches that will be faithful to God's word, faithful to our theological convictions and endure over time. So what that means is we're not as interested in numbers and we're not going to have these goals for numbers, but what we're interested in is planting solid churches that will be faithful and endure over time.

Assumption number 3: we plant with Sovereign Grace pastors. And what that means is we plant with men who are ordained in Sovereign Grace, who share our theological convictions, our seven shared values and our seven shaping virtues and where possible they also have some degree of pastoral experience. Now that may change based on the planter and how much experience he either has or needs, but we're just learning that guys who've got some degree of pastoral experience plant more solid churches because they've learned about pastoral ministry and that helps them plant well. Basically, Eric Turbedsky, when he was our director of church planting just unashamedly said appropriately, we plant Sovereign Grace churches a Sovereign Grace way. And that's kind of a little bit of what he was getting at in that phrase, right?

Assumption number 4: we value team ministry. That's not new to the pastors and even members of our churches that are listening to this, but where possible we'd love to send a plurality of elders more than just a solo elder. Now that's not always possible, but where we can, we want to do that. Or if we can't send a man already ordained, we'd love to send somebody who certainly is called and potentially on that ordination track because it will strengthen the church plant because pastoral teams are a reflection of the church. And so that'll be a stronger church.

Assumption number 5: we plant with denominational financial support. So in other words, we together as a family of churches, we are committed to replicating this New Testament model of planting churches so much. So we want to give our financial resources; those coming from our national resources, Sovereign Grace Central, those coming from our region. It's just one way to invest into the gospel and that allows a man to really devote his time to planting the church and not needing to find ways to earn other income.

Assumption number 6, which is really the next logical one: we plant with vocational pastors. Now this is one that may not work outside the United States because of the economy in certain nations, guys may need to be bi-vocational. But here in the states, our assumption is we want to plant with vocational pastors again because they can focus on the work of planting and not have to worry about how they're going to support their families.

Assumption number 7: we prioritize preaching, which is again not new in Sovereign Grace. CJ has led us down that road so well. You lead your church from the pulpit and you build your church on God's word Sunday after Sunday in solid expository preaching. And that's going to build churches that endure and that's going to build strong gospel centered churches.

Assumption number 8: we value denominational preparation and ongoing care. It's why we have a Church Planting Group. Those guys exist to help you, a planter, prepare, assess, and prepare. It's one of the roles that our regional leaders play in providing care for the planters. So our denominational structures that we have in place are in part there to foster and strengthen our church planting efforts.

Assumption number 9: we prioritize cooperative efforts. So we just believe that we're going to be able to do more together as a family of churches. And so the sharing of resources and the sharing of prayer, meaning we pray for one another as we plant churches is really important. And when I talk about sharing resources, I'm not just talking about financial resources, I'm talking about people. First of all, people that may be in one church that can join another church's church planting team because they have a desire to be a part of a church plant or the sharing of pastors. You may have a location to plant but not a pastor. And so a church in Sovereign Grace sacrificially gives that pastor to that other church so he can plant a church and the gospel can be advanced. Those are huge sacrifices, but they reflect the resources that we share.

Assumption number 10 is we prioritize pastoral ministry. Planters are pastors. That's something that I think Eric said. It's something that Jon has emphasized. Pastors are planters we want to plant with. Men are shepherds who will shepherd the flock of God that they begin to gather as the church plant forms.

Assumption number 11, we prioritize godly character. In other words, we want to send planters who are proven in godly character, tested in godly character and we can affirm their godly character. I think that's one of the roles of our, not only of our local churches, but our regional church planting committees, as well.

And then assumption number 12, we take faith-filled risks on the right things. So I want to continue to call us to take faith-filled risks, but we've got to take risks on the right things. I won't spend a lot of time on that because I dedicated a podcast to that topic just a few weeks ago. So if you haven't heard that, listen to it. But for example, we don't want to take risks on godly character, but we do want to take risks in sending our best to further the mission of the gospel as we plant churches.

So those are the assumptions, at least right now, those may change, but I thought it'd be a good time just to introduce them to our pastors and members of our churches and as we work on this, pray that God gives us wisdom, and pray that God would give us resources, men called to plant, people wanting to be on church plant teams, and financial resources to plant churches.

