Last week, Sovereign Grace held its inaugural Council of Elders in Orlando, Florida. Sixty-three men representing their local church elderships, along with 31 observers, gathered for prayer, discussion, debate, and voting on various motions presented by the Council of Elders delegates. In all, leaders from 66 churches were present at the Council of Elders.

Ken Delage, senior pastor of Sovereign Grace Church in Fredericksburg, Virginia, presented the first motion to be considered: the formation of a Strategy Committee for International Missions with the goal of establishing vision and strategy for our international missions work.*

The Council recommended that the Sovereign Grace Leadership Team work with the Council of Elders to form this committee which will be comprised of elders in Sovereign Grace and chaired by the Director of Church Planting and Missions.

International missions is a priority for the future of our ecclesiastical union as we seek to do our part in fulfilling the Great Commission Jesus Christ gave us to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19). This priority is reflected in the fact that the first motion considered, discussed, voted on, and affirmed by the Council of Elders was aimed at moving our family of churches forward in the work of international missions.

The faith-building, mission-stirring, soul-strengthening discussion and affirmation vote the Council conducted last week is also a picture of how our polity will strengthen our mission. Our new polity is not simply about structure. Rather, our new polity is about structure that will only facilitate and strengthen our churches to be more effective in mission.

I left the Council of Elders last week with even more faith and hope that God will continue to use the churches in Sovereign Grace to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to every nation with even more effectiveness. Already, 17 international churches are eager to partner with us, four of which were represented at the Council of Elders.

So would you pray with me that God would give us grace, wisdom, and strength to reach the world with the good news of Jesus Christ? Like you, I look forward to that Day when those from every tribe, tongue, and nation will gather around the throne and sing “worthy is the Lamb.” Let’s go do some great things for Jesus together!

*According to the new Sovereign Grace Book of Church Order, “the Council of Elders may create committees in order to expedite and facilitate the execution of appointed tasks” (III. B., 3. a. i.). In addition, any member of the Council of Elders may move to create a committee.

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Mark Prater is the executive director of Sovereign Grace Ministries, leading us in our mission to plant and build churches with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Mark has served as an elder at Covenant Fellowship Church since 2002. In 1996, he led a church-planting team to Pittsburgh in order to begin Providence Church. Mark has also served as the director for the Sovereign Grace Ministries Church Planting Group and regional representative overseeing the Northeast region of churches in the United States. 

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Songhwon Kang recently presented Sovereign Grace this video, which features the stories from members of Lord’s Grace Church (Seoul, South Korea) testifying to the transforming effect of the gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives.

These stories were made possible, in part, because of your prayers and financial support to Sovereign Grace Ministries. We thank God for the partnership we have with you in the advance of gospel mission taking place in South Korea, at your local church, and around the world! We trust these testimonies are an encouragement to you.

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It is a joy to be able to share with you how the music of Sovereign Grace is being used in Latin America. God has been very faithful to us in allowing us to participate in what he is doing in the Latin American countries. With our latest album Eres Dios, once again we have the privilege to provide cross-centered songs to many Spanish congregations around the world. I have been very encouraged as I hear how these songs are being used in churches in countries like Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Spain, and Puerto Rico, among many others.  

On November 25^th, I will travel to Puerto Rico to lead a worship night, and we will be taking the opportunity to teach songs from Eres Dios. I have been invited by Iglesia Bautista de Glenview (Glenview Baptist Church) in Ponce, which is pastored by Ernesto R. Pereira Solá. This church has been spreading the Gospel for over thirty years in Puerto Rico by planting churches and sending missionaries all over the world. It is a blessing to team up with them to praise our Lord together. We have invited many churches from the island, and we know that there will be a number of worship leaders in attendance. We will be taking this opportunity to teach a message titled Manteniendo el Evangelio central en la adoración (Keeping the gospel central in our worship). I asked my friend, Otto Sánchez, from the Dominican Republic to come teach us. Otto is the pastor of Iglesia Bautista Ozama, and he spoke at Por Su Causa in 2011.  I am very excited to have him with us because of his passion to see the Gospel spread in Latin America.

On another note, from December 7- 9, I will also have the opportunity to serve alongside Otto at a conference he will be doing in Manhattan titled Pasión por Dios (Passion for God). The church that will be hosting the conference is Primera Iglesia Bautista de Manhattan (First Baptist Church in Manhattan). We will also be singing songs from our new album and spending time with many worship leaders and pastors in order to build relationships. As I have interacted with the brothers of this church, they are quick to point out how thankful they are for Sovereign Grace and for the new albums in Spanish. We know that God is doing something great in Latin America right now, and I am happy we are able to contribute, even if it’s in a small way.

