An update from McDonald Chanda, Dean of the Copperbelt Pastors College and Pastor in Christ Community Church, Ndola, Zambia…

We are thrilled to share with you the exciting developments and future plans of our mission endeavors at the Copperbelt Pastors College.

In the wake of the passing of the Late Pastor Wilbroad Chanda, the Copperbelt Pastors College has admirably continued its mission to train men for leadership and ministry in Zambia. Pastor Chanda's legacy of dedication and passion for nurturing leaders has inspired the ongoing work at the Pastors College.

Previously, the College had a broad focus, extending its training to leaders outside the church who lacked theological training. However, the leadership team at the Copperbelt Pastors College underwent a careful reevaluation of its mandate, resulting in a refined focus. The new emphasis is to identify and equip men from within the local church for future leadership and church planting of Sovereign Grace Churches in Zambia and possibly Southern Africa.

This strategic refocus marked a pivotal moment for the Copperbelt Pastors College. The new approach guided the training of a fresh intake in the academic year 2022/2023, comprising a total of 6 students. These dedicated individuals completed their training in December of last year, and we are delighted to announce that their graduation ceremony is scheduled for the 16th of March, 2024. Join us in celebrating their accomplishments and dedication to ministry.

Looking ahead, the 2024/25 intake, consisting of 8 students, represents a continuation of our commitment to develop leaders with a specific focus on potential church leaders and church planters. Among the current intake, we are blessed to have individuals like Mulinda Mundia and Bright Nalubambe, who not only excel in their studies but also actively serve within the church, particularly in the Youth Ministry and Missions. Additionally, we have promising individuals like Jackson Kabosha and Jeff Zulu, who show great potential as future church leaders and planters.

Our immediate goal in the next 24 months is first to focus on providing comprehensive training and hands-on experience to our current students and former students to ensure they are well-prepared for ministry both within the local church and for future church planting. We are also focusing on establishing a solid tutor base, as we currently have a shortage of tutors to facilitate the training of these men. Only one tutor is fully involved with one of the elders at Christ Community Church who comes in to teach a course or two. Therefore, having a consistent flow of tutors is one of our immediate goals. Thankfully, the 2024/25 intake was blessed to have Joseph Stigora from Covenant Fellowship church coming to teach the first class of this intake. Also, we look forward to having Steve Bice come to teach a class in March and subsequently Dave Taylor and Kyle Huber who are coming through to teach classes this year.

Beyond our immediate goals, our vision extends to the next decade, with plans to establish church plants in all 10 provinces of Zambia. Also, we are hoping for the establishment of a Pastors College Campus (the piece of land is already available for this cause), as this will foster an environment that nurtures growth, collaboration, and community among those we train.

Further, as part of our commitment to regional collaboration, we are enthusiastic about intensifying missions to support churches within the Southern Africa region. This extension of our reach aims to contribute to the vitality and strength of sister churches within the region, creating a network of shared vision and support.

In closing, we express our heartfelt gratitude for your unwavering support, prayers, and commitment to our mission. Together, we honor the legacy of Pastor Wilbroad Chanda by continuing to build a foundation for future leaders who will carry the torch of faith into every corner of our nation and beyond.

May God's grace continue to guide us on this journey of purpose and service in preaching the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

“So what Jesus called us to do, he gave us the power of the Spirit to accomplish and he sends us to do it. And that's why our small family of churches gets to play a small part in advancing the gospel throughout the world because we want to see more people come to know our Jesus and know him as Lord and Savior.” ~Mark Prater

Recently on the Mark Prater podcast, Mark gave an update on Sovereign Grace Partnership and gospel advancement throughout the world. Here are a few excerpts from that conversation:

I'm so grateful for how pastors in Sovereign Grace are working to advance the gospel. One of the things that's so interesting to me, anybody that's read Acts knows this, it's nothing brilliant. But as Acts develops, what you see is that partnerships are formed so that they can advance the gospel together. So Jesus gives these words to the 11 that are standing there and they go about advancing the gospel, but they form partnerships with men and other churches who are their coworkers. Paul becomes an apostle and he forms partnerships and churches working together, represented by men who are coworkers with the original 11. And with Paul, they advanced the gospel throughout the world. And that's still happening today. Not in big apostolic ministry. I don't mean that at all, of course, but churches partnering together to advance the gospel throughout the world.

And it's something that we get to enjoy in Sovereign Grace. It makes building relationally only sweeter as we get to know and serve brothers and sisters and churches throughout the world. And what I just said, we've all heard that before, but brothers, we can't take that for granted. What we have is precious, it's biblical, and it allows us to accomplish what Jesus sent his Spirit to do in continuing the mission that he has given us. So it's a glorious mission. It's a glorious cause, and the joy of it all is we get to do it together in Sovereign Grace.

I want to illustrate how partnership in Sovereign Grace is happening…

It’s a wonderful conversation. You can watch or listen to it here… (Mark Prater Podcast)

An update from Mark, our missionary in Turkey (full named concealed for safety reasons)…

“But the word of God is not bound!” (2 Timothy 2:9, ESV).

These words have been an encouragement to us for the last several months. Particularly because we have been so keenly aware of our own limitations. Unlike Paul, our limitations have not been chains and guards. Rather for us, it looks something like this: struggling with a new language, walking through the season of life with young children, facing the regular uncertainty of visa issues in Turkey, and experiencing sickness at the most inconvenient of times.

We are glad that on our most limited of days, the Word of God is not bound.

It has been a process, but the Lord has graciously allowed us to learn how sweet it is to watch him work in and through our weaknesses. We rejoice that sickness cannot render His Word homebound. We thank God that His Spirit does not need a visa to operate in Turkey. We are confident that his gospel is bearing abundant, sweet fruit, even in the hard fields of one of the most unreached nations on earth.

We are grateful for the privilege we have had to observe some of that fruit up close. When our home church (Sovereign Grace Church Dayton) sent us to Turkey in 2020, we came to be part of a small Turkish church (the name of the church is concealed for safety reasons). This has been a wonderful context for us to spend time with Turkish believers.   

It has also been a unique place for our family to serve. One of my ministries has been coordinating various translation projects of Sovereign Grace resources. By God’s grace, we have completed the Statement of Faith, Living the Cross-Centered Life, Humility, and other Sovereign Grace publications. My prayer for these translations is that they encourage Turkish Christians and bolster their love for the Savior.