Benjamin Kreps:

That's very good. And I was struck again by a couple of those assumptions that are helpful to perhaps a church that wants to be involved in church planting but doesn't see the way forward but can help financially, help with people, help with resources. The sharing together, this cooperation in Sovereign Grace, is a central piece to how we plant. And so grateful for the Church Planting Group. I know when we planted last year, Redeeming Grace Church in Mechanicsburg, they served us so well. So helpful. So I've said this before, but if anyone's just thinking, I don't even know what it looks like to get involved in planting or the way forward, the Church Planting Group will help you. They will lead you through the whole process and we were helped so much by them.

So thank you, Mark, and the leadership team, and the way that you interact with the Church Planting Group and such thoughtful ways to serve us and may God give us the privilege of planting many more churches in the days ahead. So thank you, Mark, for the update. Thank you all for checking out the podcast. We'll see you here next week. Lord willing. Bye for now.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Benjamin Kreps:
Hey everyone. And welcome to the Mark Prater podcast, where our aim is to connect our global family of churches with our Executive Director. Mark, we talk a lot on this podcast about global church planting and partnership, but we also want to be planting churches here in the states as well. And to that end the National Church Planting Group is holding an assessment weekend to help our churches plant more churches here in the U.S. Can you tell us about that?

Mark Prater:
That National Church Planter's assessment weekend is scheduled for this coming weekend. So when guys get this in their inbox on Monday, it will have been this past weekend. So it's January 22nd and 23rd and it's something we're really excited about. It's a new initiative that's being led by Eric Turbedsky and involves the National Church Planting Group. The guy in the National Church Planting Group, that's really leading this, on point for the National Church Planting assessment weekend is our own Greg Dirnberger. He's gonna do a great job. Let me just tell you a little bit about it. There's actually six couples from different churches and different regions here in the states that will be traveling to the west coast for the National Church Planter's assessment weekend. And that alone is very encouraging. Exciting. The fact that we've got six guys along with their wives who have faith and are inspired and desire to plant a Sovereign Grace church is very, very encouraging and they'll get there on Friday evening.

And then all day on Saturday will be the assessment. And then we have three couples who are the assessors: Greg and Laurie Dirnberger, John and Nancy Loftness and Dave and Mary Beth Odom. And as you hear those names you men probably know, men and women know, that each of those guys along with their wives have planted Sovereign Grace churches. And also have years of pastoral ministry experience. So I'm really excited that these church planting candidates along with their wives are going to be assessed by men and women that we trust and who have been involved in church planting and have years of pastoral ministry experience. So I just can't wait to see what this weekend produces. And then at the end of this weekend those assessments will be sent back to the sending church just as a means to serve them. It's really for any eldership, the opportunity for someone else outside of your eldership or even outside of your region to assess a church planter and just sort of determine their readiness to plant a church. So that's a little bit of an overview of what's gonna happen this weekend.

Benjamin Kreps:
Yeah, that's excellent. And we're sending a couple actually. And so when I learned who was doing the assessment, I just thought, boy, excellent, excellent pastors and their wives, that are trustworthy men. And I look forward to their evaluation. I think it's gonna serve us big time. It will be very helpful. So what's the schedule look like? What kinds of things will they be doing during the retreat?

Mark Prater:
They've got a wonderful plan mapped out and some of the things that those couples will be doing is they want to get to know them. They've got a session where they say just tell us your story, and are really asking them to just share about their life. Some of their greatest joys, some of their greatest challenges, for example. So it'll take some time to do that. They're also gonna to do what they call a marriage checkup. They want to assess and determine how strong the marriage is and where they can encourage them and where they can help them. That's so important in a church planter's life, for their marriage to be continuing to grow in Christ. So I'm glad that's a part of it.

They're going to ask them to share the gospel. They want to ensure that a church planter knows the gospel, he and his wife, and can effectively share the gospel. So that's a portion of the time. And then they're gonna take some time and just ask the couple to share their vision for their church plant, which I would just love to sit there and hear those guys share their vision, as their wives are a part of that and will chime in, I'm sure, their vision for their church. So those are just a few of the things they're going to be doing over the weekend and will be part of the assessment that these three assessing couples we'll put together.

Benjamin Kreps:
That's wonderful. That sounds like a fruitful time. I love how it gets at how we love to build and grow relationally and that marriages are being invested in. And all of that just sounds wonderful. So any other thoughts about church planting before we end?

