Psalm 139.7-10 declares, ‘Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there you hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.'

There is nowhere we can go where we are outside of God’s presence, nowhere, and that’s one of the many things that makes prayer such an incredible and daily opportunity. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords is always present, always with us, and always eager to hear us.

And so here’s some specific things that you can be praying for, and talking with the King about, in the month ahead…

1. Please pray for our Pastors in Belarus - Sergei and Philip. They recently told Kyle Huber (Lead Pastor of Greentree Church, NJ) that it appears Belarusian troops are entering Ukraine, which pierces the heart of the Belarusian people. In addition the government has begun calling up all men from 18-25 for military service. Beyond the obvious desire for peace, please pray that God gives our Pastors wisdom for how to speak into these issues from their pulpits, understanding that this could be dangerous for all involved. May God graciously guide their steps.

2. Please pray for ARK Church in Dnipro, Ukraine, led by our friend Michael Ostanin. Michael is a dear friend of Jeff Purswell and a graduate of the German Pastors College, hosted by the Arche Church in Hamburg, Germany. In Michael’s own words, “please pray that the Lord will give His peace in the hearts of believers and remove all fear. For the Gospel of Jesus to be a stronghold and a strong foundation in rebellious circumstances. For believers to support one another and keep their eyes on Christ. And for Christians to witness the Gospel to unbelievers and help them find peace in Jesus.” Come, Lord Jesus!

3. Please pray for one of our SG Missionary families as they head back to Thailand this week, after extended furlough in the US. That God would knit them quickly back into the Thai community, graciously watch over their travels, and truly establish the work of the hands.

4. Please pray for Mark Prater as he heads to Ethiopia, March 4-13. Pray for his time with Trinity Fellowship on Sunday, March 6 where he will have the privilege to preach and worship with the people of Trinity Fellowship. Please pray also for the Pastors College class that he's teaching March 8-11, teaching on Pneumatology. Pray for the Spirit to lead them that week as they not only engage sound doctrine, but also His presence.

5. Please pray for Riley Spring (Sovereign Grace Church, Parramatta, Australia) and Myself, as we head to Canberra 10th-12th March, to meet with a small group of folk who are expressing an interest in Sovereign Grace planting a Church in their city. Please pray for wisdom and faith as we explore this opportunity together.

6. Please pray for Joselo Mercado, Lead Pastor of Iglesia Gracia Soberana in Gaithersburg, as he a heads to Puerto Rico, this month, to take part in a planning retreat for Reformados, a significant work in Puerto Rico.

… There’s a big world out there, and He really does hold it in His hands.

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

We are very excited that after much planning and preparation our inaugural SGC Australia Pastors & Planters Academy has kicked off! 

The Academy is a program designed to train future Sovereign Grace Pastors and Planters to serve in and plant Sovereign Grace Churches, the Sovereign Grace way. It was birthed out of a desire to help codify what we’ve been doing informally and over a long period of time into a consistent leadership development program for people within our churches and to give a pathway for new guys coming in so that we can plant more enduring churches across Australia. 

The Academy involves a relational process of training, caring for, assessing, and deploying qualified men to be faithful and healthy pastors. All the while focussing in on their character, convictions, competency and compatibility. 

Every week the Academy students will gather to study through 10 different modules designed to help equip and train them for a life-time of fruitful ministry. These modules are based around our 7 Shared Values and will involve lots of reading and assignments to go along with these days together. 

Monthly, they and their wives will then come together for our 'Leadership Cohort' growing in their marriage, parenting, and family life. They will also be placed in Fellowship Groups to further grow in key areas of character and holiness. In these groups we will take them through the cultural values of a Sovereign Grace Church so that these men can see the biblical basis for who we are and be challenged to grow and develop in these areas. Their wives likewise, will be invited to join our Regional Ladies Discipleship Nights for Pastor’s wives, led by Emma Taylor.

On Tuesday 1 Feb, we had our Orientation Dinner with the Academy students and their wives to meet one another, share a meal and gain an overview of the year. On Wed 2 Feb, we then had our first day of class. We began with worship and prayer, gave the guys some of their textbooks for the year (Systematic Theology - Grudem, Historical Theology - Allison) and their reading for Module 1: ‘The Theology and Practice of Pastoral Ministry’.

This unit is designed to help them gain a theologically informed understanding of the role of a Pastor as biblically defined. The primary model in the Scriptures is that of a ‘Shepherd’ and, therefore, Pastoral ministry ought to geared around pastoring the precious flock of God that he is called to serve by the Chief Shepherd.

We began by sitting under two seminal messages from CJ Mahaney - ‘The Pastor’s Charge’ Part 1 and Part 2 and then in the afternoon they got stuck into their reading assignments and discussion groups.

Please be praying for our students and their wives over this next twelve months. These are exciting times for us here in Australia!

Andrew and Kat Leung, Richard and Rebecca Song, Jack and Zara Packham, Austin and Ivy Loke, Joel and Jamie Seric

An update from Todd Peterson, Pastor of Cross of Grace Church, El Paso, TX, and Key Leader for our STM Project…

If you’ve ever been on a short-term missions (STM) trip, then you understand what a life changing experience it can be. Experiencing first-hand the challenges and struggles of life that many people experience living in third world countries and being able to, if only for a short period of time, show them the love of Jesus by meeting some of those significant needs is an experience that can reshape your perspective for the rest of your life.  

