Challenges with Reopening

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Benjamin Kreps:

Hey everyone. And welcome back to the Mark Prater podcast, where our aim is to connect our global family of churches with our Executive Director. Mark, this season has been challenging for pastors. It was challenging to shut down and seek to pastor our churches remotely, unable to gather together, but it could be for some of us that the challenge of reopening and what that has been bringing into our church is maybe harder than the previous one. Do you have any thoughts about that?

Mark Prater:

I do. As I talked to pastors, and again, this is anecdotal, but consistent, I think our pastors are facing decision fatigue to say it that way, and then they have to implement those decisions. So implementation fatigue, not only in the sense that you've got just a lot to talk about, and then you've got to talk about it again. But the pushback that you received from some of the members of your church, regardless of what you decide has a unique, I think, wearing effect upon the pastor's heart and soul right now.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yeah. And I imagine most of the guys that are watching this would say, yeah, in my church, I'm facing people that are upset, people that are expressing anger, disrespect on both sides of all of these issues, as we make those decisions,

Mark Prater:

Right. You've got members who, you know, are dear Christians who at times are not acting like Christians. And I find that these few verses are bringing me perspective right now out of 2 Timothy 2:23. I'm sure verses you men know, but “Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness.”

And that seems very appropriate for this time and for what we're facing as pastors. And I think the place to start there is the reminder that you are the Lord's servant and that's important, I think, for a couple of reasons. God has called you to be a pastor, but you have got to remember who you are as a pastor. You are a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so as you fulfill your responsibilities, what you want to do is represent him.

I think the other thing that just helps me is that even though I'm an under shepherd of the Shepherd and I serve him and I have responsibility for the folks he's given me and I'll give an account for their lives. Ultimately, wherever they land he's going to be responsible for. I can unburden myself knowing that the great servant, the almighty servant, and the Great Shepherd rules and reigns over church. So that's the place to start, I think.

Benjamin Kreps:

I've been saying to Living Hope that this is a moment that calls for our best theology to bring the gospel to bear into disagreement is one of the most important things that we need to do. And that the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome. That has been a mantra. I repeat to myself regularly as I interact with others. Any final thoughts?

Mark Prater:

Well, I think that, you know, thank you for patiently enduring evil. And you know what I mean by that is patiently enduring criticism right now. Because you're going to get critique and people unhappy with you regardless of how you decide to reopen or implement those decisions. So thank you for that. I think, secondly, keep in view, you're not just hearing the input. There are going to be moments at the right time, and timing is very important, when you need to gently correct, whether that is the speech and emotion that maybe the input is brought with. Or it may be in areas where people might not be thinking clearly doctrinally and you need to help them as you're trying to help your church think theologically.

So look for those opportunities to do that because God's using all of this ultimately for his bride and to strength in this church.

Benjamin Kreps:

Amen. I am reading Dane Ortlund’s book, Gentle and Lowly, and was struck by his reminder that Jesus gives rest to those who are heavy laden, which is outside pressures coming down upon us. And so we have a Savior who is eager and open to care for our souls in a difficult season. So thanks for the reminders and the encouragement, Mark. And thank you everyone for watching. We'll see you here next time.

Mark Prater is the Executive Director of Sovereign Grace Churches and has served as an elder at Covenant Fellowship Church since 2002. 

Minimum Daily Requirements for Evangelism

I have always had, a Love/Hate relationship with evangelism – I love the concept, I would love to be successful, I would love for it to be easy and natural, mostly I would love to see people saved and added to local churches. I don’t think any Christian or local church will ever be completely joyful and fulfilled unless passionately involved in evangelism and seeing people saved.  I believe God created us to be that way because we are created after His image and He is that way.  I believe the joy and fulfillment we will experience is the very joy and fulfillment God experiences.

But, I often hate my resume’.  I never feel like I witness enough (even though I can’t even say what enough is), as a result, there is no area of my life I more regularly feel guilt. And when I try I often feel inadequate and anxious.  At times, I would like to ignore the entire subject (make it go away!) but I know that isn’t an option because this is something that God has clearly called every Christian to – can anyone relate?

So doing nothing isn’t an option but what am I to do?  What does it actually look like for the ordinary Christian to evangelize?  So let me just give you 5 simple things that every Christian can do to be involved in the church’s mission to preach the gospel to the lost.

What I call – Minimum Daily Requirements (MDA) for Evangelism.

Be conscious that you are on a mission

All the gospels end with a commission to mission.  Acts begins with a commission.  The best known of these commissioning statements is…

Matt. 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, 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.’”

The commission begins with a mandate to evangelism.  The process of making disciples starts with disciples going to tell unbelievers the good news of what Jesus has done to save them from their sins.   As missionary disciples, we must find ways to remind ourselves daily that there are mission opportunities all around us and that we need to be consciously looking for them.

