Psalm 121.1-2 says,  ‘I lift my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.'

As we pray, that’s who's listening and that’s who we get to come to! The LORD, the maker of heaven and earth. The One who was and is and is to come, who will not let our foot be moved, who is our shade at our right hand, and who neither slumbers nor sleeps. The LORD is the One who will help us and so as we pray, what a privilege and what an opportunity this really is!!

So, with that in mind, here are some ways that you can be praying for all things Global Missions 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 their churches in any ways that they can.

2. Please pray for the Sovereign Grace Leadership Team as we come together in Austin, TX, for a strategic planning retreat, June 10th-12th, asking God to grant wisdom and discernment for decisions that will best serve our global family of churches. Please also pray for me, Dave Taylor, as I spend the weekend before that in Mexico, that I’ll be a blessing to Carlos Contreras and the team there in Juarez & El Paso.

3. Please pray for Bob Kauflin as he leads our first ever Sovereign Grace Music Songwriters Camp in Louisville, KY, June 19th-21st, with the hope of identifying and equipping more songwriters in Sovereign Grace churches. Please pray for everyone involved in this great opportunity. and that much fruit comes out of it as a result.

4. Please pray for Ed O’Mara, our SGC Area Leader for Europe, as he heads to Calvary Church in Galway, Ireland, June 26th-29th, as they continue to move towards becoming an Emerging Nations Partner Church. The goal of the time is to work through ordination planning, help develop understanding amongst the key leaders on the importance of gospel-centrality, and to dig deeper into the role and function of the BCO in guiding our family of churches. Please pray that Ed serves with clarity and that the meetings provide a platform for wonderful relational connection with Calvary Church.

5. Please pray for Todd Peterson & Erik Rangel, as they head to India, June 17th-28th. With a full schedule, both in Bhubaneswar with Caleb & Sidhanta Suna, and in Gundugolanu with JP Ravuri, please pray for much grace, sustenance and wisdom on them as they serve our brothers and sisters there. That ordination processes will be moved forward, churches will be strengthened, and that pathways for new school and building plans will be cleared.

6. 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 will hear it.

… Thank you so much for praying for us. May His grace abound to us all!

"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.

Our first video of 2025 shares the story of two of men from Australia, Austin Loke from Sovereign Grace Church, Wahroonga, and Joel Seric from Sovereign Grace Church, Parramatta, 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.

What a wonderful Saviour we serve.

Juan, his wife Lau and their two kids at Cedar of Gods in Lebanon.

An update from Juan, a dear brother SG ordained & commissioned to Lebanon…

In 2011, the Lord gave me the privilege of meeting Lau; she is the greatest gift that God has given me in life, after the benefits of redemption, and she was the one who exposed me to the reality that our God is not being worshiped in many places around this world. God blessed me with the opportunity to marry her in 2015, both of us having the conviction to plant churches in the Middle East. Our church, Iglesia La Gracia, located in San José, Costa Rica, shared the conviction to send missionaries to unreached places and supported us from the very moment we shared our willingness to be sent. A few years ago, we had the opportunity to be in a closed country to the gospel in this region, that we cannot name for the safety of the people with whom we still have a relationship, but the Lord, through different means, prevented us from moving there permanently.

The conviction of our family and the church did not change and we continued to pray for God to guide us to a place that would please Him. And without a doubt, that waiting time was the best thing that could have happened to us because the Lord was doing two things simultaneously.

Juan with Pastor Elie and his wife Nadine, at Nations Desire Church, Beyrut.

The first was to strengthen a friendship with a Lebanese pastor I had met in an expository preaching course at the Dallas Theological Seminary in 2015. This pastor encouraged me to consider being sent by our church to his country since there are less than one percent of Protestants, and possibly no reformed theology churches. After a prudent amount of evaluation, fasting, and prayer, our church made the decision to send us to this place.

The second was to establish a relationship of friendship and companionship with Joselo Mercado, through whom the Lord brought us as a church closer to Gracia Soberana. A desire began to grow in the three pastors of our church to be part of this beautiful family of Sovereign Grace Churches. By God's grace, after passing all the evaluations, the three pastors were able to be ordained in March of this year. Being part of Gracia Soberana has reaffirmed our conviction that missiology goes hand in hand with ecclesiology and has strengthened our desire to plant churches in the Middle East.

Juan preaching Psalm 103 at Nations Desire Church, Beyrut.

Just a month after our ordination, the church sent us to Lebanon. We have been here for a few weeks, and by God's grace, we already have residency for a year. For some, it is interesting that a family from Costa Rica, which is considered a paradise country and has no army, has the determination to travel to a country that has experienced decades of armed conflict. The reality is that if we looked with human eyes, there would not be a single reason to be in this place. But when we look with spiritual eyes, we have all the reasons to be here and to yield our lives so that our God receives the glory He deserves in this country and that His children come to faith through the preaching of the gospel. Amy Carmichael once said: 'When I consider the cross of Christ, how could anything I do be considered a sacrifice?’ Our conviction is that His glory has an infinitely greater value than our own lives, such that being here is not a sacrifice but an unmerited privilege.

Please pray that we can learn the language easily, for the adaptation of our children, and that the Lord opens doors for us to preach the gospel and articulate it with faithfulness, clarity and precision. Also, to establish Sovereign Grace Churches in this country and in this region, with indigenous pastors who will continue the work for generations. Moreover, for a future Pastors College of Sovereign Grace in Arabic. Some of these things may seem like a dream, but as my dear Joselo says: 'I believe the Bible.'

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3.20-21)

Juan and his family depart San Jose, Costa Rica, heading for Lebanon.

