As a Sovereign Grace Pastor one of the highlights of any year, is the annual Sovereign Grace Pastors & Wives Conference. And this year’s is just one week away, as all our Pastors look to gather in Orlando, November 9-11, for this annual “family reunion”. 

Though the pandemic has prevented many global pastors from attending this year, current registration for the conference is still well over 560, with folk still travelling in from places such as Costa Rica, Germany, Ethiopia, Italy, Mexico, Zambia & United Kingdom. We are so encouraged by this!!

For this month therefore, I’d love to enlist your prayers for this special and strategic time for our family of churches. Here are some ways you can pray for everyone involved:

• Pray that all that happens at the conference would celebrate the preeminence of Jesus Christ (this years theme) in a way that He alone would receive all the glory.

• Pray that God would use the preaching to equip our pastors to live our lives, and pastor our churches, in a way that we make much of Christ as we faithfully serve His people.

• Pray for our main session speakers: Jeff Purswell, Jon Payne, C.J. Mahaney, and Jared Mellinger. Pray also for Mark Prater, Eric Turbedsky, and myself as we lead a “Sovereign Grace Missions” main session.

• Pray for the work of the Holy Spirit as we spend time together.

• Pray that God would give us opportunities to care for one another and strengthen our relationships.

• Pray that God would use our time to strengthen and unite us in the gospel mission we share.

... What a wonderful time of year. May the Saviour be truly preeminent in all that we do!

An update from Joselo Mercado, Lead Pastor of Iglesia Gracia Soberana in Gaithersburg, and Emerging Nations Representative to Latin America…

ReformaDos is a ministry founded ten years ago with the purpose of rescuing the purity of the gospel in the pulpits of this beautiful island. In 2017, I was offered the opportunity to lead this ministry and since then, we have been able to serve the island in the midst of hurricanes, earthquakes and pandemics with resources that help the church to be centered on the biblical gospel.

SGC has been a constant support for ReformaDos by sending resources and helping to organize different trainings for the churches. This year we were able to bring Bob Kauflin so he could train worship leaders and musicians in a version of his intensive, Worship Matters. This is Bob's second visit to the island, and on both occasions it has been an encouraging experience to see the hunger of the Puerto Ricans for sound doctrine. This time around, about 100 leaders and musicians participated in this workshop!

In addition, Miguel Núñez, a friend of SGC, and I, had the opportunity to share pastoral wisdom with a group of about 40 local pastors. We talked about calling, time management, and cultivating convictions. These two workshops took place on Friday October 15th and then on Saturday 16th we were able to launch a conference open to the public.

Due to space limitations due to the pandemic, the quota was only 410 people. Every chair was filled and people were blessed by the Gospel for Life conference. Josue Caceres, the new president of ReformaDos and friend of SGC, planned this event so that the church would be empowered to be propelled by the gospel throughout life. Bob and Miguel preached messages that pointed to the glory of Jesus in work, life, and church. Bob especially did an excellent job preaching a message on Isaiah 6, on the need to be affected on Sundays by the glory of God. And in addition, so importantly, relationships were able to be cultivated and much encouragement was able to be imparted to pastors in such a difficult time.

Thank you SGC, for advancing the Kingdom in places hungry to see Christ in everything in life.

An update from Sergei Lukyanov, our friend and main contact in Belarus…

First of all, we are very grateful to you for the fact that you constantly support us in prayer.

The situation in Belarus continues to remain unstable, therefore the existence and life of the church in these conditions is difficult. We continue to adjust to the new reality that has changed due to the COVID virus and the political crisis. 

The Protestant Evangelical Church has again fallen out of favor in the eyes of the current regime. Thousands of people continue to go to jail, including many Christians just because they once took to the streets or wrote a comment on social media against the brutal actions of our police. Our church members constantly write letters to them, in which they try to comfort and encourage them with hope in Christ. In addition, church members regularly collect financial aid to support the relatives and friends of those who are in prison. 

There seems to be no possibility of getting our church registration approved by the government. Therefore, we still have little idea of how we can continue our ministry legally. However, God gives mercy and we meet every Sunday. We praise God that new people are regularly coming to us. 

Several families left our church because they decided to live and work in another country. But still, many of our people are committed to staying in the country and continuing to serve the people of Belarus. Thus, God makes sure that there are many people in our meeting every Sunday.

Please pray for the leadership of the Evangelical Union of Belarus, so they will have wisdom from God to continue ministry in Belarus at this difficult time. Join us in praying that God will raise up more leaders in the church so that more churches can be planted.

Although there are discouraging circumstances around us, we continue to rejoice that God does not leave us. We rejoice that He has commissioned us to spread the most joyous message in the history of mankind - the Gospel.

Looking back on 2020, we thank God with special joy that New Covenant Church was able to plant another church!  Thus, instead of one church, which was once founded in 2015, today two churches are thriving. Baptisms are taking place in both churches, new people are coming who are looking for God's mercy and forgiveness in order to find a new life.