Understanding that organizing and executing one of these types of trips is very challenging, we wanted to find a way to open up the opportunity for this life changing experience to as many people as possible in Sovereign Grace.  Therefore, with that in mind and as a starting place, we’d like to ask any SG Churches who already organize their own STM trips, to consider if they might be opening up a few spots for people in other Sovereign Grace Churches to join them.  

To facilitate this, we’ve created a webpage on the SG Missions website, that will enable churches to post a detailed summary of the trip they are hosting (click here). The website walks you through the process of posting the most relevant details of the trip so people outside the church can understand elements like the location, mission, costs, and even any skillsets needed for the trip.  It also allows you to attach a more detailed “FAQ” type document if you have one, and if not, walks you through how you might be able to develop one. 

Our hope is that once the details are entered into the website a trip profile is created and posted, we can spread the word, and people from other churches can then go view the trips and their details, find a trip that might fit them, and send an application to the trip leader.  The trip leader can then work with the applicants to decide if they would be a good fit for the team and the mission of the trip. 

Our vision would be to eventually have a map of the world dotted with locations where missions trips are taking place and churches that are being connected through the opportunity to go and serve the nations together in the name of Jesus. 

As an initial step, would you please consider joining us in this effort by submitting your trip on our website? As this is a brand-new venture, your patience in advance is appreciated, but if we could get these trips uploaded and posted in the next 3-6 weeks, that would be great. We look forward to seeing what God may do through these trips. 

An update from Jeffrey Jo, Lead Pastor of CCSGM in Cavite, Manila, and Key Leader for Sovereign Grace Churches in the Philippines...

It was November 17, 2021 when thirteen pastors both from Manila and Mindanao met with Dave Taylor and David York via zoom to talk about their desire to be part of Sovereign Grace Churches. I have served alongside most of these men for many years, and for well over a year we’ve talked together about the importance of being part of this family of churches not only for partnership in the gospel of Christ but also for the blessings of accountability and doctrinal purity for the future generations of the church. All the pastors were greatly encouraged by the welcoming spirit and encouraging words by these servants of God. Indeed after just a week, they had all signed the letter of intent with the hope to ‘finish the race’ of the ordination process and be fully a part of Sovereign Grace Churches.

Knowing the ‘challenges’ ahead, they were both excited and ‘nervous’ for it will be their first time to go through a lengthy process of reading, studying, writing and taking both a written and oral exam, not to mention that they will go through it in a foreign language. Moreover, some of them haven’t had the opportunity to finish college due to poverty (Surigao del Sur was the third poorest province in Mindanao 15 years ago). Realizing the validity of their concerns but at the same time seeing their eagerness to be part of our family of churches, I was moved with compassion to serve them by assuring them that I will be giving part of my time to assist them, check on them, and pray for and with them. 

Through the help of David York, we created a systematic pattern on what to accomplish each month for eight (8) months—their readings, SGC statement of faith and shared values, and also the required papers. I am therefore doing the following to serve them:

• Encouraging and praying for them at least once a week.

• Advising them on how to read the recommended books correctly...

  • Spend 2 hours every morning for Systematic Theology and 2 hours every evening for Historical Theology with a notebook and a pen beside them so that they can take note on things they cannot understand.

  • To repeat read every assigned chapter of the books.

• Twice a month, I am having a zoom meeting with them to discuss what they read by teaching them the summary of every chapter on both in Systematic Theology and Historical Theology. In addition to this, portions of both the SGC shared values and statement of faith will be addressed as well. 

I believe in these ways I may be able to assist them not only in meeting their ordination requirements but help them to fully understand solid biblical foundations both in life and ministry, and to be able to firmly stand on our doctrinal convictions as a denomination. I greatly hope to see them all be ordained as SGC Pastors. 

These are their names and I would like to ask you to please mention them in your prayers... 

• Francis Mariano- a fellow elder in Kawit, Cavite but soon to plant a church in Imus, Cavite

• Rey Lacbayo- pastor, Cross of Christ Salvation Gospel Ministries, Cavite City

• George Jimenez- pastor, Cross of Christ Sovereign Gospel Ministries, Gen.Trias, Cavite

• Oscar Tagyam- pastor, Cross of Christ Salvation Gospel Ministries, Carascal, Surigao del Sur (SDS)

• Leonor Ombo- pastor, Cross of Christ Salvation Gospel Ministries, Pantukan, SDS

• Francisco Omba- pastor, Cross of Christ Salvation Gospel Ministries, Langka, SDS

• Rolando Agyang- pastor, Cross of Christ Salvation Gospel Ministries, Cabangahan, SDS

• Christopher Lorenti- pastor, Cross of Christ Salvation Gospel Ministries, Gango, SDS

• Patricio Dalipe- pastor, Cross of Christ Salvation Gospel Ministries, Madrid, SDS

• Joseph Piamonte- Cross of Christ Salvation Gospel Ministries, San Miguel, SDS

• Rogelio Martinez- Cross of Christ Salvation Gospel Ministries, Maitum, SDS

• Ronnie Bautista- Cross of Christ Salvation Gospel Ministries, Tandag City, SDS

• Caloy San Jose- pastor, River of Life Gospel Church, Rizal, Manila

I believe that the God who has called them into His vineyard will sustain them in this process of ordination and I’m therefore praying that they will be doing this with glad and sincere hearts knowing that this pleases the Lord and equips them well as they shepherd the dearest place on earth…Christ’s Church!