An update from Carlos Contreras, lead pastor of Sovereign Grace Church, Ciudad Juárez, Mexico and SGC National Leader for Mexico...

I was overwhelmed with joy and gratitude this past May as we met with Pastors, Deacons and main leaders of 19 different churches from various parts of our country to spend 3 days in teaching, encouragement, prayer and fellowship. We do this retreat every year in the city of Guadalajara and it is always one of my year’s highlights.

This year was no exception, except for the fact that our gathering felt different. We met as a fellowship of men with one spirit and one mind. It was a joyful, humbling and intimate time. After doing this for close to 10 years, it was very evident that we are now a true family of churches, united in heart and soul. 19 churches were represented by 55 faithful men.

During the 3 days we heard reports and testimonies. Some were joyful reports of growth and answered prayer. A few others were reports of challenging times and trials of men that are truly heroes in building churches in hard places. But we all felt united in joy and pain, very much aware that we are all one body of churches as a nation.

We also had wonderful times of encouragement and teaching on our call to godliness in life and our marriages by pastor Hellman Avila from El Paso. Manolo Quintal from our church in Silao did a wonderful job as always as he spoke about God’s testing and pruning process in our lives. I also spoke on leading through our example from 2 Timothy 4:12 and encouraged the men to pray with much faith trusting that God is more than willing to hear his called men. Cuauhtemoc Campos our Executive Pastor served us in an extraordinary way on the challenges of men leading alone. We also had a panel session on biblical counseling, and Rich Richardson gave us a powerful message on the reality of spiritual warfare in the church.

We had wonderful times of fellowship as we broke out in groups to share about our Spiritual disciplines and our marriages and as we prayed for one another. And we shared much time just talking as friends and brothers. It was a joy to see men seeking out those that they did not know very well and leaving the retreat with new friends.

God is at work in Mexico building not just churches, but building a family of churches united with one heart and spirit. I am very grateful for all of those that prayed for our time together and look forward to further growth in that intimacy of our brotherhood in Mexico.

An update from Michael Granger, Lead Pastor of Trinity Fellowship Church, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia ...

On March 9th, Trinity Fellowship officially gained two new pastors as Abenezer Dejene and Amanuel Yehualashet were ordained during our Sunday morning service. Since planting the church in 2020, I have been the sole pastor, but a church governed by a plurality of elders has always been our goal.

When we moved out here in January of 2018, we had three long-term objectives: 1) disciple-making resulting in church plants; 2) training the next generation of Ethiopian pastors; and 3) fostering business-as-missions. Abenezer and Amanuel represent the next generation of Ethiopian pastors. They are not only my dear friends, but despite their youth, they have truly become my pastors.

1 Timothy 5:22 warns us to never be in a hurry about appointing church leaders, and we have taken this to heart. Over the last four years, these men have been thoroughly assessed in their doctrine, character, and qualifications for pastoral ministry. They completed our 42 week course Pastors College established by Josh Pannell, a one-year pastoral residency, and the in-depth Sovereign Grace ordination process. Though Ethiopia’s culture is vastly different from that of the West, Amanuel and Abenezer submitted themselves to the exact same ordination process as Sovereign Grace pastors in North America.

Moreover, I inquired into their personal lives, including Amanuel’s marriage, and invited the members of Trinity Fellowship to participate in the process of assessment. In reality, these men did not just become pastors that Sunday; by the time we ordained them, they had already been pastoring our Trinity Fellowship for quite some time.

In addition to their administrative and counseling duties, Amanuel regularly preaches, Abenezer leads our music worship, and both men serve as leaders of our community groups. On that sweet day that I ordained them, Trinity Fellowship simply officially recognized them to be what they have been for quite some time: pastors!

March 9th was a long-awaited and joyous occasion, marking one of the greatest days of my life. I praise the Lord that he has been gracious to answer our prayers. I praise the Lord for our partners in the faith who have generously supported the work through financial support and trips to Ethiopia. I praise the Lord that I get to serve Christ’s church alongside a plurality of pastors. And I praise God that his generosity has not dried up - there is more in the pipeline! Yeabtsega is approximately one third of the way through the ordination process too! 

1 Peter 5:1-4, “I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.”

To Him be the glory!

An update from Brian Kiama, Lead Pastor of Sovereign Grace Church Nairobi, Kenya…

In the Lord’s kindness, Sovereign Grace Church Nairobi was born on January 5th 2025, in the Leslies’ home…well, to be more precise…in their garage. For me, it all began about two and a half years ago, during a time when me and my wife Julia were wondering what was next for us after I graduated from the Pastors College in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. My pastor, Michael Granger, suggested that we consider planting a church in Nairobi. My immediate response was “No”, but little did I know what the Lord was orchestrating and had in store in the months following. Fast forward to December 2022, Jonathan and Lilli Leslie visited Trinity Fellowship Church, Addis Ababa, and met with Michael and I. The Lord had already put the desire in Jonathan’s heart to see a Sovereign Grace church planted in Nairobi, and He used this encounter to kindle the same desire and dream in my heart as well.

Fast forward again to the summer of 2024. Both Jonathan and I got ordained and were commissioned (by Cornerstone Community Church, Burnsville and Trinity Fellowship Addis Ababa respectively) to plant SGC Nairobi. Our two families then, together with Bereket and Abigail Geleta, formed the initial core group of the church planting team. And so, after many months of praying, dreaming, and planning, and after more families buying into the vision for the church plant, the church was finally born on January 5th.

The Lord has been continually surprising us, far surpassing our expectations, which has been a sweet reminder that this is His Church, and He is faithful to build and establish it. Jonathan and I regularly remind each other and the church, that we cannot take any credit for what the Lord is doing. God has been using His word, through the preaching and singing, to build a growing community of believers that is centred on the gospel.