Dear brothers and sisters, please continue to pray for us as pastors: Sergei, Philip, Valery and Vitaly. We are especially glad that you regularly pray for us. Especially in the last two years, it has been very important to realize that we are not alone. God is with us, and our brothers and sisters are with us! 

An update from Josh Pannell, Pastors College graduate, and Dean of Trinity Fellowship Pastors College…

Hello again from Addis Ababa, it’s such a joy to write to you again, and I write with great news!

The Trinity Fellowship Pastors College officially launched on September 15th, and the students have already completed 8 of their 41 courses for the year. Each new class starts on Tuesday morning and lasts through Friday for a total for 25 classroom hours. On top of that, they are completing 200 pages of reading as well as submitting projects and papers for each of their classes. They are also studying Biblical Greek in the mornings. It’s a lot, but they are all doing great!

We have both lifelong pastors and top-notch scholars coming to teach these classes, including over 20 pastors from Sovereign Grace churches. Most recently we welcomed Dr. Bryan Blazosky from Bethlehem Seminary in Minneapolis. He spent the week working through Paul’s letter to the Romans with the students, a class he’s taught for the past 14 years.

Because most of these men grew up under prosperity gospel preaching, we have two course on gospel centrality in our curriculum. Michael Granger taught on The Gospel-Centered Life where the students spent the week exploring the gospel from different angles and learning how it functions in the Christian life. Joel Carlson (Emmaus Road Church) taught on Gospel-Centered Ministry where students explored how the gospel shapes both the pastor and his church. We know that the only true and lasting remedy for the prosperity gospel is the true gospel, and we want these men to have the gospel sink down deep into their hearts. To my joy, I can see that happening, and the fruit of those two weeks is obvious. These men are becoming gospel-men!

As I think about all that God is doing, I find myself so grateful. And I’m especially grateful for our partnership with Sovereign Grace Churches. God is on the move, and he’s using prayers and your gifts to do unthinkable things. Thank you for your continued investment in me, these men, and Trinity Fellowship.

Something that we have enjoyed in Sovereign Grace over many years, is the gift of leadership, a gift that we have embraced and cultivated as a family of churches. Over many years a couple of ways that Mark Prater, our Executive Director, and other guys on the leadership team have invested in this, is by having a US Emerging Leaders Fellowship.

This has been wonderful! But as we increasingly become a global family of churches, we wanted this investment to begin to go much wider than just the US, and so Mark and I began a Global Leaders Fellowship, and just recently had our first gathering.

You can all about it here. God was so good to us!!

In a recent missions update I got through by email, the author began with the following observation;

‘Prayer is an amazing invitation from God! First and foremost, through prayer we are invited to have communion with the living God, to talk with him, and walk in his presence. To have this kind of relationship with the living God is incredible! As we grow to know our God, to fellowship with him, and to walk in his presence, our hearts will burn for his glory to fill the earth. And because our Father lovingly listens to us and is intent on filling the earth with his glory, He hears our weak but faith-fuelled prayers and moves with heavens power to invade and act upon the earth. This blows my mind! Incredibly, our prayers impact eternity!’

After reading that, all I wanted to do is pray, and I hope it has the same affect on your hearts today. With all the work that we have going on around the world , we really need your faith-filled prayers. They make such an eternal difference, and so here’s how you can be praying for us in the month ahead…

1. Please pray for the 11 students (Their names and photos are listed above), that make up the class of 2022 at our newly formed SG Pastors College in Ethiopia (Trinity College). They are from 6 different countries: Somaliland, Somalia, Kenya, Rwanda, the USA, and of course Ethiopia... What a year they have ahead of them!

2. Please pray for Emmanuel Iluzada, Elder at CCSGM, Manila, as he puts together a second Sovereign Grace Churches Philippines, Worship Convention for 2021, to take place on Saturday 9th October, over zoom. This event will involve around 100 worship team members from across the Philippines and Devon Kauflin (Pastor, Grace Church of Clarksburg, Singer and Songwriter for SG Music) will be the main speaker. Please pray for everyone involved.

3. Please pray for Joselo Mercado, Lead Pastor of Iglesia Gracia Soberana in Gaithersburg, as he a heads to Puerto Rico, October 15-16th, to preach at the Reformados Conference, alongside Miguel Nuneuz and Bob Kauflin. This is such a significant conference in Puerto Rico, sponsored by Sovereign Grace Churches. May God truly establish the work of their hands.

4. Please pray for David Del Castillo, Pastor of Iglesia Gracia Soberana in Santa Cruz, as he leads through our very first Sovereign Grace Conference in Bolivia, South America - "Siervos por su gracias (Servants by your Grace)" Siervos por su gracia – Bolivia. Please pray for Joselo Mercado, Matthew Williams and Chris Deloglos as they attend and speak at the conference. The theme for this year is "The Gospel and the Centrality of it” and God-willing, it is our hope that this will become an annual SG Conference in Bolivia.

