If you want to find sermon video from Sovereign Grace leaders, the most complete online archive available at present is the Sovereign Grace Ministries Vimeo page. Here are some of the collections we offer there:

• C.J. Mahaney's sermons
• Sermons from Sovereign Grace leaders and conferences
• Mission Presentation videos (updated annually)

The Vimeo archive is still fairly small, so if there are any old sermons you would love to see prioritized as we build it please let us know in a comment on this post. 

We also have a Youtube channel which we use primarily for videos related to Sovereign Grace Music, such as music videos for our songs or training videos for worship leaders.

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Sovereign Grace Music finished another training video, this one for "Hail the Day" from Risen.

Our Pastors Conference registration opened this week. This year we have the honor of Sinclair Ferguson joining C.J. Mahaney, Dave Harvey, and Jeff Purswell as a main session speaker.

And on a lighter note, Crossway Community Church (Charlotte, NC) shared about the world's first "openly shallow small group."

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Desiring God just announced the details for their 2011 National Conference, which will focus on the church's mission to bring the gospel to unreached and unengaged people groups. Here is an introduction to the topic from John Piper: 

Dave will give one of the messages in the church planting track. You can read more at Desiring God's website.

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In his message at Plant, Mark Dever zeroed in on what is created by church planting–a church. And a church means shepherds caring for community of sheep. In this clip Mark surveys the need for shepherds and the need for sheep to be connected in community with one another. 

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On Thursday we mentioned an evangelism story from our church in Addis Ababa. Also active in Ethiopia is Covenant Mercies, a ministry of Covenant Fellowship Church (Glen Mills, PA). Check out their website to learn about their orphan sponsorship program. Doug Hayes, who leads the ministry, also just posted some thoughts on the gospel and mercy ministries.

Bob Kauflin recently interviewed Anglican worship leader Jamie Brown about his upcoming seminar at WorshipGod11, "Leading Surgically While Thinking Liturgically."

For parents wondering how to help younger kids engage with the sermon, Steve Bice (Bloomington, MN) shared an idea that he has seen work well in his church.

For those of you who prayed for the regional leadership retreat this week, thank you! It was a fruitful time and several of the guys from the team will be sharing about different things they discussed there in the coming weeks. 

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We recently got some exciting news from our church in Ethiopia, Covenant Life Church Addis Ababa. Senior pastor Mo Adugna spearheaded an effort to hold preaching and evangelistic meetings in the Millennium Hall, a large auditorium in Addis Ababa. Mo and his church set the date for April 13, advertised the meeting, worked with area churches, arranged worship, drama, and preaching. But even they were surprised when 22,000 people showed up.

There were so many people that the police eventually had to turn people away. Wondy Getahun, another pastor at Covenant Life Church Addis Ababa, wrote to us,

Our main aim was to preach the gospel and also to impact the city with the Word of God. And the Lord did it. There were many unbelievers who came, and we believe they were touched; they said they could come again. We also felt the impact on our Sunday meeting: we had to rent more chairs that day, and on the Sunday following our meeting at the Millennium Hall, 24 new people wanted to learn about the gospel and gave their lives to Christ….The Lord has opened an unbelievable door.

We got a lot of encouragement from evangelical churches….We were very happy because we believe that what matters most is the local church. All of this work goes hand in hand with the local church….

Please pray for Mo, because he is shouldering a very heavy burden, but we know that it’s for the glory of Jesus.

In May, they held another Wednesday meeting that drew 16,000 people. Please pray that the Lord continues to draw people to himself through the gospel, and to build ever-increasing unity among the churches of Addis Ababa.

Mo and Wondy both attended our Pastors College before moving back home to Ethiopia in 2003 to plant Covenant Life Church Addis Ababa. For more on the church and their vision for Ethiopia, check out this video we produced in 2008 as part of our annual Mission Presentation.

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From Tuesday to Thursday this week, we will be gathering with our regional leadership team for their annual retreat. C.J. Mahaney and Jeff Purswell will be joining us for part of the retreat this year. The men on that team all live and do ministry in different areas of the USA and abroad, so this retreat is one of the most strategic opportunities of the year to pray and talk about the ministry, enjoy fellowship, and build together relationally.

The regional leadership team’s role is to help Sovereign Grace Ministries facilitate church planting and church care, as well as international ministry, so those are the areas of our ministry that we’ll be looking at together. And because we’ll all be together, the retreat will also provide a context for the regional team to give invaluable counsel and feedback to C.J., Jeff, and me.