I also have the joy of leading the music for our church on Sundays. I want to mention that I am only able to serve in this way because of my wife, Becca, who graciously cares for our young children in the back week after week. Both of us are overjoyed that our Turkish church has worked with us to translate some of the songs we love from Sovereign Grace Music. One of the sweetest things for us has been listening to former Muslims joyfully singing these words from the song Before the Throne of God Above in Turkish: Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free.

Our church recently had the joy of baptizing a new friend and brother whose sinful soul has been counted free in Christ. His name is Brother O (identity concealed for safety purposes). Brother O works as a handyman in a Turkish resort, holiday town. He has interacted with a number of Christian tourists over the years. His whole life, he has been taught that Christians were infidels who believed lies about God, the Bible, and the prophet Jesus.

However, over time, he noticed a difference in the way these infidel Christians lived their lives. He found himself attracted to this difference. A powerful curiosity arose in Brother O’s soul. He had read the Quran before, but not the Bible.  

One day he found a Bible and started reading it side by side with a Quran. Over time, he realized the profound difference in the Bible. He told me that the most significant book of the Bible for him was the Gospel of John.

Most likely those Christian tourists will have no idea about any of this until Heaven. The Lord used them to prompt Brother O to begin reading the Bible. And God’s Word changed him forever. He rejected Islam and came to faith in Christ.  

Last summer he found our church. We had the privilege to baptize him in November. At his baptism, our church gathered on the beach. After singing together, our Turkish leader took Brother O into the waves. He confessed his belief in the Lord Jesus Christ and his intent to follow him all his days. As I watched, I rejoiced. Jesus Christ, the Great Fisher of Men, had done it again. He had rescued yet another soul.

No matter what happens in our lives, no matter what our visa situation looks like later this year, and no matter what limitations we experience day to day, we know we will have the joy of watching Jesus save more and more people just like Brother O. That’s who Jesus is. That’s what Jesus does.

He is not bound.

As I consider how the Lord has grown our work over the past few years, I stand amazed. We’re now serving in 46 different countries, on 6 different continents, with a long list of Sovereign Grace pastors involved. It’s an amazing work of His grace in our family of churches, and yet as each nation and work has grown, so have the complexities and workload.

To that end, after some long reflection, discussion, and planning, I decided in late 2023 to pull together a ‘Global Development Team’, comprised of five of the finest leaders I know.

Four of them will be serving as ‘SGC Area Leaders’, involved in leading, engaging, and providing oversight and process, for specific areas of the world. Whilst one of them will be serving as our ‘US Global Missions Coordinator’, with the responsibility of being ‘on point’ for coordinating questions from our US Pastors and regions, as well as providing up-to-date opportunities for involvement.

I am so very blessed to be working with each of these men and I wanted you to meet them and be aware of them. May His grace abound us all!!

Greg Dirnberger - Emmaus Road Church - SGC Area Leader for Asia-Pacific

Bart Lipscomb - Christchurch - SGC Area Leader for Africa

Ed O’Mara - SGC Torino - SGC Area Leader for Europe

Rich Richardson - Centre Church - SGC Area Leader for Latin America

Leo Parris - Covenant Fellowship Church - US Global Missions Coordinator

Psalm 121.1-2 says, ‘I lift my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.'

As we pray, that’s who's listening and that’s who we get to come to! The LORD, the maker of heaven and earth. The One who will not let our foot be moved, who is our shade at our right hand, and who neither slumbers nor sleeps. The LORD is the One who will help us and so as we pray, what a privilege and what an opportunity it really is!!

With that in mind then, here are some ways that you can be praying for all things Global Missions in the month ahead…

1. Please pray for the five churches in Pakistan that have recently become Sovereign Grace ‘Candidate’ Churches. After many years of friendship, we’re so pleased by this development. Please be praying for these churches, all ‘Amazing Grace Churches’, along with their six pastors who are beginning the ordination process this month.

2. Please be praying for Bob Kauflin as he heads over to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to serve at our Ethiopia Pastors College (Trinity Fellowship Pastors College), February 6th-11th. During his time there Bob will be teaching on the practical theology of worship, as well as leading a night of worship at Trinity Fellowship and running a songwriters intensive. Please also pray for the brothers who will be heading over from our Church in Zambia for this special time for our African Churches.  

3. Please pray for the Sovereign Grace Leadership Team as we lead a retreat, February 5th-7th, that will include all of the US Regional Leaders. Asking God to freshly envision, strengthen, and equip these leaders for the important role that they play. They are such a fine group of men.

4. Please pray for David Del Castillo, Pastor of Gracia Soberana Iglesia Cristiana in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, as he prepares to lead their very first Church Retreat, February 11th-13th. Their guest preacher for the time is Jacobis Aldana, one of our Pastors in Colombia, and the topic is ‘The Centrality of the Gospel’. Please pray that God meets with this dear Church in a powerful way at this retreat, through worship, preaching, and much fellowship. 

5. Please pray for Bob Kauflin, Jeffrey Jo, Myself (Dave Taylor), and the Sovereign Grace Music Team as we put the final preparations in place ready to lead three events in Manila Philippines in March. With over 3000 people already registered across these three events, please be praying for our remaining preparation. 

6. Please pray that wherever we find ourselves in the world, that God would give the members of Sovereign Grace Churches a renewed desire, and opportunities to share the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ with the unbelievers in our communities, colleges and workplaces. The gospel is powerful, and so may we tell of it, and then watch and see all that the Lord may do. 

… Thank you so much. May His great and glorious grace abound to us all!

An update from Jared Mellinger (Senior Pastor of Covenant Fellowship Church in Glen Mills, PA, USA), and Jon Payne (Senior Pastor of Redemption Hill, Georgetown, TX, USA)…

On January 4-6, 700 young adults from 50 Sovereign Grace churches—including people from Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom—gathered in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania for the first Relay Conference. We gathered to hear God’s word, sing God’s praises, build relationships across churches, and to invest in future leaders. We also played games and had a lot of fun. 

God is generous and faithful, and he did far more than we imagined. The entire conference was remarkably blessed, as God’s presence was manifested, friendships were made, lives were changed, and partnership was strengthened. In addition, over fifty people attended a four-hour pre-conference for young men exploring a call to ministry.

It is difficult to convey the gift it was to gather with the many young people from our churches, many experiencing global partnership in a tangible gathering for the first time. The grandchildren of our founding pastors were in the room, ready to receive the call of the Lord to love the doctrines that we hold dear. That profound link between our past and our future was felt in song after song and message after message. We felt privileged to witness it.