Mark Prater:
Well, in my State of the Union that I gave to the Council of Elders, I was calling us to take the right risks for the cause of Christ. And I think this is a right risk for us to take; to plant churches. Not to grow Sovereign Grace. It's not about that at all. It's really about planting churches to reach the lost with the gospel. And that's why we plant churches. We want to reach men and women who don't know Christ, and may of our church planting efforts result in people being saved and more people joining us around the throne on that great day singing "worthy is the lamb".

Benjamin Kreps:
Amen. Well, thanks to the faithful men and women that will be leading this time, this weekend. Thanks to all of you. Thank you, Eric, for leading the National Church Planting Group. And it's wonderful to see the investment being made into couples here that are exploring church planting. So thank you Mark, for the update. Thank you all for watching or reading, and we'll see you here, Lord willing, next week. Bye for now.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Benjamin Kreps:

Hey everyone. Welcome to the Mark Prater podcast, where our aim is to connect our global family of churches with our Executive Director. Mark, the last podcast we recorded, you were in Mexico at a conference for pastors. You've since come home, but you're still buzzing from your experience there. What happened in that conference?

Mark Prater:

I am still buzzing. The conference is still affecting me. That is the Fieles conference that is led by Carlos Contreras, senior pastor of Iglesia Gracia Soberana in Juarez, Mexico. That church had 100 volunteers, by the way; church members in that Sovereign Grace Church serving during this conference that was attended by over 300 pastors and their wives. And it was a Sovereign Grace conference. If you ever go to it, it's a Sovereign Grace conference in the Mexican culture, in the Latin American culture, all in Spanish, obviously. And it wasa joy to sing with them. Of course, I'm making up the words in Spanish as I go. But, yeah, I'm singing with them with great joy.

There were a number of highlights from the conference for me. One of them I mentioned last week is Carlos and myself, along with Joselo Mercado and Rich Richardson, we led an interest lunch for pastors who are interested in knowing more about potentially partnering with Sovereign Grace. And I brought home with me a list of 36 names. Carlos gave this list to me so that I could be praying for these men. About 10 of these names are wives. So there were about 25 pastors at this lunch that we had on Thursday afternoon. And it was just wonderful. Got to share a little bit about Sovereign Grace. And then we opened up to a Q & A. A pastor and his wife were there planting a church in Mexico City and just wondering about partnering with Sovereign Grace. There were men there who have existing churches who were asking questions about how to partner with Sovereign Grace, churches in Juarez and in other parts of Mexico.

And it was just humbling to interact with them. Many of them didn't really ask questions, but made comments about how Sovereign Grace had already served them—how Carlos, in particular, and Abelardo and Hellman, other men working in Mexico, had served them. And we're just reaffirming some of the values that I was sharing earlier. So it was a lunch that was very, very exciting and inspiring. And potentially as some of those pastors or churches may either plant or partner with Sovereign Grace, Mexico continues to grow. So that was just one of the highlights of the trip for me.

Benjamin Kreps:

Excellent. That's wonderful. You were sharing with me a couple of stories before we started recording the podcast. Why don't you share those stories now, a couple of reports back from the field that you got to hear about.

Mark Prater:

Yeah, so many encouraging, faith building interactions at this conference. We could probably do an hour podcast if I told you all the stories. But let me just tell you two quick ones. One is a conversation I had both with Andres Contreras and Roberto Estupinian—we know him as Choby. Choby is now the senior pastor of the Sovereign Grace Church in Guadalajara. Andres Contreras, who is Carlos' son, is there with him. And they were just talking about how that church is just beginning to grow. Even during the pandemic this church has grown. And Andres was telling me when they first arrived there, there were not many younger families, and in recent months people are coming with younger children, younger folks coming, who are obviously younger in their marriage and in the parenting process, and they are excited about being at this church. And what's interesting, the timing of the growth of the church along with Choby very carefully building gospel-centered theological foundations. So one of the things that he was telling me about: Choby is teaching a class every Wednesday evening. And he's just taken one section of the Statement of Faith and teaching a section per week. Just a wonderful way to build theological foundations in a growing church. So that was just very, very exciting, given the fact that you know, you're just rejoicing about what God is doing, but Guadalajara is a very strategic city in Mexico.