May it all be for His glory!

An update from Michael Granger, Lead Pastor of Trinity Fellowship in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia…

October 31st, 2021 was a wonderful Sunday! It marked 10 months since our official launch as Trinity Fellowship. We had nearly 120 in attendance and there was a buzz of excitement that God was moving in very real ways. We had just finished our first expositional series through Philippians. The Pastors College was steaming ahead like a well-oiled machine. It was Reformation Day. And, it was my birthday. 

Little did we know that all was about to change. That same day two cities just North of Addis Ababa were being taken by a rebel military. By Monday night the US Embassy had labeled Ethiopia a Red Level #4: Do not Travel, and was emailing all Americans to evacuate the country immediately. Daily we were being informed of the threat of an imminent Addis Ababa invasion by rebel forces. And by the following Sunday our church attendance was cut in half. The “movement" came to what felt like a screeching halt. A number of brothers approached me with tears in their eyes fearing the worst, saying, “I thought God was starting a gospel movement in our country.” 

We experienced decisional fatigue. In light of the constant flood of information, it felt like we were making what could be, life-altering decisions on a daily basis. One friend put it like this, “I simply didn’t want to respond to anything with a question mark on the end of it.” And yet, questions kept coming, and decisions needed to be made. Do we stay or go?

Pastoral ministry is not something to be entered lightly. Nor is it to be exited lightly. My logic went something like this ... "If Christ the Good Shepherd could drain his veins for these saints at Trinity Fellowship, then surely I can endure a little difficultly as their under-shepherd. In John 10:12-13 Jesus says, 'He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.’" With this in mind I thought upon how Christ, the Good Shepherd, and owner of the sheep has made me an under-shepherd, and I'm to endeavor to be like him - "and he gave shepherds" (Eph. 4:11). My responsibility during a war is to equip His sheep for ministry. And at the time, that meant teaching them to be gospel-centered - to trust Jesus - even in a war. I was called to stay so as to ever be pointing to the Good Shepherd - precious Jesus.

So I stayed but I sent my family to the States. I stayed and we limped along for a while. For a while, Trinity Fellowship was a bruised reed, a smoldering wick. And we didn’t know if we’d make it. But he's a gentle and merciful savior, "a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench."

November and December were bleak. Our Pastors College went online because our professors had travel issues due to the war and the Omicron variant. A number of professors flat out canceled on us. And the morale of our students, who really are the backbone of our church, plummeted. I had more brothers and sisters confess they were wrestling with suicidal thoughts in the past few months than in my whole life combined. But the Lord never left us. It was the right decision to stay, and I knew it the moment a single mother came up to me after a service saying, "I'm no longer afraid to die."

In late December my family returned to Ethiopia. We celebrated our 1-year anniversary as a church (pictured below). And by mid January it appeared that our baby church would survive. The threat of invasion has ceased as the rebels were pushed back and effectively defeated. Night gave way to day, and our limping slowly began to pick up running momentum once again.

In recent weeks our attendance has once again increased to over 100 and professors are traveling to Ethiopia to teach at the PC.

One recent story evidencing that the Son is shining upon us happened just last week. For several months a young man named Nebiyou from the Baha'i religion has had business dealings with an Ethiopian gentleman from our church named Joshua Mengisha. Recently Joshua was explaining the exclusivity of Christ for salvation from sins and it caught Nebiyou's attention. He said he wanted to learn more and Joshua directed him to reach out to me. Last Tuesday night Nebiyou contacted me asking if I would tell him more about Jesus because he was having suicidal thoughts. I shared with him the gospel and he made a confession of faith. We met two days later and more fully explained subsitiutionary atonement from Isaiah 53 and he said "I understand and I believe in Jesus, and I want to testify about him to everyone!" The Lord brought him from darkness into his marvelous light! What a gentle a merciful savior he is!

In Matthew 28.19-20, Jesus himself tells us to,

“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing 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.”

There’s no doubt that Jesus is with us in this mission, without Him we have no hope in it at all! Yet there’s also no doubt, that we’re called to “go”. The job of global mission is not done, there are still so many unreached people groups across the world. So many people groups that have never heard of the name of Jesus and that are still therefore dead in their trespasses and sins, and so far from the Lord.

It’s therefore been so encouraging to me to have had some much contact in the last few weeks through the ‘Missionaries’ tab on our new ’SGC Missions’ website. We’re eager to play our part in this great commission as Sovereign Grace Churches, not just to the reached of the world, but also the unreached, nations that house some 3.23 billion people, some 41% of the world’s population.

I share this video with you below, a six minute video that starts and ends with John Piper talking about the unreached and missions, and has recently stirred and challenged me afresh in this. Maybe you’re reading this and this specific call of God is for you?

May our Saviour and King truly give us courage in this great endeavour, and establish the work of our hands. All for His glorious Name!

