I look forward to you reading this testimony that Cale Benefield recently sent me. It represents two things that I believe are to be central to our evangelistic efforts: building relationally with unbelievers so we might be able to eventually share the gospel with them and covering all our efforts with prayer. . .
Read MoreIn his 1920 presidential candidacy, Warren G. Harding coined the campaign slogan “a return to normalcy.” The idea was to allow the country to get back to the place it was before World War One. Although hardly the same as recovering from a world war, I think I can speak for all of us when I say we long for a “return to normalcy” for our Sunday morning meetings from our very abnormal experiences because of COVID–19.
Read MoreThis is our second in a series of articles that influenced our approach to biblical counseling. It is an article by Edward Welch titled, “Exalting Pain? Ignoring Pain? How Do We Counsel Those Who Suffer?”
Read MoreIn his book Prayer, John Bunyan said “You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.” I think that is great counsel when it comes to our evangelism…
Read MoreI’ve been trying to reach out to people ever since I became a Christian many years ago. I have a pretty easy time getting to know people, drawing them out, looking for opportunities to serve, and trying to invite them to come to church or the Bridge Course. I’ve noticed that many people seem receptive or at least polite during these interactions, but I rarely see people actually come to something I’ve invited them to. Until recently…
Read MoreHey everyone. And welcome back to the Mark Prater podcast, where our aim is to connect our global family of churches with our Executive Director. Hey Mark…
Read MoreMany of us remember the days of thinking carefully through our approach to counseling and the therapeutic movement. But many of us weren’t even around in those days. Over the next few months, I’m going to be posting some of the articles that were particularly formative for SG as we developed a Biblical approach to counseling God’s people. My hope is that reading these historically important articles will be a helpful reminder to many and helpful new thoughts for others…
Read MoreAmong the many things I have and continue to love about SGC is the relationships and care we share as pastors. Creating a BCO has served to create a greater structure for those elements, especially through regions and regional leaders. In addition to these, we have developed a coaching program for our church planters that, from all I’ve heard, has had a big-time effect in preparing them to plant and in supporting them in the first year of planting. We recently expanded that coaching program to serve our international pastors…
Read MoreWhat do you do when you encounter people who are self-righteous and arrogant? Roll your eyes? Make an excuse to walk away from them? Give them some self-righteousness of your own? When Jesus encountered the rich young ruler in Mark 10, he had that opportunity. The man wanted to be sure that he had eternal life, which was good. He also believed that he had kept the law and deserved a place in heaven; in short, he was self-righteous and arrogant. So how did Jesus respond to the young man’s blatant boasting and self-assurance? Verse 21 says, “And Jesus, looking at him, loved him…” Without getting into what Jesus said in order to expose the man’s idolatry and call him to repentance, let’s consider what Jesus did…
Read MoreHey, welcome to the Mark Prater podcast. My name is Eric Turbedsky. I work for Ben Kreps, I’m his new administrative assistant here today. I'm broadcasting live from California with our favorite Executive Director, Mark double K Prater. This podcast exists to connect our global family of churches to our Executive Director so you can know a little bit more about him, what he does, and really get a picture into the backend of Sovereign Grace Churches and all the things that are going on. So it's good to see you, Mark…
Read More