"Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers."

1 Timothy 4:16 (ESV)

The Pastors College exists to teach men to build their lives, families, and churches upon the gospel of Jesus Christ. The verse in 1 Timothy expresses the mission: watch your life and watch your doctrine. 

Our first video of 2025 shares the story of two men from our churches in Australia who moved their families across the world to attend our Sovereign Grace Pastors College in Louisville, KY this year. Each of them made sacrifices, along with their families, and their stories are an inspiring reminder that the gospel ministry transcends cultural differences. 

A graduate of our 2023-2024 class, Mario Figueroa, also took time to share a bit of his experience at the Pastors College. He writes, "Because of the Pastors College, I love Christ more, I am more grateful for the gospel, and I am more equipped to proclaim that gospel and serve God’s people in a way I never thought possible." You can read and download the PDF of his testimony here.

Iain Murray wrote a fascinating chapter comparing Charles Spurgeon and Martyn Lloyd-Jones. He observed, “In their insistence on the vital role that literature plays in advancing the cause of Christ the two men were identical. None in their time gave more encouragement to publishers than Spurgeon and Lloyd-Jones.” The printed word has proven to be unrivaled in the scope of its influence upon Christians, and unique in its longevity and staying power.

Therefore, one of the top priorities we have on the Leadership Team of Sovereign Grace at this point in our denominational history is creating printed resources that explain and defend our denominational distinctives. That’s where Sovereign Grace Publishing comes in.

We exist to serve our churches by producing resources that promote our shared doctrine and values. Publishing provides an ideal way to communicate our beliefs and priorities to our churches and preserve them for future generations. It also allows us to introduce others to Sovereign Grace Churches.

We are in the process of working with a wonderful ministry called 10ofThose to print and distribute our resources, which will make them much more affordable for our churches. They are currently printing a number of our resources that will soon be available through a Sovereign Grace store that will be on the 10of Those website.

Here* are some of the resources we currently have available, along with some upcoming books.

1. We Believe: A Statement of Faith, Editors Edition

If there is only one Sovereign Grace resource pastors get into the hands of their church members, make it this one. Our Statement of Faith is the confessional document that unites our churches. The Editors Edition includes explanatory comments to guide readers.

2. The Sovereign Grace Catechism: 78 Questions and Answers From Our Statement of Faith

Some Sovereign Grace churches are walking through our catechism in their Sunday services, reading one question each week and having the church say the answer together. The Catechism has an introduction from Jeff Purswell that explains how it can be used and memorized in our churches and homes.

3. The Spirit and the Church: Priorities from 1 Corinthians 12–14, Jeff Purswell

This short book will equip Christians to think about the Spirit and the spiritual gifts with a Christ-centered, corporate focus. “If we earnestly desire spiritual gifts in order to honor Christ and serve others, Scripture gives us every hope that we may experience more of the Spirit’s power working in and through our lives.”

4. Continue in What You Have Learned: Sermons from C. J. Mahaney that Shaped a Family of Churches

C. J. writes, “We are natural-born experts at critique. But I want to become an expert at discerning evidences of grace. If Paul can find grace in the Corinthian church, surely we can find grace in our churches. That’s the transforming effect of a divine perspective. By seeing and celebrating grace, we not only emulate Paul’s example; we emulate the example of God himself.” This volume includes eight classic sermons from C. J., including “The Transforming Effect of A Divine Perspective,” “Extravagant Devotion,” “A Culture of Joy,” and “Application: Preserving our Future.”

5. The Perspectives Series

The first entry in our new Perspectives Series is a book I wrote entitled Who Governs the Church?: What the Bible Says About the Roles of Pastors and Congregations. This book explains plural elder-governance in Sovereign Grace Churches and shows from Scripture why we believe this is the model of governance Christ intends for his church.

6. The Sovereign Grace Journal

There are dozens of articles that have been published in our Journals, written by Sovereign Grace pastors for our pastors and members. At our Pastors Conference last year, we gave out Issue 8, The Books That Shaped Us. Other Issues of the Journal are:

• Issue 1: Christ our Treasure

• Issue 2: A Christ-Centered People

• Issue 3: Our Statement of Faith

• Issue 4: Our Shared Values

• Issue 5: Our Shaping Virtues

• Issue 6: A Passion for the Church

• Issue 7: Churches in Partnership

7. Sovereign Grace Sermons

In this series, we currently have:

• Sacred Zeal: Maintaining a Passion for Christ in Pastoral Ministry, Jeff Purswell

• The Grace of Partnership: Why Churches are Stronger Together, Jared Mellinger

• Watch Your Doctrine: A Call to Theological Fidelity, Jeff Purswell

• The Mission of the Church: Lessons From the Church Christ Commends, Jared Mellinger

8. Joyful Generosity: What the Bible Says About Giving, Brendan Willis, Kyle Houlton, Leo Parris, and Mark Prater (2023)

This brief introduction to God’s word on giving will inspire Christians toward generous giving.