On January 21-22, the National Church Planting Group offered a Church Planter Assessment Weekender in Irvine, CA.  The purpose of the “weekender” was to come alongside potential church planting couples, to serve them and care for them, by offering discernment regarding their next steps in ministry.  

 The Church Planter Assessment Weekender rose from the burden of the National Church Planting Group to serve local elderships and regional church planting committees that might not have the same "in house" resources for evaluating potential church planting couples that some other Sovereign Grace churches have.  

 To this end, the National Church Planting Group assembled an “assessment team” of experienced church planting couples, each of whom also serve in extra-local capacities for Sovereign Grace Churches.

 To be sure, the “assessment team” does not possess the ability to determine, infallibly, whether or a not a potential church planting couple can or will effectively plant a church.  The ultimate determining factor in that regard is God.  Nor does the “assessment team” possess the authority to decide if a potential church planting couple should, or should not, be deployed to plant a church.  That authority resides in their local elderships, together with their regional church planting committees.  However, the “assessment team” is able, with God’s help, to pay careful attention for the presence of leading indicators that consistently contribute to fruitful church planters.   Our aim is to offer discernment.  

 The five couples who participated in the weekender, did preparatory homework ahead of time.  Over the course of two days, they each told their “story” – an exercise designed to evaluate self-awareness, self-preservation, resilience, critical shaping influences, as well as their comfort level with who and how God has made them to be.  Each couple completed a marriage “check-up” inventory.  Each of the individuals had the opportunity to communicate the essentials of the Gospel.  Each of the men preached a mini sermon.  Each couple took turns “envisioning” us (as if we were potential launch team members) with the distinctives, location, target demographic, and burden for their respective and potential church plants.   Our matrix was essentially “The Planter, The Place, and Sovereign Grace.”  We looked for alignment between the man, the couple, the location they were considering, their relationship to their local Sovereign Grace Church, as well as their commitment to Sovereign Grace values and embodiment of Sovereign Grace culture.

 We ended by sharing with them our observations and one of three possible recommendations.  1) "Move ahead in taking next steps with local eldership and regional church planting committee."  2) "Move ahead with taking next steps, but with conditions to address certain “risk factors” before entering the church planting "pipeline." 3) "We do not recommend moving forward at this time, and for the following reasons . . . " These observations and recommendations were then forwarded in a summary report to the pastor’s and elderships who had sent the couples to the assessment weekender.  

 It is with eager and joyful anticipation that we anticipate hearing about specific plans for new Sovereign Grace church plants emerging in the coming months.  It is the prayerful desire of the National Church Planting Group that the “assessment weekender” might serve Sovereign Grace Churches in the coming years for planting healthy, fruitful, enduring churches to the praise of God’s glorious grace.

Greg serves on the National Church Planting Group, leading Assessment events . Our next event is scheduled for January 20 -21 in Irvine, CA. He is the church planter and senior pastor of Emmaus Road Church in Sioux Falls, SD.

The new year is so often a time for resolutions, some spiritual, and some personal. They can have a good place in our lives and can be such a blessing. But nothing compares to God’s incredible resolutions to us, and in Isaiah 41.10 we have one such resolution: 

            ‘Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.’

What a faith building, comforting and inspiring reality this is! This is the One who watches over our lives and endeavours. A King who is always with us, who is our God, and who promises to strengthen us and help us and uphold us with His righteous right hand. It’s a promise!

And so as we trust in Him, and pray to Him, here’s some ways you can be lifting up our global endeavours up to Him this month…

1. Please pray for the many churches that are in the process of adoption into Sovereign Grace in Latin America. These would include: Durango, Mexico – Torreon, Mexico – Arrandas, Mexico – Moroleon, Mexico – Orizababa, Mexico – Cordoba, Mexico – Playa Azul, Costa Rica – Cartago, Costa Rica – San Jose, Costa Rica – Cali, Colombia – Sao Paulo, Brazil – Rio Grande, Brazil – Palabra de Vida, Venezuela.

2. Please pray for McDonald Chanda and Cheila Chisulo, as they continue their Ordination process in Zambia, and as they prepare, God-willing, to lead Christ Community Church in Ndola, Zambia, and the Copperbelt Pastors College, founded by our dear friend Wilbroad Chanda. 

3. Please pray for our SG family on the ground in Turkey as they continue to learn the language, acclimatise to the culture, and reach the lost in this country. They have been there for over a year now and are making some encouraging in-roads. 

4. Please pray for Sovereign Grace Churches, Australia, as we launch the Planters & Pastors Academy this month, with a view to further church plants and adoptions in our country. With five men signed up for the year, may the Lord give much to wisdom, favour and grace to everyone involved.

5. Please pray for the 4 Church Plants that we have planned for Asia-Pacific over the next 24 months: Cavite – Philippines (2022/23), Bonbon – Philippines (2022/23), Negros Occidental – Philippines (2022/23), Kathmandu – Nepal (2022/23).

… May He strengthen us, help us and uphold us in all that we do!

For many years now, the US Northwest, Midwest Region has been relating to and working with some Churches in Pakistan, with one of the expressions of that partnership being supporting them in their Christmas outreach. Here’s a report from our key leader in Pakistan, on the fruits of that outreach and partnership...  

