Sovereign Grace Ministries emerged from a church-planting vision, and we continue to pursue that vision through equipping pastors to plant and lead churches. We see church planting as a vital part of our mission to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

One strategic way we serve church planters-in-training is through providing regular contexts for equipping. These include frequent meetings and phone calls, as well as retreats.

This past week, 15 men gathered for a two-day teaching retreat where Dave Harvey, Mark Prater, Andy Farmer, Eric Simmons, Ian McConnell, C.B. Eder, and Tim Shorey gave formal instruction on relevant topics including: 

• The relationship between the church plant and the sending church
• Common challenges for the planter
• Common temptations that church planters face
• Choosing and leading a leadership team
• Preaching the first year
• Leadership lessons learned from our history
• The church planter and his church planting team
• Choosing/building a team
• Creating right expectations
• The church planter and his priorities 

Eight of the men who attended this retreat also spent the past ten months studying at our Pastors College with church planting in view.  Upon graduation, they are heading back to their local churches to engage in church-planting residencies where they'll continue to prepare. This past week’s retreat is an addiitonal means of equipping these men to serve our family of churches.

Please join us in continuing to pray that God would provide additional men who are called to be set apart for this work of church planting.

As we play our small part in the mission of the Church by equipping pastors to plant and lead churches, we cherish the promise that Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, will be with us through his Spirit as we go.

“...All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20