5. Please pray for our newly formed ‘Reaching The Unreached Work Group’, which I have pulled together to help myself and the Leadership Team map a way forward for growth, in reaching the unreached in our world. Please pray for great wisdom, insight and faith for us all: Dave Taylor (Lead Pastor, Sovereign Grace Church, Sydney & Director of Emerging Nations), Brendan Willis (Pastor, Sovereign Grace Church, Sydney), Pat Tedeschi (Pastor, Greentree, NJ), Tim Kerr (Pastor, Sovereign Grace Church, Toronto), Ken Delage (Pastor, Mercy Hill Community Church, VA) and Leo Parris (Pastor, Covenant Fellowship Church, PA). There’s still so many to tell about Jesus.

… Incredibly, our prayers impact eternity, and so what an opportunity they are. May that always blow our minds!

An update from Ed O’Mara, Lead Pastor of CrossPointe in Arnold, MD…

Italy is a country of approximately 60 million people known for its rich history, beautiful beaches, relaxed way of life, and of course its incredible food. There is so much beauty and significance in this country and Italy’s people are known to be welcoming and hospitable. But Italy is spiritually dead. While 80% of the country claims to be Christian, less than 1.5% have an understanding of the gospel. Finding a gospel-preaching church is an anomaly even in large cities. The few believers who live in Italy often travel significant distances to find meaningful community. While I have strong familial ties to Italy on my mother’s side, there was much I did not know about the country’s desperate spiritual state. It was not until the spring of 2016 when my wife, Robin, and I took a trip to Italy that I began to understand these sad realities. 

Upon our return, the Lord used a seminary class project to help me both grasp the gravity of the situation and to begin making contacts with evangelical pastors laboring in Italy. The more I learned and the deeper these relationships grew, the more I began to sense that God was calling our local church, CrossPointe in Arnold, MD, to get involved. Our elder team agreed that this was worthwhile investment so we spent the next few years building relationships with gospel-centered church planters to encourage them in their work. We partnered with other Mid Atlantic Sovereign Grace churches to serve in outreaches to children and also served by putting on a marriage conference (led by Larry McCall from Christ’s Covenant in Winona Lake, IN). As time progressed the Lord began to make it clear to our family and elder team that we were called to relocate to Italy to plant Sovereign Grace churches. 

This has not come easily for us. We thought we would stay in Maryland for the rest of our lives, loving and laboring at CrossPointe, and we would be very content to do so as we love our local church. But the Lord has confirmed His call and He has led us in this new direction. As such, our desire is to see a network of “Sovereign Grace – Italia” churches over the next 10-15 years. I believe our family of churches can serve well in Italy and we can see that the Lord has already paved the way for gospel inroads in Italy. For example for our family to go, CrossPointe needed a replacement for me as Lead Pastor. In His kindness God provided and excellent pastor, Scott Crook, who is presently the Lead Pastor of Cross of Grace in Chaska, MN. He and his family will relocate to Arnold in March 2022 which will allow my family to depart for Italy in July 2022. 

Our first year will take us to Catania in the region of Sicily. We have a great relationship with a church there called Grazia e Verità, led by Giuseppe Fortuna. The focus of our first year will be language acquisition and cultural adjustment. After this, we will likely relocate to central Italy (we are considering the regions of Lazio, Umbria, southern Tuscany). The exact city is still to be determined, but central Italy is the neediest region for churches. Our prayer is that God will help us identify a group of believers eager for a church plant, which will be the first Sovereign Grace church in Italy.

We are desperate for your prayers. There are many things to do and many adjustments we will need to make as a family, but we trust that the Lord will lead us each step of the way. If you would like to hear more or stay connected reach out to me (eomara@crosspointemd.org) and I will be sure to include you on future communications. Finally, we are so grateful to know we are going in partnership with Sovereign Grace. From our local church, to our region, to our national and global family we feel very well supported and are excited to see the gospel of Christ go forward in Italy!

O'Mara Family Serving at a Children's Outreach in Italy 2.jpeg

The Sovereign Grace Emerging Nations team is currently relating to over seventy-five churches in thirty-eight different countries around the world, representing many different nations and cultures. It brings to mind the picture in Rev 6.9 of a “great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb!” What a day that will be!

Yet even ahead of that day, as we continue to give out the invites around the Globe to this great marriage supper of the Lamb, we’re having to grow in our use of different languages. Many nations and tribes don’t speak English at all, and so in a keen desire to reach them and serve them well, back in March of this year, we began to translate our website, along with the Statement of Faith and our Seven Shared Values, into various different languages, reflective of where we have the most work going on around the world.

These websites really serve as a window for people unfamiliar with Sovereign Grace churches to peer in and learn about Sovereign Grace, as well as a way for pastors and churches in all the corners of the world to get connected with us. So far we’ve translated our materials into Spanish, Portuguese, Croatian, Italian & Turkish, with another 8 languages still to come.

Take a look, and rejoice that God is calling people from all tribes and peoples and languages to come to Him. How kind He is, that we get to play our part in this great endeavour.