Before providing you with the detail of our Christmas outreach I would like to thank you on behalf of our people from different villages, brick factories, widows, and orphans. Please accept warm greetings and gratitude from all our people. If we are able to reach these families on this special occasion with the gifts, it is only because of your generosity, kindness, and love. It was impossible for us to help our people by ourselves, but you made it possible. We know life is not easy around the world especially during this COVID situation. Everyone is struggling with their own needs. But still, you provided the funds for the families just like a person cares for their own loved ones. Christmas is a special time, we not only share the good news but also provide people with their basic needs. Thank you so much. 

Like in the past, before distributing, our team members found out the neediest families in the villages, then we finalized the lists for the distribution. Always our first preference is widows and orphans. When we organized the lists one widow visited with her young kids, she said that she knows orphan children who are working in the brick factories. They don’t have anything to celebrate our King’s birthday. The main purpose of her visit was to inform us about the orphan children. You can see her heart, she is a widow and is surviving hand to mouth, but she was worried for other children. I asked her, “don’t you need anything for yourself this Christmas?”, she said that I am praying, and I know that God will provide. Her conversation impressed me very much and gave me more faith and conviction that we need to care for others. 

We chose 5 different central points this year, for the distributions, where we invited the families who are living nearby. We distributed food items, goats, sewing machines, blankets, and warm jackets. One of the girls, when she received the sewing machine, she was crying with joy. She said I cannot believe that now I have my own machine to stitch clothes. It was my dream to buy one, but I couldn’t afford it. Now I will stitch clothes and earn money for my family. 

When we distributed warm jackets, the mothers were so thankful to God for this blessing, and they were very thankful to all of our brothers and sisters who provided the funds for this blessing. One of the mothers said that we have seen this kind of nice jacket only in shops, but the people don’t even allow them to touch them. We are so thankful that God has blessed us with these warm jackets. One of the widows said the food items are really a blessing, and when we cook and eat, we will pray for our brothers and sisters who made this possible. 

One of the old women was particularly thankful for the blanket. She said, “it is so warm and nice, this blanket will save me in the winter and now I will not be sick anymore in the winter season”.  When we gave the goats to the families, one of the family's children said with joy that now we will be able to drink fresh milk and become healthier. They were so very happy and when they were sharing this, they had a big smile on their face.  

Overall, we distributed 130 goats, 450 food packages, 210 coats, and 70 sewing machines. Once again on behalf of our team, I am very thankful for your generosity and kindness. I wish you a very happy and prosperous new year. May this year bring many blessings to you and your families. Through your kind support, you have helped us so much. May God bless you and your families abundantly. 

An update from Jeffrey Jo, Lead Pastor of CCSGM in Cavite, Manila, and Key Leader for Sovereign Grace Churches in the Philippines...

It was the third week of November last year, when the Philippine government decided to ease back and place the whole country into level 2 restrictions when it comes to the pandemic situation. This meant that they eased up travel requirements, and so that was when we grabbed the opportunity to visit our nine churches In Surigao del Sur. It is a place that is part of Mindanao, south of the Philippines. The Mindanao island group is home to the majority of the Filipino Muslims. Of Mindanao's 24,135,775 population, Muslims make up about 23.39% of the island's entire population, and so some 93% of the entire Islamic population of our country resides in these islands. 

In spite of the insurgencies in the area, God has made it possible for us to plant 9 churches in that region in the past 15 years. These churches birthed other churches in their localities and are still doing church planting activities even as I write today. In the midst of these two years of pandemic, God, in His providence, causes His churches to grow with new converts publicly declaring their faith expressed through water baptism. And this was the reason why we visited them last November 23, that we may encourage them in their young faith in Christ and teach them the great significance of being part of a local church.

Along with my fellow elders, we divided ourselves so that we can visit all nine churches, proclaiming the gospel of Christ and taking the time to talk to our fellow elders on their biblical leadership both in their family and in the local church. On the last day of our stay with them, we gathered all the elders and key church leaders for a conference designed to help them see how God values discipleship in His church. We were only expecting about 90 to attend, but there were over 160 people on the day that arrived hungry to hear His word. It was such a wonderful time of learning, serving and praying for our co-laborers in God’s vineyard in that area. 

My fellow elders Rey, Francis and I were humbled to minister to these brothers, and also to learn from them. Moreover, a pastor from a nearby province attended the said conference and he spoke to me. Amazed by the gospel-centered preaching, he asked me if we may meet again in their region, Agusan del Sur, and minister to his pastor friends and churches as well, even just for a day. And I assured him that as God permits, we will!

We are planning to go back next by the third week of March so that we may do a follow through on what we have taught them. This time we will be bringing our wives with us with a hope to have a small conference on the importance of biblical marriage in the ministry. Moreover, since a lot of young people and adults wanted to seriously study the bible and be equipped for service so as to reach the whole of Mindanao with the gospel of Christ, we are looking forward to establishing a gospel-centered, church-planting Bible school in that region. 

Please pray for us as we continue to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send more workers on this field ripe for harvest, for the gospel’s sake and for His glory. May His wonderful will be done. 

Please click below for a short video on the trip…

An update from Dyonah Thomas, Lead Pastor of Grace Life Church, Monrovia and Key Leader for Sovereign Grace Churches, in West Africa...