A number of people have shared how much they been affected and drawn by the love they have experienced in the church. Others who hadn’t been to any church for months or years came in thinking that salvation is earned by their good works. Many of these people have been coming consistently, and over time, they have been gaining a clearer understanding of the gospel. The Spirit truly is at work in our small but growing church, and His word is bearing fruit among us.

In the recent weeks we have had an average of about 40 adults in attendance and about 15 children. We are quickly outgrowing the garage and will need to find a public meeting space in the area of Westlands, Nairobi. Our desire is to be a faithful, gospel-centred church that plants other gospel-centred churches in the years to come.

Please pray that the Lord of the harvest will raise up more labourers to send into His harvest. Pray for an outpouring of His Spirit and for the gospel to continue advancing in Nairobi and beyond. Pray that the Lord will establish SGC Nairobi and other faithful churches in the city, being firmly rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray that the Lord will lead us to a good location for church gatherings. Pray also that the Lord will give us a godly and gifted Kenyan man to be our worship pastor.

Thank you for praying with us, to the God who supplies all our needs, according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus!

An update from Jim Donohue, pastor at Covenant Fellowship Church in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, USA and Evangelist in Sovereign Grace Churches…

God has been doing some great things in our churches and regions over the last year. We are seeing God move. We are seeing the lost saved and added to the church. We are seeing churches move from being insulated and isolated to fulfilling their calling to reach into the darkness with the light of the gospel. We have more churches doing something and the temperature for growing in evangelism is rising, which is just so encouraging.

One of the things that the US regional evangelist team has been encouraging me to do is to create resources that serve small churches. So, over the last few years, together with the help of the evangelist team, I have been working on redoing the Bridge Course. It’s a tool that we have tried to invest with our values, our gospel centeredness and faithful exposition of scripture.

I got to write an update about it a couple of months ago (article here). But encouraged by Dave Taylor, our Director of Global Missions, I wanted to share with you some of the stories of God-given fruit that we’re enjoying hearing about…

Ryan Chase at Emmaus Road in Sioux Falls

We have now run the Bridge Course a handful of times at Emmaus Road Church. While each time through the course has been met with God's grace, it feels like this last year in particular we have begun to gain some real momentum. Our fall course had 10 guests and this Winter course that we just begun has been very encouraging. 3 days before the course, we had only 2 people registered. Then, the Lord opened the flood gates and people started pouring in. We now have 25 people involved in this current course. This is our most “lost" Bridge group yet (someone from LGBTQ background, several with no Christian background, a number coming from serious suffering). We are 2 weeks in and there are many people with broken lives who are leaning in and hungry to learn. It is incredible! I am excited to see what the Lord will do!

Last year a young couple living in sin came to our Bridge course and the wife, Torrie, got saved. They began to regularly attend our church gatherings for the next year. Seeing Torrie's newfound love and desire for God as well as her heart for lost friends and family, I asked her to help with the next Bridge course. She brought 3 people. Torrie and CJ are growing increasingly connected to our church community and are both walking through steps to become members.  

One of the things that has been particularly encouraging to me has been the cultural shift I have observed in our church. I have never seen such a momentum shift for evangelism in our church. I have had numerous people come up and ask me about how to invite their friends to Bridge; ask me to pray for friends they are reaching out to; ask me for advice on how to interact with lost friends or coworkers; etc. I see so many people in our church really leaning in (introverts, stay at home moms, and the like!). It has been so encouraging!

 Jeff Schlieder at Cross of Grace Church of Santa Ana

The Lord has been working in wonderful ways at Cross of Grace Church of Santa Ana. We’re a small neighborhood church in an urban area, doing ministry in a cross-cultural context. We planted in 2017 and just celebrated 7 years together. We have 67 official members, have around 100+ gathered on Sunday mornings, don’t own a building, and only have 1 full-time elder on our team of 3.

We’re an ordinary church but God is doing extraordinary things among us as we labor to spread the joy of Jesus in our city. Since embracing a renewed commitment to evangelism (in our case, moving from informal church-plant “organic approaches” to strategic, ambitious, and programmatic approaches) which coincided with the beginning of the Regional Evangelist initiative, we’ve celebrated baptisms and welcomed new members like never before. Just last year, we had the privilege of baptizing 7 new believers and receiving 16 new members.

Brendan Willis at Sovereign Grace Church, Wahroonga, Australia

We’ve only just started using the Bridge but have already seen the Lord at work in some exciting ways. Our church is based in Wahroonga, a leafy suburb on the North Shore of Sydney, Australia. We’re a post-Christian nation where on any given week only 7% our people attend some form of church service (including Catholic, Orthodox, Evangelical etc.). What’s more our neighborhood is amongst the wealthiest in our country and as a result many people have hard hearts towards God. Since our church was planted in September 2010 we’ve consistently struggled with seeing fruit in our evangelistic efforts. A good year for us would be seeing 1-2 adults come to Christ. Some years we would see no one saved at all.

We had Jim Donohue visit us last year and introduce us to the Bridge course and we ran it for the first time in February of this year. The church did a wonderful job inviting their friends and in the end we had 18 guests attend the course for 1 or more evenings. On resurrection Sunday we then had the privilege of baptizing 2 participants!

There is now an excitement in the air about the power of the Gospel and the way God is working in our community. Just a few weeks ago we had another lady who had been visiting our church and who is a friend of one of the people on the last Bridge course, give her life to Christ during the service. It’s not even halfway through the year and we’ve already had 3 people come to Christ! Our next course starts in August and we couldn’t be more excited to see what the Lord will do!