I personally want to thank Sovereign Grace Ministries for their investment in the Spanish speaking world. These are small steps that we are taking that have an eternal effect on people’s lives. I can’t wait to see what God will continue to do! 

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Mauricio and his wife, Sonia, live in the Gaithersburg, MD. Mauricio leads worship at Iglesia Gracia Soberana de Gaithersburg. He writes songs for the Spanish Sovereign Grace Churches, sung on and helped produce our last two Spanish albums: Eres Dios in 2012 and Allí En la Cruz in 2010. 

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Sovereign Grace Ministries has the joy of partnering with churches all around the world, and one way we seek to care for international churches within Sovereign Grace Ministries is to send pastors and teams of people from U.S. churches to serve internationally. 

In early July, a team from Cornerstone Church of Knoxville, Tennessee, led by Bill Kittrell, traveled to Seoul, South Korea to visit Lord’s Grace Church, pastored by Songhwan Kang. In addition to the team from Cornerstone, Larry Malament, a pastor at CrossWay Community Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, joined Bill in leading the time. 

At last week’s Pastors Conference a spontaneous opportunity arose for Bill Kittrell, Songhwan Kang, Miran Kil, and Larry Malament to recount how their churches have intentionally “pressed into partnership” for the advance of gospel mission. 

With only an iPhone camera available, we took advantage of this unique opportunity to capture how Cornerstone Church, Lord’s Grace Church, and CrossWay Community Church have directly and actively engaged with gospel mission both at home and abroad through their partnership in Sovereign Grace Ministries.

In addition to viewing this short video, you can find out more about how these churches have actively “pressed into partnership” by reading the following blog posts: Prayer Requests for a Trip to Seoul, South Korea and Songhwan Kang: Our joyful partnership in gospel mission; and by viewing our 2010 mission update video featuring Lord's Grace Church. 

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In September, Lynn Baird and Tony Walsh took a trip to the Philippines to serve pastors and churches Sovereign Grace has relationships with. Before the trip, Lynn posted prayer requests for their time. Today, Tony shares a recap of their time in the Philippines.

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Lynn Baird and I have had the privilege of serving together in the Philippines on behalf of Sovereign Grace Ministries since 2005. It has been an honor for us to build friendship and partnership with pastor Fernando Impang, whom God has used to introduce us to many pastors and ministries throughout the Visayas region of the Philippines as well as lead us to an opportunity for ministry among the Bajao tribe on Bohol, a Muslim people that is on the list of unreached people groups.

Over the years, as we traveled to various islands, God has graciously answered our prayer that he would lead us to men with whom we could partner. We have been able to partner with pastors such as Fernando Impang, Pete Valdez, and Brian Baluca on Bohol and Cornelio (Nilo) Ebo of Cebu City, Cebu. These are men who would share our values and passion to see the gospel advance through planting churches with called, gifted, and trained local pastors. One of our joys has been to see these men grow in applying the gospel in their lives as husbands, fathers, and pastors and to see the fruit of this in their families and churches.

Our Time in Cebu
Among the things that made our recent trip in September of this year so timely was that Nilo and his family had recently returned home after Nilo had completed a year at the SGM Pastors College. It was wonderful to hear from Nilo and his wife, Nadine, about how their marriage, parenting, and paradigm for gospel-centered ministry were impacted by their time at the PC. What made his year at the PC challenging was that Nilo was the lead pastor of an established church in Cebu, called His Dwelling Church, from which he had planted and cared for around 20 churches on different islands in the region. One of our top priorities for this trip was to spend time with his church and the pastors in their family of churches, and encourage and serve them with the Gospel.

During our time in Cebu, Nilo asked us to do a regional pastors conference on The Glorious Grace of God (essentially the doctrines of grace). Over 160 pastors and wives from the city and nearby islands attended. The pastors were very responsive, as was evident during our Q&A sessions. Many had never heard these truths taught before, and we heard many wonderful reports of pastors who now joyfully believe in the sovereign grace of God.