It is always a great Joy in Christ and in the life of our local church when the Lord calls, trains and the allows the sending of a team to plant a new Church here in West Africa. In the last six years, we have had the joy of directly planting four other churches as a local church, and so December 2021 marked our fifth. 

#7 as the community is called, has been a unique plant for us in preparation and sending. Emmanuel, our Church Planter, enrolled a few years back in our Grace Life College two-year pastoral training course. Upon graduation he was clear and passionate about planting with Grace Life, and his decision came at a time when we had made a decision to enroll men into a ‘trial’ live-in internship, where we could train and invest in them and their families’ lives, and more intentionally develop their convictions and competency, before sending them out. Emmanuel and Mariam were assessed and invited to relocate to Gracelife Jlazon and give one and half years of their life learning, watching ministry happen, participating in ministry, getting clarity on the gospel and how it shapes every facet of life, as well as time to prayerfully think through where God was calling them to go and plant

Emmanuel watched, learned, and participated in ministry alongside other elders, and his wife and children integrated well into church family life. With the guidance of the Elder team, Emmanuel then built a team from within the local church, a team that was then trained alongside him in so many ways. Together then, the team started engaging and building relationships in #7 for the new church plant.  

We called the process a ‘trial’ because we’d never done it quite like this before, but having now walked this through with Emmanuel, we plan to launch a full-time church planting residency in June of this year, with several other men, as a catalyst of discovering, developing and deploying men to gospel planting within the West Africa region. 

Finding godly men to lead and putting together a team of gifted individuals to support the plant is crucial, but funding likewise could not be more critical. We are therefore so grateful for the support we have received from the Sovereign Grace African Development Fund. Through this funding, we were able to launch this plant, as well as relocate three families in the process, and secure a long-term lease on a property to develop as a place of worship. 

We were so humbled and thankful to send out the Gracelife #7 church planting team on December 19 2021. It was a wonderful day!

An update from David Del Castillo, Pastor of Gracia Soberana, Santa Cruz, Bolivia...

Dear Friends, it is a pleasure to be able to address to you again, although I have a lot to tell you I will try to be punctual so that it is not a very long report! 

A few months ago, I was asking for prayer the upcoming conference here in Bolivia, and the truth is only by God’s grace it was a success. Places were filled very quickly and we had to close registrations earlier than expected. The theme "the centrality of the Gospel" was very appropriate, it allowed us to remind many of the importance of this need and introduce the topic to others. We were also able to give away a couple of books. One of the things that most impacted me was a young man thanking our church a few weeks later; helping us to understand the great impact that the conference had on him, but also the book of "The Cross Centered Life" by C.J. Mahaney. It led me to reflect on the importance of continuing to share these truths and not taking for granted some of the things that God has allowed us to see, but instead preaching on them again and again. 

In truth, the participation of Joselo Mercado, Matthew Williams, Chris Deloglos, Jacobis Aldana, Johnny Dueri and Oscar Vargas was of the utmost importance. And it allowed many of us to grow and understand many truths. But also, our church did an extraordinary job hosting the conference with very limited hands. I really believe this was so good for our church and they did so well!

After our conference, we were then able to go to the SG Pastors Conference, and on the way Jadwy and me visited some of the many churches that have supported us in different ways. It really is amazing to see the commitment and support we receive from so many churches and people who are with us and part of building the church here in Bolivia.The Pastors Conference was very excellent once again. We very much missed not being able to be together last year, so the fact that we could be together this year was a joy. The theme was very good, and really appropriate. But above all the communion was excellent.

Something important that happened at the conference, and that I wanted to share with you, is that because last year there was no trips for us because of the pandemic, the whole ordination process was postponed to this year. And thanks to the Lord, at the Pastors Conference I was able to conclude my process with the oral examination, and then be evaluated by my region. And thank God in both cases they approved me!

Now Chris Deloglos is working on the ordination service. I want to thank God for the theological committee. Because this process is so good, I can see that my theological perception in so many aspects has grown remarkably thanks to this step. I want to thank all the people who were involved in evaluating me in any part of the process - Matthew Williams, Abelardo Muñoz, Chris Deloglos, Manolo Quintanal, Hellman Avila and Alejandro Anchondo. Thank you for leading me in this process.

With regard to the church here in Bolivia, we can see that God has already consolidated a base group, and that it continues to grow. We can really see a small church now. We just finished a series based on the book of Ephesians and are now in the middle of a series on the book of Ruth. In addition, we are praying and planning for a topical series next year on the church, that will lead us to church membership. Even though in Sovereign Grace membership is so common, here in Bolivia people don´t know much about it, so we pray for wisdom as we prepare the ground for that series and topic.  

God bless you very much. 

At the end of 2021, Mark Prater, Joselo Mercado and two members of Covenant Fellowship Church travelled to Barranquilla and Santa Marta in Colombia, where they had the best of times!

Listen in as Mark talks about it in this recent video… Soli Deo Gloria!

As we continue to walk through the doors that the Lord has opened to us around the world, we do so full of faith. For the Lord is good and merciful and gracious and wise. His Gospel is powerful, and Jesus is always the answer!

And yet as we continue to step forward, we so need the Lord! We are totally reliant on Him for wisdom and insight and favour and discernment and clarity and sustenance and protection, and that’s why we so need your prayers. 