Timon Lau, a pastor from Sovereign Grace Church, Toronto, drove over 10 hours with over 55 young adults to attend Relay. Timon shared, 

“The conference was a beautiful display of our gospel culture and gospel partnership, especially for most of our young adults (and a large portion of our church) who are fairly new to Sovereign Grace and its values. It was such a joy to have them experience the family of churches that I have come to know and love. I'm excited for how the rich deposits of grace and friendships formed will impact our own church and Sovereign Grace as a whole in the next 15-20 years and beyond.”

Timon’s reflections capture the reasons for Relay. The Leadership Team has a desire for every church in Sovereign Grace to be a multi-generational church, and for Sovereign Grace to be a multi-generational family of churches. We have a desire to build together, and to strengthen churches by influencing young men and women for Christ. 

After all, the real action is not at conferences, but in local churches. Yet conferences can be used by God to deepen our love for Christ and our commitment to his church. And this is exactly what we saw God doing during our time together.  

C.J. Mahaney preached the opening session on extravagant devotion to Christ, and Jeff Purswell preached the next day on a love for God’s word. Dave Taylor also joined us in preaching on our gospel mission. Sovereign Grace pastors taught breakout sessions on holiness, spiritual gifts, godly romance, faith for missional risk, and wisdom from Proverbs. Bob Kauflin led the singing. The time of prayer and ministry on Friday night was a highlight for many. The result of the conference was many young adults returning to their churches with faith and joy.   

A founding generation prayed that God would show his power to their children and their children’s children, and that God would establish the work of their hands. This conference is evidence that God is answering those prayers.

We are already counting down the days until next year—Relay 2025 will be held at Covenant Fellowship Church in Glen Mills, PA, USA January 2-4. We are asking God to use this conference for his glory and the strengthening of our churches for decades to come. May the children’s children of Sovereign Grace live for the glory of Christ alone.

An update from Marty Machowski, Executive Pastor at Covenant Fellowship Church, Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, USA and Emerging Nations Representative to South Korea…

If you traveled to Lord’s Grace in Suwon South Korea, you’d soon discover the only difference between your home church and Lord’s Grace Church is the language. Pastor Songhwan Kang and his wife Miran have given their lives to build a gospel-centered church in South Korea that models the values and virtues we in Sovereign Grace have come to love.

In fact, Yeon Jin Kim, a member of Lord’s Grace Church, recently translated the Sovereign Grace Journals on Our Shared Values and Our Shaping Virtues into Korean. Songhwan gave them away to the nine area pastors and their wives who joined us for our pastor’s seminar on gospel-centered sanctification and counseling.

Songhwan holding copies of the Sovereign Grace Journals on our shaping virtues and shared values that were translated into Korean.

The pastors gathered were amazed as they witnessed the partnership between Sovereign Grace Churches in sending me to support and partner with Songhwan and his wife and Lord’s Grace Church. Most church planters in Korea struggle all alone to build their churches. I am grateful for the support of the Northeast Region of Sovereign Grace for covering the expenses for my trip to South Korea and I am not surprised that this gesture of partnership had such a deep impact. By the end of the pastor’s seminar, the pastors who attended from other churches were asking if I would return again. Privately some of the men asked if I would extend my next trip to visit with their churches also. Some of these pastors have expressed a desire to join Sovereign Grace and are eager for their people to experience gospel-centered teaching and care.

Songhwan and his wife have modeled biblical fellowship in their church. Korean Christians struggle to share their lives with other believers as they work to break free of a strong history of shame culture where you do not share your weaknesses and family trials. By modeling humility and promoting CJ Mahaney’s book on the topic, Songhwan, and Miran have helped the couples in Lord’s Grace Church to begin sharing their struggles with one another.

Couples break down into small groups for discussion after a parenting message. 

We held a day-long family seminar the Saturday of my visit. After the first message on parenting Songhwan divided the couples into small groups where they could share their struggles in parenting with one another. Songhwan strategically included his leaders into each group to model biblical fellowship. Some of the participants came from other area local churches. For them, this was their first time they ever experienced biblical fellowship in a community environment. Later in the Q&A, after the second session on Building a Cross Centered Marriage, the participants opened up their lives and asked specific questions for help with their particular trials. Their openness testified to the effectiveness of the small group discussions. 

Area Pastors and wives with Marty teaching at day-long seminar.

Joining Lord’s Grace church on Sunday morning was a blessing for me. People with smiles and tears filled the room with the familiar melodies of Sovereign Grace songs sung with Korean lyrics. The congregation eagerly received my message on the shaping virtue of encouragement. We ate lunch together and then Songhwan led the whole church in a “Marty Machowski Trivia Contest” with prizes for the children. The kids were all in for the cookie prizes as they shot their hands up to guess the number of my children and grandchildren. Songhwan mixed in a number of strategic questions for me to answer that promoted Gospel living and drew out practical examples from my experience. We began the service at 10:30am and finished the last of the discussions at 4pm.

All in total, we were able to pack in over 30 hours of messages and meetings. Most of the meetings were informal with Songhwan and his wife and the pastoral interns of the church. We spent time together conversing over issues in the church and my experiences back home. I spent my last day before my evening flight relaxing in the Kang’s home, grateful for all the Lord had done in my week-long visit. It was clear that God heard the intercession of the people back home who were praying.

Couples from Marriage and Parenting Seminar.

Psalm 126:3 - The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad.

Trinity Grace Church in Athens, Tennessee, USA celebrated God’s faithfulness with a 5-year anniversary service just a few months ago now, on October 29, 2023, with dear friend and guest speaker C.J. Mahaney, a pastor of Sovereign Grace Church Louisville, who encouraged them by preaching from Psalm 126. They produced two anniversary videos: a slideshow celebrating 5 years, and another highlight video with testimonies from members about how God has used this church family in their lives.

WATCH "CELEBRATING 5 YEARS”

WATCH “I WISH TOMORROW WERE SUNDAY”

5-Year Anniversary update from Walt Alexander, Senior Pastor, Trinity Grace Church

Who is someone you cannot imagine life without that you never would have met apart from Trinity Grace? That was the question. As we anticipated five years of gathering together as Trinity Grace Church in October, that’s the question our family discussed over dinner. The names of specific people began to roll off our tongue. Carter. Lauren. Adam. Ella. Sawyer. Chris. Tony & Gladys. Allison. Josh & Mandi. Bess. Greg. And many more. Each individual providentially drawn to Trinity Grace. Many called to life in our midst. All—whom we did not know five years ago—now precious to us. It’s hard to describe the effect of watching God build a church over five years, but let me try. 