You don't have to use the Bridge Course, and there are other tools out there, but the Bridge Course uniquely reflects who we are. We have packaged it so that anyone can easily use it and in a way that works for smaller churches. We’ve also now translated the course (subtitles) into 6 different languages with more to come. (Amharic, Chinese, English, Spanish, Turkish and Vietnamese. With Italian and Korean in the works). And we just launched our Spanish videos featuring Abelardo Munoz (www.bridgecourse.org/spanish)

We hope it can serve you too.

__

This testimony was shared on Easter at Covenant Fellowship Church, and is one of the best I have ever heard. Give it a listen!

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.

An update from Andy Farmer, Pastor at Covenant Fellowship Church in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, USA.……

Our US Church Planting Cohort met in late March for a couples retreat in Glen Mills, PA. For our five domestic church planters, this is about the time that things are getting real. They are deep in the regional approval process, forming their teams and looking for locations to meet. It is a time of profound transition for planters and their families. The couples retreat allows planters and their wives to step back out of the process to consider and plan for how a church plant will play out in their homes and families. For the wives it is a chance to connect with other women walking through the same experiences, to receive ministry and talk about what planting may be like for them.

This was the first time the wives had a chance to be together for any length of time. It was amazing how quickly fellowship and relational connection occurred among the women and the couples. To hear their stories about how God has met them in these life-changing times was encouraging for all of us. One of our hopes in having this couples retreat is to help the wives, who will be such an integral part of the mission of the plant, grow in faith and vision for how God can meet them and use them as they participate in the birth of a new church. God certainly seemed to meet us in that regard.

Our sessions focused on building healthy, resilient marriages that can stand the tests that planting a new work will throw at them. And we get some memory making time as well. Jill and I had the privilege of leading this retreat with the help of Nick and Happy Kidwell, who just walked through the church planting experience a couple of years ago. The Kidwells provided an honest and faith-filled window into the experience of planting for a whole family. On Friday night we were joined by Joel and Ashley Shorey. As Director of Church Planting, Joel was able to share his heart and his vision for what these families are doing for the mission of the Gospel in Sovereign Grace. We had a chance to pray and worship together, enjoying a wonderful time of ministry and intercession. 

On these retreats we’ve developed a tradition over the years where we give each couple an extended time to share their ‘love story’. It is so meaningful (and often hilarious) to hear how God has brought redemption in the lives of sinners and has brought them together in the covenant of marriage. No story is alike and each story is amazing in its own way. These love stories allow planting couples to embed the church planting experience in the bigger story of God’s gracious purposes in saving their lost souls and sending them into the world for his Glory.

Please keep these couples in your prayers for the adventures ahead:

• Howard and Dawn Varnedoe - planting in Spring Hill, Tennessee

• Mario and Diana Figueroa - planting in Tampa, Florida

• Adam and Claire Penird - planting in Manchester, Indiana

• Eric and Jennifer Huber - planting in Galloway, New Jersey

• Nathan and Clare Smith - planting in Coatesville, Pennsylvania

An update from Riley Spring, Lead Pastor of Sovereign Grace Church Parramatta and National Leader for Australia…

In April, we had the privilege of having Pastor Rob Flood out from Covenant Fellowship Church, Pennsylvania to teach at our first SG Australia Marriage Retreat and facilitate the Judicial Review Committee (JRC) training for our Pastors and Interns, as well as Jeffrey Jo, National Leader of SGC Philippines.

Marriage Retreat

The hope for our Marriage Retreat was to hit pause on life for a night and a day in order to strengthen and refresh our most significant relationship on earth! We had the joy of doing this with our two sister churches, enjoying fellowship, playing silly games, worshipping together and sitting under some excellent teaching from Rob. 

Across the four talks Rob reminded us of God’s glorious purpose for marriage and how we can live in the good of it by running hard after Jesus and pursuing what is best for our spouse. In a world where equality has removed any distinction between men and women, it was a fresh reminder of the beauty of our differences as husbands and wives – equal in dignity and worth, yet with distinct roles. We ended our time together with Rob giving us some practical applications and tools for communication, as we were reminded that words have power and a God-given purpose. 

It was a sweet couple of days with time spent reflecting and being reminded of God’s glorious purpose for our marriages in a fallen world. If you are interested you can access the talks and outlines here.

Judicial Review Committee Training

During the week Rob gathered with our pastors and interns so that we could think biblically and practically about our church polity, especially the pointy end of polity, our JRC. At first, it sounded like it could be a bit dull and boring but not only was the training vital, Rob made it very engaging, interesting, and practical.

After the principles were taught we ended the training with two mock trial situations in which we had to act out and judge two difficult fictional pastoral situations. This helped us realise how difficult and necessary this process is. Rob helped us think through what it would look like to make this a reality here in Australia as we plant more churches. It was a very useful and fruitful time. 

We are so thankful to Rob for making it all the way down under to serve our family of churches. It’s a beautiful picture of gospel partnership, we truly couldn’t do this alone, and wouldn’t want to!

An update from Mario Figueroa, Lead Pastor of Vine Church Tampa, Florida, USA…

Dear friends and partners in the Gospel,

I can hardly put into words how thrilled I am to share a milestone that has filled our hearts with awe and gratitude: Vine Church Tampa (VCT) has officially launched!

What began as a simple prayer between my wife, Diana, and me in 2021 — asking God to prepare and send us — has now become a living testimony of His faithfulness. From that first step of faith to the doors He opened in 2023 for us to attend the Sovereign Grace Pastors College, the journey has been full of grace.

