Recently on the Mark Prater Podcast, Mark talked about his gratitude for Sovereign Grace Music and highlighted several resources including Worship Matters Intensive Videos; a 12 part video series for song leaders, musicians and vocalists, as well as the twice a year Worship Matters Intensive seminar in Louisville, and the Worship God conference held every two years.

“I just thank God for Sovereign Grace Music, in particular for the leadership of Bob Kauflin and now alongside of him, David Zimmer and Devon Kauflin who are just serving our churches in many ways. And they're doing that well. And it's not just what they produce in songs or training resources. It's the heart with which they do it. They love the local church and so they want to serve all churches, but they hold a special place in their heart for Sovereign Grace churches. And I think that's captured in their mission statement. Sovereign Grace Music exists to produce Christ exalting songs and training for the Church, big "C" Church, any church, from our local churches, from the churches of Sovereign Grace. Most of what's produced springs from Sovereign Grace churches. So you hear in that a heart for the local church and for Sovereign Grace churches in particular. And so I just thank God for them. They have been serving us so well in a number of ways: the Sound and Doctrine podcast, the Worship God conferences every other year, the training resources that we're gonna talk about today, and Bob's book, Worship Matters. All of those are just some of the ways that Sovereign Grace Music serves us so well and gives us reasons to thank God for Sovereign Grace Music, and for Bob and David and Devon.” ~Mark Prater

An update from Ed O’Mara, our SG Church Planter in Torino, Italy

“Italy is celebrated for its rich history, friendly people, and unparalleled cuisine. It is also well-known for its deeply entrenched Roman Catholicism. Every city and village in Italy is influenced by the Catholic Church. Though Italy is religious it is also incredibly dark. Less than 1% of its 60 million people understand the gospel. Oppressive traditions strangle out the testimony of Jesus’ sole-sufficiency and replace it with a works-based lie. The young generation rejects faith making Italy a post-Christian, spiritually-dead country. It may surprise you to know that someone is 4 to 10 times more likely to hear the gospel in China, Egypt, or Indonesia than Italy!”

“We are not content to see this continue. We intend to fight this decline and spread the hope of Christ’s finished work by planting the first of, Lord willing, many Sovereign Grace churches in Italy.”

Psalm 139.7-10 declares, ‘Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there you hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.'

There is nowhere we can go where we are outside of God’s presence, nowhere, and that’s one of the many things that makes prayer such an incredible and daily opportunity. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords is always present, always with us, and always eager to hear us.

And so here’s some specific things that you can be praying for, and talking with the King about, in the month ahead…

1. Please pray for the National US Church Planting Group as they meet for a final retreat with the 2022-23 Church Planting Cohort, June 15th-18th. With 3-4 US Church Plants planned for the next 12 months, this is such an important time together.

2. Please pray for Nate Treguboff (Cross of Grace, Minnesota), Josh Montague (Cross of Grace, TLI), Dave Quilla (Covenant Life Fellowship, Oregon) and Joshua Chambers (formerly of TLI) as they travel to Amman, Jordan, June 8-16th, to train ten Pastors from Pakistan. These Pakistani Pastors have a long relationship with our family of Churches, represent some 400 Churches, and are keen to pursue full partnership with Sovereign Grace. This is the final instalment of a five year endeavour and so please pray for safety, for fruitful classes and for wisdom and understanding on wise next steps in this great opportunity.

3. Please pray Justin Crews and Spencer Vaughn (Sovereign Grace Community Church, Roanoke, US) as they head to teach at the Gracelife Pastors & Planters Academy in Liberia, with our friend Dyonah Thomas, June 19th-26th. Please also pray for their strategic trip to Sierra Leone to put boots on the ground as we look to a possible SG Church Plant in 2024. Exciting times!! In addition, please pray for Andy Farmer (Covenant Fellowship, Glenn Mills, USA) as he heads to teach at the Trinity Fellowship Pastors College in Ethiopia, June 16th-19th. Would this be a rich and blessed time for everyone involved,

4. Please pray for the Pastors who will be coming in from Germany, Prague, Italy, Belarus, Turkey, Sweden, and the UK, for this month’s SGC Europe Pastors Retreat, June 20-23rd. They will be joined by Mark Prater (SG Executive Director) and Dave Taylor (SG Director of Global Missions), as they dream together and plan together for the future of Sovereign Grace Churches in Europe.