The Beginning of Trinity Grace

Location is never incidental to church planting. The God who determines the “allotted periods and the boundaries of [our] dwelling place” prepares people in specific places to receive the gospel and walk together. But, unlike most church plants, Trinity Grace did not begin with us choosing a location; Trinity Grace began with a location choosing us. Over about a decade, God began drawing a unique and impressive group of folks from the smaller, rural town of Athens to Cornerstone Church (Knoxville, TN). Each week, this growing group of folks would drive 50 miles to worship with Cornerstone. Many of them joined and began serving. A number of them made this commute week in and week out for years. While they loved Cornerstone, they had no plans to move to the big city. They were praying and longing for a church like Cornerstone in their town. When one family joined Cornerstone, they were direct: “I only want to join this church (Cornerstone) if you will prayerfully consider planting a church in Athens.” Years later, the penny finally dropped. We—the pastors of Cornerstone—realized God wanted us to plant a church in Athens. In fact, it seems that God had already begun planting it! So, with a group of twenty five folks, we began gathering as Trinity Grace Church on October 28, 2018. 

The Story of Trinity Grace

Athens is a smaller, rural town. Situated in the heart of McMinn County, it is the county seat with a population of around 15,000 people. Like many of the small towns across America, life in Athens is better than you think—intact families, life-long friendships, and thick community. But, life in Athens is also worse than you think—job loss, substance abuse, and loneliness. Without the transience that brings visitors to church plants in bigger cities, we resolved to not be in a hurry. We wanted to build friendships. We wanted to engage the community. We wanted to communicate to the people of Athens that we were here to stay. As we have said many times, we want to build a church that “outlives us and thrives long after we are gone.” So, we began meeting at the local middle school. After that, the local college. Then the movie theatre and later a few wedding venues. Now, we meet at the Athens YMCA. Perhaps more than anything else, over these past 5 years, the story of Trinity Grace has been the rescuing and reviving of people who thought they were Christians.

Athens is not the heart of post-Christian America. It’s a smaller town, where prayer still happens before the football game and where Jesus makes it on to more billboards than McDonalds. But it’s still an area filled with people who are lost, even though they think they are Christians. Martyn Lloyd-Jones once said, “One of the most exhilarating experiences in the life of a preacher is what happens when people whom everybody had assumed to be Christians are suddenly converted & truly become Christians. Nothing has a more powerful effect upon the life of a church than when that happens to a number of people.” That has been true for us. And it has been exhilarating. It has been exhilarating to watch folks come to grips with superficial Christianity and turn everything over to Jesus. It has been thrilling to see vague notions of the love of God shattered by the unfathomable love of God for them in Christ. It has been exciting to see “good people” born again and to see the fruit of the Spirit in their lives.

Five Years of Trinity Grace

It has been said that people in small towns are not used to being excited about something in their small towns. They are excited about things going on in the big city, but not in their small town. One of the most staggering things to me over these five years is watching people realize the biblical vision for the local church and finding Trinity Grace to be the local church for them. And then watching them become excited and thankful and committed to the local church. On Sunday, October 29, 2023, in God’s kindness, we celebrated five years of gathering together as Trinity Grace Church. There was a lot of joy that day—that our names are written in heaven but also that God has given us a family to worship with and walk with in our town!

One of the ways we experienced God’s goodness at our recent 2023 Sovereign Grace Pastors Conference, was through the hearing of stories from Sovereign Grace pastors during our time together. These stories highlighted the partnership we share among our churches, and the joy we have of fulfilling our gospel mission together.

I wanted you to hear and benefit from two of these stories in this update and so I share them with you below…

The first is from Joselo Mercado, Lead Pastor of Iglesia Gracia Soberana de Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA, and Emerging Nations representative to Latin America. We continue to be astounded by all that the Lord is doing in Latin America.

The second is from Ed O’Mara, Church Planter to Italy and SGC Area Leader to Europe. It’s such a wonderful story of faith, risk and partnership.

As you listen to these stories I trust they encourage you. How good the Lord has been to us!

An update from Manolo Quintal, Pastor of Iglesia Sublime Gracia Sublime, Silao, Mexico…

In early December, I had the privilege and blessing of traveling for six days to the region of the Colombian Caribbean. I was invited to participate in the conference ‘Back to the Book’ (in Spanish, De vuelta al libro) in the city of Sincelejo in the Sucre department. It was very remarkable to see that some people traveled 4 hours and others 6 hours by road to serve at the conference. I also met people who arrived from cities that were 2 and 3 hours away and a couple who traveled 13 hours from the city of Armenia.

Volunteers from both churches (Barranquilla and Sincelejo) serving at the conference.

After the conference, I had the opportunity to teach at a prayer workshop at Iglesia de la ciudad of Barranquilla, and attend the 8th anniversary of Iglesia Biblia Soberana Gracia in Santa Marta. I was very blessed to see from the front row what God is doing through the ministry of three pastors and two churches who have joined in their efforts to plant gospel centered churches in their region. These men are Jacobis Aldana from Iglesia Biblica Soberana Gracia in Santa Marta, and Miguel Miranda and Alejandro Cueto from the Iglesia de la ciudad of Barranquilla.

The 8th anniversary of Iglesia Biblica Soberana Gracia (Santa Marta City).

The grace of God over these men and the churches the Lord has called them to serve is very evident. They have embraced this call, and the call to plant gospel centered churches in their beautiful region of Colombia.

The city of Sincelejo, like so many others in the area, does not have even one church where the gospel is preached and with a sound ecclesiology. This led them to start the ‘Back to the Book’ conference which was attended by 200 people, including some pastors and leaders from local churches. The response was greater than the organizers expected.

With Jacobis and family (His wife Keila and their sons Santiago and Jacobo).

It is evident there is a gospel environment both in the churches and in the relationship between these pastors. We might possibly hear in the following years of at least another 4 churches being planted by these brothers.

One of the best ways we can support this beautiful work in Colombia is by praying for them. Here are some prayer suggestions:

• May the Lord continue to add his grace to these pastors and their churches to continue advancing the Gospel of Christ in this beautiful land.

• May the Lord help them disciple more men who can serve in church planting.