CHESTER and TIMMIS (Total Church, 63) – “Most gospel ministry involves ordinary people doing ordinary things with gospel intentionality.” 

Pray for the lost and for opportunities to share the gospel

1 Tim. 2:1-4:  “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people…this is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

Praying for the lost is an easy way to remind yourself daily that you are on a mission, plus, I believe these are prayers that God will answer.   Pray for opportunities.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to grant you boldness.  And most of all pray for those people in your life that you long to see saved – those who are close to you but far from God.

Be friendly and engaging

John 4:35: “lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest.”

We all face the temptation to go through life with our heads down.  Evangelism opportunities may arise from simply being nice to people.  Saying hi.  Engaging them in conversation.  Introducing yourself to your neighbor.  Talking to your co-workers, service workers, etc.

This simple friendliness may open opportunities for further conversations, to invite someone over, or to be invited over or to talk about something important someday.  Remember, Jesus was a friend of sinners.

Let people know that you are a Christian

I’m not suggesting telling everyone you meet – “say, by the way, I’m a Christian.”  But there are many ways to talk about your church, the Bible, Christian relationships, etc.  For example, how often does someone ask - what did you do this weekend?

Once people know you are a Christian they will start looking at you differently, observing you, give you a chance to break stereotypes, and you will be surprised how people may seek you out when they have questions or problems.

Share a tract, your story, the gospel as the opportunity arises

Actually sharing the gospel is the goal.  All the above positions you to do so.  But if the opportunity arises are you prepared?

1 Peter 3:15:  “Always being prepared to make a defense (NIV - to give an answer) to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.”

Being a witness requires some work on your part.   Could you simply and accurately share the gospel?  Can you explain simply why a person needs to be saved; how the gospel saves and how one is called to respond?  Can you explain simply your story? 

In the coming months, Jim and I are going to be fleshing out these MDAs in ways that we hope will help you – do the work of an evangelist – and help your members experience the joy of sharing the gospel and seeing God work in the lives of their family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers.

Planning for Church Planting

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Benjamin Kreps:

Hey everyone. Welcome back to the Mark Prater podcast where our aim is to connect our global family of churches with our Executive Director. Mark, you guys have a Leadership Team retreat next week, I believe. And while you're at that retreat, one of the things you're going to be talking about is church planning. And Eric Turbedsky  is now our Director of Church Planting and is leading us in some ways to think about moving forward. Maybe it's a weird time for some of us to think church planting. We're just trying to get our Sunday gatherings going again. But perhaps this is the best time in the world to think about church planting. So, what are your thoughts about church planning and the way forward in Sovereign Grace?

Mark Prater:

Well, we do have a retreat next week. It's via zoom, which is very disappointing for us because we're so geographically spread out as a leadership team. Those retreats every three times a year are so important in building relationships and having time to linger over strategic discussions. We're going to miss those. But we are going to talk about church planting. And I'm so glad that we are because no pandemic is going to stop Sovereign Grace from planting churches.

Ben Kreps:

Yeah. So what are the kinds of things that you're wanting to encourage us in, you'll be discussing next week? And just the way we're thinking about moving forward as pastors?

Mark Prater:

Well, the thoughts I'm going to give really are coming from our Director, our new Director of Church Planting, Eric Turbedsky. He's been putting a lot of thought into this and working with the guys that have been a part of the National Church Planting Group. So their input has been very, very helpful, as well. But what we're looking at church planting and really trying to study it in how it will work best and Sovereign Grace. So we've benefited from evangelicalism in terms of how to identify, equip and deploy a church planter.

So one of the things I think we're going to probably just tweak a little bit or maybe put more of an emphasis on, I think historically in church planting, what you see is a man who has a burden to plant a church. This is a wonderful thing and we still want that. And then he's sent from a church to go plant a church and we kind of just want to tweak that a little bit.

We want guys to have burdens to plant a church, but we want their eldership that they're being sent from to have a burden to plant churches. We think that sort of represents who we are a little bit more. It fits our emphasis on local churches and local churches planting local churches. We also think it honors our polity. So it's not just one guy who's got a burden. it's an eldership who's saying we want to go plant an hour away and, and, and see the gospel proclaimed there to the loss because we're going to plant a church. That's one of the differences we're talking about.

Benjamin Kreps:

So a more robust partnership in the planting that endures beyond that initial first year or two of planting.

Mark Prater:

Yeah, exactly. I think the other thing that Eric is, and sort of in relation to that beyond the first year, that Eric is starting to talk about and put an emphasis on is there are a number of ways to equip church planters and we've benefited again from the evangelical world in that way. But to make sure that guys understand our values, it's important as you think about planting churches and you think about the long-term churches that endure over time are those that we want to embody and really celebrate our gospel values that we share. So looking to make sure that training is not only a part of what they experienced if they go to the Pastors College, but a part of their equipping as a church planter as well.

