There’s rarely a day that goes by where I don’t thank God for you and the gospel partnership we have in Sovereign Grace. Our shared mission to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ by planting and strengthening local churches throughout the world is a highlight in my daily work. And I love to share with you ways that our partnership is bringing more glory to God. In this end of the year mission video, two of our younger Senior Pastors discuss the impact that other Sovereign Grace Churches have had on them and their local church. What I want you to see and hear is how God allows us to support and strengthen one another through community and care even when we’re geographically far apart. These evidences of grace make our partnership all the more effective and enjoyable—a gift from God that is underserved.

Please watch this mission video and join me in expressing gratitude to God for one another and the partnership we enjoy. And consider financially supporting Sovereign Grace as our ministry opportunities are often many more than our funds allow. For more on how you can give and what your money supports, please visit our give page.

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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.

There is a section on our website that reads: “The history of Sovereign Grace cannot be told without the stories of existing churches being led by God to join us in our partnered mission through the experience of adoption.” For many years, we have been blessed with stories of adopting existing churches into our family. It requires a careful process that is distinct from church planting. But when God has allowed us to walk out and complete a process of adoption, the blessings have been numerous—on both sides of the story.

Our most recent adoption is of Emmaus Road Church in Bozeman, MT. Senior Pastor, Joel Carlson, has carefully walked a road of seeking to discover whether his church and Sovereign Grace was a good partnership. One of the things I love about this story is the involvement of so many other churches and pastors in Sovereign Grace. Joel and his wife, Jessica, attending Living Faith Church in Franklin, WV. Steve Teter and Josh Blount have helped Joel in discerning next steps for his local church. Greg Dirnberger, Senior Pastor of Emmaus Road Church in Sioux Falls, SD has relationally connected with Joel and helped in connecting he and his church to Sovereign Grace. It’s all a wonderful expression of partnership.

I wanted you to have an opportunity to hear directly from Joel. Our newest mission video is about their journey, where they are planting and how they hope God will use them in Bozeman. Please take time to watch this video, praying for Emmaus Road Church and consider giving. You can find information on how to give here.

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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.

We say this often in Sovereign Grace: “church planting is in our DNA.” From our start nearly 40 years ago we have planted churches because we want people to hear the good news of the gospel. Currently, we are planting churches in:

• Santa Ana, California

• Zapresic, Croatia

• Rogers, Arkansas

• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Frankford section)

Each of these locations is picked with one goal in mind: to see people worshipping Jesus everywhere. This is the vision that my friend, Stephen Bowne shares for his church plant in the Frankford section of Northeast Philadelphia in our first mission video for 2018. With the theme, “Throughout the World”, we wanted you to hear how God is using our small family of churches to do kingdom work. He’s using the members of our local churches to plant new churches, reach unbelievers, and disciple new Christians. As I say in this video, this isn’t really about what Sovereign Grace is doing. This video is simply an update of what God is doing through you, the members of our local churches in Sovereign Grace.

In the next two years, we also intend to plant churches in:

• Wilmington, North Carolina

• Salem, Massachusetts

• Des Moines, Iowa

• Kingston, Jamaica

• Sao Paulo, Brazil

• Newark, Delaware

• Sydney, Australia

You will hear more about these church plants in the coming months. But, in the meantime, please pray. Pray that God would establish these churches. Pray that he would provide strong launch teams. Pray that the gospel would be a light through these churches in the neighborhoods where they are established.

And take time to watch the mission video below. Without you, without your participation, without your prayers, without your financial support of Sovereign Grace, ventures like this would not be possible. We have more gospel opportunities than we can fund. So if you are not currently giving to Sovereign Grace, please consider a financial donation via our give page. You can choose how your donation is applied so please take time to consider those options.

We, the Leadership Team of Sovereign Grace, “give thanks to God always for all of you” (1 Thess 1:2). Thank you for being church members who love Jesus and his gospel. Thank you for loving unbelievers and sharing the hope of the gospel in dark places. Thank you for making it financially possible to plant churches. We thank God for you.

If you are interested in further information on the mission of Sovereign Grace, we have an electronic copy of our mission fund booklet posted here.

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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.