Greg Dirnberger recently gave this recap:

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.

The post Assessment for Church Planters originally appeared on the SGC Missions blog on March 2, 2022.

Greg Dirnberger 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.

Last month we posted about the new SGC Missions website and Mark Prater highlighted more details in his most recent podcast:

We hope to really serve pastors and we hope to serve the members of our churches and maybe even those outside of Sovereign Grace in this way: we want to stir all of us for the mission of the gospel and reaching the lost with the gospel.

There are three banners on the sgcmissions.org homepage: Church Planting, Emerging Nations and Missionaries. Each has a theology behind it and a philosophy of mission and ministry captured in a brief description. Church Planting is described as “The work of establishing new congregations" and we want to establish new congregations in areas to reach the lost with the gospel. Emerging Nations is described as “The work of partnering in new places” as we have opportunities to partner with churches in the states and throughout the world. The Missionaries banner is described as “The work of reaching new cultures”. We’ve defined missionaries as being sent from local churches to areas or unreached areas where they are either going to establish a church or are connected to a church and continue to receive care and support from the sending church, and care for the church as well.

For those interested in church planting, there's a Church Planting Pathway to express interest by submitting a form. There are also two initiatives: The Antioch Project, which helps elderships who haven't planted churches before to plant churches, and Small Towns Initiative, to help plant churches in small towns in the states and throughout the world.

Under the Emerging Nations banner, you'll find a Partnership Pathway with clear steps for pastors of global churches interested in Sovereign Grace. There's also a link for short-term mission trips to connect Sovereign Grace churches who are planning trips with members throughout Sovereign Grace who are looking to serve. I’m really excited about that!

For someone who wants to give their life to being a missionary, there’s a form under the Missionaries banner to engage with the Emerging Nations team.

I think this website will really serve the pastors and members of Sovereign Grace churches, as well as anyone outside of Sovereign Grace, because it gives clear steps to be involved in gospel mission.

Photo by Glen Carrie

We’ve been hearing a lot lately about the many global churches pursuing adoption in our family of churches, but recently, Sovereign Grace adopted a church here in the US, in Conroe, TX, a Northern suburb of Houston that was featured on the Mark Prater Blog.

It’s a wonderful story of churches working together and generously sacrificing for the sake of the gospel and the good of the church.

It began with Darrel Schiel who leads Sovereign Grace Church in Pearland, Texas, on the south side of Houston. His father, Dan, has pastored Christ Church in Conroe for many years but due to health reasons is retiring. Dan and Darrel, along with the incredibly supportive elders, began exploring Sovereign Grace adoption. Through a number of events, Bart Lipscomb, a pastor with Jon Payne at Redemption Hill Church in Austin, Texas, is moving to Conroe this summer to become the new senior pastor and has already been traveling there to preach. Redemption Hill Church is also sending a worship leader and his family, as well as two or three other families to help strengthen this church and bring the values that we share in Sovereign Grace. And that's an unusual thing for all those things to converge at once. It really is God's doing, and it's marvelous in our eyes.

Learn more from the full blog post:

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Mark Prater is the Executive Director for Sovereign Grace and serves as an elder at Covenant Fellowship Church. Mark and his wife, Jill, have three adult daughters and ten grandchildren.

The post Conroe, TX Church Adoption originally appeared on The Mark Prater Podcast on May 10, 2021.

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

It is a such joy to report on some of the key developments that are happening here as we seek to move forward in Sovereign Grace Churches Australia. The Lord continues to be so good us, and so here are some headlines for you:

Pastoral Internships, Leadership Bootcamp, Three partnership opportunities, Podcast Launch

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Dave Taylor is Director of Emerging Nations for Sovereign Grace Churches and serves as the lead pastor of Sovereign Grace Church, Sydney. He resides in Australia with his wife Emma and their five children.

The full post Moving Forward in Australia originally appeared on the Emerging Nations blog on April 1, 2021. Emerging Nations exists to serve the pioneering work of Sovereign Grace Churches around the world.

I became a Christian in my early teenage years and quickly developed a love for God’s Word. While in Bible College, I sensed that the Lord was calling me to theological education in an African context. During my time in Seminary, that desire has only grown. I am excited to use my giftings in theology and teaching to serve this church plant in Ethiopia. Josh Pannell

On January 17, 2021, Josh Pannell and his family were sent out from Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville to join the newly planted Trinity Fellowship in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Josh will be working closely with Michael Granger, the lead pastor, in providing theological and original language assistance as well as developing future contexts for pastoral and theological training in the church. He will also be teaching two classes per semester at Evangelical Theological College and providing supplementary preaching and teaching at the church. 

To learn more about the Pannell’s and the church plant, please visit their website: Pannell Family Missions, see Michael Granger’s Feb 1, 2021 post Addis Ababa, A Church is Born on the Emerging Nations blog, and watch the video of Josh’s update before departing for Ethiopia.

"If we were really convinced that prayer changes the way God acts, and that God does bring about remarkable changes in the world in response to prayer, as Scripture repeatedly teaches that he does, then we would pray much more than we do. If we pray little, it is probably because we do not really believe that prayer accomplishes much at all.” Wayne Grudem

Friends, may we be convinced that God does bring about remarkable changes in response to prayer. And as we pray for one another in Sovereign Grace, using the "First Quarter Prayer Requests" below, let us believe that our prayers will accomplish much for the good of the gospel, and the glory of Christ alone!

• Pray that God would give the members and pastors of Sovereign Grace churches opportunities to share the gospel with unbelievers in our communities and workplaces.

•  Pray for Matt Turner and his team as they plant Sovereign Grace Church in Prattville, AL asking God to provide for them, and give them opportunities to share the gospel in the Prattville area.

• Pray for Zicky Chanda and her four sons as they grieve the loss of their husband/father, Wilbroad Chanda, who was the Lead Pastor of Christ Community Church in Ndola, Zambia asking God to comfort them and the church in Ndola. 

• Pray for Bob Kauflin and the Sovereign Grace Music Team as they begin the work of producing a new album featuring the Psalms.

• Pray for Eric Turbedsky (Director of Church Planting) and Joel Carlson (Sr. Pastor of Emmaus Road Church in Bozeman, MT) as they start a “Small Towns Initiative,” which will equip church planters to plant Sovereign Grace churches in smaller communities asking God to give them and their team wisdom.

• Pray that God would give the Sovereign Grace Churches Leadership Team wisdom for how to expand globally in a way that preserves our theological convictions, gospel values, and allows us to continue to build relationally.

• Pray that God would continue to provide financially for Sovereign Grace Churches so that we can fund the gospel opportunities He is giving us throughout the world.

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Mark Prater is the Executive Director for Sovereign Grace and serves as an elder at Covenant Fellowship Church. Mark and his wife, Jill, have three adult daughters and ten grandchildren.