April 27, 2011 by
SGM Staff
Categories: Conferences | International
C.J. Mahaney, Dave Harvey, and Jeff Purswell will travel to the Dominican Republic in August to speak at Por Su Causa 2011, a conference for Latin-American Christians hosted by Ministerios Integridad & Sabiduría. They will join speakers Miguel Nuñez, Sugel Michelén, and Otto Sanchez to address the topic, "A servant for his glory."
The conference will be held August 13–15 in Santo Domingo and is free for all attendees. If you want more information, visit their website or contact them via Facebook or Twitter.
If you'd like to know more about our activity in the Caribbean, you can read recent updates from the Dominican Republic and Haiti, or watch the story of Cedric Moss, a pastor in The Bahamas who attended our Pastors College in 2007–2008.
April 23, 2011 by
SGM Staff
Categories: Weekly roundup
Help for memorizing Scripture: Tim Kerr (Sovereign Grace Church, Toronto, ON) wrote a free PDF booklet with Scripture passages listed by category to be memorized for use in prayer, and Eric Holter (Redeeming Grace Church, Durham, NC) shared a similar resource on his church's blog.
As of this month, all the PDF piano scores at our online store are free.
Sovereign Grace Music posted videos of songs from Risen on their Facebook page (meaning, yes, you can listen to the songs for free).
Crossway Church (Millersville, PA) recently shared a chart explaining several counterfeit gospels and some related messages from C.J. Mahaney.
We're looking for volunteers to serve at our WorshipGod11 conference in August. The Covenant Life blog shares more info.
Audio is now available from Bob Kauflin's talk on spontaneity and letting the Spirit lead in worship from a Resurgence event last year.
Ian McConnell is the senior pastor of Grace Bible Church in northeast Philadelphia. In this testimony given at our Plant conference, Ian talks about the joys and challenges of revitalizing the gospel witness in an urban community through revitalizing a declining church.
“I think I’m called to plant a church. What do I do now?”
Mark Dever and C.J. Mahaney answer that question in this six-minute excerpt from a panel discussion at our recent Plant conference. Along the way, Mark has some advice for older pastors on how to help young men who are interested in ministry.
Listen to or download the whole discussion (40 minutes) here.
If you’re thinking about entering the ministry, you might also be interested in a three-part series of messages Dave Harvey preached in 2002, titled Are You Called?. It’s available for free at our online store.
April 15, 2011 by
Sarah Lewis
Categories: Music
Our $5 sale on our newest album, Risen, ends at midnight. Don't have a copy yet? Download the album (including the digital booklet) for $5 here.
The album includes thirteen songs celebrating the reality and meaning of Christ’s resurrection. We hope you’ll listen to it not just at Easter, but all year round.
You can also…
In one of his messages at our Plant conference, Darrin Patrick encouraged church planters to ask, “When does my discernment drop? What are the triggers that cause me to default to error, or just not paying attention?”
In this three-minute excerpt, Darrin talks about the “belt of truth” described in Ephesians 6:14, some of his own early mistakes in church planting, and why leaders need discernment:
You can listen to Darrin’s entire message, titled “Mistakes in Church Planting,” here.
In late March a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck northeast Burma, killing more than 70 people. We recently posted prayer requests for Burmese churches and an opportunity to give. Here’s a more recent update from David, who leads a church-planting ministry we partner with in Burma:
Two of [the churches] sustained major damage…Though there are no casualties from those churches, at least 18 families have lost their entire homes and some 30 families also suffered significant damage to their houses….
In an interview with a lady from the church, she told us, “Our house was made of wood and bamboo with a thatch roof. When our house collapsed, no one suffered major injury as the building materials are very light. Today, we sleep under the tree as the local authority warns us to stay away from any building.” When asked what worried her most, she replied, “We have planted some crops on the hills or terraces not too far from our home. Many of our crops were destroyed because of a landslide and trees falling. This damage will hurt us for several months as our livelihood deeply depends on our farm land.”
….[One leader writes] “In one village, the church was so badly damaged that we have to meet at the house of one of the members. For most people, the church building is often part of their identity in the midst of Buddhist pagodas in the region. For them, to lose their church is somehow to lose their identity. It has been a difficult time for them. But I know God’s grace is with them. I can only encourage them from the Word.”
A truck was hired and some bags of rice and several hundred large water bottles were transported to the affected villages for distribution. Many people were very hungry and thirsty, as most people lost their homes or dare not go into their homes. And there are no convenient stores to purchase food and water.
Please continue to pray for those victims. Many people still live in temporary tents due to fear. Please pray also for the two congregations that lost their buildings.
You can donate to our disaster relief fund for Burma here. And whether or not you can give, please pray with us that God will provide for these believers, protect them, and cause the good news of Jesus Christ to spread widely in this region.
Photo: An open-air prayer gathering after the earthquake.
April 7, 2011 by
Sarah Lewis
Categories: Conferences
Several people asked for the worship song lists from Plant, the church-planting conference we hosted in March. Below are the song lists for each session, along with video of a song for church planters by Bob Kauflin.