Nilo took us to see a new rental space that God has provided for them in an old mall in central Cebu City. This full-time space will open up many opportunities for ministry and training of pastors, but it will require some funds to clean up, paint, and remodel before it’s ready for use. Lynn and I would appeal to SGM churches to prayerfully consider raising some funds to help this church and family of churches get into this facility soon. Nilo also took us to the mountain village of Bon Bon, an hour’s drive from Cebu which can only be accessed when the river is low enough since there is no bridge. An elderly woman in their Bon Bon church plant has donated some acreage to the church. They see this as a possible future home of a full-blown Filipino Pastors College with dorms and classrooms.

Another kindness from God is the small role Lynn and I played in serving Matt and Lee Dwenells as they established an orphanage called Street Kids Philippines Mission and connecting them with Nilo. They have taken in around 20 children, who were all rescued off the streets of Cebu and live in one relatively small house with Matt and Lee. Lynn and I were able to travel with them to Bohol to see the land that God has graciously provided them for the future home of the orphanage. Sometime within the next year, there will be many opportunities to serve them by raising funds and sending teams to help with building and land development. They could also benefit from anyone the Lord might call to come and serve alongside them, whether for short or longer term periods of time. Lynn and I would highly commend them and this ministry.

Ministry in Bohol
On the Island of Bohol, we were able to meet with our good friends and partners in the gospel Pete Valdez, Brian Baluca, Rey Rodriquez, and Chester Impang (the son of Fernando Impang). The Sovereign Grace Church of Tagbilaran, led by Pete and Brian, invited Lynn and I to speak at a seminar for pastors and worship leaders they hosted in the city, attended by over 60 people. We were also asked to share at a well-attended dinner meeting for married couples in their church. But among the highlights of our time on Bohol was seeing how the gospel has taken root and grown in these men and their church.

A final highlight for us was having a ministry time with the church among the Bajao Tribe on Bohol. Pastor Johnny, who leads this humble church, was once the tribal witch doctor and his wife was demon-possessed. What an amazing work of God’s grace to see them now serving God and his people in this community. We worshiped together in their meeting place, located within the village which is built on stilts over the water. It’s always humbling to preach the gospel to this precious group who joyfully live for Jesus in such humble, difficult circumstances! On behalf of our SGM family of churches, we were able to help them financially so that they can make some much-needed repairs to their meeting space which is beginning to sag towards the water.

Looking Ahead
Although we don’t know what the future might hold, opportunities abound for ministry teams and partnership with the ministries of Nilo and the other men in order to establish a pastors college and plant churches, help these men reach more unreached people groups in the Philippines, and help build and support the Street Kids Orphanage. Exciting times are ahead!

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Our foray into the Dominican Republic began with Carlos Contreras and a contact he developed from El Salvador. Carlos began to serve the Oasis group of churches in El Salvador some years ago and it turns out they had a large network of churches that stretched through out the Latin world to include the DR. Carlos traveled to the DR in 2008 and met with Tomas Martinez the pastor of Oasis church of Santo Domingo and Alvaro Rodriguez the pastor of Oasis church of Santiago. Carlos and I made a follow up trip to the DR together in the fall of 2009 and our relationship with these brothers has grown over the years as Jim Britt and I have made numerous trips by invitation of Tomas and Alvaro to train their leaders, conduct pastoral marriage retreats, and build relationally. It was through these men that we met Miguel Nunez of Iglesia Bautista Internacional (IBI) the host of Por Su Causa. 

Recently I had the privilege of spending a week with Alvaro Rodriguez and the Oasis church of Santiago. We worked together to train leaders, evaluate pastors, and talk about team building. Alvaro has a vibrant church in Santiago (second largest city in the DR with about 1 million inhabitants). The most interesting aspect of my visit was the day I accompanied them into Haiti to watch them on mission with the gospel. It was fascinating to observe how they train and fund Dominican missionaries who work with the poorest of the poorest in Haiti. We have much to learn from these men and women who cross the border between these two countries to plant churches, dig wells, help Haitian farmers grow crops and of course preach the gospel and see a new generation of Haitian believers raised up. The churches planted all have Haitian pastors who work with the Dominican pastors. It is a beautiful partnership yielding much fruit. It is a brilliant testimony to the surrounding community to see Haitians and Dominicans working together as historically the Haitian and Dominican people have been at odds with each other. I took some video of my day in Haiti and trust it will serve to encourage us all in the gospel mission in which we partner. Sovereign Grace Ministries funds helped build some of the facilities we see in the video. The missionary couple supported by the Dominican church, Keith and Cookie Davis, are from Alvaro's church.