• May the Lord give them grace to face difficulties and oppositions for the sake of the Gospel.

Iglesia Biblica Soberana Gracia (Santa Marta City) celebrates 8 years.

Psalm 93, ‘The LORD reigns; he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed; he has put on strength as his belt. Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved. Your throne is established from old; you are from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring. Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the LORD on high is mighty! Your decrees are very trustworthy; holiness befits your house, O LORD, for evermore.’

None of us really knows what the weather ahead looks like in 2024, but what we do know, and what we can be absolutely confident about, is that the LORD reigns! The majestic and mighty LORD, our sovereign protector and ruler, He reigns!!

With that beautiful truth in mind, here’s how you can be praying for us in the month ahead...

1. Please pray for Josh Kruger Jr and his family, as they relocate in January back to Namibia, as they prepare to plant Sovereign Grace Church, Windhoek. Please be praying for them as they readjust to being back home and as they begin to pull together the planting team. May the Lord’s favour abound to them in this noble endeavour.

2. Please pray for Marty Machowski (Pastor in Covenant Fellowship Church, Glenn Mills, US) as he heads to Seoul, South Korea, January 9th-17th to serve Songhwan Kang and Lord’s Grace Church. Marty will be spending time with Songhwan and his wife Miran, teaching the married couples in the Church on marriage and parenting, and preaching on the shaping virtue of encouragement on the Sunday morning. In addition, he’ll be training a group of leaders that Songhwan is discipling, on gospel-centered counselling. It will be a full trip for Marty and so pleased pray for much grace for him.

3. Please pray for Greg Dirnberger, as he leads the US National Church Planting Assessment, January 18th-20th. Please pray for the assessment team (Greg and Laurie Dirnberger, John and Nancy Loftness, and Christopher and Stephanie Warren) as they consider each of the candidate’s references, resumes, and then observe them preach, cast vision, evangelize, and communicate to them God’s developmental process in their lives. The purpose of this National Assessment is to serve local elderships, and regional church planting committees by offering potential candidates discernment in their process of determining God’s call on them for planting Sovereign Grace churches. There are eight brothers being assessed and so please be praying for everyone involved.

4. Please pray for the Sovereign Grace Churches RELAY Conference, January 4th-6th in Glenn 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!

… May we never forget… The LORD reigns!

This is the one time of year when rather than give you several different updates, it’s my joy to just give you the one.

I recently got to give this Global Update at our Sovereign Grace Pastors Conference in Orlando, Florida, which I began with a short Slideshow. I hope it encourages you, excites you, and reminds you of just how good the Lord has been to us!

What a wonderful year it has been…

In an previous prayer email to our Pastors, Mark Prater wrote the following…

‘One of the ways Jesus taught us to pray is to ask that God’s "will be done" (Matthew 6:10). Praying that short phrase, “your will be done” has wonderful theological and practical implications for our lives. In his book, “Prayer and the Knowledge of God” Graeme Goldsworthy writes, "God graciously allows us to be involved in the carrying out of his will. He gives us the privilege of identifying with his will by asking him to do what he has already determined to do.” It’s stunning that God allows us to be involved in the carrying out of His will, and that begins with us asking Him to do what He has already determined to do.’

Stunning it is! In God’s kindness, we get to participate in the carrying out of His will for our family of churches, and so with that in mind, here’s how you can be praying for us in the month ahead…

1. Please pray that God would draw unbelievers to Sovereign Grace churches, and save them, as we hold our Christmas related events and services across the world this month.

2. Please pray that God would use the Sovereign Grace Music “Prepare Him Room” concerts in various cities in December to celebrate the birth of Christ and to declare the good news of the gospel.

3. Please pray that God would give the members of Sovereign Grace churches opportunities to share the gospel, a powerful reality, with unbelieving family members, friends, neighbors, and coworkers over this holiday season.

4. Please pray for our two church plants in Mexico, one in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, and one in Huajuapan Oaxaca asking God to provide for their needs, strengthen their church planting teams, and draw unbelievers to both churches.

5. Please pray that God would bring peace and end the wars in Ukraine and in Israel. Pray that God would turn the tragedies of war into gospel opportunities in both nations. Please continue to pray for the Ark Church, our sister church in Dnipro, Ukraine, asking God to protect them, and to use them to meet practical needs, and to offer gospel hope to people impacted by the conflict in Ukraine.

6. Please 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.

… Thank you for praying for our family of churches. May His grace abound to us all!

An update from Markus Kniesel, Dean of the Arche Pastors College in Hamburg, Germany...

In a few months, the Arche Pastors College (APC) will have existed for 10 years in Germany. We are glad to share with you with much gratitude to God how He has built and blessed the APC for His Kingdom during this time.

The model for the development of the APC has been the Pastors College of Sovereign Grace Churches that was located in former times in Gaithersburg, Maryland, where Christian Wegert, Senior Pastor of the Arche church, and myself, Dean of the Arche Pastors College, were able to receive our pastoral training (in 2007-2008, and 2011-2012 respectively).

In February 2014, the APC was founded out of the desire to plant and to strengthen gospel centered churches in Germany and beyond. According to 2 Timothy 2:2, it is our goal to train men for pastoral ministry through 3 things: theological training, building character, and practical serving in the local church. The APC is not a full-time program. Rather, within 4 to 5  years the students undertake 4 modules each year. Each module is taught on Friday, Saturday, and Monday in the classroom. Since 2017, parallel to the lectures, the wives of the students meet with my wife, Kati on Saturdays to prepare them for ministry by their husband's side and to be strengthened in their personal spiritual lives.

Sovereign Grace Churches has been a great support in the development of the APC, both in an advisory and practical way. From the beginning, we have been supported by pastors and theologians who also teach at the US SG Pastors College. These men include Pastor Josh Blount (SGC Living Faith, Franklin, West Virginia), and Dr. Thomas Schreiner (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky). We are especially grateful to Jeff Purswell for his personal commitment to come to Germany every year whenever possible to teach one out of four of the yearly modules.

Since the very first module which was taught by Jeff Purswell in March 2014, two cohorts of students have graduated from the APC. In 2018, the first class of 11 men from German churches and Arche Church plants in Ukraine and Russia graduated. The second graduation took place in May 2022 with 15 more students after 4 to 5 years of training. Several of the graduates now serve in full-time ministry in Germany, in the Arche churches of Hamburg, Stade, and Hannover as well as in our daughter churches in Ukraine and Russia. We see that the APC is serving to be a church planting and mission project.