Benjamin Kreps:

That's great. So we're looking to not only see doctrine duplicated, but sort of our spiritual DNA and the gospel vibe of Sovereign Grace Churches duplicated wherever we plant.

Mark Prater:

Yeah, that's exactly right. Let me just say one thing. If you guys will get this podcast on Monday of next week. I think that's June 1st. Our Leadership Team retreat is June 2nd and 3rd via Zoom, again. So pray for that, but do this, pray as an eldership about where you could plant a church. Just begin to have those conversations. Ask the Spirit of God to lead you. And I just think that out of this pandemic, we're going to see wonderful opportunities to advance the gospel and some of those are going to happen through church planting that your church may very well be a part of. 

Benjamin Kreps:

Yeah. Don't limit what God could do through your church, even in the middle of a pandemic.

Mark Prater:

Exactly. 

Benjamin Kreps:

So thanks for your encouragement. We'll be praying for you guys and we look forward to seeing you back here soon, right on this podcast. Bye for now.

Mark Prater is the Executive Director of Sovereign Grace Churches and has served as an elder at Covenant Fellowship Church since 2002. 

Resources for the Pastor's Soul

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Benjamin Kreps:

Hey everyone and welcome back to the Mark Prater podcast where our aim is to connect our global family of churches with our Executive Director, Mark. You know, we in Sovereign Grace, we're not just leaders. As we lead our church, we're also pastors, of course. And so we've talked about some leadership issues and past podcasts recently, but what are some categories that you would encourage us as we seek to pastor those in our church through this crisis?

Mark Prater:

Yeah, the pandemic has raised pastoral issues or heightened pastoral issues, I think in every church. And so I think it's one that we need to think about and the things I'm about to share, I think our categories are guys are already thinking. And so the first one I would say is have a category of biblical lament.

Many of the guys, I'm sure, have preached through some of the lament Psalms. But make sure you're bringing that back either through teaching or encouragement that there's a place for lament in a crisis like this. And let me be a little bit more specific. Obviously biblical lament includes complaint, but that complaint must always move towards trust. And if it doesn't, it's just complaining. And I think we as Christians have an opportunity to distinguish ourselves from the world that just complains by doing what we should do with our complaint, which is to take it to God in honesty and humility, and then turn it towards trusting God that you see consistently throughout the lament songs.

Benjamin Kreps:

And so one idea would definitely be, if you haven't already, to think about preaching a lament Psalm and helping your people navigate through that. What else?

Mark Prater:

Yeah, I think preaching through it. Or you could, if you're doing small groups, recommend a book. I would recommend Dark clouds, Deep Mercy by Mark Vroegop, if I pronounced his name right. One other recommendation I wanted to give our guys in terms of resources under this category, I would encourage you, listen to CJ Mahaney’s sermon from Sunday, May 17 from Philippians 2. The title is “What To Do When the Pandemic Turns Divisive.” And he preaches from Philippians 2:14-16 and addresses this issue of complaining, I think very helpfully and very pastorally.

Benjamin Kreps:

Very helpful. Excellent sermon. And I mean even just the category he talks about shining  lights in a dark world connected simply from the absence of grumbling and arguing was a very helpful thing to think about as well.

Mark Prater:

Yeah, I think the other category to be thinking in, and I'm sure guys are already experiencing this, but, but be mindful of those in your church who are isolated or live alone, especially if they have some sort of preexisting pastoral issues. Because it seems, from what I'm hearing in talking to pastors and even people in our own church, that the loneliness, the isolation is causing a sort of a heightening of the pastoral issues that they may be facing. Just our ability to gather together brings more of a normalcy, a sense of, of health to a person's soul, right? So when they can't do that it's really important that we check in on those who are isolated and lonely to see how they're doing. And  if they're wrestling then I would give them resources. I think you know, Gentle and Lowly, guys have heard about that book, by Dane Ortlund. That would be a great resource to give to people like that.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yeah. I mean, what a wonderful book, which really seems to be a modern version of some Puritan works like from Richard Sibbes, The love of Christ and things like that, which are just communicated how the Lord Jesus Christ feels about people that are sinners and suffers. It's a very encouraging and I think that's a great recommendation. Yeah. Any other thoughts?

