Hebrews 12.1-2, ‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great cloud a witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.'

We are all in a race, the great race, indeed the greatest race of our lives! And so looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, the One we all need so much, here’s how you can be praying for us in the month ahead…

1. Please pray for Marty Machowski (Pastor at Covenant Fellowship Church in Glen Mills, PA), as he heads to South Korea from January 10th-20th. He’ll be jumping into teaching the day after he arrives, serving at a seminar designed to teach couples about the work of the Spirit in the family home. Please pray for clear weather and no flight delays, as well as strength and stamina amidst a full schedule. Please pray that the Spirit of God touches the lives of the folk that attend. Please also pray for his time with our very own Songhwan Kang, Pastor of Lord’s Grace Church, as he seeks to encourage and bless him and his wife, Miran. Songhwan has been reaching out to a group of pastors in his area who have shown interest in learning about our Sovereign Grace values, and so please pray for Marty as he teaches them.

2. Please pray for Ed O’Mara (Lead Pastor of Chiesa Grazia Sovrana di Torino, Italy and SGC Area Leader for Europe), as well as Rocco Dalia (Co-planter in Italy) as they travel to Catania, Italy for 4 days at the end of January to meet with the leaders and congregation of Chiesa Grazia di Verità. The church is pastored by Giuseppe Fortuna and they are exploring adoption into Sovereign Grace Churches. The goal of this time is to help them take the next steps and continue to build toward interdependence in the broader European area. Please pray for clarity and wisdom for all involved such that Christ would be glorified, local churches would be well served, and the gospel would advance across Italy. 

3. Please pray for the US Church Planting Assessment taking place in Costa Mesa, CA on January 16th-18th. Please pray for the four prospective church planting couples who are being assessed. The hope of the assessment is to encourage these couples, identify their distinct gifts and strengths, and evaluate any potential risks for church planting. Please pray for the assessment team, that they might experience Spirit-empowered discernment, care, and encouragement. Please pray that the evaluation might serve not only the prospective church planting couples, but also the respective sending elderships and church planting committees. Please pray that the weekend might result in the deployment of called and qualified church planters who will plant healthy Sovereign Grace Churches.

4. Please pray for Brian Kiama (Church Planter into Nairobi, Kenya) and Jonathan Leslie (Co-Planter in Kenya), as they seek to soft-launch their Church Plant on Sunday 5th January. Please pray that God would bring the people that He wants to be a part of this new endevour, and that His Word would speed ahead and be glorified in Nairobi and beyond.

5. Please pray for the Sovereign Grace Churches RELAY Conference, January 2nd-4th in Glen Mills, PA. Over 650 young adults from Sovereign Grace Churches in a few different nations will be attending this conference. Please pray that God meets with the next generation of Sovereign Grace in wonderful ways as we gather in this way.

*This list was originally posted on our SGC Missions blog. Click here to visit the original post.

In a recent vlog, Ben Kreps and Mark Prater, who co-host the Mark Prater Podcast shared the following five ways that the podcast will be changing in 2025.

1. We want to devote an episode somewhat regularly to answering questions.

2. We would like to hear what topics you would like us to address. We want to do that because as Ben mentioned last week, this podcast exists to serve the members and pastors of Sovereign Grace churches. And if it ever stops doing that, we'll cancel it. We'll shut this thing down because that's our desire to serve you.

3. We've decided to choose some topics that might require a little bit more time and be more conversation between Ben and myself in format. So we've been trying to get into that 10 to 15 minute range in terms of length of time. We're not going to go much longer than that, but depending upon the topic, we might inch up above 15 minutes just so we can treat it fairly again, depending on what topic we do address. And I think on some of those topics, we want to be more conversational, meaning that I'm talking less than I normally do because Ben is talking as well. We're just having a conversation about the topic. So that's the third change that will be coming in 2025.

4. We're going to continue to look for guests to join us.

5. We are going to give occasional giveaways and we're going to approach that in some different ways. We might make it a competition. We might make it a first responder by using the form on the markkprater.com website. We're not sure yet, but we're going to do some giveaways throughout the year, so be listening for that.

For more information on the upcoming changes or to learn more about the Mark Prater Podcast, simply follow the link below.

Recently on the Mark Prater podcast, Mark gave an update on Sovereign Grace Music and the influence and impact, in God’s great kindness, that it’s having around the world. Here’s a short excerpt from the conversation:

“I put some stats together every year for the Executive Committee retreat, which I was at last week, and I'm only going to share some of those to illustrate the influence and the impact that Sovereign Grace Music has. And these I typically hand out at the Council of Elders meeting. So I'm aware that not all of our pastors are at that meeting, and members of our churches typically aren't at that meeting. So I wanted to share them because they are really encouraging and they demonstrate how God is using Sovereign Grace Music, not only to influence Sovereign Grace Churches, but churches throughout the world…”

It’s such an encouraging conversation. You can watch or listen to it here… (Mark Prater Podcast)

This blog was originally posted on our Mission website. You can visit the site and read the original post here.

This year’s Pastors Conference was such a blessing! We had over 800 people from 21 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, and Mark Prater, as well as in all the breakout sessions, and we sang, fellowshipped, prayed and ate together for three wonderful days. 