Every part of this preparation — from the Church Planting Assessment, Cohort training, and the pastoral residency at Sovereign Grace Church of Winter Garden, to serving under the leadership of Pastor Josh Murphy — has been an invaluable time of equipping, sharpening, and humbling. We were especially moved as families from Tampa began driving nearly two hours just to serve our sending church with music, preaching, and joining in worship once a month for three months before launching. That kind of commitment and shared vision deeply encouraged us.

And now, by God’s abundant grace, Vine Church Tampa was born on April 6, 2025, with a soft launch at a Holiday Inn and 72 people came to celebrate with us!

That first service was a beautiful picture of our heart for this church — a bilingual gathering, worshiping in English and Spanish, reading Scripture together, and preaching in English while using AI-powered translation so Spanish-speaking members could follow in real time. It was a moment that brought tears to many of our eyes.

Since then, we've continued gathering each Sunday — 10:00 AM in English and 11:45 AM in Spanish — and God has done something remarkable: a church community marked by unity and mutual love. English-speaking families joyfully serve during the Spanish service, and Spanish-speaking families doing the same for the English one. It’s a radiant picture of the body of Christ working as one.

Today, we have 42 dedicated members on our launch team and 10–15 regular visitors who are exploring life with us. The hunger for God’s Word is palpable - you can feel the eager anticipation each week as we gather.

But we’re just getting started.

We are praying for a permanent building to call home — a place where we can worship not only on Sundays, but also gather throughout the week to disciple, evangelize, and serve the people of Tampa with the love of Christ.

Would you pray with us? Would you consider partnering with us — in prayer, in support, or even by visiting? We treasure Christ and long to see His name made known in this city.

Thank you for walking with us, believing with us, and celebrating with us.

An update from Ed O’Mara, Lead Pastor of Chiesa Grazia Sovrana di Torino, Italy, and SGC Area Leader for Europe…

The Lord is doing a good work among our family of churches in Europe. God has assembled an identifiable group of pastors from various European churches who share SGC theology and values. Our desire in Europe is to build our beloved local churches and reach our dark communities with the same glorious gospel that you treasure in your contexts!

The pastors of SG Europe’s partner and candidate churches have met several times over the past 2½ years to build relationships, care for one another, learn about partnership in Sovereign Grace, and receive training in our shared values. Our most recent gathering was a 3½ day pastors and wives retreat in the south of England, in the week after Easter. Grace Church of Bristol planned and administrated the hospitality for this event at a nearby Christian retreat center. There were 29 people (10 couples plus 9 children) from various partner and candidate churches representing Galway (IRE), Bristol (UK), London (UK), Santander (ESP), Antalya (TUR), and Torino (ITA).

While a primary aim of all of our gatherings is to grow our relationships, this particular context also focused on strengthening our marriages with the gospel. One of the messages that has defined and shaped our family of churches is Mike Bullmore’s “The Functional Centrality of the Gospel.” We do not merely behold the truths of the person and work of Christ, but we are moved to action. We apply and live in the entailments that Jesus grants to us from the cross!

We have been well-taught in SGC about the powerful potential that biblical marriage has in promoting an environment of grace and in making the person and work of Christ manifest. As such our topic, “Functioning Gospel Centrality in Marriage,” was intentionally selected both to refresh each couple as well as position us to nourish our respective local churches. We drew this out through specific applications such as gospel centered communication and biblical conflict resolution in marriage. We also discussed how to not merely instruct our people but to model grace such that we foster a local church culture of gospel centrality and true biblical fellowship.

We also had plenty of time to build our relationships. We shared updates, sang together, and prayed for each other. We laughed, played games, enjoyed getting to know one another more deeply, and cared for each other. And no trip to England would be complete without taking in some British culture, complete with a tour of a castle and a meal of fish and chips in a seaside town under some light rain!

This retreat was truly a blessed time that strengthened what God is doing among the SG European group. It positioned us for more fruitful future ministry and grew our desire to continue building relationally and receive more training in the core values of SGC. We believe that this approach will grow us into a healthy, interdependent network of pastors and that our local churches will benefit directly from these contexts.

Finally, we would be remiss to not extend our thanks to all of you who prayed for us! Thank you also to those who have given to the SGC European Development Fund. Without your support and giving, these sorts of contexts would not be possible. As God is putting together the fabric of the European region, we simply cannot express the depth of our gratitude for both your support and the ways in which you continue to show us the path of walking nearer to our Saviour! We are so grateful for our SGC family and pray that He would receive glory from all of our churches across the globe! 

An update from our SGC missionaries in Thailand (names concealed for security reasons)…

Last November 2024 by the grace of God, our family with our Thai partners, planted Family of Grace Church in Isaan, Thailand. The church is in a very rural county that has never had a local church. The story is one that only God could craft with details and divine orchestration that cause us to marvel at Him and give our Lord all the glory. As we like to say, it seemed that God wanted to birth a church and we were merely the midwives to help catch the baby. We’re reminded of Jesus’ words to Paul in Corinth, “go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you … for I have many in this city who are my people” (Acts 18:9-10). He has many in this land who are His.

Over the past year, we saw interest grow in the community after a number of outreaches. We also saw God draw and save our newly found Thai partner. His life has been transformed by Christ. Such amazing grace! As we began to pray and talk with our brother and sister in September 2024, we sensed God wanted us to start meeting together regularly at their farm in this remote county. So after holding church services at their house for 8 weeks, we opened the church service at their farm in November. Glory to God, a church was born!