An update from Rich Richardson, Lead Pastor of Center Church, Gilbert, AZ, and SG Representative to Latin America…

Our abiding mission in Sovereign Grace is to plant and support churches throughout the world. This is what we work for, pray for, and strive for. Yet without called, qualified, and ordained elders, we would be unable to accomplish our mission. So when any pastor passes the rigorous ordination tests and is installed, not only is this cause for celebration but it is a sign that God is providing for His mission.

We currently have 10 pastors from Latin America in the ordination process who are eager to give their lives away for Jesus in their local setting. Enrique Villegas from Gracia Soberana in Orizaba, Mexico, Kristian Tucker from Gracia Soberana in Durango, Mexico, and David Del Castillo from Gracia Soberana in Santa Cruz, Bolivia have passed their exams and are moving forward with the final steps of their ordination and installation. The other 7 men, hailing from Mexico, Costa Rica, and Colombia are in process and anticipating completion sometime in 2022. God is moving mightily in Latin America and it is wondrous to behold!

Enrique Villegas

Mexico

Kristian tucker

Mexico

david del castillo

Bolivia

---

While this news is cause for celebration, it is also a chance for us to express thankfulness. Carlos Contreras and the team from Gracia Soberana in Juarez, Mexico have tirelessly labored for those throughout Latin America. Each of these men pursuing ordination have been impacted and served heroically by Carlos and the team at Gracia Soberana.

Thank you for your continued prayers. It is exciting to see how God is moving beyond our borders and a deep privilege to be a part of it.

An update from Riley Spring, Lead Pastor of Sovereign Grace Church Parramatta, Sydney, Australia…

Two years!

It’s been two years since we woke up on a sunny Sunday morning in September, with no idea what it would all look like. We had no idea who would come, who would stay, and how it would all look.

In these two years we’ve “gathered” 100 times on a Sunday to know, apply, and proclaim the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ in Parramatta. We’ve sought to be faithful in loving God, loving each other, and taking the gospel to our friends, families, and neighbours. Although it certainly hasn’t all looked the way we’d hoped, for example spending nearly a quarter of the life of our church in lockdown (gathering only on zoom), it has always been a joy-filled journey. 

One of the great joys I have as a pastor is seeing God at work in the lives of our church in many and varied ways. Whether it is the couple battling significant health challenges who continue to fight for joy and serve with all they have or the women facing singleness and infertility who have found contentment in Christ alone amidst the heartache. There’s been countless stories of men and women, husbands and wives, and children giving their all to serve their local church. Late nights making food and decorations for our various outreach events, turning up early and staying late for every service and event, stepping out to serve in new and uncomfortable ways as Life Group leaders or in our Kids ministry, or staying behind to release others to serve in their areas of gifting. 

Even in our recent lockdown, we have seen the Lord at work in unexpected ways. We decided to step out in faith to start an online ‘Alpha Course’ so that we could still seek to reach out to the lost even though we can’t physically be with them. The response of our church has been so encouraging. There have been so many stories of gutsy, faith-filled, saints stepping out to invite a friend, colleague, or family member to come along, and then somewhat unexpectedly (due to our small faith!) there have been so many more “Yes” responses than we anticipated or planned for! So now we enter our third year as a church with 20 or so new friends who are investigating Jesus with us! 

In these two years, we have steadily grown from our Launch team to twice our starting size, with each new member bringing their gifts, experience, and love of the Lord to make our fellowship all the richer! And we hope that through this Alpha course and many more opportunities, we will see our numbers swell with new believers who have tasted and seen the goodness of the Lord for the first time!

In all this time, we have certainly not done it alone. We have maintained and enjoyed a very rich, personal, and joyful partnership with our sending church, Sovereign Grace Church Sydney. Their Pastoral and practical support has been invaluable! They have cared for myself, my family, and our leadership team in so many ways, demonstrating what true gospel partnership looks like. 

It is our belief that we are only just getting started! C.J. once said to us at the PC that it takes 30 years to build a healthy church and that counsel has stayed with me. In an instantaneous age with the expectation of pop-up success, our hope is to lay a firm foundation, and build well for the long haul. I hope to see the Lord raise up Pastors to share the burden with me, future church planters that we can send out, more and more leaders to serve in various and sacrificial ways, and even to be a part of sending out men, women, and families to serve other SG Churches globally! Our hope is to be part of pioneering SG Churches Australia and do our bit in our city and country to magnify the name of Christ for His Glory Alone! 

Please, please, please pray for us. We know that we cannot do this alone and that we cannot do it without the power of God. And so, please pray for our health, our strength, our joy, and our protection from the evil one.

On the weekly podcast that is sent to our pastors, our host Ben Kreps always begins with “Welcome to the Mark Prater podcast where our aim is to connect our global family of churches to our Executive Director.

