So my buddy C.J. says, “Why don’t you contribute to my ‘view from the cheap seats’ blog a couple of times a month?” This was a real honor, ’cause C.J. has been a dear friend and mentor for over two decades. Still I did wonder if I should hold out for a blog from better seats. Maybe the guy who blogs “from the box seats” or “from courtside” will extend an invitation. Probably not. I should probably just be grateful to blog from anywhere in the arena. I mean, if C.J. sees things from the cheap seats, then I’m outside in the parking lot—much further away, but delicious if you find the right tailgaters.

Really, my first thought was, what an honor to serve my dear friend by speaking to the people we both love and respect the most—pastors!

Okay, let’s move to introductions. I’m Dave Harvey. I’ve pastored in the same Sovereign Grace Ministries church for 23 years. But I’ve also worked in Sovereign Grace Ministries for a good part of that time, kinda on the side. This past October, I turned the senior pastor role over to a 28-year-old man named Jared Mellinger. I’m going to tell you all about that in upcoming blogs, but let’s press through this one first.

Because we love proclaiming the gospel, Sovereign Grace Ministries created a new role and asked me to fill it. We’re not big on titles around here so I’m the “person-responsible-for-church-planting, international-expansion-and-church-care-in-Sovereign-Grace.” People typically start yawning about halfway through my title, so I often grab attention by also throwing in “bomb disposal.”

I live in Philadelphia, home of the world champion Phillies and some pretty awesome cheesesteaks. If you don’t know what a cheesesteak is, then eating one someday should immediately go on your prayer list. Many young men feel called to plant churches in Philly after eating one.

But I digress.

The church in Philly where I am based (Covenant Fellowship Church) hosts the SGM Church Planting Group. You’re going to hear a lot more about them as I write, as well as how they partner with our regional leaders to plant healthy churches. But here’s a quick overview on the Church Planting Group. They are a team assisting Sovereign Grace pastors in the recruiting, assessing, training, and launching of church planters. It’s a wonderful job since we’re in the process of planting eight churches right now. One of them is being planted by a good friend of mine named Kenny Lynch, who was just sent from our home church last month.

I can’t believe I get to do this kind of stuff; it’s epic sweetness.

Sovereign Grace Ministries defines success partly by planting gospel-centered churches. It is so important to us that we dedicate an enormous amount of time, training, resources, and personnel to it. We’ve been doing it for 25 years…it’s in our DNA, our genes, our blood, it’s…well, you get the picture. But here’s the neat thing: It still feels like we are just getting started. There’s still so much to do, so much to learn. And then we’ve got to effectively transfer the whole thing to the next generation so that they can continue the mission in strength.

I hope this is important to you as well. But sheer enthusiasm is not enough. We need to understand from God’s Word why we as a ministry are called to plant and build gospel-centered local churches around the world.

Wow, I get excited just writing about this stuff. And I hope my blog contribution will encourage those of you with the same burden for church planting.

Next time we’ll get started by answering the obvious and foundational question: Why plant churches in the first place?

So log on, grab a cheesesteak and join me next time.