Over the past 6 months members of the community have been coming to hear about Jesus at Family of Grace Church. Excluding our two families, 5-8 adults and 10-12 children regularly come. Every Sunday we worship, do catechism, scripture memorization, children’s ministry and the Word is preached in Thai. It has been encouraging to see God apply His Word by the power of His Spirit in this highly animistic, unreached area. Eyes and ears of those who only worshipped spirits are now beginning to see and hear of the One who created them in His image.  And because there is a high level of illiteracy, we also started a Christian library and literacy program to help many of the children read Thai so that they can one day read God’s Word. Interest is growing and hearts are turning to Jesus! 

You sent us to Thailand about 9 years ago with the hopes that God would one day start a church. He has done just that and in a way where our only boast is in God and in His sovereign grace. We are so grateful to God for you and your faithful partnership in His mission to the unreached of Thailand. And our Thai partners are so encouraged when we share specific prayers or words of encouragement from our partners in SGC. You regularly build up their faith and they feel supported by you.

We thank you for your thoughtful and sacrificial love and care for us and Family of Grace Church. We couldn’t do this without you and wouldn’t want to. May Christ receive all the glory for what He has done.

One of my hopes is to get good books on Global Missions into your hands and so in addition to ‘Mission’, by Andy Johnson, here’s another good one for you: ‘Let The Nations Be Glad’, by John Piper. Here’s what Leo Parris, our US Global Missions Coordinator, has to say about it…

Of the many wonderful contributions that John Piper has made for the Church, his emphasis on global missions is a primary lasting legacy. The Cross Conference and many books stand as artifacts of the culture that he has grown by God’s grace for decades. But if you are going to read one book on global missions by John Piper (there are many!), you should read Let the Nations be Glad. It contains some practical insights, but its salient virtue is its deep and inspiring theology. 

“Missions exists because worship doesn’t.” These are some of the opening words of the book. This pithy, brilliant statement captures the heartbeat behind what he’s after: to root our global mission in its proper theological foundations. Working from Psalm 67 and many other passages, he shows that the primary motivation for our global mission is God’s glory in the delight of peoples from all nations.

In his initial chapter, he argues for the supremacy of God in global missions through worship. Essentially, he examines biblical passages that declare the supremacy of God’s glory. And in similar lines to Desiring God, he shows that God “is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”[1] In a refreshing way, Piper uses this to remind us of the glory of the message we share. We are not merely giving a message that deals with people’s sin, but we are “summoning people to God,”[2] the only God who can truly satisfy them.

In subsequent chapters, Piper works out how the supremacy of God functions in different aspects of mission. In Chapter 2, he distinguishes prayer from the work of global missions but shows that the necessity of prayer gives God all the glory in our international efforts. In the next chapter, he dives deeply into the role of suffering in this work. All who follow Christ will suffer persecution, but those who are sent internationally especially need a theology of suffering. He argues that the death of Christ is our substitute and our pattern for living, and urges Christians to fight apathy and leverage their lives for Christ.

After arguing for the supremacy of Christ in the gospel we proclaim, Piper makes his case for the targeted pursuit of the unreached in global missions in Chapter 5. Rather than pouring our resources into the same location, the New Testament displays a special prerogative. We are to especially initiate and support work that takes the gospel to the less reached parts of the world.

Piper closes his book with a few practical thoughts for how the worship of the nations functions. After drawing from Jonathan Edwards to underscore the relationship between God’s glory and his people’s delight in him, he urges us towards compassion for the lost (Ch. 6). He also reminds us that the Bible allows for freedom in a diversity of cultural expressions of worship (Ch. 7).

In Sovereign Grace, we have a rich legacy of emphasizing the glory of God and the joy of his people. This emphasis has led us in recent years to an increase in global activity. It’s my prayer that God will use this book to sharpen our convictions, prepare us for costly mission, and propel us into even more global activity with his glory at the center of our ambitions.

[1] John Piper, Let the Nations be Glad: The Supremacy of God in Missions, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2010), 50.

[2] Piper, Let the Nations be Glad, 56.

Matthew 28.18-20, ‘And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising 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."

The great commission that we’ve been given is far bigger than we could have ever asked or imagined... But how wonderful, comforting and inspiring it is to know that the One who has called us, is always with us, even to the end of the age. What a mission changing reality that is!!

With that in mind, here are a few ways that you can be praying for our wider mission in the month ahead…

1. Please pray for Mario Figueroa as he prepares to plant and launch Vine Church in Tampa, FL, USA, with their first service planned for Easter Sunday. Please pray that they would treasure and cherish Christ in this labor of love, and that many in Tampa would hear about Christ and Him crucified as a result.

2. Please pray for Walt Alexander, Taylor Hollingsworth, and Steve Teter as they lead the one day US Small Towns Summit on Thursday April 3rd, looking at what faithful pastoral ministry could look like for Sovereign Grace Churches, in small places. Please pray that the Lord would encourage weary and under-resourced pastors in their high calling as under shepherds. Instil a vision for faithfulness in pastoral ministry and bring pastors into healthy friendships where they can find help and camaraderie in gospel ministry.

3. Please pray for the pastors and wives of European SG partner and candidate churches as they meet in England from 22nd – 25th April for a time of refreshing and building relationships. Pastors from Ireland, UK, Spain, Turkey, Italy, and Belarus will be attending with their wives. This will be the first time that many of the wives will have the opportunity to get to know each other in this way. Please pray for Ed O’Mara, SGC Area Leader for Europe, as he leads this retreat, and for everyone involved. That they’d be refreshed in the gospel, refreshed in their marriages, and that this would bear fruit for each pastoral couple as well as in our SG-Europe churches.

4. Please pray for our SG Asia-Pacific Pastors & Wives Conference, 8th-10th April, in Manila, Philippines. Folk will be traveling from Australia, India, South Korea, Pakistan, and the US to attend this time. Please pray for Dave Taylor, Jeffrey Jo & Riley Spring as they lead this conference, and for every pastor and wife in attendance. With over 200 registrations, from all over Asia-Pacific, we’re eager to see all that the Lord will do during this time.