5. Please pray that God would continue to provide financially for Sovereign Grace Churches so that we can fund the gospel opportunities He is giving us throughout the world. We really do have more opportunities than we can fund and so we are so in need of His grace in this.

6. Please continue to pray for the ARK Church in Dnipro, Ukraine. This dear church continues to feed over 400 people a week, care for refugees on a daily basis, and share the good news of Jesus Christ with any and all that will listen. They are doing an amazing work in Ukraine, may we never tire of praying for these dears saints.

… May His grace abound to us all.

Dave Taylor – Director of Global Missions, Sovereign Grace Church (Sydney, Australia)

This post originally appeared on the SGC Missions blog, June 3, 2023

The Sovereign Grace Pastors College began with the goal of  teaching men how to build their lives and families and churches upon the gospel of Jesus Christ. By the grace of God and through the work of Jeff Purswell, Dean of the Pastors College, in particular, we have enjoyed years of fruitful labor in this part of our mission. 

The Pastors College ambition for the lives of their graduates is captured by 10 traits--men who:

• Savor the beauty of Christ above all else

• Pursue the exaltation of God’s glory in all things

• Marvel that their sins are forgiven

• Trust fully in the power of God’s Word to change lives

• Rely wholly on the power of the Holy Spirit

• Delight in loving and leading their families

• Count caring for God’s people a staggering privilege

• Love and pursue the lost

• Value the strength, joy, and humility that team ministry brings

• Find steadfast resolve in Christ’s promise to build his church

Our most recent mission fund video highlights a few recent graduates. They share their experience at the Pastors College and how the training equipped them for ministry in their local church. 

I'm excited to share this one with you because it represents years of prayers, as well as an incalculable number of hours of hard work by Jeff Purswell and our Pastors College Staff. Their labors are one of the ways we live out our shared value of being committed to gospel-centered doctrine and preaching. 

Please take 10 minutes to watch this video and consider financially giving to Sovereign Grace Churches. Your generosity now is an investment into our future pastors who are being equipped to continue the work of advancing the gospel for the glory of Christ alone.

David Zimmer and I recently had the joy of visiting Sovereign Grace Church Sydney and Paramatta, led by Dave Taylor and Riley Spring.

We arrived Friday morning, 28 April, and spent the day in Sydney. On Saturday, we led a workshop for musicians from both churches in the morning, rehearsed in the afternoon, and led a 'Gathering Around the Gospel' event that night for about 300 people. On Sunday we were with Sovereign Grace Church Sydney. 

We spent most of Monday with Colin Buchanan, a humble songwriter/artist who is known in Australia for his kids' music. He also recently co-authored the song “Jesus, Strong and Kind” with CityAlight. On Tuesday we met with pastors from both churches to talk about priorities in our Sunday gatherings, and that night we met with the leaders and wives to talk about marriage, parenting, and ministry.

On Wednesday through to late Saturday we led a Worship Matters Intensive for musicians from our churches as well as churches in Sydney, Perth, Tokyo, and Manila. It was a feast of fellowship and encouragement.

On Sunday, we served at Sovereign Grace Church Paramatta, and after lunch with the church, spent the evening debriefing with Dave and Riley. We left the next day, but not before squeezing in a trip to a wildlife park where we could pet a koala and feed some kangaroos.

Of the many takeaways from our time in Sydney, here are four that deeply impacted us.

---

Bob Kauflin is the Director of Sovereign Grace Music

Our churches embrace the following seven convictions. We believe they are a faithful application of our biblical values and shape our local practices and ministries regardless of our context. They define what it means to be a Sovereign Grace church.