Recently, Ben commented on his introduction and asked an important question:

“Mark, I always say “family of churches” when introducing this podcast, because that’s what we aim to be. That’s what historically we’ve enjoyed together. We want to preserve that relational way of building together as family. We’ve talked a lot over the past number of months about church planting, about global partnership agreements, and churches being adopted and brought in, and that sort of thing. So potentially a lot of growth in the days ahead, as a denomination, as a family of churches. What are your thoughts about the way we build relationally and that value we have in Sovereign Grace?”

This is a really important question, and Mark answered it really well in this podcast. You can listen to it here.

But in addition, there’s another facet to this question which is also important, and that’s the role of the Leadership Team in all of this and our transition to become more Global in the way we think and operate. This was the topic of an excellent discussion Mark recently lead us in as a team, and which he also talked with Ben about on his podcast. You can listen to it here. 

God has surely been so good to us!

Matthew 28.18-20, ‘And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

The great commission that we have been given as Christians is far bigger than we could have ever asked or imagined... But how wonderful, comforting and inspiring it is to know that the One who has called us, is always with us, even to the end of the age. What a mission changing reality!!

With that in mind, here are a few ways that you can be praying for our wider mission in the month ahead…

1. Please pray for our Pastors College in Ethiopia (Trinity College) as the students begin to gather ahead of the 14th September launch. There will be 13 students attending the PC this year, from 6 different countries: Somaliland, Somalia, Kenya, Rwanda, the USA, and of course Ethiopia. Please pray for Josh Pannell, Dean of the Ethiopian Pastors College and everyone involved in this years Pastors College.

2. Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Nepal as they continue to deal with a new surge of Covid-19 cases. Church buildings have been closed for gathering for almost one and half years now, and yet incredibly, the Church itself continues to grow. The Nepali Christians are continually committed to serving the poor and suffering in the name of Christ, and so may we be praying for them in this. May this be their finest hour and may His grace abound to them in these times.

3. Please pray for Songhwan Kang and his church, Lord’s Grace Church in Seoul, South Korea. They have recently moved to a new location as a church and are keen to reach out to their new community. Please pray that God would give their members courage and grace to boldly preach the gospel in this new area, as well as reach into the next generation. Please also pray that God would help them identify and train some church planters who can plant new SG Churches in South Korea in the next 3-5 years, a happy hope and prayer that they continue to carry as church.

4. Please pray for our newly formed ‘Reaching The Unreached Work Group’, which I (Dave Taylor) have pulled together to help myself and the Leadership Team map a way forward for growth, in reaching the unreached in our world. Please pray for great wisdom, faith and insight for us all: Dave Taylor (Lead Pastor, Sovereign Grace Church, Sydney & Director of Emerging Nations), Brendan Willis (Pastor, Sovereign Grace Church, Sydney), Pat Tedeschi (Pastor, Greentree, NJ), Tim Kerr (Pastor, Sovereign Grace Church, Toronto), Ken Delage (Pastor, Mercy Hill Community Church, VA) and Leo Parris (Pastor, Covenant Fellowship Church, PA).

… May the One who has commissioned us, also give us faith and favour for the road ahead.

A key part of being formally adopted into Sovereign Grace Churches is our ordination process. This process is valuable not only for the evaluation it provides, but also for the edification and equipping the candidate experiences, and in great news, 3 of our Global Pastors have passed their ordinations in the last month. 

I have highlighted the men below and their responses to this good news...

JEFFREY JO - Philippines

JEFFREY JO

Philippines

“Through the mercies of the Holy God, I am humbled to pass the ordination process of Sovereign Grace Churches and to belong with you all as a co-servant of the gospel of Christ. Indeed it was an “immersion” to establish one’s foundation both in spirituality and ministry, thank you for this privilege. I also want to thank pastors Dave Taylor, Lynn Baird, David York and Brendan Willis for guiding me patiently and lovingly all throughout the ordination process. Your trust and friendship for the past years have always been fruitful and beautiful which I will always treasure for the rest of my life. 

Today I am grateful to be with you all, pastors of like-minded in the Gospel and in the love for His church, the dearest place on earth. Looking forward to work hand in hand with you all so that His Name may be known in the generations to come to the praise of His glorious grace.”

CORNELIO EBO - Philippines

CORNELIO EBO

Philippines

“Yes, it's finally done. Thank you so much for all your prayers & support. So good to hear your congratulations. Yes, it was a long struggle, but His grace is indeed sufficient, throughout all of the exercises. 

The church is also celebrating with me. We are beyond words in expressing our gratitude!”

JAYAPRAKASH RAVURI - India

JAYAPRAKASH RAVURI

India

  “I have no words! My eyes are wet!! I am so much overwhelmed by looking at the past how God led me to this point from the time I met SG team in Jagdalpur, India in 2018. I never thought I would become a part of SG family. The Lord made all this possible. When I started moving with SG, I wasn't so clear where I would reach. But the Lord led me through to complete the ordination and become a part of the SG family. 

I am praying and waiting on the Lord to see how the Lord will use this for His glory. I am so much thankful to Asian SGC ordination team especially Mr Todd Peterson who has taken so much of time in helping me come to this point. I am so thankful to everyone who contributed one way or the other for my ordination. Thanks to Pastor Dave and his team. To God be the glory!”