5. Please continue to pray for Brian Kiama (Church Planter in Nairobi, Kenya) and Jonathan Leslie (Co-Planter in Kenya), as they continue the soft-launch of Sovereign Grace Church, Nairobi. Please pray that God would continue to bring the people that He wants to be a part of this new endeavour and that His Word would speed ahead and be glorified in Nairobi and beyond.

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

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.

An update from Josh Kruger Jr., Lead Pastor of Sovereign Grace Church of Windhoek…

I can’t believe it’s been nearly a year since we started meeting in our home with only two other couples, and now, since launching our public meetings on March 2nd, 2025, we have grown to 7 regular and committed families (and eight children under 10).

As I think back, I think of God’s providence in moving my parents and their 3 teenagers to a Sovereign Grace Church in Richmond, Virginia back in 2005. As a pretty immature 18-year-old, being seen and publicly acknowledged for my humble, serving heart was a never-ending pursuit. But God was at work. Gradually, God instilled a deep love for and confidence in the biblical values and convictions we as Sovereign Grace hold so dearly. That love for God’s Sovereignty and a deep rooted belief in the authority and sufficiency of scripture carried me and my own family through more than a decade of missions work on the African continent from 2011 to 2022. That was despite the fact that we never found a local church with the same values and convictions I had come to cherish. Over time however, our desire (our need rather) to see such a strong, evangelical and biblical church established started pushing us towards study and considering what a non-denominational church plant might look like.

Providentially, in mid 2022 a dear friend and mentor, Matthew Williams invited me and my family for a Pastoral internship. Though hesitant at first, only a few months later we moved back to the US, from Namibia, to that same church my parents joined so many years ago. It would be a year of study, classes, and learning from Godly men all while pursuing ordination. And yes, another 18 years of my life had passed since the first 18. Then, by God’s grace alone, I was ordained and commissioned in Sovereign Grace and a “church plant” (really a family of 4) was sent out from Richmond on 17 December, 2023 to the far side of the globe, to deep…dark…Africa! 

We started meeting in our home on 7 April, 2024, not really knowing what to expect. The learning curve was steep and riddled with mistakes to learn from, but everyone was kind and gracious with this rookie pastor. Music by the Getty’s, CityAlight, and Sovereign Grace, to name a few, was new to most but warmly welcomed. Sovereign Grace Music is SUCH a blessing to our denomination…people can’t stop telling me how much they now love listening to SG Music on a daily basis…praise the Lord!

There were those Sundays when we had multiple visitors and joy filled worship, and there were Sundays where my wife and I sat in our Sunday best, coffee pot steaming away, only to transition to a caffeine injected prayer meeting as no one showed up. The highs were high, and the lows were low, people have come and people have left, but the Gospel remained glorious and immovable! An unparalleled “true North”.

Thank God for the firm foundation of our faith…the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It has sustained us and enabled us to joyfully keep the course, fight the fight, and run the race, because we knew the power of a future God glorifying church rested on it, and nothing that is in us.

So as we look back on God’s providence, God’s sanctifying work in our lives, God’s preparation of our family and eventual calling on me to be His undershepherd, we are grateful. Grateful for humble beginnings, because such beginnings point ultimately and solely to the goodness and glory of God. We are grateful for those the Lord has added, and we pray earnestly for those the Lord would still add in the future. We pray for believers to grow, and unbelievers to meet their Savior. 

We are also thankful for the good work the Lord has started and we are eagerly expectant of what He will do in the future. By God’s grace we hope that our small church plant, Sovereign Grace Church Windhoek, will become a hub for future SG church plants in Southern Africa. We too hope to invite men to come and do internships, study, grow, be ordained and sent out, so that the bride of Christ might be established, as unwavering as the Gospel itself, in Southern Africa for the glory of God. May God use us, this church plant, to grow the global body for the glory of Christ! It is our joy to write this update to you all. Amen.

An update from Jeffrey T. Jo, Lead Pastor of Cross of Christ Salvation Gospel Ministries, Manila and SGC Key Leader for our work in the Philippines…

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“I thank the Lord for helping me finish the PPI (Philippine Pastors Institute) course. PPI taught me the significance that every belief and doctrine should be based on the Bible.” (CJ of CCSGM Tandag City).

“I am grateful for PPI and for Sovereign Grace Churches for allowing us this much needed training for pastors in Mindanao. I have learned not to take biblical interpretations lightly and that it should be taught in its proper context.” (Pastor Jun, CFF Paniquian).

“I have humbly learned that our salvation is all of God’s doing by Christ and in Christ, and that apart from His kindness, we will never be saved.” (Pastor Arniel, CFF Adlay).

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These were the grateful confessions (after their oral exams) of some of our students in PPI level 1, batch 2; a course designed for pastors, would-be pastors and those who are leading women’s ministry or children’s ministry in their churches. The curriculum is all about the basic branches of theology along with the study of our 7-Shared Values and 7-Shaping Virtues. Most of the students told us that what they learned during this course changed their understanding of church ministry and family as their priority. Some of them were teary-eyed as they explained to us the beauty of reformed theology on which they’ve now embraced.

The camaraderie built amongst the students has been priceless. They’ve become friends that pray, encourage and support one another for the sake of the glorious gospel of Christ. This coming June 8th, 12 out of 17 students who enrolled in August last year will be honored as they celerbrate their graduation. I am grateful for the lives of our SG ordained pastors, Rey Lacbayo and Francis Mariano, and an intern-elder and a graduate of batch 1, Christopher Laurenti, who have humbly yet passionately taught the students every Saturday for 7 months. It has been such a joy to serve alongside these men as we equip fellow pastors and raise up new ones for the gospel’s sake and for the edification of our churches in Mindanao, Philippines.