If you think of it, would you please pray that God would enrich our time together, giving us wisdom and faith to know and do his will? Here are some of the things we’ll be talking about and need God’s help in:

• What have we learned in the past year about pastoral ministry and church planting that we can pass on to all the churches?
• How can we better equip more churches to advance the Great Commission?
• Where can we grow in supporting and strengthening pastoral teams in our local churches?

As an aside, I’m also going to present some follow-up material to the message on "Durable Partnerships" that I presented at last year’s Pastors Conference. I hope to share some of that material here on the blog after the retreat, so stay tuned. And thanks for praying for us!

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Resources from Next 2011 are available: recommended books for developing a biblical worldview, the worship songlist, main session audio, and breakout audio.

Should we play music behind people speaking or praying in church? Bob Kauflin answers.

Audio from workshops at the Gospel Coalition National Conference is now available, including C.J. Mahaney on "Pastoring with Discernment" and Joshua Harris on "Humble Orthodoxy."

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Audio is now available from the breakout sessions at last month's Next conference in Orlando. The first four listed below cover general worldview topics, and the rest discuss how a biblical worldview affects a Christian's approach to different vocations.

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Vern Poythress, “Science & Faith”

Vern Poythress teaches New Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from California Institute of Technology, a Doctor of Philosophy from Harvard University, and a Master of Divinity and a Master of Theology from Westminster Theological Seminary, Master of Letters in New Testament from University of Cambridge, England, and a Doctor of Theology in New Testament from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.

Download (right-click and select “Save link as” or “Save target as”)

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Nathan Sasser, “The New Atheists”

Nathan Sasser is a third-year Ph.D student in philosophy at the University of South Carolina. He received bachelor degrees in English and in Philosophy from North Carolina State University, and a Masters of Divinity from Westminster Theological Seminary.

Download (right-click and select “Save link as” or “Save target as”)

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Peter Williams, “Can We Trust Our Bibles?”

Peter Williams is the Warden (CEO) of Tyndale House, Cambridge, England, a world-leading evangelical center for biblical research. He was educated at Cambridge University, where he received his Masters and Doctorates, later teaching Hebrew and Old Testament at the university. He became a Senior Lecturer in New Testament at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, before becoming the youngest Warden in the history of Tyndale House.

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Kevin DeYoung, “Jesus and Other Religions”

Kevin DeYoung is no stranger to regular attendees of Next. He is the Senior Pastor of University Reformed Church, across the street from the main entrance to Michigan State University. He is humorous, but more importantly—and why we so appreciate him—Kevin is passionate for truth and its application to daily living.

Download (right-click and select “Save link as” or “Save target as”)

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Malcolm Wright, vocational breakout on Science

Malcolm Wright received his undergraduate degree in physics from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand and his doctorate from the University of New Mexico. He now works at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab developing laser based communication systems for future NASA flight projects.

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Kirk Whitworth, vocational breakout on Government

Kirk Whitworth was a political appointee in the Bush administration from 2002-2007, serving most recently as Director of Communications for Intelligence and Analysis at the Department of Homeland Security. He is now a pastor at Grace Community Church in Ashburn, Virginia.

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Nelson Cooney, vocational breakout on Business

Nelson Cooney is the Managing Director of Blue Sand Securities, a financial company devoted to raising capital for hedge funds. He has a Political Science degree from the University of South Carolina and a master’s degree in Public Policy from Georgetown University. He has previously worked in government, non-profit, and technology.

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Steve Kao, vocational breakout on Law

Stephen Kao is an attorney and director at Gammon & Grange, P.C. Steve’s primary areas of practice are Nonprofit and Exempt Organizations, General Corporate Law, Child Protection and Employment Policies and Practices, and First Amendment and Civil Rights.

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Tom Fluharty, vocational breakout on the Arts

Tom Fluharty has been a professional illustrator for 27 years. His artwork has appeared in Time Magazine, Mad Magazine, Sports Illustrated, The Weekly Standard, Focus on the Family, and many other publications.

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Dave Harvey, vocational breakout on Pastoral Ministry

Dave Harvey leads international expansion and church planting for Sovereign Grace Ministries, based from Covenant Fellowship Church in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania.

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At the Plant conference in March, C.J. Mahaney challenged church planters to embrace the call and privilege of pastoring God’s people. It isn’t about just loving to preach. Its about loving those to whom we preach.

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