Each of these men mark ‘firsts’ for the countries in terms of SGC Ordinations. It is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes!

I recently asked my friend, Pastor Songhwan Kang, Lead Pastor of Lord’s Grace Church in Korea, if he’d be willing to write us an update on his church and his writings. This was his wonderful reply…

I am Songhwan Kang, and I serve the Lord’s Grace Church in South Korea. It is God's grace and joy for me to able to deliver the latest news of our church to our friends at SG. 

Lord’s Grace Church has recently moved to a new location. It was difficult to move from a familiar location to which we had grown an attachment to for the past 10 years to a new region, but the moving process was a special event for the church community to be able to experience God's goodness and faithful guidance. We thank our SG friends for your prayers.

In the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic for the past year and a half, our church is periodically repeating both offline and online worship. Yet even in the uncertainty of the pandemic, God has protected the church and the members. Although sometimes we worship at home via YouTube, we are all praising the gospel of His grace. We are also having small group meetings online but are still growing in love by caring for and encouraging each other.

This September is Lord’s Grace Church’s 11th year anniversary. 11 years of God’s grace and kindness, and one of the fruits that we are thankful to God from this time, has been the publishing of two books: “The Steadfast Christian in the Gospel” and "The Steadfast Parenting in the Gospel”. 

The first book I wrote by myself, and the second book with my wife, Miran. These books are all about what my wife and I learned through our 15 years of experience with Sovereign Grace. These books are a summary of what a gospel-centered church is, what gospel-centered parenting is, and what our church members have learned together and applied in our lives. I would like to express my gratitude to my precious friends at SG who have been a role model for me in living the life in the gospel. I thank pastors Dave Taylor, Larry Malament, and Marty Machowski for encouraging me to write this book.

There were two reasons for me to write these books. The first reason was to teach the new members of the church the core values of the gospel and how to live a gospel centered life (humility, the church community, biblical masculinity and femininity, God's sovereignty, etc.). Raising children is an important issue for Korean families., and so I wanted to write about what gospel-centered parenting is. But more than that, I wanted to ensure that all of our church members would not forget the importance of a gospel-centered church and life. The book, “The Steadfast Christian in the Gospel” is therefore being used as a one-to-one training material in our church. 

The second reason was to introduce the core values of SG to Korean churches. Many pastors wonder what a healthy gospel-centered church is and are curious how the gospel is applied to the lives of believers. Through this book, I wanted to share this vision with other pastors in Korea. 

I am not a theologian with excellent theological knowledge. I'm not a writer who likes to write. However, my earnest hope is that gospel-centered healthy churches like SG would be established in Korea. Because of this hope, God gave me and my wife the courage to write these books.

I ask all my friends reading this to pray for Korea. Please pray that the beautiful Church of the Lord would be established through Lord’s Grace church and that we will be able to plant another gospel-centered church within the next few years. Please pray that He will use our church to turn many lost souls back to the Lord. On behalf of our church, I express our gratitude for your continuous love and care.

An update from Emmanuel Iluzada, a Pastor of Cross Of Christ Salvation Gospel Ministries (CCSGM) in Kawit, Cavite, Philippines...

This pandemic has brought us both limitations and possibilities. And one of the things that has become possible is a gathering of around 100 worshippers from all locations in one virtual place. This transpired at the recent Worship Team Fellowship on July 24, when the worship team members from various churches in the Philippines came together online. 

Friends and fellow-Christians from various churches in Luzon, Vizayas and Mindanao (Philippines’ main islands) were invited, brought together, and connected via Zoom for a Saturday afternoon of teaching, prayer and fellowship. It was a chance to get to know each other and the ministries that each one of us does in our respective local churches. 

Pastor Dave Taylor shared God’s Word with us, looking at “What’s the Point of Singing?”. He focused in on Colossians 3:16, “‘Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.’ Highlighting four main points as compelling reasons as to why we sing: 

1. Singing enables the Word of God to dwell in us richly

2. Singing enables us to sing praise to a worthy God

3. Singing enables us to reflect the glory back to Him

4. Singing enables us to enjoy a foretaste of a glory to come

The attendees listened and then gave their reflections and appreciation of the Word that was shared and the encouragement brought by the event. It was a wonderful time together. 

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The main desire and prayer for this online session was to continue encouraging our fellow worship team members as we traverse this pandemic in the Philippines. No one has been spared from its repercussions, but the encouragement of the Word of Christ is the sustaining grace in this trying time, and the essence of singing to the praise of His glorious grace needs to be heard now more than ever. 

We have another online worship team session lined up for October, with Pastor Devon Kauflin preaching the Word. Please pray that we’d be able to have more of these times together in the coming months, to continually strengthen our fellowship. It is our hope, that we will be able to have a Worship God Conference in the Philippines when we finally have the opportunity again to meet face to face. 