Here then is how you can be praying for us in the month ahead…

1. Please pray for the three internships that we are presently running in Mexico; Karl Sauter, who will be relocating in the near future to serve alongside Manolo in Siloa. Jorge Luis Guiterrez, who will be moving to Juarez, and Andres Contreras, who has relocated to Guadalajara to serve alongside Choby and Luis. 

2. Please pray for Dyonah Thomas, our key leader in Monrovia, Liberia, as he finishes up his Ordination process and looks to fold Gracelife Church, Monrovia, into full partnership with Sovereign Grace Churches in early 2022.

3. Please pray for our work in Belarus, through Kyle Huber, Lead Pastor of Greentree Church, New Jersey. Belarus is a very difficult country to be a Christian in right now, yet incredibly, there are two Churches that are in the early stages of pursuing adoption into our family of churches. Please pray that we’ll be a help to them in this great endeavour of making and maturing disciples in their dear country.

4. Please pray for Allen Dicharry, Aaron Mayfield and Billy Raise as they continue to work into Nepal, with our main contact there (who I won’t name here). Nepal has been heavily affected by the covid pandemic, as has our main church there. Please pray for much grace, wisdom and insight as we continue to move forward together in this wonderful country, and as we look to fold them into Sovereign Grace Churches. 

5. Please pray for our ongoing work in Pakistan, India & South Korea, three countries that have done it very tough in covid, but have high hopes for the road ahead. We’re eager to help them and serve them well!

… May He who opens the doors, guide and strengthen our every step!

Rather than give you several different updates this month, as this year draws to a close, I wanted to share with you this one 12 minute video to watch.

During out recent Pastors & Wives Conference, I had the privilege of giving an update on what God is doing in and through our family of churches around the world. This video is that update.

As you watch this video, I hope it encourages you, excites you and reminds you just how supreme Jesus is. All that you hear is His doing, and so may it always be marvelous in our eyes!

Corrie Ten Boom once said,

            “What wings are to a bird and sails are to a ship, so is prayer to the soul.”

What a wonderful word picture, so vivid and descriptive, and what a wonderful truth. We so need the Lord in all that we do, both personally and missionally, and so here’s how you can be praying for us in the month ahead...

1. Please pray for Joselo Mercado, Mark Prater, Victor Ko & Bob Wright as they head to Colombia from Dec 2 to 6 to spend time with churches in Barranquilla and Santa Marta, and seek to encourage them. Please pray for Joselo and Mark as they preach at a workshop on masculinity on the Saturday in Santa Marta. Please also pray for them as they teach on our seven shared values and share in the 10-year anniversary service celebrations on the Sunday.

2. Please pray for wisdom for Bert Turner (Pastor at Covenant of Grace Church in Copley, Ohio) as he travels to Brazil from December 2 to 14 to spend time in São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul. Pray that his time with Pastor Fabiano Medieros and wife, Marcia, and family in São Paulo will be a time to "encourage one another and build one another up" (I Thessalonians 5:11). Please pray for his time with Igreja Graça Soberana in Rio Grande and Pastor Emerson and his wife, Tati, that it may strengthen and encourage the brothers (Acts 15:32). Please pray, as well, for his meetings with four other pastors who are developing friendships with Sovereign Grace Churches.

3. Please pray for Michael Granger as he continues to lead Trinity Fellowship Church, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, even in the midst of the civil war that is taking place in Ethiopia. Likewise, please pray for Josh Pannell, as he continues to lead Trinity Fellowship Pastors College, our Sovereign Grace Pastors College in Ethiopia, as well as the 11 students currently enrolled in the college. Everyone is safe and accounted for, but they are in need of much grace and wisdom as they look to the weeks ahead.

4. Please pray for the new ‘SGC Australia - Pastors & Planters Academy’. We currently have six men interested in signing up for next year and we only announced it a few weeks ago! Please pray for wisdom for everyone involved with the application process, we’re eager to plant and adopt more Churches here in Australia.

5. Please pray that God would draw many unbelievers to Sovereign Grace Churches around the world, as we hold our various Christmas related services and events. Pray also that God would give the members of our Churches opportunities to share the gospel with unbelieving family members, friend, neighbours, and co-workers over this holiday season.

               ... Just like a great wind in the sails, may His grace abound to us all.  

This year’s Pastors Conference was such a blessing from God! We had over 600 people from 12 different nations in attendance. Heard the word of God read in 6 different languages. Enjoyed excellent preaching from Jared Mellinger, Jon Payne, Jeff Purswell, C.J.Mahaney, as well as in all the breakout sessions, and we sang, fellowshipped, prayed and ate together for three delightful days. 

For those travelling in for the conference, it was worth every mile of the trip. And for those that were unable to travel in because of the pandemic, but who got to experience it all online, that too was a great blessing!!

Here is a sampling of how it impacted some of our internationals...

Patrick Chavez, Sydney, Australia,

“The Pastor's Conference 2021 was a gift of grace, even when viewing sermons online at 2:30AM in Sydney Australia, how it served my soul. The songs, the interviews, the updates, the testimonies, the prophecies, the preaching all served and encouraged greatly. I thank God for our family of churches and love our commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ!  Can't wait to be there for the next one, God willing.”