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Al was raised in Miami, born to Cuban parents. He left Miami to join the army and receive his bachelor's degree from the University of Florida. He served on the staff of Christ for the Nations in Dallas for seven years and is a graduate of Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando. After pastoring a church in Atlanta for two years, he joined the leadership team of another Sovereign Grace Ministries church, Metro Life Church, in Orlando. In November of 1996, Al fulfilled his dream to return to Miami and plant a church that is a part of Sovereign Grace Ministries, Palm Vista Community Church, where he now serves as lead pastor. Al and his wife Desiree have four children: Vanessa, Melinda, Stephanie, and Joseph.

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On September 20^th, Tony Walsh and I will leave for the Philippines, specifically the islands of Cebu and Bohol, where we have the privilege to serve a growing number of churches led by Cornelio "Nilo" Ebo . We have been able to partner with these churches since 2003. This came about after Fernando Impang, a pastor on Bohol, contacted us expressing interest to know more about Sovereign Grace Ministries. He was invited to the Pastors Conference in 2003, and that summer we made our first trip to the area. This began a long-term commitment to work with these pastors and churches through seminars, personal ministry, and financial assistance.

One thing we have sought to do during these trips is to find the key leaders/pastors that we can build with for the purpose of helping to further equip them through seminars hosted by Nilo and the churches he’s been privileged to plant. Previous seminar titles have been: Gospel-Centered Parenting, Gospel-Centered Pastoring, Gospel-Centered Marriages, etc.. We are always seeking to keep our instruction centered around the main thing, the gospel. (1 Cor. 15:3-4)

Over the last nine years, we have built primarily with five key pastors – Nilo Ebo, Fernando Impang , Pete Valdez, Rey Rodriguez, and Brian Baluca. We have brought all these men to the Pastors Conference at one time or another. We have also been developing relationships with some men on the island of Mindanao which we hope to see grow into a service opportunity in the future. Beyond that, we are seeking to develop inroads to the island of Siargao ,which has a world-class surf break. Of course, we would then have to test out the surf so we can relate well with the locals (you know...all things to all people). 

What excites us most about this coming trip is reuniting with Nilo Ebo and his family. They came last year to our Pastors College and recently returned home. This has been the culmination of years of effort as we sought to identify a man who could go through our Pastors College and return to continue to build strong, healthy churches, as well as provide a base of operations for continued outreach to other parts of the Philippines. Nilo currently has 20-25 churches that he has either planted or who look to him for counsel and care. When we go, we bring these pastors in from many different islands to help equip and prepare them to return to their churches further trained and refreshed for gospel ministry. On this upcoming visit, we plan to lead a seminar with these men and other visiting pastors on God-Centered Theology. Nilo said he expects around 90 pastors to attend.

 Here are some of the other things we will be doing during this visit:

• Exploring various options of reaching an unreached people group in the surrounding islands.
• Meeting with Matt and Lee Dwinells who run a ministry for homeless/orphaned street kids (connected with Nilo's church). They are currently in the process of  buying land so that they can build a permanent home for the ministry. (a possible e-team endeavor!)
• Meeting with the Mayor of Cebu City (a population of 2 million)
• Developing future plans for visiting all the pastors related to Nilo
• Of course, ministering at Nilo's church on Sunday morning

While on Bohol, we will meet with the key pastors there: Fernando,Pete, Rey, and Brian. We will lead a seminar on worship as well. We typically have between 40 and 70 pastors come to these seminars. We will also likely meet with a small church that has been established among the Badjao, a people group still listed by missions agencies as unreached. We've already had the opportunity to help them build a meeting place for the church and finance the installation of a water supply system.

Would you please partner with us in prayer for this upcoming trip? Please pray for the following categories:

• The worship seminar we will host
• Our time with the Badjao (if that works out)
• Our relational time with the key pastors, as we spend time equipping and planning.
• Our combined Sunday service with these churches gathering together
• And, as you can imagine, please also pray for our health and safety as we travel. 

Thank you for praying! It is a wonderful privilege to be able to go and minister to our Filipino brothers and sisters, and a joy to go representing you all in Sovereign Grace Ministries as we labor together in the mission of planting  and building churches with the gospel of Jesus Christ!  