An update from Allen Dicharry, a pastor in Sovereign Grace Church, Midland, TX and SGC Representative to Nepal…

Mandatory mask laws, lockdowns, curfews, limited medical support, limited supply of oxygen tanks, and multiple deaths. Those are some of the ways to describe the current impact of COVID-19 in Nepal. Food stores are operating on limited hours and many neighborhoods have assigned windows of time when they are allowed to leave their home. Law enforcement is on patrol to ensure any travel is limited to essential purposes only (food, medical, etc.) 

While churches were allowed to gather in limited numbers a few months back, they have now been forced back to virtual meetings only. Our partnering pastor in Nepal has been working tirelessly with his team to get food, support, oxygen tanks, and care for the sick and dying in his own church, as well as the churches he pastors and oversees. 

All of this while facing his own health challenges and trying to care for and protect his family. During most of this time, he was providing end of life care for his aging father, who just recently went to be with the Lord.  In addition to large numbers of the population dying from COVID-19, we have been told over 130 pastors have died as well, creating an even greater void and need for pastoral leadership in the many growing churches across the country. 

Throughout the last 18 months, Sovereign Grace has been able to come alongside our churches in Nepal and care for them, and our partner and his churches wish to say a big thank you to Sovereign Grace Churches for the financial support provided during this crisis. These funds have been used in his church directly, since giving has been significantly impacted, and have been able to provide food and medical care to those most affected by COVID-19, as well as temporary financial support to several pastors in remote areas. Thank you so much!!

In God’s kindness, He is using this time in surprising ways. With travel in Nepal restricted, providing care and resources to pastors and churches in remote areas is a real challenge. This has meant that many have had to innovate and figure out the technical challenges of living in a virtual world, and so Pastors are learning to use Zoom or other virtual options for the first time. 

This has allowed our primary partner pastor the ability to connect with some 50-60 pastors around the country for weekly Zoom meetings, where he can care for these pastors and equip them through focused Bible studies. We were recently invited to participate in these pastoral Zoom meetings and work through our 7 shared values. God is so kind to us and what a joy it is to share these things with these brothers! Getting used to using this medium has also enabled these pastors to provide care to their flocks while physical gatherings are prohibited. 

The situation is still so difficult and the need for on-going prayer and support is still great. Here are some ways you can get involved:

• Pray for our church planting pastor and the churches he serves

• Take time on a Sunday morning to share about the situation in Nepal and pray corporately

• Adopt an unreached people group in Nepal and pray for that group (Joshua Project or Operation World are great resources for evaluating the opportunities)

• Give to the Sovereign Grace Missions Fund so that more of our partnering pastors and churches around the world can experience the benefit of partnering together in gospel ministry

Thank you, Sovereign Grace Churches, for the ways you have generously and graciously showed God’s love for the church in Nepal. 

In last months newsletter I put in an update from Carlos Contreras, Senior Pastor of Gracia Soberana de Ciudad Juarez and Regional Leader for Mexico, on the 'Fieles 2021 Conference’, our Spanish conference for pastors, leaders and their wives (click here).

I recently caught sight of an excellent highlight reel from the conference and wanted to share it with you. You can click here to take look.

Likewise if you’d like to take a listen to the messages, they too are now available to you. Please click here. Enjoy!

Charles Spurgeon once said,

   “No man can do me a truer kindness in this world than to pray for me."

Mr Spurgeon was wonderfully aware of his need for the Lord, in each and every way, at all times and in all things. He was so grateful then when people prayed for him, feeling that there was no truer kindness that they could do for him. And my friends, we feel the same way. As we seek to make disciples of ‘all nations’, we also so need the Lord, in each and every way, at all times and in all things, and so here’s how you can be praying for us in the month ahead…

1. Please pray for our friends and partners on the African continent involved in Covenant Mercies, who continue to battle with new waves of the Covid-19 infection. Among the three countries where Covenant Mercies works, only Ethiopian schools remain open at this time. In both Zambia & Uganda, our students were set to return to the classroom after more than a year out of school. However new waves of infection have prevented this, with no new date set for reopening. It is no secret that disruptions in a child’s education can have long-term impacts, and so please pray for these dear children. We believe the Lord can help them overcome this challenge.

2. Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Nepal as they continue to deal with a new surge of Covid-19 cases. To date there have been 635,000 reported cases, with over 9000 deaths, 130 of those deaths being Nepali Pastors. Church buildings have been closed for gathering for almost one and half years now, and yet incredibly, the Church itself continues to grow. The Nepali Christians are continually committed to serving the poor and suffering in the name of Christ, and so may we be praying for them in this. May this be their finest hour and may His grace abound to them in this walk.

3. Please pray for Songhwan Kang and his church, Lord’s Grace Church in Seoul, South Korea. They have recently moved to a new location as a church and are keen to reach out to their new community. Please pray that God would give their members courage and grace to boldly preach the gospel in this new area, as well as reach into the next generation. Please also pray that God would help them find and train some church planters who can plant new SG Churches in South Korea in the next 3-5 years, a happy hope and prayer that they continue to carry as church.