Over the years, the students of the APC have consistently expressed gratitude for theology taught in a true-to-life manner and the high quality of education. We are deeply grateful to God for this wonderful partnership with Sovereign Grace Churches in the gospel!

Currently about 25 students are being trained at the APC. Our prayer is that God would use the APC to equip our students to be godly, skilled, and faithful shepherds who lead and care for local churches in Germany and beyond.

May God use the APC to equip a lot of men to spread out God`s gospel over Germany and beyond to save sinners like me and you. We have the hope that each student, his family, and the church he will serve will be strengthened as we endeavor to proclaim in our ministries and reflect in our lives the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ for the glory of God.

Watch this overview video to get an idea of the Antioch Program.

An update from Ricky Alcantar…

For the last two years I’ve had the privilege of sitting in a room with other Sovereign Grace pastors as we studied Scripture, prayed, and strategized about how to advance the gospel beyond our own local churches. And as I’ve done this something powerful often happens. 

One retreat in particular I was fighting some persistent health issues and discouragement about mission in our local church. Spending three days thinking and praying about mission felt like it might only add to a sense of frustration or burden. But in fact, the opposite happened.

• As we spent time around God’s Word and as brothers in Sovereign Grace led us in teaching and discussion the mission that might feel vague and overwhelming began to feel much more specific and concrete. 

• As we spent time in prayer and ministry to one another my sense of excitement for God’s mission and faith for playing a part in it grew. 

• As we spent time around good meals (many of them!) I no longer felt isolated or alone in pursuing the mission, but felt I was linking arms with other brothers and churches. 

The Antioch program was created exactly for these reasons. 

The main piece of the Antioch program is a retreat for pastors in Sovereign Grace focused on equipping churches at the intersection of ecclesiology and missiology to be sending churches. It’s called “Antioch” because we want to see our churches become Antioch churches in the model of Acts 11-13. The retreat is followed and supported by coaching from a trained church planting coach in Sovereign Grace and the project will wrap up with a meeting just before the 2024 Sovereign Grace Pastors Conference. 

Our hope is to see Sovereign Grace churches intentionally, effectively, sacrificially, and consistently pursuing church planting and mission work. We believe every church regardless of its size, location, and resources can participate in this work. It will not look the same in every context but should be marked by the same consistent faithful pursuit. 

As we gathered in 2022 and 2023 God met us and we’re seeing God do some amazing and encouraging things in churches as a result. That only builds our anticipation for what God could do in the future.

Our next planned Antioch retreat is March 2024. Please let us know if you’re interested, and we’d love to get you more information. 

Also, I just wrote an article in the recent SGC Journal on the church in Antioch and what we can learn from it.

Ricky serves on the National Church Planting Group with Sovereign Grace Churches, leading the Antioch Program, and is the lead pastor at Cross of Grace Church in El Paso, Texas, USA.

An update from Brendan Willis, Pastor at Sovereign Grace Church Wahroonga, Australia…

 “How did you come to faith in Christ?” For many of us that question may raise memories of a specific moment or event that was pivotal in our journey towards faith in Christ.  

Yet for every pivotal moment, there is nearly always as many names and faces of those who have been deeply influential: praying for us, encouraging us and challenging us to consider following Christ. That youth leader. That parent. That aunty or uncle. That close family friend or neighbour.  

In fact ––though we don’t often like to admit it–– it is often the example of those closest to us that have far more profoundly shaped us than any single ‘moment’ or ‘event’ in our lives.  

All of us stand on the shoulders of those who have come before us.  We are a part of an incredible gospel chain stretching back from God’s calling of Abraham (Gen 12:1–3) through to the very first disciples of Christ (2 Tim 2:2). Generation after generation faithfully commending the message of Christ to the next. As King David himself wrote, 

“One generation shall commend your works to another,  
and shall declare your mighty acts.”  Psalm 145:4 

“Don’t break the chain.” This is the task of the church in every generation. It’s also the heartbeat of our Young Leader’s Internship! 

Ever since Sovereign Grace Churches Australia was founded in late 2010, we’ve had a deep desire to invest into the next generation of leaders, and so in January of this year we launched our very first Young Leaders Internship with 11 interns from our two churches. 

The aim of the year long program? Simply that our interns might fall deeper in love with the Lord Jesus and His Bride, the local church! 

The program consists of monthly readings, teaching sessions and assignments aimed at growing students in their character, competency, and convictions. These topics have ranged from ‘Humility’, to ‘the Doctrine of Scripture’, ‘the Gospel’ and ‘Engaging With Culture’. 

Alongside these monthly teaching sessions, each intern has also participated in a ministry mentoring group aimed at providing them with opportunities for further accountability, encouragement in their focus area of service, and a more detailed look at an area of character specific to serving (e.g. interdependence, joy, generosity etc). 

Lastly, each semester the interns have had a ministry project that they’ve participated in. In the first semester this was to run together a Holiday Kids Club: Egyptian Adventure, and in Semester 2 it has been to participate in our Team Leaders Training program. 

It’s been an absolute joy to watch the way the Lord has been at work amongst the cohort over the course of the year, stretching them and growing them together in friendship with both one another and the Lord!  

They served their socks off during our Kids Club which was a huge success with well over 40 kids in attendance–– we were stretched just to have sufficient leaders! It was incredible to see their devotion to everything from set design to Bible talks, and prayer for the families represented! In addition, many of them have stepped out in faith to take on new leadership responsibility in their home churches. 

More importantly, it’s been incredible to see the way God has been growing our interns in their heart for the Lord Jesus and the local church over the course of the year! Here are just two reflections from the group: 

“Over the past year, I have developed a deep love for serving the local church. I have embraced various areas of serving […] These opportunities have allowed me to experience the joy of serving God's people in different capacities.” Esther Monck

“My heart for the local church is something I pray people notice. Not to boast in myself, but instead to make known the unmatched beauty of Christ that is present in and through the local church. My heart to serve the local church is not something that may have been well displayed. I believe God is continuously working in my heart to increase my joy in serving, not doing it out of obligation, but out of love for my community.” Amy Taylor

Excitingly, two of our interns are now even stepping into paid internships in 2024! Marcos Cabral will begin an internship focused on Youth & Evangelism and Hannah Payne an internship focused on Youth & Community! We couldn’t be more excited to see these guys want to continue to pour their time and energy into serving Christ and his Church! 