Mark Prater:

Well, I think the last thought is I've given those recommendations. I just think our guys are doing a great job. I've been interacting with a lot of pastors, phone calls, texts, sometimes Zoom meetings. Their steadfastness in just looking to lead and care for the people that God has given them, I think is truly remarkable. What I'm seeing is James 1 right before my eyes that they are counting it all joy as they face trials, meet trials of various kinds. It's testing their faith that is producing a steadfastness that I see in our guys and I want them to be aware of the grace of God at work in their lives. So guys, thanks for being steadfast.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yeah. Amen. I've talked to a number of pastors, Sovereign Grace pastors, over the last couple of months and just every time impressed by the careful way that our guys are thinking through issues seeking to care for their church. I'm learning whenever I talk to a Sovereign Grace pastor. I mean, we just have choice men as pastors in Sovereign Grace. I just want to amen that as well. Okay. Well, thanks Mark, for sharing your thoughts with us and thank everyone for watching and we'll see you here soon.

Mark Prater is the Executive Director of Sovereign Grace Churches and has served as an elder at Covenant Fellowship Church since 2002. 

Pastoral Encouragement

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Benjamin Kreps:

Hey everyone. And welcome back to the Mark Prater podcast where our aim is to connect our global family of churches with our Executive Director, Mark. As we continue to navigate through this pandemic, as pastors carrying various burdens hearing a diverse collection of voices and perspectives from our church. What thoughts, what suggestions would you have to encourage us to prepare our hearts and our minds as we communicate to our churches?

Mark Prater:

Yeah, it's a good question. I've been thinking about this because I think our pastors are feeling the need to communicate effectively and consistently to their church knowing that their members have different comfort levels and different perspectives regarding the pandemic and how reopening should even occur. I think a pastor has to kind of do work in his own heart first so that it affects the tone of his communication and do some thoughtful theological work that informs what he does communicate.

Benjamin Kreps:

So what kinds of ways might you suggest some approaches to think about preparing our hearts in that way to be theologically informed and ready to communicate in that way?

Mark Prater:

Well, here's what I would recommend is as you sort of just listen to all of the noise out there. Well, one of the things that I've had just a growing concern about is more of a cavalier attitude that people bring towards this. And I don't think that should mark God's under shepherds.

I think the place to start for us as pastors is for 1 Peter 5 where Peter is writing to elders and he says there, “Clothe yourselves.” Then he adds that phrase, “… all of you with humility toward one another because God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.” So we should wear humility in that sense. And I'm not talking about weakness when I say humility, right? I'm talking about humility that also includes a Christlike strength. And I think our humility must begin vertical so that we are men who fear God in this. And that's a part of Romans 13 actually, that we're called to follow civil authorities because there is a judgment seat that awaits us that we have to give an account for. Just that fear of the Lord should engender and should stir humility enough.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yeah, I mean I'm working through that text right now and it just is clear that even if we agree or disagree about the application of what it means to submit to the government, because there's certainly situations where we won't. And where that is, people might have different perspectives on that whole respect and honor must be present in the middle of all of that I think speaks to exactly what you're talking about.

Mark Prater:

Yeah, that's exactly right. And it's the tone of a pastor's communication is one of humility, clarity, theological clarity, in particular, the sermon and yet strength. And so I think take time to just to wrestle with your own hearts and make sure that you're pursuing Christlike humility. That's the place to start.

Benjamin Kreps:

That's great counsel preparing the heart when it comes to preparing the mind. Any resources that you might recommend to aid are thinking.

Mark Prater:

Yeah. And as I recommend resources, let me just say this, that I want to keep saying this over and over again. Because these are my thoughts. I'm on the Leadership Team and so yeah, guys interpret them as leadership team thoughts, which is understandable.

Every situation is going to be different locally. That's because different governors in the States, anyway, are making different decisions and even within States, different County Commissioners are making different decisions. So it really depends on what's happening locally. And it also depends on your church. You know, your church best, so make decisions that are best for your church. So these are just thoughts. These are not mandates.

Benjamin Kreps

Everyone, hopefully we all understand, hopefully everyone watching understands this is a podcast to help us understand what's going on in Mark's mind and heart and encouragement. These are suggestions.

Mark Prater:

Right, exactly.

Benjamin Kreps:

And you may differ in your perspective.

Mark Prater:

Yeah, I think one of the most I think, well first of all I would do what you’re doing. Study Romans 13. I think that's a good place to start. Make sure you've got a good theological baseline on what Scripture says there. A helpful resource I found was Jonathan Lehman's article where he wrote, I forget the title, but you know, when should churches ignore guidelines and engage in civil disobedience.

Benjamin Kreps:

It’s on the IX Marks website. So you can find it.

Mark Prater:

You know, he sets it up there. There's the government responsibility basically to protect life. That's one of the God given mandates. You see that throughout Scripture, which is in play right now during a pandemic. And that comes in meets with the church’s freedom and obligation to gather together, certainly here in the States. And so how does a church think about that? He gave a couple of really good thoughts, which I'll give to you. Is the government presenting a reasonable argument to protect life and if they're presenting a reasonable argument to protect life, I think you've really to consider that and follow that.