For those traveling in for the conference, it was worth every mile of the trip. Here is a sampling of how it impacted some of our internationals...

Josh Kruger Jr. (Namibia)

After nearly a year of being on the ground and working towards a church plant, being able to attend the Pastors Conference was not only refreshing…as in “Yes, this is what we are all about”. But it was refreshing as a young church planting pastor to be surrounded again by like-minded men and their wives. Men who think, process, consider, enjoy, and prioritize their lives and ministries around, firstly Scripture and secondarily around our own Statement of Faith. It was a blessing to look men that represent churches in the eye and thank them for their partnership, support, and prayers.

Songhwan Kang (South Korea)

I would like to thank SG again for allowing me and my wife to attend the pastors conference. This conference always gives my wife and I a new strength and grace to serve the church. What I realize every time I attend is that SG's friendship and passion for the gospel are outstanding. Also, at this conference, I was deeply moved to discover SG's desire to build God's kingdom with the next generation.

Austin Loke (Australia)

I really appreciated the specifity and applicability of all the messages, which gave to us specific things to head home with and run hard towards. I was equipped to rail against fruitless remembering, stirred to a more fervent pursuit of godliness, provoked to yearn for eyes to see God's grace in the lives of others, envisioned with a transmissional view of ministry, and emboldened with an enduring faith to not shrink back but press on!

Jeffrey Jo (Philippines)

Through Jarred’s preaching, I was reminded to have a spirit of Barnabas, to always see the beauty of God’s grace at work in the lives of others and to choose to encourage others and avoid hyper-evaluation in someone’s life. I can exercise this by continually reflecting the heart of God towards my life and others.

Richie Song (Australia)

It was beautiful to see and hear about the incredible work God is doing in Sovereign Grace churches all around the world - transforming lives, growing communities of faith, healing the broken, and bring hope to places we may never see firsthand. It was inspiring and encouraging to hear stories of how God is moving powerfully though His people and spurs me on for the mission here in my local area!

Norman Pedd (Spain)

I was really encouraged with the main sessions, the way to look at the past with a healing vision, to walk in the present with a Godly grace, and an encouraging grace, and with a challenge for the future in preparing others for the ministry. A special gift was the time we passed as SGC Europe, in time of sharing, communion and prayer, so thankful to the Lord for all.

V & I (Belarus)

We thank God for the opportunity and privilege to attend the conference in Orlando. My wife and I were attending the Sovereign Grace Conference for the first time. It was an answer to my prayers as this has not been an easy year for our family. All of the sermons were just right to my heart. Our young church is four years old, and I have often thought about what could be done differently. I have regretted some decisions, and C.J. Mahaney's sermon was just what I needed. I felt spiritually renewed and encouraged. The friendliness, openness and family atmosphere at the conference was a great encouragement to us. We lived together with the European group and the evenings were an unforgettable time. We thank all the organizers and those who helped to make this conference possible for us.

Matt Chapman (England)

Gathering as a European group was for me one of the true highlights of this year’s Pastor's conference. The deepening friendships, along with the growing sense of partnership we experienced, left me full of fresh faith and expectation for what the Lord is doing through Sovereign Grace in Europe.

Andrew Leung (Australia)

The Pastor's Conference is always one of my highlights of the year! This year is no different. Faithful and passionate teaching of God's Words that stirs the heart and soul, as well as the joy and privilege of singing next to hundreds of pastors and wives that we get to serve alongside in the trenches. This year, real life testimonies of 'not-so-young' pastors being involved with church plants, notwithstanding the cost, has been faith stirring. Blessed to hear these stories firsthand and spurred on to continue laying down our lives for the glory of God, in service to His people and His mission!

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. How blessed we are!

This blog was originally published on our Mission blog on December 3, 2024. You can view the original article here.

Conference resources are now posted on the website: audio & video for the main sessions, breakout sessions with outlines, testimonies and a Spotify playlist.

“God was very, very good to us. One of the ways he was good to us was through the teaching we enjoyed in the main sessions and the breakout sessions. For each of those main sessions and breakout sessions, we want to make sure that they not only serve in the moment during the conference, but actually can provide ongoing resources for pastoral teams and for leaders and members of our churches. And so I just want to make sure that folks access those, all of the audio and most of the video.” ~ Mark Prater, on his recent podcast.

Recently on the Mark Prater podcast, Mark shared about the practice and miracle of prayer. Here is a clip from that conversation with Ben Kreps. The full podcast is linked below.

One of my favorite expository commentators is Dale Ralph Davis, and he writes this in his commentary on the book of Judges.

He says, "Yahweh's hearing, God's hearing, is the most crucial matter for all prayer. When God listens to our voice, we must never respond with a yawn. We will trivialize prayer whenever we forget the repeated miracle. It involves the gracious condescension of the kingdom of glory, who stoops down, stoops down to listen to our verbs and nouns, our adverbs and questions, our groans and tears."

That's a wonderful quote because it reminds us of this repeated miracle every time we go to God in prayer; that he stoops down and he listens to us and then he answers our prayers according to his good plans and his goodwill. That is an amazing thing that we can't trivialize, that should never become routine. The fact that God hears us and acts on our prayers in just wonderful.