And in case you couldn’t fit all the books you wanted in your suitcase—or you couldn’t attend but are looking for books on church planting and leadership—we’re also listing books given to attendees and sold at the conference bookstore. Books are listed in alphabetical order by author.
Song lists
Thursday evening
- “Praise God” (Isaac Watts, Thomas Ken, Louis Bergeois, and Bob Kauflin) — from Upward
- “High above All Things” (Mark Altrogge) — from No Greater Love
- “You Are Our Hope” (Doug Plank) — from Risen
- “In Christ Alone” (Keith Getty and Stuart Townend)
- “Crown Him with Many Crowns” — traditional hymn
Friday morning
- “Your Great Renown” (Eric Grover and Steve Cook) — from King of Grace
- “God over All” (Devon Kauflin) — from Next 2009 Live
- “His Name Is Jesus” (Oliver Holden, Edward Perronet, John Rippon, and Judah Groveman) — from Next 2009 Live
Friday evening
- “You Are Our Hope” (Doug Plank) — from Risen
- “Let Your Kingdom Come” (Bob Kauflin) — from Valley of Vision
- “O Great God” (Bob Kauflin) — from Valley of Vision
- “All I Have Is Christ” (Jordan Kauflin) — from Next 2009 Live
Also on Friday night, Bob Kauflin sang a song for church planters:
(If you're reading this in an email or RSS reader, you may have to visit our website to see the video.)
Saturday morning
- “How Great Thou Art” (Stuart Hine and Paul Baloche) — from Our God Saves
- “All I Have Is Christ” (Jordan Kauflin) — from Next 2009 Live
Books given to attendees
Books carried in the conference bookstore
- Peter Adam, Speaking God’s Words: A Practical Theology of Preaching
- D.A. Carson, The Cross and Christian Ministry: Leadership Lessons from 1 Corinthians
- D.A. Carson, The God Who Is There: Finding Your Place in God’s Story
- Tim Challies, Sexual Detox: A Guide for Guys Who Are Sick of Porn
- Bryan Chapell, Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon
- Mark Dever, The Gospel and Personal Evangelism
- Kevin DeYoung, Don’t Call It a Comeback: The Old Faith for a New Day
- Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck, Why We Love the Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religion
- Greg Gilbert, What Is the Gospel?
- Dave Harvey, Rescuing Ambition
- James Davison Hunter, To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World
- Tim Keller, Generous Justice: How God’s Grace Makes Us Just
- John MacArthur, The Book on Leadership
- Marty Machowski, Long Story Short: Ten-Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God
- C.J. Mahaney, Humility: True Greatness
- Colin Marshall and Tony Payne, The Trellis and the Vine: The Ministry Mind-Shift That Changes Everything
- Mike McKinley, Church Planting Is for Wimps: How God Uses Messed-Up People to Plant Ordinary Churches That Do Extraordinary Things
- P.T. O’Brien, Gospel and Mission in the Writings of Paul: An Exegetical and Theological Analysis
- Darrin Patrick, Church Planter: The Man, the Message, the Mission
- Robert Plummer, Paul’s Understanding of the Church’s Mission: Did the Apostle Paul Expect the Early Christian Communities to Evangelize?
- Eckhard Schnabel, Paul the Missionary: Realities, Strategies, and Methods
- J. Mack Stiles, Marks of the Messenger: Knowing, Living, and Speaking the Gospel
- Milton Vincent, A Gospel Primer for Christians: Learning to See the Glories of God’s Love
- Tim Witmer, The Shepherd Leader: Achieving Effective Shepherding in Your Church
April 5, 2011 by
Sarah Lewis
Categories: Conferences | Resources
The Plant conference we hosted in March included six breakout sessions on specific aspects of church planting and revitalization. All the audio from those sessions is available here.
Pete Greasley, “How to Build a Church-Planting Church”
Pete Greasley is senior pastor of Christchurch in Newport, Wales, which has planted churches in the UK and Australia.
Download (right-click and select “Save link as” or “Save target as”)
Mike McKinley, “Replanting!”
Mike McKinley is pastor of Guilford Baptist Church in Sterling, Virginia.
Download (right-click and select “Save link as” or “Save target as”)
Tim Witmer, “The Importance of Preaching in Church Planting”
Tim Witmer is Professor of Practical Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, is pastor of Crossroads Community Church, and started The Shepherd’s Institute.
Download (right-click and select “Save link as” or “Save target as”)
April 2, 2011 by
SGM Staff
Categories: Weekly roundup
On April 12 Dave Harvey will participate in a free pre-conference roundtable on church planting at the Gospel Coalition National Conference. More info at the Crossway blog.
March 15 - early April, pre-order Stephen Altrogge's (Sovereign Grace Church, Indiana, PA) book The Greener Grass Conspiracy and get 35% off. Stephen blogs more info here.
Covenant Life Church (Gaithersburg, MD) sent a medical mission team to Ethiopia last month to partner with Covenant Life Church Addis Ababa. They shared highlights on the church blog in two updates.
Eric Turbedsky (Sovereign Grace Church, Irvine, CA) posted a gracious note about our own Melissa Goins (assistant to Jeff Purswell), who volunteered as an administrator for the church's recent prayer seminar despite living about 2,600 miles away.