And then the other story has to do with a man, I believe his first name is Rafael. He lives in the most Southern state in Mexico, as I understand it, Chiapas, which borders right up against Guatemala. And he just has a heart to reach those in his state with the gospel. He somehow got connected with Abelardo Muñoz in Juarez. And he was sharing with Abelardo, "I want to see people in my state come to Christ. And if they come to Christ, maybe even someday we plant a church, and what do I do?" So Abelardo got him the Spanish version of the Bridge course that's been created by Jim Donohue, a pastor I serve with at Covenant Fellowship. And Abelardo said, “Rafael, I'll take this. I'll find some unbelievers and take them through it.” So the first time he did it, he gathered about 10 people and they went through the Bridge course together. Many of them were born again. And he's now scheduled a second Bridge course. Obviously some of those people are inviting friends and there's like 70 people that are now registered to take this next Bridge course. And so I got to interact with Rafael. Abelardo translated for me. And this man's excitement to see the lost reached with the gospel in this most Southern state of Mexico, it was infectious. It built my faith. And so be praying for Rafael. Maybe there's some sort of revival that happens in Chiapas, Mexico. Maybe he’s supposed to plant a church someday. But pray for his efforts in using this Bridge course as it begins to start here in the next week. So just a couple of stories that really stirred my faith I wanted you to hear.

Benjamin Kreps:

That's great. I think it's safe to say most of us never tire of hearing about how God is at work in Mexico and how God is using Carlos and the other guys there to serve men there in the advance of the gospel. So thanks, Mark, for the update. Thank you all for watching or reading and we'll see here next week, lord willing. Bye for now.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Benjamin Kreps:

Hey everyone. And welcome to the Mark Prater podcast, where our aim is to connect our global family of churches with our Executive Director. Mark, you talked on a podcast a few months back about how God has given us the opportunity to see his kingdom advance through church planting and Sovereign Grace, even in a very difficult season. Now we have a Church Planting Group or what has been known as the National Church Planting Group that is intended to serve these men as they navigate into their church plans. Could you tell us a little bit more about that?

Mark Prater:

Love to. This is a great time to be planting churches, simply because as all of our pastors know, the world needs to hear the truth of the word of God and needs to find hope in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And one of the ways that happens is through church planting.

We're actively planting three churches right now. One in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Michael Granger just had his first public service in the last two or three weeks. We're planting in Prattville, Alabama. That plant is being led by Matt Turner. And we will be planting right at the turn of the year in San Antonio, Texas, where Phillip Estrada is leading that church plant. And so our Church Planting Group—and we've dropped the National Church Planting Group; we have dropped the national name out of it and just call them the Church Planning Group because we want them to be a resource for our planters around the globe, at least in this point in time in our history. And these guys are doing a great job. That group is led by Mike Seaver, who leads that group on behalf of Eric Turbedsky, our Director of Church Planting. And what that arrangement does is it allows Eric to focus on the things that we've asked him to focus on related to church planting while Mike leads the Church Planting Group in assessing and equipping our church planters.

And this group is just a great group. It's Mike Seaver, Jeremy Oddy, Andy Farmer, Ricky Alcantar, and Greg Dirnberger. Some of our best guys.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yes.

Mark Prater:

And they've been working hard really equipping guys for church planting.

Benjamin Kreps:

Wonderful. I understand that there is some of that equipping happening this weekend with these guys that are in the middle of working on a church plant. Can you tell us about that?

Mark Prater:

I'd love to. It’s happening the next couple of days. The guys are flying in today. We've had to make some adjustments because obviously of the pandemic. But Andy Farmer in the Church Planting Group is the guy on point for our Church Planting Cohort. And that's what the guys will be attending over the next several days.

So Matt Turner is flying in today and he's bringing a couple of guys with him that are planting that church in Prattville. Those two guys are kind of forming a leadership core for him. And then Phillip Estrada is coming as well. He's planting Mission City Fellowship in San Antonio after the turn of the year. And then Jim Brown, who is the Regional Church Planting Chair, a church planting committee chair for his region in the Southeast. He is coming along with Matt simply just to learn, but to sort of envision him for influencing his region in the future for church planting.

So those guys are coming in and they're going to spend what Andy's mapped out. I think it's a great plan. We're going to draw on our team here at Covenant Fellowship Church and some of our planters in the area. So guys are going to get intensives. Actually it starts now, let me just say what's happening tonight. We are having an elders meeting tonight so they can just sit in and one of our elders meetings. And then throughout the day tomorrow, they're going to have these intensives where they're going to get with Rob flood and Andy Farmer on Biblical counseling with Jim Donohue regarding evangelism, Leo Parris when it comes to youth ministry. Matt Turner is bringing his worship leader with him. So he'll get time with Joseph Stigora related to worship leading. Matt and Phillip will get time with Jared Mellinger just on the role of the Senior Pastor and mapping out sermon series in particular.