However, if they begin being unreasonable, then you've got to ask the question, do we have to follow those guidelines? The other one that he said, which I thought was really good is, is the government at all singling out churches and preventing them from meeting. So if they're opening up all different other kinds of venues, like big concerts and certainly obviously malls and shopping malls and that kind of thing, and there's still restricting churches. That would be another occasion where you've got to wrestle through, do we meet anyway?

But I think what we're finding overall is there's no, at least in the States, I'm not aware of any mandate that's keeping a church from preaching the gospel right now. You can do that live stream, you can do that through video, through other means. They are giving guidelines for gathering depending on the state. You and I were talking earlier here in Pennsylvania, churches could gather. They're just recommending that they don't. So again, it's a local issue,

Benjamin Kreps

Great thoughts. And I think there's, in the middle of all of this, there's a lot of gray for us to navigate through as pastors. There's wisdom calls and your expectation to be thinking theologically and also be processing this humbly is a helpful one. So thank you Mark, and thank you everyone for watching the podcast and we'll see you again right here soon.

Mark Prater is the Executive Director of Sovereign Grace Churches and has served as an elder at Covenant Fellowship Church since 2002. 

Thoughts on Reopening

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Benjamin Kreps:

Hey everyone and welcome back to the Mark Prater podcast where our aim is to connect our global family of churches with our Executive Director. Mark, we're talking about reopening as the conversation continues and we navigate through this pandemic. There are some Sovereign Grace churches that have begun to gather again. Why don't you tell us about that?

Mark Prater:

Yeah, I'm only aware of a couple, but I think that number is going to grow, obviously, in the coming months. So Emmaus Road Church in Bozeman, Montana. The restrictions in that state are a little bit different, obviously. Joel Carlson has begun to gather his church and then I'm aware that Cornerstone Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, held some services on Sunday where they limited it to 100 members that they had by invite, partly to give them a bit of a trial run for what it could like look like as they expand that number.

Benjamin Kreps:

And what did it look like when they gathered? There were some sort of precautions that they were taking? Correct? Masks and some things like that.

Mark Prater:

Right. I was aware of precautions that Tommy Hill was sharing with me. I haven't talked to anyone from Cornerstone since Sunday, so I don't know exactly what they did, but they were obviously going to have disinfecting stations with hand sanitizer. The building had been sanitized. They were going to use social distancing, allowing family units to sit together since families are quarantined together. That makes a whole lot of sense.

Limiting the service to 100. I believe they were talking about folks wearing masks but not during the preaching, at least these were ideas they were kicking around. And I just mention all of that because I think that this is one of the ways, again, that we benefit from our partnership with Sovereign Grace. As churches go before us, some churches go before us and reopen, we can really learn from them.

And I like that because all of these thoughts about reopening don't have to come from the Leadership Team. They can come from our pastors and what they’re actually learning. So we'll try to keep you updated on who's reopening first.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yeah. Wonderful. So in the middle of all this, while we're making plans, many of us without any certain plan from the authorities, but attempting to make plans as much as we can, how do you view the way we should be communicating to our churches throughout all of this?

Mark Prater:

Yeah, it's a great question and it's one of the questions we plan to discuss on Thursday. This podcast will drop into the guys boxes on Monday the 11th, and on Thursday May 14th at 2:30 Eastern, we're going to have another quarterly zoom meeting that all of our Sovereign Grace pastors can voluntarily participate in. Mickey and I will be leading that. So please join us for that and you'll be getting information soon and Zoom information in particular.

But one of the questions we're going to kick around is how do you communicate effectively to your church about reopening, knowing that you've got members who are going to have different levels of comfort about gathering together again.

Benjamin Kreps:

And any thoughts about how to navigate around the expectations of folks in the church, the way that they are processing? It's a mixed bag. I know it is in my church. We have people who are talking about how they would like to begin civil disobedience. We have others who have informed us they will not be leaving their home for a long time. So any thoughts about managing expectations and actually encouraging people as we communicate about whatever our plan will be connected to the guidelines and the regulations?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, my thoughts. I've got some thoughts, but any pastor knows his church best. So my thoughts may not be helpful. You're going to have to really communicate in a way that you think will best serve your church. But I would guess most churches are going to have a mixed response to this.