Maddie Spring, Sydney, Australia,

“The livestream of the conference was absolutely fantastic. For the sessions I was able to watch, I was abundantly blessed by the Lord. The rich gospel centrality, the warmth of affection between pastors and the overwhelming sense of joy in the Lord, really served to refresh my soul! Thank you!”

David Del Castillo, Santa Cruz, Bolivia,

“The Pastors Conference was a long-awaited family reunion. The fact of participating in the conference helped us to experience in greater depth our belonging to the great family that is Sovereign Grace. We can’t wait to see you guys next year.”

If you missed the conference but would like to hear the talks then good news, all of the audio and video of the main sessions is now available on the events page. In addition, all of the audio from each of the breakout sessions is now available on the same page. 

God accomplished so much through our short time together in Orlando. Our partnership was strengthened, vision for our shared mission was expanded, and our relationships were deepened. Additionally, He equipped us for what He has called us to do in serving our churches by using the preaching we benefitted from in the main sessions and in the breakout sessions.

It was such a good time together. God truly smiled on us and so blessed our time together, to Him be all the glory. 

One of the ways we experienced God’s goodness at our recent 2021 Sovereign Grace Pastors Conference, was through hearing stories from Sovereign Grace pastors during our time together. These stories highlighted the partnership we share among our churches, and the joy we have of fulfilling our gospel mission together.

I wanted you to hear and benefit from two of these stories in this update, and so I share them with you below...

The first is from Ed O’Mara, Senior Pastor of Crosspoint Church in Arnold, MD. Ed and his family are looking to relocate to Italy in the summer of 2022, to launch Sovereign Grace Churches, Italia. It’s such a wonderful story of faith, partnership and grace. 

The second is from Josh Pannell, Dean of Trinity Fellowship Pastors College in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Josh relocated from Louisville, KY to Ethiopia in 2020 to launch this Sovereign Grace Pastors College, and to see what the Lord has done with this college, is simply marvelous in our eyes. 

As you listen to these stories I trust they encourage you. How good the Lord has been to us!

When we think of Global Missions in Sovereign Grace Churches, we think about the great commission work of making and maturing disciples all around the world. (Matt 28)

It’s the privilege we have to represent Jesus as His ambassadors, and to take the glorious message of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. And for us as a family of churches, in an overarching way, that means three things:

• Church Planting: The work of establishing new congregations

• Emerging Nations: The work of partnering in new places

• Missionaries: The work of reaching new cultures

To help us in this great endeavor, I’m pleased to announce that our new ‘SGC Missions’ website has now been launched. There are still some additions coming to certain parts of the website, but there’s still plenty here for you to engage with and enjoy. 

I hope this website envisions you for our shared mission and encourages you to play your part... I’m so pleased that we get to do this together. We are so much better together!

What a privilege. What a message. What a Savior!

As we seek to advance the gospel and make disciples of all nations, short term mission trips allow individuals and churches to participate in our global mission in some wonderful and unique ways.

Firstly, they enable to us to strengthen our shared partnership with other Sovereign Grace Church’s around the world, something that becomes so much more tangible when we’re actually present in this way. Secondly, they enable our members to taste what it’s like to serve cross-culturally, overcoming barriers like language, geography and customs, and see firsthand the broader work of God in different cultures. And thirdly, for some, we may be exposing them to a cross-cultural work that God wants to call them to for the rest of their lives, and that we may have a part to play in preparing them for.

With all that in mind, I asked Todd Peterson (Pastor in Cross of Grace Church, El Paso, TX) and Pat Tedeschi (Pastor in Greentree Church, NJ) if they could come up with a way of enabling us to work together in this, as a family of churches. A way that could involve different Sovereign Grace Churches working together on short-term missions trips, a way for members of smaller SG Churches to tag in with another SG Church and potentially go on their missions trip, and a way for any SG Churches that would like to run a trip, to be helped in how to do it. 

Well, after many months of work, I am so pleased with what they have come up with! I think it’s outstanding and I think you will too... 

• Phase One involves ‘Submit a Trip’ and is now open to all SG Churches that have a Short-Term Missions Trip planned for 2022 and who would be open to members of other SG Churches applying to join. When all submissions are in, all the trips will then be posted on our SGC Missions website, so that folk can apply to come on them and so that we can be praying for everyone involved.

• Phase Two then involves ‘Find a Trip’, which is a feature that we’ll be looking to activate in February/March 2022. As soon as we get several trips signed up and submitted, we’ll be eager to spread the news on this.

• Phase Three is then for those that are keen to ‘Plan a Trip’ and who may need some help with that. This is presently being built and put together, greatly helped by two seasoned Short-Term Missions Trip guys in Allen Dicharry and Pete Schefferstein. Once launched, this will include a Missions Trip ‘Planning Resources’, as well as ‘Training’ to help you either start a trip from scratch or improve a trip that you are already doing. From everything I’ve seen so far, this is going to be a wonderful help!

What I want to encourage you in then right now, is to please ‘Submit a Trip’ if you have something planned for 2022 that you’d be open to other SG Church members applying to join you on. If we could get this done over the next 1-2 months, I’ll then look to help spread the word about ‘Phase Two’ around February/March time. 

I’m so pleased we get to do this together!