And then we've got a couple of church planters in our area, Dan Birkholz who's up in Northeast Philly and Steven Bowne who is in the Frankfort section of Northeast Philly are going to be at Covenant Fellowship. And they're just going to talk about their church planting experience in an urban setting.

So that gives you a little bit of flavor of what Andy has put together. And just one of the ways that the Church Planting Group is equipping our planters.

Benjamin Kreps:

It's just great to hear. Not only that we're planting churches but that are gifted men who serve as pastors in Sovereign Grace are being deployed to equip those men and to build relationally. I love that model. I think we all do. Do you think if somebody is on a church planting committee in their region, would you encourage them, if somebody is inclined, to come and visit one of these like Jim Brown is doing?

Mark Prater:

I think it would be a great idea. I think it would give you a little better look into how a planter is equipped and it may just give you a vision for future church planters in your region. I think you'd come away from this cohort enthused and excited about church planting and then you would bring that back to your region.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yeah. Great idea. Any other thoughts before we go?

Mark Prater:

Well, I think it’s what you just said. You know, this is a real expression of our partnership. First of all, the Church Planting Group has got guys that serve on that from different regions. And we're using our pastors to train our church planters, all different guys who are pastors in a local church. And none of that happens without our shared commitment to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ together by planting and strengthening churches. So, what this next few days represents is one expression of our partnership and even how we, I think, build relationally within that partnership.

Benjamin Kreps:

Right. Wonderful model. Very encouraging to hear. Thank you, Mark. And thank you everyone for watching and we'll see you here soon. Bye for now.

Transcript:

What Happened at the Leadership Team Retreat?

Benjamin Kreps:
Hey everyone, this is Ben Kreps. Welcome to the Mark Prater podcast where we aim to connect our global family of churches with our Executive Director. Hey, Mark, how are you doing?

Mark Prater:
I'm doing great. Ben, how are you?

Benjamin Kreps:
I'm doing good. So I saw last week on Twitter (by the way, your Twitter handle is @MarkKPrater like the website) you posted that you were at a retreat for the Leadership Team and asked for prayer. And so I wanted to connect with you and hear about what Leadership Team retreats are all about. I mean, what happens at a Leadership Team Retreat?

Mark Prater:
Well, let me start by giving you the typical day. What does a typical day look like at a Leadership Team Retreat?

Benjamin Kreps:
So we're assuming it involves drinking beer and complaining about Sovereign Grace. Is that pretty much like substance of it?

Mark Prater: 

That's about all we get accomplished. That's right. Haha. 

No, we get together three times a year. In fact, we talked about this in our last retreat: Should we continue to do three retreats a year? Is that too many? Should we go to two? And because we're spread out geographically, we find that those retreat times are just so important for us to build relationally, to talk, and have conversation that doesn't have to be hurried about big picture issues in Sovereign Grace. And we just found that (both on a relational level and a strategic level, if you can say it that way) the retreats are really helpful.

Benjamin Kreps: 

That's wonderful. So three times a year, for how long? Three days?

Mark Prater: 

We started Monday, about 11:00 AM, and ended on Thursday at about 11:00 AM. So it's a full schedule. 

Kind of a typical day during our retreat, we'll rent an Airbnb, so we'll just all stay in the same house. It's another chance just to be together. Just hang out together. We love that as well. We usually get started around 8:30 or 9:00. 

And we just begin by praying: Whether there's specific things we're praying for related to Sovereign Grace (typically we're praying for our pastors and churches and certain churches that are on our heart) and then we will meet and after prayer we'll just discuss items until about 4:30. We typically have lunch brought in. 

And about 4:30 we'll just take a break, just to clear our minds, do some exercise. Typically most of the guys go work out. And then we'll gather back together, usually about 6:00 and we'll go to dinner and we'll continue the meeting over dinner and we'll typically be meeting until 10:00. So it's a full day that has both, again, the relational and the strategic component to it.

Benjamin Kreps: 

That's great to hear that we have a fit, healthy Leadership Team. Everybody's working out. So what kinds of things did you talk about and cover and pray about over this past week?