So I think I'd be really upfront. I would just be saying things like, we're going to have members who have different levels of comfort about gathering together again. And those who may be reluctant to gather sooner. We don't want to make judgements about their maturity. We don't want to use that as a litmus test for their maturity. Rather, we just want to relate to them in charity and in love. And it's just a great time for the church to be patient with one another as God's patient with us.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, here where we are, we have just regularly been telling the church even as we begin to gather again, and we're a long ways off, I think, in Pennsylvania, but we'll see. We don't have actual guidance about when things are going to be opening up. But just regularly communicating that we understand if you need to stay home, if you want to stay home, if it's wise to stay home, even as we gather, even if we can all be together again on a Sunday morning. No condemnation, extending grace, totally understand. We're keeping the live stream going so people can participate that way. So I think that's really important.

Mark Prater:

I think the other, you know, communication issue that guys have to think through is how do you set, how do you communicate, the right expectations for that first Sunday or first Sundays when you gather together? Because I think it's going to feel a little bit different. And how do you do that without diminishing joy or the enthusiasm about gathering and yet setting expectations right? I’ve still got think through that question a bit more, but we hope to discuss that on our Zoom meeting next week.

Benjamin Kreps:

Excellent. Any other thoughts about reopening?

Mark Prater:

I think the other thing I've been thinking about, and this would depend on your state and the restrictions, but as the weather gets warmer, small groups could meet outside. You know, if you've got somebody who's got a yard that's big enough, you could bring lawn chairs and spread out and keep social distancing and still have great fellowship together. So I think the warmer weather will actually help us begin to enjoy fellowship actually being together rather than over Zoom.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yeah. I like that letter that you sent to me from the president of Purdue University where there was a line in there that said something like: this is a serious and sobering challenge, but this calls for leaders to think courageously and creatively about the way forward. And so I think that certainly applies to the pastors as well. We’ve got to get creative, I think, even as we're being faithful and I'm being careful. Well, thanks for your thoughts, Mark. I guess we'll see you on the Zoom call Thursday afternoon.

Mark Prater:

Great.

Benjamin Kreps:

And thank you everyone else for watching and we'll see you next time. Right here. Bye for now.

Mark Prater is the Executive Director of Sovereign Grace Churches and has served as an elder at Covenant Fellowship Church since 2002. 

PPP Loan Guidance Update

You likely have seen recent updates on Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loan Guidance.  But I want to make sure you are aware of this important update. 

The Small Business Administration (SBA) released FAQ #46 addressing how they will review whether a borrower’s good faith certification concerning the necessity of their PPP loan request.  The key point that affects all our churches is that PPP loans of less than $2,000,000 will be deemed to have made the required certification concerning the necessity of the loan request in good faith.  Their reasoning is primarily that small businesses and non-profits whose loan amount is less than this don’t readily have access to alternative sources of funding and financing and are presumed to need access to these funds.

For all our churches that received (or in the process of receiving) a PPP Loan, I would consider the following:

• Make sure that you continue to involve your local leadership and financial advisory teams and make them aware of all matters pertaining to this loan, including this update, and involve them in any decisions made with respect to the PPP Loan.

• Make sure that you are accurately tracking your expenditures on payroll, mortgage, and utilities for your eight week period from the receipt of loan proceeds to help you calculate your potential loan forgiveness.

• Given that certification is no longer an issue, I would recommend not trying to make any determination at this time whether you believe your church needs to accept forgiveness of the loan at this time.

  • Processing of forgiveness doesn’t begin until after June 30, and just like this guidance, many changes can take place over the next six weeks.  I would just keep a close eye on what further guidance may come.

  • In this season of economic uncertainty and delayed effect of job losses, churches that were doing well in March and April could see larger declines in their giving this summer or even into the fall.  The intent of these programs are to maintain full employment.  My hope would be that a local church could make this final evaluation of whether to benefit from the loan forgiveness at the end of 2020.  This further guidance from the SBA that automatically confirms certification of the need (assuming none of our churches received a $2 Million loan!) makes that more possible to wait until year-end.

• I understand that there as some who still question the wisdom of whether to receive financial aid from the government at all.  Each local church should discuss this matter and how to explain to your church your position on this if necessary. I have discussed this issue extensively with the leadership team and a number of pastors have reached out to me for counsel.  I am available to discuss with you if you believe it would help your team.

Please feel free to contact me personally if you have any questions on this or any other financial matters that may be affecting your local church. It is my great privilege and joy to serve you all!

Tommy Hill serves as the Director of Finance for Sovereign Grace Churches. He is also the Administrator for Cornerstone Church of Knoxville where he lives with his wife Elizabeth and their children.

Loving Our Neighbors

 VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

 Benjamin Kreps:

 Hey everyone. Welcome back to the Mark Prater podcast where our aim is to connect our global family of churches with our Executive Director. Mark last time, last week, we talked about how Sovereign Grace Churches has been stepping up to embrace the privilege of financially providing for partners globally who are really struggling even more than we are when it comes to food shortages and things like that. But, apparently the rest of Sovereign Grace and some we didn't know about at the time that had already happened, you know, basically said, hold my beer. And all kinds of things have happened giving wise since then? Can you tell us about that?