As we step into our final month of our Young Leaders Internship, how can we do anything but thank God for his work in our midst this year!  

An update from Josh Pannell, Dean of Trinity Fellowship Pastors College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia…

As I sit down to write this update, my heart is filled with gratitude. It is evident that everything happening at Trinity Fellowship is a testament to the Lord's grace and your unwavering support. Your faithful prayers and generous gifts have been instrumental in advancing the gospel in Addis and we are excited to share how you have propelled the gospel forward in Ethiopia through your partnership with us.

In the growth of Trinity Fellowship Church, God has consistently brought young men to us with a desire for pastoral ministry. In September 2021, we inaugurated Trinity Fellowship Pastors College, with eleven church members making up our first class. Today, we're thrilled to see another cohort of ten men, all church members, who started the Pastors College this past September. Their backgrounds include Ethiopians with theology and Bible degrees, a popular secular music artist with a desire for pastoral ministry, and a Somali man with an MDIV who aspires to plant an underground church among his people.

Following the apostle Paul's charge to Timothy—"watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers" (1 Timothy 4:16)—we seek to equally emphasize both theological precision and the development of pastoral qualifications. Pastors are not merely conveyors of the gospel; they are living examples of its transformative power. Because of this, our program places great importance on the pursuit of practical holiness and pastoral qualifications. Throughout their studies, students receive personalized discipleship from Trinity Fellowship Church's elder team.

Our program also offers demanding academics. It consists of 42 one-week master's level block courses, each comprising 25 classroom hours. The curriculum is rigorous and designed to prepare men for the challenges of pastoral ministry.

The year began with me teaching the first three weeks of class. I covered Prolegomena and Bibliology, followed by Hermeneutics, and concluded with Biblical Theology. Michael Granger, our lead pastor at Trinity Fellowship Church, then taught The Gospel-Centered Life, and Kruger DeKock from South Africa taught The Gospel-Centered Pastor. Jason Hudson, a seasoned Sovereign Grace pastor, led Pastoral Ministry 1, and Ben Lovelady taught our course on The Torah.

Looking ahead, we are excited to welcome teachers from Africa, Europe, and North America. They are both scholars in their respective fields and seasoned pastors with decades of faithful shepherding. In the coming months, we eagerly anticipate the arrival of individuals such as Thomas Schreiner, Steven Wellum, Jason Derouchie, Andreas Köstenberger, Michael Heykin, Conrad Mbewe, Peter Leithart, Matthew Harmon, Thomas Renz, Ronald Kalifungwa, Paul Kayumba, Eric Bancroft, Bob Kauflin, Mark Prater, Josh Blount, Tim Kerr, Markus Kniesel, Pete Payne, Mark Alderton, and others. Truly, the Lord continues to abundantly bless us!

One of our main objectives at Trinity Fellowship is to gradually phase ourselves out and pave the way for the ministry to be fully led by locals. Our goal is to achieve this within the next decade. The new year at the Pastors College marks significant progress towards this vision, as several graduates from 2022 are actively serving the college.

Mekdim has taken on the role of Operations Manager while pursuing certificates in counselling through CCEF to further prepare himself for ministry. Samuel, another graduate, now serves as my Academic Assistant while also advancing his studies as he pursues an MTh at Union School of Theology. Finally, Amanuel has taken on the role of Student Care Coordinator, dedicating 10 hours per week to student discipleship. This year has also given several of our graduates the opportunity to assist me in teaching selected sections of my classes. In the image above, Brian Kiama is teaching his 30 page thesis paper on membership in the New Covenant from Jeremiah 31 and Hebrews 8, which he wrote during his time at the Pastors College.

Witnessing these graduates stepping into these roles is not only a testament to their growth and the Lord's faithfulness, but also a significant step towards transitioning Trinity Fellowship completely to Ethiopian leadership.

I am grateful to God for the work unfolding at Trinity Fellowship, and I am grateful to each of you for partnering with us on this journey. Drawing from Paul's words in Philippians 4:18–20, we can confidently say that we “have received more than enough. The gifts you sent, through Epaphroditus, are a fragrant offering and a sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to God. And just as God has provided for us, He will also supply all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Let us give glory to our God and Father forever and ever. Amen.”

An update from Greg Dirnberger…

On January 20-21, 2023, 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.

 To be sure, the “assessment team” does not possess the ability to determine, infallibly, whether or a not a potential church planting couple can or will effectively plant a church.  The ultimate determining factor in that regard is God.  Nor does the “assessment team” possess the authority to decide if a potential church planting couple should, or should not, be deployed to plant a church.  That authority resides in their local elderships, together with their regional church planting committees.  However, the “assessment team” is able, with God’s help, to pay careful attention for the presence of leading indicators that consistently contribute to fruitful church planters.   Our aim is to offer discernment.  

The 4 men who participated in the weekender, did preparatory homework ahead of time.  Over the course of two days, they each told their “story” – an exercise designed to evaluate self-awareness, self-preservation, resilience, critical shaping influences, as well as their comfort level with who and how God has made them to be.  Each couple completed a marriage “check-up” inventory.  Each of the individuals had the opportunity to communicate the essentials of the Gospel.  Each of the men preached a mini sermon.  Each couple took turns “envisioning” us (as if we were potential launch team members) with the distinctives, location, target demographic, and burden for their respective and potential church plants.   Our matrix was essentially “The Planter, The Place, and Sovereign Grace.”  We looked for alignment between the man, the couple, the location they were considering, their relationship to their local Sovereign Grace Church, as well as their commitment to Sovereign Grace values and embodiment of Sovereign Grace culture.

We ended by sharing with them our observations and one of three possible recommendations.  1) "Move ahead in taking next steps with local eldership and regional church planting committee."  2) "Move ahead with taking next steps, but with conditions to address certain “risk factors” before entering the church planting "pipeline." 3) "We do not recommend moving forward at this time, and for the following reasons . . . " These observations and recommendations were then forwarded in a summary report to the pastor’s and elderships who had sent the couples to the assessment weekender.  

It is with eager and joyful anticipation that we anticipate hearing about specific plans for new Sovereign Grace church plants emerging in the future. It is the prayerful desire of the National Church Planting Group that the “assessment weekender” might serve Sovereign Grace Churches in the coming years for planting healthy, fruitful, enduring churches to the praise of God’s glorious grace.