Mark Prater: 

We had a really good retreat because we were able to take some time and just talk about big picture issues. So actually, the first session, I just take time to specifically encourage the Leadership Team. And then after that, we take some time to pray. 

And then this past retreat we just really answered the question: How do we move our family of churches forward in mission? What can we do as a Leadership Team? 

I asked each of the guys in the Leadership Team to answer that question and bring specific thoughts. And they had done a lot of work beforehand, and it was a really, really good conversation. 

Some of the ways that we answered that question were to refocus on church planting. We talked about how to focus not so much on the "how" of church planning, but the "why" of church planting. And because of the work that Ian McConnell did and the National Church Planting Group continues to do, we've got the "how" pretty much down now in terms of our process. What we really need to talk more about is why do we plant churches in more of an inspirational, vision casting way. 

We also talked about how do we make our pastors in our churches more aware of what's happening globally in Sovereign Grace. That alone, will stir us in mission. 

We talked about making evangelism more of a priority, and Mickey's leading us in some ways of doing that. So we just had a great conversation about that.

Benjamin Kreps:
That's wonderful. I know that Dave Taylor and I have been talking about possibly doing an Emerging Nations Team podcast to help assist in that, helping people to know what's going on globally.

Mark Prater:
Let me just encourage you to do that. Stop talking about it and do it actually. I've said that to the guys at the Leadership Team because the other thing that we talked about as a Leadership Team (especially we devoted to): the topic of how do we strengthen our influence and our leadership as a Leadership Team. 

So a couple of things we talked about: Beyond the Sovereign Grace website, we're going to have department websites. 

So church development: Mickey hopes to have that up by March 1st and the Pastors College website up by March 31st. It's going to have a bunch of new resources on it. And then beyond the podcast I'm doing and the Ordinary Pastor Podcast, I believe Jeff is going to start one fairly soon, which will be really, really good. So those are just some of the ways. 

So if you and Dave could do one on emerging nations, that would just add to the voices that will serve our pastors.

Benjamin Kreps:
Yeah. What we're aiming to do it. So look for that sometime soon when we can coordinate between Australia and Pennsylvania. We'll figure it out. 

So the important question you asked (just to end this conversation): You guys talked about why is it that we plant churches at Sovereign Grace? 

So give me the short answer: the elevator pitch. Why does Sovereign Grace plant churches? What was your conclusion as you talked about that at the retreat?

Mark Prater:
Our conclusion, which is really our heart, is to reach those who don't know Jesus Christ as their Savior with the good news of the gospel. That's ultimately why we plant churches: to see people born again through the preaching of the gospel, through local gospel outreach. 

And as you know, as you read through the New Testament, it happened through church planting. And really all of that should be for the glory of God. 

So it's not really about Sovereign Grace, in that sense. It really is about fulfilling the Great Commission that Christ has given us for the glory of God. And that's why we plant churches.

Benjamin Kreps:
Amen. Well, I think everybody watching this would also say amen to that and our shared mission together. So thank you Mark for leading our Leadership Team, for caring for them at that retreat. We are grateful for you. And to all our viewers, thanks for taking time to watch this podcast. God bless you. We'll see you next time. 

Transcript:

Eric Turbedsky: Hey, my name is Eric Turbedsky, Director of Communications for Sovereign Grace Churches, and I'm here with our Executive Director, Mark Prater on his podcast, which is about getting you what you need to be part of our global family of churches. And today I want to hear from Mark a little update: How did the conference go? What kind of things would you look at to evaluate the conference? Tell us some things that surprised you from the conference. It was a great conference Mark. Thanks for leading us. What were your thoughts? 

Mark Prater:  Well thanks. Thanks for asking. I thought the conference went really well. It actually went better than I'd hoped. I mean, you pray, but God always does more than you ask or even think to ask him. So I'm very grateful to God for how the conference went overall. 

Some highlights for me were: 

-People traveling from 18 different countries to be here in the States was so encouraging. 

-I was very affected (I know a lot of people told me they were as well) on Wednesday night, before we started singing to have Psalm 1:17 read in eight different languages. It just makes the gospel big. It reminds us that the gospel transcends racial, cultural, and language barriers and saves people from tribe, tongue, and nation. So that was so encouraging. 

-The preaching was outstanding. And we could spend a whole podcast talking about the preaching. 