 Mark Prater:

Yeah, it's so encouraging. I want our guys to hear there's been this explosion of generosity and let me say it that way. Within the last week, we've now raised over $90,000 that's making its way, if it's not there already, to two nations that have real needs of people that basically need food during this pandemic. So, I'll just give you a little bit of an idea.

Liberia at least $10,000 your region gave to that and Sovereign Grace Church in Sydney, both churches in Sydney, gave to that. In the Philippines, well over $22,000, Sovereign Grace Church of Orange, Covenant Life Fellowship in Roseburg, both churches in Sydney, Rich’s church, Center Church in Gilbert, Arizona and Sovereign Grace Church of Pasadena. And then we gave some money out of the central budget. We sent money to a closed nation where Scott Crook has taken initiative to train pastors theologically from that nation. He's from the Midwest-Northwest region. So, churches in that region have given.

Again, the Roseburg church gave $8,000, Bolivia, almost $20,000. An individual donor gave $5,000. Center Church in Gilbert, the church in Richmond, Kingsway, Grace Church in Clarksburg, the Mid-South region. And then there's some needs in Mexico that's emerging. So Rich’s church gave money there. And then Ricky Alcantar’s church, Cross of Grace Church in El Paso, gave almost $1,900 to a pastor by the name of JP. He was at our conference a couple years ago and I've already received pictures back where he's distributing food to people in their area. So there is a strong global partnership right now that's functioning in this pandemic.

Benjamin Kreps:

So beautiful. Just the surge of generosity coming from churches in our denomination. And you had some thoughts about what's behind that. It’s not just a desire to be kind to people, but something even more substantial. 

Mark Prater:

Yeah. I think that it’s the effect of a couple of things. I believe it's the faithful preaching of the gospel week in and week out by our pastors in our churches. And it's the intentional way that we have always built a gospel culture. And we've got to credit C.J. for teaching us how to do that. We all stand on his shoulders, but we're continuing to build that gospel culture so that the good works that God's created us to do, Ephesians 2:10, really does flow from the gospel itself.

Benjamin Kreps:

The general generosity proceeding from the generosity of God in Christ.

Mark Prater:

Yeah, exactly. And by the way, we're not just seeing this globally, we're seeing it locally. So I've started hearing reports of how churches, Sovereign Grace Churches, where members are taking initiative on their own. So work with local food banks to get food and then distribute that food in their community or to members of the church in need. So that's happened in Marlton, New Jersey and Souderton, Pennsylvania. I was just up in Wissinoming in Northeast Philadelphia with Dan Birkholz, his church. They're doing that so that it's not just a global work that's being done. It's a local one as well. In fact, you're doing a similar thing there at Living Hope.

Benjamin Kreps: 

Yeah, we are. A couple of weeks ago we worked with a local food pantry, big organization, to purchase 322 boxes of food, I believe, 35 to 40 pound boxes of food. And so we had a drive through food blessing two weeks ago and again on a Friday. And we had a couple of hundred cars passing through, actually about 300 cars passing through. 

Over the course of two hours, a team of folks from a community group were out there handing out boxes and so it was something that we haven't done before. We haven't tried something like this before, but it was gratifying to see how much of a blessing it was and how much we were actually meeting the need without amount of people that were driving through. So that was the idea of a community group and in our church.

And so we're doing it again tomorrow, so the podcast won't be till Monday, but Friday we're doing another one, same amount of boxes essentially. And, again, that's community groups that are coming together to purchase many of the of food and actually to staff the handout. So the thought is a God's doing unexpected things and expanding our vision about what it means to be a blessing in our community and to reach others with the love of Christ.

Mark Prater:

So, Ben, how would you say that strengthens the gospel culture you're building at Living Hope? 

Benjamin Kreps:

Yeah. Well, you know, of course an essential part of ensuring that there's a healthy gospel culture is that we're actually, our lives are lived in accord with the gospel and we're walking in a manner worthy of the gospel. So this is just a practical way to put feet and hands on those things that we hold dearly when it comes to generosity.

And wanting to see the glory of Christ fill Middletown because of the gospel. So this just gives us a fresh opportunities to step into practically walking out the beauty of the gospel in being a blessing in our community. So it just put its put legs on it for us in a way that maybe we haven't quite done before. 

 Mark Prater:

And all of that's being done, what I've seen, is with joy. So joy marks a gospel culture, right, Philippians 4, rejoice always, again, I say rejoice. With an explosion of generosity, I think there's an explosion of joy. 