I’m currently in the boarding area of the airport as I wait for my flight back to Manila and while I’m composing this article, I cannot help but smile as my heart praises our Chief Shepherd for all His wonderful works in the lives of His church and His shepherds. We are just honored to be used by God as unworthy vessels for the equipping of His people as they do the works of ministry. It is my hope that, in God’s kindness, we may be able to encourage other elders and pastors either from SGC or other churches in this region that we may altogether preach one gospel in Mindanao and plant churches that exalt Christ and Christ alone. We are excited for this coming September as we start our PPI level 2 that focuses on Pastoral Theology which is designed only for men in ministry. We are hoping to gather around 25 men for this class.

Thank you for all your sincere prayers and generous partnership in this endeavor of equipping our pastors that we may continue to proclaim His sovereign name in the Philippines.

As what Charles Thomas Studd, a British missionary to China, once said, “Only one life will soon to pass, only what's done in Jesus will last.”

An update from Ricky Alcantar, Lead Pastor of Cross of Grace Church in El Paso, Texas, USA. Ricky serves on the National Church Planting Group with Sovereign Grace Churches and leads the Antioch Program…

Our most recent Antioch Retreat was a wonderful example of our Sovereign Grace Partnership. Men from churches across the Southeast US, from Virginia, the Caribbean, and even from Germany gathered recently in Orlando. We spent two days studying Acts 11-13 and the Antioch church, discussing, dreaming, praying, and planning together. 

Highlights of This Year

• Different Context, Same Scriptural Principles // We had churches from the US South, from small churches and larger churches, and even from four countries. But it was wonderful to see how the principles of Acts apply cross-culturally in every place. 

• New Relationships and Old Partnerships // One of the things I love about Sovereign Grace is that there are rich deep relationships cultivated over time, and there are always new people to connect with and learn from. 

• Ministry of the Word and Spirit // We labored over parts of Scripture together in God's unchanging word but also found the Lord speaking specific encouragements to pastors during our times of prayer. A beautiful blend of expository ministry and Spirit-filled ministry. 

• Regional Flavor // This retreat was unique because nearly the entire Southeast region of US churches participated together, attaching the Antioch retreat to their regional assembly. This was the first time we'd ever tried this and it seemed to work really well - something we'll look at doing in the future where it serves churches. 

• Footgolf! // We were introduced to the sport of "Footgolf" by Pete Shefferstein, which is essentially golf played with a soccer ball. (Yes, really.) I think one of our shared values should be laughter because we certainly laughed quite a bit on the course, especially when Joel's ball landed in a pond and had to be fished out. 

What Is Antioch? 

Antioch retreat aims to equip churches at the intersection of our ecclesiology (nature of the church) and missiology (mission of the church). I like to joke that if Sovereign Grace Churches exists to plant and strengthen churches, Antioch is the "and" that connects those two actions together. It has become a two-day retreat held annually in the US and includes a unique component of follow-up coaching and support for churches that attend the retreat. 

Where Do We Go From Here? 

We are planning to hold our next Antioch retreat next Spring in the Northeast, but are praying about other ways to use this material as well. Antioch is a tool from our family of churches for our family of churches, so we'd loved to see it used in whatever ways our churches find most helpful. 

An update from Bert Turner, Care Pastor at Covenant of Grace, Ohio, USA and Emerging Nations representative to Brazil…

My wife Karen and I had the privilege and joy of spending five weeks in Brazil serving five churches interested in partnership and/or relationship with Sovereign Grace Churches. We spent time with some dear friends and made new friends along the way. It is a joy to now have two ordained Sovereign Grace pastors in Brazil – Emerson Soares and Fabiano Medeiros who are providing leadership in Brazil.

Marcia & Fabiano Medeiros

Emerson & Tati Soares

Igreja CasaVide São Bernardo

We had a wonderful connection with pastors Rafael Yamashiro and André Casamiro, their leadership team and the church. I have been meeting online monthly with Rafael since January 2024, but this was our first visit to the church. These men embrace the gospel and the SGC values and virtues. We all feel the Lord is drawing us toward partnership.

Igreja Arca Santa Rosa

We had a good first visit with Pastor Jónatas Weide and Jefferson Weide (cousins) at a church plant by our friends at Arche Church in Hamburg, Germany. Emerson will continue to pursue the relationship.

Igreja Graça Soberana de Rio Grande

We held the ordination of Emerson as a Sovereign Grace Churches pastor which will lead soon to receiving the first church in Brazil into partnership with SGC!

Pastors & Wives retreat in Rio Grande

We had a wonderful retreat that was primarily relational. Then I taught a seminar on the Church and the Holy Spirit. We felt the Lord’s grace as we grew in relationships and trust.

Igreja Viela Novo Hamburgo

We had a good first visit with Pastor Tarik Rodrigues after connecting with him via video call for the first time in December, 2024. I spoke to the leadership and to the church. This is a remarkable example of grace in church planting. The church has grown in number quickly so they are growing a Gospel culture. We hold very similar theological values. I’m looking forward to more talks with Tarik.

Igreja Reformada Cidade Cinco São Paulo

After developing relationship over three years with Pastor Fabio Leal we had a good first visit with the leadership and church. Fabio hopes to attend the 2025 US Pastors Conference.

We are greatly encouraged by God’s sovereign work in Brazil as he continues to develop meaningful relationships by the Holy Spirit. It is a joy to find churches that embrace the values and virtues that are so precious to us in and through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.