Posts tagged Pastors Conference
Pastors Conference Resources

“We worshipped; we feasted and fellowshipped with friends; we rejoiced in Christ.” -Benjamin Kreps, Senior Pastor, Living Hope Church, Harrisburg, PA.

The annual Sovereign Grace Pastors Conference was held November 9-11 in Orlando after a 2-year delay due to the pandemic. Almost 600 attendees traveled from all over the world, including Bolivia, Canada, Columbia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Germany, Ethiopia, Italy, Mexico, Zimbabwe and the US. Those who couldn’t attend due to pandemic-related travel restrictions and immigration issues from 10 different nations, many from the Asia Pacific part of the world, watched a live-stream which was also translated in Spanish.

The theme was “Christ Preeminent” with the focus on Jesus because “he is before all things” (Colossians 1:17), and “he is the head” of the church’s that we have the privilege to pastor and lead (Colossians 1:18). Each session was planned to build churches upon the gospel and in a way that celebrates the preeminence of Jesus Christ. I highly recommend the excellent preaching we enjoyed, not only in the main sessions, but in the breakouts, as well.


Mark Prater is the Executive Director for Sovereign Grace and serves as an elder at Covenant Fellowship Church. A weekly podcast with Sovereign Grace updates, hosted by Benjamin Kreps, is posted on his blog.

Pastors Conference 2020 Announcement

On behalf of the Leadership Team, with the support of the Executive Committee, I wanted to let you know that we made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 Sovereign Grace Pastors Conference because of the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. For us this decision was not only very hard to make, but also a sad one to make. We love being with our pastors and wives annually at our Pastors Conference. To make a decision, that we consider an exception during an unprecedented time, is heart-wrenching for us. There is no one else we would rather be with in November than the pastors of Sovereign Grace Churches and your wives. 

As we sorted through, and prayed about this decision, here are some of the factors that led us to make this difficult decision:

  • Most of our global pastors and friends will not be able to travel to the States for our conference in November.

  • Because some of our pastors and wives are high risk, and because some will understandably be uncomfortable traveling when there is so much uncertainty, we anticipate that our attendance will be lower, especially when you factor in that our global pastors most likely can’t attend.

  • Some states in the U.S. are requiring or recommending that people self-quarantine for 14 days if they travel from current hot spot states like Florida. We have no way of knowing if that requirement will be in place in the fall, but if it is, that could negatively impact our conference attendance.

  • If we proceeded with holding the conference anticipating a lower attendance, we estimate that we would lose a significant amount of money. That loss didn’t seem like a wise one to absorb in a year that we project that our income will be down because of the economic impact of COVID-19.

  • We also know that some of our churches are experiencing a drop in income because of the pandemic making it more difficult for them to incur the expense of traveling and participating in our conference.

  • Given the size of our meeting room, and the much smaller hallway outside of the meeting room, we think social distancing would be possible, but would also be a challenge.

  • We needed to make a decision now, not only in negotiating with the hotel, but also to serve everyone to give you clarity as you make plans for the fall. Given the current rise in positive COVID-19 cases in some states, including Florida, we think there remains enough uncertainty about the future that we didn’t think it was wise to proceed with the conference.

As mentioned above, we view our decision as an exception to the norm even if the impact of COVID-19 continues into next year. Having another year gives all of us more time to gather additional information regarding the virus, and more time to potentially adjust to a “new normal” meaning that we all understand better the need for acceptable risk related to travel and gathering together at a conference.

It’s hard for me to write this post because it communicates our difficult decision to cancel the Pastors Conference. I, along with all of the guys on the Leadership Team, will miss seeing you in November. However, may that only build our anticipation to gather for our conference November 9-11, 2021 in Orlando.


Mark Prater is the Executive Director for Sovereign Grace and serves as an elder at Covenant Fellowship Church. He and his wife, Jill, have three married daughters and a growing number of grandchildren.

Sovereign Grace Pastors Conference 2020

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the Events page for some details related to the November Pastors Conference. As mentioned, we won’t be opening registration now, but will do so closer to the event as we gather information related to plans affected by the pandemic. You can check back for more information in the coming months. Notably, though, Michael Reeves has agreed to speak at our conference which is themed Christ Preeminent. Christ Preeminent. He is and always will be preeminent! Colossians 1:18 says, “And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.” This is the theme of our 2020 Pastors Conference because it is a worthy meditation and motivation for our lives: the surpassing worth of Jesus Christ. In our current global crisis, there is nowhere better to fix our eyes than on Him.

Plan now to join us for our conference November 10-12 in Orlando, Florida. We look forward to seeing you there!