-One of the things that surprised me in a good way was the interest meetings that were held throughout the conference. We had a church planting luncheon where we had 16 guys who are interested in planting a church with Sovereign Grace. It's actually the largest church planning interest meeting that we've had over the last six years. So that was a surprise, and very encouraging. 

-That luncheon was packed out. It was led by the national church planting group. And I heard back from Mike Seaver in particular who said that these guys were engaged. He said he could hardly eat his lunch cause they're just asking him all kinds of questions about how to plant with Sovereign Grace. So in a time when people might be thinking who wants to plant with Sovereign Grace, we're actually finding the opposite to be true. 

-The other thing that was encouraging was on Wednesday afternoon we had the Pastors College interests meeting and that room was packed out. We had to bring more chairs to accommodate the interest there. And there's just this increased interest from people who attended the conference to actually apply to the Pastors College next year. So that was really encouraging. And that same afternoon we had an evangelism meeting led by Mickey Connolly and Jim Donohue and those guys were telling me that room was packed out, and we had to bring chairs into that room as well. 

So that was all just a pleasant surprise that I think gives you a little bit of an idea of where we might be as a denomination. That's a picture of health in some sense you can measure. So that was encouraging. 

Eric Turbedsky: Well those are all outward reaching and expanding. We're chasing the gospel as it works. It felt big on whatever that was Wednesday night when all the languages, people just reading Scripture in different languages. But if you think church planting, Pastors College, so training for the future, and evangelism... it is really encouraging to think all my friends are looking outward and wanting to build and take risks for the expansion of the gospel. That's really encouraging. 

The room seems really big at our conference. This would be a question for everyone that was there this week. Is there a reason why all the chairs are zip-tied together and we're not allowed to spread them apart? Do you know anything about this Mark? And what are you going to do about it? 

Mark Prater: I didn't know they were zip-tied actually, so that's good to know. Last year we were in a smaller room and so we requested that bigger room because it felt like we were too packed in last year. So we moved over to this bigger room. I think we can make some adjustments: either bringing the stage out a little bit more or not zip tying the chairs so people can move around. I'll make sure that gets fixed. 

Eric Turbedsky: I also heard that there were a lot of silver alerts.. explain to those that are still lost that we're looking for them. So we learned there. And I don't think this was ever an issue in the past with Sovereign Grace Churches, but these silver alerts in Florida... 

Mark Prater:  Yeah. The silver alerts are something Mickey mentioned in the panel that he learned about, which is just folks that are a bit older who get confused and lost and they can't find their way. We had some of those at the conference. So it also tells us how we're moving from the first generation to the second generation, hopefully in Sovereign Grace. 

Eric Turbedsky: Do you expect anything--any big expectations for next year, thinking ahead of the conference? What would be different next year? Obviously maybe some different speakers or topics or whatever, but is there anything, in particular, you're thinking next year? 

Mark Prater: I think we'll look at different speakers because that can be helpful. One of the pieces of feedback I got was how well Josh Blount preached at his very first conference. 

Eric Turbedsky: We call him the Jeff Purswell of the West Coast, even though he lives in West Virginia. 

Mark Prater: Right. He's close enough. His state is called West Virginia. So you can claim it. I get it. He just did a great job. 

So a piece of feedback is: There are guys that we don't typically hear from that have that kind of gifting and ability. And so that's one of the things I would be thinking through in the year to come is other guys like him. I would have Josh speak again, obviously, but, I want to think about other guys, for example. 

And we didn't have CJ speak this year, so I want to most likely ask him again. I think it's good to hear from our founder. So that, that'd be something I'd be thinking about. 

The other thing is to continue to look for times of just praying for one another. We did that a little bit on Wednesday night and I'm wondering if there's another place in the conference to do that because it's an opportunity for pastors and wives to be cared for. Typically they're caring for others, but this is a conference where they can be cared for. So I'd be looking for those. There may be one additional opportunity there for next year. 

Eric Turbedsky: I have grown to appreciate it as I've been a pastor additional years and adding those years up that our Pastors Conference is still about word and prayer, which is just so appropriate for men and who are giving their lives to the ministry of the word and prayer to come be ministered to. So thank you for how you lead us Mark. I'm grateful. I think most of us, if not all of us, went home really happy. Thanks for the update. Thanks for being a part of Sovereign Grace Churches. Hopefully this serves you. Until we meet again.

If you have questions or comments, Mark, would love to hear from you. For more videos like this, hit subscribe on YouTube or by email at markkprater.com.