We are thrilled to have 8 couples join us for the 2024 event. If you are interested in participating in a future event, let us know.

Greg serves as the Senior Pastor at Emmaus Road Church, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA. Greg is also the SGC Asia-Pacific - Area Leader and serves on the US National Church Planting Group.

In a recent prayer email to our Pastors, Mark Prater wrote the following…

“Building relationally has always been a value in Sovereign Grace, and by the grace of God, it's our hope that it always will be. One of the ways that we strengthen the relationships we have among our churches is to pray for one another. It is right that we, as a family of churches, pray for one another, but it is also right that we remember who we pray to. Charles Spurgeon in his book, “The Power of Prayer in a Believer’s Life” writes: “The frail, feeble, undeserving creature is permitted to stand in the august presence of the God of the whole earth, and the Lord regards the poor creature as if there were nothing else for Him to observe, bending His ear, and His heart to listen to that creatures cry. It is essential that we know that we are speaking to God, and that God is hearing us.”

It’s amazing isn’t it!? The Lord of the whole earth bends His ear and His heart to listen to our prayers, and so here’s how we can be praying for one another in the month ahead…

1. Please pray for Bob Kauflin, Fabrizio Rodulfo, and David Zimmer as they join with brothers and sisters in Guadalajara, MX, this week, to host our first ever Spanish Songwriter Retreat, with representatives from Mexico, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, and the US. Please pray that their time will lead to an abundance of songs to serve Spanish speaking churches.

2. Please pray for myself (Dave Taylor) and Sovereign Grace Church, Sydney as we continue to host 17 pastors and wives from the Philippines for the second half of our SG Pastors Immersion Training. This training will help us to continue putting some key foundations into Sovereign Grace Churches Philippines and bring these pastors together as a foundational leadership cohort. We’re very excited about this step as our two big groups of churches in the Philippines start to come together in partnership in this way, all under the one banner of SGC Philippines.

3. Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Pakistan who have been affected by the recent rioting. There were about 20-25 churches that were looted and burned as well as many homes of Christian families. One of those looted and destroyed churches is pastored by a man who is with the group that we have the privilege of partnering with, in Pakistan. So please pray, that God would meet them in this time of great affliction and sorrow.

4. Please pray for the Sovereign Grace Churches Pastors Conference, November 14-16, 2023, in Orlando, FL asking God to work in a way that our relationships among our churches are strengthened, pastors and wives are equipped for what God has called them to do, and that our family of churches is united in our shared gospel mission all for the glory of God alone. There will be pastors and wives coming together from 24 different nations, so what a special and strategic time this will be together.

5. Pray for our two church plants in Mexico, one in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, and one in Huajuapan Oaxaca asking God to provide for their needs, strengthen their church planting teams, and draw unbelievers to both churches.

6. Pray that God would bring peace and end the wars in Ukraine and in Israel. Pray that God would turn the tragedies of war into gospel opportunities in both nations. Please continue to pray for the Ark Church, our sister church in Dnipro, Ukraine, asking God to protect them, and to use them to meet practical needs, and to offer gospel hope to people impacted by the conflict in Ukraine.

7. 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.

   … Thank you so much for praying with us in these things. He’s ready to bend His ear towards us even now.

An update from Jeremy Hetrick, Lead Pastor of Redeeming Grace Church, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, USA...

On Sunday, August 27, 2023, Ben Kreps and Living Hope Church in Middletown, Pennsylvania (PA), commissioned and sent out my family and I, along with approximately 100 other adults and children to launch Redeeming Grace Church in Mechanicsburg, PA. It was a joyous yet teary occasion as members and friends who, for years have done life together at Living Hope, said their good-byes for the sake of Jesus Christ and the gospel mission in the Mechanicsburg region. While we still live within about a half hour, we all recognized the cost of going on this church plant and being on mission for Jesus.

We (Redeeming Grace Church) held our inaugural meeting the following week at Elmwood Academy in Mechanicsburg on Sunday, September 3rd, with 190 in attendance. Now, after two months of meetings, we have seen many new guests from various cultural backgrounds and walks of life, and our attendance has hovered around 140.

Over the course of our summer pre-launch meetings, we had several new families join our church plant journey. Because of this, we held a new members class (Explore) in October, which was attended by 14 individuals. It is simply a joy to see how God is bringing people to RGC and to see their desire to be a part of what God is doing here.

As I type this update, I am so grateful to God for a number of reasons…

First, it is hard to explain the privilege that it is to represent Jesus Christ and the gospel mission in this church plant. We began RGC with a study of the Gospel of Mark, and already, Jesus is revealing how precious He is and how amazing His gospel is for us. And we get the opportunity to share this amazing news with others?!!! Additionally, as a church, we get to express a warmth and joy in interacting with our guests that reflects gospel grace. And what a blessing it has been to talk with our guests to find out that this is their experience!

Second, I am grateful to God for the sacrifices that Living Hope Church has made to enable this church plant to occur. What a picture of the gospel at work! Please join us as we pray often for an outpouring of God’s provision and faithfulness to Living Hope so that they are strengthened, and they can plant more churches!

Third, I am grateful to God for our Sovereign Grace family. Space does not permit me to share the totality of the blessings and support we have received from all of you. Thank you for your financial support through the church planting grant, the process for knowing how to plant a church (including the cohort), and the relational support from pastors and churches in both the Lower Great Lakes Region and the Northeast Region.

Most significantly, thank you Sovereign Grace for the investment made in us over the years to ensure we are founded on the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you, C.J., and all of the leaders who have gone before us in establishing our group of churches on the foundation of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. May we never lose our grip on the gospel, and may we plant more churches to be gospel lighthouses in the days ahead for God’s glory!

If you would like to pray for us, please pray that:

• God would continually enlighten the eyes of our hearts by His Spirit so that we can see Jesus more clearly with eyes of faith and treasure Him and His gospel above all other things.

• God would continue to keep drawing us closer as a church and we would have a strong corporate witness among the community and region. May our church be marked by love and gospel humility for God’s glory!

• God would provide open doors for the gospel in our community, and we would be clear in our communication of it (Col. 4:2-4).

• God would bless the efforts we are making in the discipleship of men. My prayer is that we would grow in being gospel men of conviction.

• God would provide clarity and success in the identification, training, and raising up of other men for future leadership at all levels, including church planters!

• God would grant to RGC the vision, faith, and success to be a church planting church in 5-10 years in partnership with Sovereign Grace!

Soli Deo Gloria!