Ben Kreps: 

Yes, yes, definitely. So, well, the stories keep piling up and we anticipate that we will hear more and more stories about churches that are stepping into generosity and seeking to be a blessing and to love people, love our neighbor during this season. So, thanks for filling us in with some of those stories and we'll talk again soon. So, thanks Mark. And thank you everybody who's been watching. God bless every pastor who's watching this podcast as you seek to be faithful and love your neighbor and express the beauty of the gospel and your local context. So we'll see you next time.

Mark Prater is the Executive Director of Sovereign Grace Churches and has served as an elder at Covenant Fellowship Church since 2002.

Is Evangelism a Spiritual Gift?

If you could change anything about yourself to make you more effective in evangelism, what would you change?   I’ve asked this question to many people, over many years, in many different places.  Typically people will say: “I wish I were bolder.”, “I wish I knew how to answer questions better.”,  “I wish I was more outgoing.”  It’s pretty easy to come up with a list of things about ourselves that make us unqualified to do evangelism.  But imagine the early disciples reasoning in the same manner: “Listen guys, Phillip really seems like a people-person. Let’s have him do the reaching out.” or “Bartholomew seems to be smart and pretty persuasive. Let’s get him to do the evangelism.”  That would be preposterous.  Why?  Because all the disciples were busy proclaiming the gospel (Acts 8:1-4)!  From the very beginning, becoming a follower of Christ always included becoming a “fisher of men” (Mark 1:17).  It was a job not just for the outgoing, not just for the socially gifted, but for everybody.

Here’s another way of looking at it.  Have you ever heard a Christian say, “I’m not gifted in prayer - I’ll leave it to those who are really spiritual.” or “I’m not gifted in reading the Bible - I’ll leave that to the intellectuals.”? You’ve probably never heard this because these statements would sound ridiculous coming from a true Christian.  But here is a statement that I have heard many true Christians make: “I’m not gifted in evangelism - I’ll just leave it to those who are more outgoing.”  Although I understand the feeling, I think that statement is as off base as the others.

Many Christians think they don’t have the “gift of evangelism” so they regularly opt out of it. Sadly, the mindset of “it’s-not-my-gift” has kept innumerable laborers from entering the harvest field. But the Bible never mentions the gift of evangelism.  Rather, it mentions the gift of the “evangelist,” a church leader given “to equip the saints for the work of ministry” (Eph. 4:11-12), in this case, the work of evangelism. 

Christians don’t need to be uniquely gifted to evangelize; rather, we need to be equipped!  Evangelism is not a gift given to some, it’s a command given to all.  One of our main callings as followers of Christ is to help others become followers of Christ.  Many of us have misfiled evangelism in the spiritual gift drawer when it needs to be filed in the spiritual discipline drawer.   It’s not reserved for those who are outgoing, any more than Bible study is reserved for those who are studious.

When we make this correction in our minds, we see that we should seek to grow and be accountable in evangelism just as we are in other spiritual disciplines.  Accountability is one of the key tools that God uses to help us grow.  We are accountable in areas that are important to us - areas like quiet times, purity, scripture memory, etc.  But we are rarely accountable in the area of evangelism.  My community group has tried to make this adjustment by talking about reaching out.  We will periodically go around the room and talk about who we are reaching out to or if we have had an opportunity to connect with someone who doesn’t know the Lord.  It’s always motivating to hear the stories, and it’s also a reminder that God wants to use us.  It’s not that we don’t desire to reach people for Christ - that isn’t the issue (at least not in my community group).  It’s just that it can be hard to make it a priority and fit it into our busy schedules.  Accountability is what makes the difference.  We recognize that evangelism is something we’re all called to participate in and we need each other to help us get there.  

I have often thought about my church and how it is filled with wonderful, fun-loving, hospitable, enjoyable people.  What has stumped me over the years is how to get this fun-loving bunch connected with unbelieving men and women.  I believe that encouraging each other in the context of small groups can help. We won’t all have the same passion or effectiveness when it comes to reaching unbelievers.  But we can all grow.  And by God’s grace, He will use each of us, with our personal strengths and weaknesses and our specific personalities, to tell people about the glorious gospel of Christ.

Jim Donahue is the Pastor of Evangelism at Covenant Fellowship Church, Glenn Mills, PA.

Virtual Learning Resource from MinistrySafe

Given that most schools are utilizing “virtual learning” during the COVID-19 pandemic, Greg Love and Kimberlee Norris at MinistrySafe developed a risk analysis and best practices (below) to help educators and teachers to protect children from online abuse. I’m sending this resource to you not only to broaden your knowledge base, but you may also have teachers and educators in your church that could benefit from the expertise MinistrySafe provides.

Mark Prater is the Executive Director of Sovereign Grace Churches and has served as an elder at Covenant Fellowship Church since 2002.