Finally, here are some resources that are in the works:

1. The next issue of the Journal will be on evangelism, followed by an issue on church planting. We have been working with Jim Donohue on the former and Joel Shorey on the latter.

2. Jon Payne has written a book entitled Pastoring Together: The Joyful Call of Team Ministry that we hope to publish over the next year. We are also publishing an advent devotional from Jon (Christ Our Glory) and a sermon entitled Transforming Grace.

3. We are launching a Shaping Virtues Series. My book Encouragement: How to See and Celebrate Evidences of Grace will be released later this year. Books on gratitude and godliness are also in the works.

4. In the Perspectives series, Josh Blount is in the process of completing an introduction to our Complementarian convictions, and I am writing on on our shared value of partnership.

5. Other forthcoming projects include: The Pastors College Bibliography, another collection of C.J. Mahaney’s sermons, A Workman Approved by God: Transcripts from the 2008 Preaching Conference at the Sovereign Grace Pastors College (Purswell, Bullmore, Mahaney), Mere Masculinity (Blount), Don’t Waste Your Sports (Mahaney), Biblical Productivity (Mahaney), and more.

You will be hearing from us as more resources are available. It is our great joy to serve Sovereign Grace in promoting sound doctrine, healthy churches, and the glory of Christ.   

*Links to the publications mentioned about can be found here and here.  

In a recent prayer letter, Mark Prater, our Executive Director, wrote the following…

‘There is much we can learn from the early church including how they prayed. Recently, I read a prayer by Methodius of Olympia that had this request: “Extend your right hand toward me, and crown my head by your touch, so that I may run the course before your kingdom, crowned like a forerunner, and announce good tidings to sinners.”

        Given our shared mission to “announce good tidings to sinners” found in the gospel of Jesus Christ, may we pray for one another asking God to "extend his right hand toward us" and give us grace and power to run the course of fulfilling the Great Commission of reaching every tribe, tongue and nation with the gospel.’

Amen to that. We so need each other in this, and so here’s how we can be praying in the month ahead...

1. Please pray for our current US Sovereign Grace Pastors College class, who will graduate on May 31st, asking God to give them grace for their transition back home, and to use their training to serve the church in any way that they can.

2. Please pray for Juan Solano, an ordained SGC Pastor from La Gracia in San Jose, Costa Rica, who has been commissioned and sent out, along with his family, to seek to reach Muslims with the gospel in Lebanon. Pray that Juan can plant a Sovereign Grace Church in Lebanon in the next few years, which is his hope,  and that he’ll ultimately be able to train and equip other Lebanese Pastors to do the same.

3. Please pray for the 6 Pastoral Candidates in the Philippines who are taking their Bible Knowledge exam on Saturday May 10th, as they continue on in their SGC Ordination process. Please also pray for the additional 2 Candidates that will take it in the weeks after, that God may give favour and grace to everyone involved in this endeavour.

4. Please pray for Trinity College Missions Trip to Iglesia Biblica de Playa Azul, Costa Rica, May 17th-24th, and for Josh Montague (Chaska), Robert Sidlo (Roseburg) and Brooks Szewczyk, as they head to the Philippines for part four of the TLI Training.

5. Please pray for Carlos & Kena Contreras as they head to Silo, Mexico to teach and lead at a Couples Retreat, May 2nd-4th. Please also pray for the SGC Mexico Annual Pastors Retreat in Guadalajara, with 19 Churches represented and 55 Pastors attending. Please pray for Carlos, Rich Richardson and the SGC Mexico Leadership Team as they prepare to lead that time.

6. Please pray for Pastor Jacobis Aldana as he visits Iglesia Biblica of Antioquia in Medellin, Colombia, to host a marriage retreat and continue the discussion on possible adoption into Sovereign Grace Churches. Please pray for much wisdom, grace and faith for everyone involved in this conversation.

7. Please pray that God would give the members and pastors of Sovereign Grace Churches a renewed desire, and opportunities, to share the gospel with unbelievers in our communities and workplaces. You don’t have to go overseas to be involved in missions, you simply have to walk across the room... May this be our story as we together brandish the Gospel and tell it to all that we can.

… May the One who has commissioned us, also give us favour and faith for the road ahead. Soli deo gloria.

This post was originally shared on our SGC Missions blog on April 30 , 2025.

An update from Mark Prater, elder at Covenant Fellowship Church, Glen Mills, PA and Executive Director of Sovereign Grace Churches:

Every family has historical, memorable, and happy events whether that is a graduation, wedding, or reunion. Thursday, March 27, 2025, was an historic, memorable, and happy event for our family of churches because on that day, Carlos Contreras and I had the privilege of ordaining our first Sovereign Grace ordained elders in the nation of Costa Rica. Because of the labors of Joselo Mercado, Sr. Pastor of Iglesia Gracia Soberana in Gaithersburg, MD, there are 5 churches in Costa Rica pursuing adoption as Candidate Churches. One of those churches, La Gracia in San Jose, will now become a full partner Emerging Nation Church because all three of their elders were ordained together on March 27.