4. Please pray for our Pastors College in Ethiopia (Trinity College) as the students begin to gather in Addis Ababa over the next 3-4 weeks, ahead of their September launch date. May all the moves for these students go smoothly, may everything come together well, and may God’s great hand of grace be on everything they put their hands to in this great endeavour.

             … No man can do us a true kindness in the world than to pray for us! Thank you so much.

An update from Edgar Flores, an international graduate from last years US Pastors College class…

It was a huge privilege to be at the Pastors College in the class of 2021. It has sometimes been said that one of the challenges that seminaries and other theological institutes face; is not only teaching the Word academically, but also personally and pastorally. Yet since the first day of the Pastors College, Jeff Purswell told us that one guideline of the college is based on the words of Paul to Timothy in 1 Tim. 4:16: "Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers." And we soon discovered that this truth would form the basis our entire year. 

The PC has 36 classes designed to equip future pastors in areas like counseling, preaching, spiritual disciplines, evangelism, church planting, Greek lessons, etc. Also, the teachers and pastors who work with the PC love the local church and share the values of Sovereign Grace. What a privilege it was to be in the classroom and see Jeff's passion in sharing the glories of the Gospel,to receive CJ's pastoral wisdom and experience, to glean from Bob’s advice for leading worship, and, of course, to benefit from Gary's pastoral care. And all of this in the context of the local church. The PC is more than just an academic experience. Being able to spend almost a year studying alongside my classmates - men who love the Lord, His Word, and the church - was indescribable: we laughed, cried, suffered, and had fun together. The PC was more than an academic experience. 

There was always particular care for our families, especially for our wives. My wife Abby was very blessed by the love, care, advice, and friendship of women like Betsy and Julie, and by the beautiful and close relationship that she developed with the wives of the other students. Without a doubt, the PC is more than just a school. During the Pastors College, the Lord confirmed my call to pastoral ministry; it was there that I made friends that will last for many years, and it was there that I gained a clearer and more sober understanding of the weight and privilege of the pastoral call. To summarize, the Pastors College exists to prepare men for the work of ministry so that all the glory goes to the great Shepherd, our Savior Jesus Christ.

Finally, I want to thank my local church in Cd. Juarez, Mexico, especially Carlos Contreras and the pastoral team , for sending me to the PC. It was a great privilege to be equipped by the Pastors College, especially in light of what God is doing in the church in Mexico and Latin-America. My wife and I will join our local church, Gracia Soberana of Cd. Juarez, in the next few weeks. I will be a pastor-in-training, and I will begin a study with men who feel called to plant a church in Mexico, so it is exciting to contribute with what I learned in the Pastors College. Finally, in a few months, our first child (a daughter) will be born. We ask for your prayers for all these next steps. Thank you, our dear Sovereign Grace family.

An update from Leo Parris, an elder of Covenant Fellowship Church in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, USA...

Greetings brothers and sisters. For some time, members in our church have loved Costa Rica and in recent years have developed a burgeoning friendship with Chespi, lead pastor of Casa Vida. Chespi’s wonderful people have worked with many missions teams to build a beautiful camp site to host teams and serve as a connection point to their neighborhood. Their church also meets there on the property. 

Earlier in July, Covenant Fellowship sent me and my fellow pastor Jared Torrence, along with 21-person team of youth and adults to deepen our partnership with Casa Vida Iglésia in Playa Azul, Costa Rica. We went in faith despite the challenges of travelling during COVID (very challenging there right now). God was so kind! He kept us safe while there and we all were able to return safely home on time. By God’s grace he helped us accomplish a lot in a short time under the leadership of several guys from Playa Azul and the church. While there we worked hard most of the day laying a concrete basketball court, painting large trash receptacles, and constructing street signs for the community. It was hard, but it was fun!

Through this trip, our youth were also able to build relationally with Casa Vida Iglésia and the Playa Azul community. We worshipped in song in Spanish most evenings and prayed for one another. On Sunday, I had the privilege of preaching to the church from John 1 on the deity and humanity of Christ. Alvaro, deacon of Casa Vida, did an excellent job translating. That evening we enjoyed a traditional Costa Rican barbecue with the church. It was a rich time of exalting Christ, loving one another, and sharing fellowship!

One fun highlight for our youth was participating in a 4-church futbol tournament at the campsite field. Our team, Gracia Soberana, held our own, at least for a bunch of gringos! We even came away with one win (not sure if this was just them being kind though, haha)!

I’m so grateful for the many friendships that my team and I built while in Playa Azul. At the airport on the way home the question that I kept hearing was, “So when are we going back?” I love that! Our hearts our filled with gratefulness for what God is doing in Playa Azul, and they remain behind as our prayers continue for this church. We certainly do hope to return to continue deepening our partnership and help this church spread the gospel throughout the Puntarenes region of Costa Rica. I’m so grateful for partnership in the gospel! God is so kind to join us to a worldwide body when he saves and unites us to himself.