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Lynn Baird has pastored for 30 years in both Arizona and California. He serves as the associate pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Pasadena (CA). In the mid ’70s he was involved in planting a church near Phoenix, Arizona. Then in 1986 Lynn planted another church in Tempe, Arizona as a part of Sovereign Grace Ministries. Lynn moved out to California to serve on the staff of SGCP in 1991. He and his wife Terri have four children (three of whom are married).

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C.J. Mahaney, Jeff Purswell, and Bob Kauflin will travel to the Dominican Republic in September to speak at Por Su Causa 2012, a conference for Latin-American Christians hosted by Ministerios Integridad & Sabiduría. They will join speakers Miguel Núñez, Salvador Gómez, and José Agüero to address the topic, "The God we worship." 

Miguel Núñez wrote of this year's conference, We have chosen the theme "The God We Worship", recognizing that worship in the Latin American church has reached a very low point, due to a very small view of God. We remain convinced that our worship of God is directly proportional to our knowledge of God. Therefore, preaching topics this year will revolve around the attributes of God.

The conference will be held September 22-24 in Santo Domingo and is free for all attendees. For more information, visit their website or contact them via Facebook or Twitter. 

If you'd like to know more about Sovereign Grace's work in the Caribbean, you can read updates from the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Haiti, or watch the story of Miguel Núñez, the senior pastor of the International Baptist Church in Santo Somingo and founder of Ministerios Integridad & Sabiduría.

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Sovereign Grace Ministries has the joy of partnering with churches all around the world, and one way we seek to care for international churches within Sovereign Grace Ministries is to send pastors and teams of people from U.S. churches to serve internationally.

In early July, a team from Cornerstone Church of Knoxville, Tennessee, led by Bill Kittrell, traveled to Seoul, South Korea to visit Lord’s Grace Church, pastored by Kang Songhwan. In addition to the team from Cornerstone, Larry Malament, a pastor at CrossWay Community Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, joined Bill in leading the time.

The highlight of the trip was a Gospel Conference where 150 attendees experienced teaching on gospel application, followed by meaningful times of Q&A. 

Songhwan recently wrote us out of a desire to communicate his gratitude for the partnership that exisits between Lord's Grace Church and the whole of Sovereign Grace Ministires, especially, Cornerstone Church and Crossway Community Church. 

It was God’s great grace that in 2009 Lord’s Grace Church was planted by Sovereign Grace Ministries in Seoul, Korea. And it is God’s grace that Larry Malament and the missions team from Cornerstone Church of Knoxville, TN (led by Bill Kittrell) were able to visit Korea to help teach at our Gospel Conference.

I’d like to share what a privilege it was to visit and partner with these two churches in gospel ministry:

1. Through Bill and Larry’s teaching, our church learned what it means to live a gospel-centered life.

2. Our church members have been shocked and challenged after seeing the passionate love, the overflowing joy, and the humility from the missions team.

3. Our church experienced the joy of praying, worshipping, and having fellowship together, overcoming the limitations of a language barrier.

4. Our church members have been encouraged through the strength of the partnership we have with Cornerstone Church.

5. Through this partnership, our church has been able to be united more in the gospel, love each other in Christ, and remain hopeful that God will continue to build the church.

Through this blog post, all our church members would like to show our gratitude to all the Sovereign Grace members who have consistently prayed for Korea, and the financial support and loving care of Sovereign Grace Ministries.

We are privileged to partner with Songhwan and Lord's Grace Church in gospel mission!

For more details about Lord’s Grace Church, you can view this eleven-minute video where Songhwan and his wife, Miran, tell their story. You can also receive updates by visiting their website.

 

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Cedric Moss was the senior pastor of Kingdom Life Church in Nassau, Bahamas long before he ever heard of Sovereign Grace Ministries. One day, wanting to better understand the gospel personally and to more passionately preach it to his church, Cedric searched online and stumbled upon Sovereign Grace Ministries. In 2004 Cedric attended our pastors conference as a visitor, hoping to observe from a distance.

In reflecting upon the trip Cedric says,

I was a pastor who was weary in the ministry and skeptical about church associations and networks, having been closely associated with a few and having given up on them. However, to my surprise, in Sovereign Grace I found men who were genuinely interested in me as a pastor, not the size of my church, or getting my church’s name on a list.

Watch his story here or listen to his testimony shared at our 2009 Pastors Conference.

Download MP3 (3.7 MB)

Please consider joining us for our Pastors Conference this October in Orlando, Florida. There, we will consider the theme "Grace, from First to Last." Visit the overview and speakers pages to learn more. Registration is now open.

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