Juan Jose Salano, Sr. Pastor of La Gracia, and two of his Associate Pastors, Andres Aguero, and Daniel Rivera completed the Sovereign Grace Ordination process with excellence and were ordained at La Gracia in San Jose, which was a happy night for La Gracia, and all of Sovereign Grace. After I preached from 1 Peter 5, exhorting Juanjo, Andres, and Daniel to shepherd the people of La Gracia; Carlos Contreras, Sr. Pastor of Iglesia Gracia Soberana in Juarez, Mexico, led these men through their ordination vows, and La Gracia through their congregational vows. It was an appropriately solemn and yet joyful moment. Carlos, Roberto Estupinian, Sr. Pastor of Gracia Soberana Guadalajara, Mexico, and I then laid hands on Juanjo, Andres, and Daniel praying for them and their wives officially ordaining these three men as Sovereign Grace elders. The people of La Gracia joyfully jumped to their feet giving their pastors a loud standing ovation. They were not only happy for their pastors, but they were also excited about officially being a part of our family of churches.

When I asked Juanjo what his ordination meant to him, he said, with a big smile on his face, that La Gracia had been an independent church for many years, and now they were no longer alone. He also said that La Gracia is only one of a handful of churches in Costa Rica that consistently preaches reformed, gospel-centered doctrine. Therefore, to partner with a family of churches that was not only theologically compatible, but also one that built relationally was an answer to many prayers. It was another reminder that Sovereign Grace is not a professional, stodgy denomination, but a theologically defined family of churches who love helping one another make much of Jesus.

As we talked about the future of Sovereign Grace in Costa Rica, it’s clear that these three men, and their church have the same vision that we all have in Sovereign Grace, which is to reach the lost with the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ by planting churches in Costa Rica, participating in global missions, and building a gospel-centered church where people are discipled all for the glory of Christ alone. Therefore, please join me in welcoming La Gracia to our family of churches, and join me in praying for them and their pastors asking God to use La Gracia to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ in Costa Rica and beyond by His grace, and for His glory alone.

This post was originally shared on our Misisons blog on March 31, 2025. To read original post or visit our Missions website, click here.

The 2025 Pastors Conference scheduled for November 18 in Orlando, FL is now open for registration.

This conference is for pastors and their wives, church leaders, and anyone who hopes to someday be a pastor or church planter. It’s a time for both teaching and fellowship. Most of all, we gather as pastors around God’s Word to celebrate the glorious gospel and better apply it to the churches we love and serve.

On the night before his death, Jesus prayed, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17:24) Why would Jesus pray that we would see his glory? John Owen answers it this way, “The Lord Jesus desired that his disciples should see his glory in order that they might be filled with joy and happiness for evermore.” 1 To labor for the joy of their people (Philippians 1:25) pastors need to behold the glory of Christ. To build joyful churches, pastors need to show their people the glory of Christ. At our 2025 Pastors Conference, we will look yet again at Christ and behold his glory for the purpose of delighting and strengthening our own souls so that we might continue to build happy churches who see and savor Christ, who is our glory.

For more information about the conference, speakers, sessions, and schedule, click the link below.

An update from Marty Machowski, Pastor at Covenant Fellowship Church, Glen Mills, Pennsylvania…

After a one-day flight delay caused by a rare (and immobilizing) inch of snow in Dallas, my trip to Lord’s Grace Church in Suwon, South Korea, went smoothly. Following my Sunday sermon, Songhwan gathered the pastoral team and deacons for an extended question-and-answer session. The leadership at Lord’s Grace Church expressed deep gratitude for my visit and the connection it represented with Sovereign Grace Churches. It was a true joy to partner with these devoted servants in spreading the gospel in Asia!

During my visit, Songhwan hosted a seminar for a group of gospel-centered pastors and their wives from the surrounding area, whom he has affectionately named “Together for the Gospel Korea.” I delivered five messages on our Shared Values, and Songhwan followed up with a session on how to apply these values within the Korean context. His church serves as an exemplary model for these area pastors, and several expressed a desire to explore a partnership with Sovereign Grace.

We wrapped up the week with a family seminar titled “The Holy Spirit and the Family,” where I taught parents about the Holy Spirit’s role in the family. The session focused on the Spirit’s work in areas such as conviction of sin, the regeneration of our children, assurance of salvation, and the operation of spiritual gifts within family life. The participants were deeply encouraged, with many commenting on how helpful it was to understand the Holy Spirit’s vital role in the family.

The group photo (shown above) taken after the Sunday service captured a growing and joyful congregation, one that is living out the shared values and virtues of Sovereign Grace!

This post was originally shared on our Missions blog on February 24, 2025. Click here to see the original post: