In his book, “A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and his Prayers,” D.A. Carson writes, “If we follow Paul’s example, we will never overlook the monumental importance of praying for others…We will see it is part of our job to approach God with thanksgiving for others and with intercession for others. In short, our praying will be shaped by our profound desire to seek what is best for the people of God.” 

May we, as a family of churches, continue to build relationally by having a "profound desire" to pray for each other as we “seek what is best” for our churches, and to advance our shared mission of the gospel together. By doing so, our relationships will be enhanced, our mission empowered, and our unity strengthened all for the glory of Christ.

Sovereign Grace Churches Third Quarter 2024 Prayer Requests

• Pray that God would give the members and pastors of Sovereign Grace Churches opportunities to share the gospel with unbelievers in our communities, workplaces and on our campuses for the rest of this summer and into the fall season.

• Pray for Brian Kiama, a 2022 Trinity Fellowship Pastors College graduate in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as he moves his family from Addis Ababa to Nairobi, Kenya in August to plant a Sovereign Grace church in Nairobi asking God to provide all they need to advance the gospel in Kenya.

• Pray for our new Director of Church Planting, Joel Shorey, Sr. Pastor o fRedeemer Fellowship, Newark, DE, asking God to give him wisdom, discernment, and grace in helping us plant more churches in the United States.

• Pray for the Fieles A Su Llamado Conference in Juarez, Mexico, August 7-9, 2024, asking God to encourage, equip, and strengthen the pastors and wives attending from Mexico and Latin America. Pray also pray for Carlos Contreras as he leads this strategic conference.

• Pray for our new 2024-2025 Pastors College students and their families from 2 different nations who will be moving to Louisville, KY before classes start at the end of August, asking God to provide for them and to give them grace to grow over the next year while at the PC.

• Pray for the Worship God Conference, July 24-27, 2024, in Louisville, KY asking God to equip and encourage pastors, leaders, musicians, vocalists, tech personnel, and songwriters to return home and serve their churches with theologically-rich, Christ- centered singing every week. Pray also for Bob Kauflin who will lead WorshipGod24.

• Pray for the Sovereign Grace Churches Executive Committee retreat in Louisville, KY, August 20-23, 2024, asking God to give the 9 men on this committee wisdom and help in fulfilling their responsibility of overseeing and evaluating the Leadership Team.

• 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.

Everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp… When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the LORD would speak with Moses…Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. Exod 33:7,9,11

This passage has always fascinated me because I think it gives a profound insight into the spiritual training of Joshua for his later leadership task. Joshua had front row seats to the holy conversation between God and a man. He witnessed a two way conversation with Moses talking to God (Exod 33:12-16) and then God talking to Moses (Exod 33:17- 23).

And then Joshua would stay in the tent after the conversation was over—in the presence of God.

This communication is later replicated on a higher level by Jesus himself:

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” Luke 11:1

Jesus prays in front of his disciples—they are the collective Joshua watching the greater Moses converse with his Father. Jesus didn’t always pray in secret (Mark 1:35) - in fact, sometimes he deliberately prayed in the presence of others in order to generate faith (John 11:42).

And after Jesus ascends to heaven, what do we find these same leaders doing? Praying together! (Acts 1:13-14). The fire from Jesus’ prayers kindled their prayer lives too.

We are a movement that believes in the centrality of the gospel. We believe in the Holy Spirit. We believe in the need for revival. And we believe God visits his leaders when they gather together for prayer.

I invite you to join with other pastors for a collective time of prayer. Just one hour (Mark 14:37). Not because we are strong, but because we are weak. But our mighty Father comes in power to the collective prayers of his people and especially his praying shepherds. Please join us my brothers. There is something very powerful about collective prayer. Like a greenhouse, God grows things into us as we pray. He will unite us. He will impart faith to us. He will answer our collective prayers. He will give us joy!

Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. John 16:24

If interested, please let Joel know and he will send you the link to our next meeting on July 17th at 2:00 PM EST. jshorey@redeemerde.org.

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Tim Kerr is an elder at Sovereign Grace Church Toronto and the author of Take Words With You: Scripture Promises & Prayer.

Joel Shorey is the new Director of Church Planting for Sovereign Grace Churches and the Senior Pastor of Redeemer Fellowship in Newark, DE. Joel and his wife Ashley have four children.

We’re excited to announce the Sovereign Grace Pastors College Class of 2025!

Though the Pastors College only wrapped up graduation a few weeks ago, preparations for the upcoming class is well under way.

This year the college will be welcoming nine students from all over the US and Australia.

Please join us in praying for them and their families, as they continue fundraising and making preparations to move to Louisville. 

There is still time to register for WorshipGod: One with Christ, How Our Union with Christ Affects Everything.

The conference will be held in Louisville, Kentucky, from July 24-27 and is designed to equip and encourage pastors, leaders, musicians, tech personnel, and songwriters as they seek to plan and lead congregational worship.

Let by our dear friend and pastor, Bob Kauflin, alongside an incredible lineup of speakers (including John Piper, HB Charles, and Mike Bullmore) the conference focuses on three main areas of worship: Theology, Heart, and Skill.

Though the conference is designed to serve those directly involved in planning and leading congregational worship, these topics can serve us all.

Registration closes July 10 and there is limited space.

Recently on the Mark Prater podcast, Mark shared about the future of Sovereign Grace Churches. Here is a clip from that conversation with Ben Kreps. The full podcast is linked below.

There are things that we can do now as a leadership team that can impact Sovereign Grace 10 years from now. So I've got some questions I wrote that the leadership team guys will come and we'll just answer together, questions about for example, what do you hope Sovereign Grace looks like 10 years from now? What would that look like? And just building on that, just trying to figure out how do we lead in a way now, that Sovereign Grace will be what we hope for, this is why it's important.

By God's grace, we are becoming a global multi-generational family of churches. So as we expand in different nations, which is all of God's doing and God's work, and as we pass leadership to the next generation, we can't assume that things will always be as they are now. And so we have to prepare for that kind of transition.

An update from Bob Kauflin, Director of Sovereign Grace Music...

Joselo Mercado, Fabrizio Rodulfo, and I recently had the privilege of serving at the La Adoración Centrada en el Evangelio conference (Gospel-Centered Worship), in Barranquilla, Colombia. It was hosted by Iglesia Alumbra, not a Sovereign Grace church, but one we have been building relationships with for the past few years. Fabrizio and I led the worship in song with musicians from Alumbra, and Joselo and I had the joy of preaching from God’s Word numerous times. 

About 150 leaders, interested in or part of Sovereign Grace, came to the pre-conference on Thursday and Friday morning. We focused on the biblical foundations of worship, and practical ways musicians and preaching pastors can work together to serve God’s purposes for our Sunday meetings. The final session dealt with ways musicians can best serve the singing of their congregations, followed by a Q&A. We weren’t able to answer all of the questions, so we’ll be video recording the answers to the remaining questions and sending them to the attendees. 

Around 400 came to the actual conference on Friday night and Saturday morning, which was for a broader audience. During the conference we explored a gospel-informed view of worship both in our gatherings and in our lives. Again, Joselo and I had the privilege of preaching God’s Word. 

It was deeply encouraging to see the effect of the relationships Joselo has sown into over the past few years. In particular, he has been building with Jacobis Aldana from Iglesia Bíblica Soberana Gracia in Santa Marta. His friendship with Jacobis and other pastors has resulted in a deep respect, love, and appreciation for him and for Sovereign Grace. On this trip we were reaping rich fruit from his investment.  

This post first appeared on the Sovereign Grace Missions blog on May 31, 2024.