Why The Global Council of Elders Matters
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Benjamin Kreps:
Welcome to the Mark Prater podcast - where our aim is to connect our global family of Sovereign Grace Churches with our executive director. Mark, last week on the podcast you talked about the leadership team retreat where you talked about all kinds of stuff. You shared some of those updates with us. But one thing that was talked about was the Pastor's Conference, which is coming soon. And along with the Pastor's Conference, the Council of Elders meeting that will gather the day before the conference starts on November 17th and you wanted to talk about the Council of Elders and the Pastor's Conference, but let's talk about the Council of Elders.
Mark Prater:
I do want to talk about the Council of Elders meeting and make one specific point in particular. Right now, this Council of Elders meeting that gathers in the states annually is our Global Council of Elders meeting. Meaning that it is the body of men that makes decisions that can impact not just the states but our churches throughout the world. As we expand, if God allows us to expand, until we get to a place where we will have a more defined global council of elders meeting, this council of Elders meeting, even though it meets in the states, and even though has at this point more United States delegates than those outside the states, it is our Global Council of Elders meeting.
Let me just illustrate why that's important. If you are an emerging nation partner church, meaning there's an ordained Sovereign Grace elder in your church somewhere outside of the United States, you have voting privileges on a defined number of things - The statement of faith (any changes in the statement of faith), changes in ordination statuses. We had a long debate last year about ordination standards and that led to a long debate last year about ordination statuses that we chose not to vote on so we can do more work on it. But that's something that can impact any church in Sovereign Grace, whether they're in the states or not, you can vote on that.
You can vote on the delegates to the executive committee because they are the one board that oversees the leadership team and right now, we're the one global leadership team. There are new business motions that could apply to you and your church whether you're in the Philippines or in Mexico or in Columbia, that could impact you. So for example, last year we had a new business motion that Emerging Nation partner delegates voted on where we took the one church planning grant fund that we had and divided it into a United States Fund and a global fund for a number of important reasons.
So again, these are votes that impact you and your church if you are a delegate that exists outside of the United States. I want to encourage any pastor from outside the states to come to our Council of Elders meeting and Pastors Conference. If you're a candidate church, you won't be able to vote at the Council of Elder's meeting, but feel free to come. An Emerging Nation partner church has voting privileges or any church outside of the states that's interested in becoming a part of Sovereign Grace, you're welcome to come and observe. If you're able, Emerging Nation partner delegates to be at the Global Council of Elders meeting on November 17th - if that's a cost issue for you, speak to Dave Taylor. I don't know that he can help you, but he would be the guy to speak with.
For our delegates here in the states who have signed a US partnership agreement, which would include the churches in Toronto, Canada, The Bahamas, and in Jamaica. They can vote on these things because the US BCO does impact them. Just a reminder - if you have any BCO amendments, those are due by August 15th. Those can be sent to me or the executive committee and that's 90 days before our meeting.
Just an encouragement and a reminder that this is a Global Council of Elders meeting has very important business matters that impacts our churches, whether in the states or globally. Sometimes I think we can view this as “Man, this is just a business meeting that we just kind of got to get through.” I understand that, I get that part of it, but those are decisions that impact all of this. So please make it a priority to attend and participate in this meeting.
Benjamin Kreps:
That's helpful clarification, Mark. One of the things that God has been doing - as everybody who's around Sovereign Graces knows - is expanding our global partnership. The introduction of the Mexico region a couple of conferences ago and things like that may create some sense of ‘Where are we going with this? Does Mexico have its own thing?’, but you're helping us understand with this clarification. For now, this remains the Council of Elders. To for anyone listening - if you want to learn more about, if you're outside the States and you want to learn more about Sovereign Grace, you're checking us out – the Council of Elders that's a really wonderful place to go and learn about Sovereign Grace because yes there are business matters going on there and that's important to be able to observe how we do business. I think one of the things that's very enjoyable about being at a Council of Elders meeting is observing the godly way that these pastors conduct themselves in debate, disagreement, and discussion. You really get to see really inside how things get done and it’s not just business and an edifying experience. We sing together and there are prayers that were prayed that still resonate with me from past Council of Elders meetings. I’m looking forward to being with everybody again this year.
Mark Prater:
One thought about Mexico since you brought them up, I'm glad you brought it up for this reason, it'll be three years ago in November, that we voted to establish Mexico as its own nation. Within their nation, they do have their own Council of Elders, but they vote on things that impact their nation. They have their own BCO so BCO amendments that impact them. They wouldn't be able to vote to change the statement of faith or they couldn't vote to change ordination standards or statuses, cause that’s in the BCO. They couldn't vote for executive committee delegates because those are global decisions. In a nation, they have their own council and have certain things they vote on, but only for that nation. At this point, the Council of Elders that meets in the US is our Global Council of Elders. So I'm glad you brought that up, Ben. Thank you.
Benjamin Kreps:
Excellent. Some of us love business meetings, but for those of us who maybe don't quite have that affection yet still. Just the whole context of that gathering, the day before the Pastor's conference is an enriching and edifying experience of partnership that I look forward to each year. But following right after the day after the Council of Elders on November 18, we begin the 2025 Pastors Conference. Talk to us about that - we're recording this in mid-June so we're not far from the pastor's conference.
Mark Prater:
No, we’re not that far away. I wanted to bring it up just to remind folks that - it is very kind of John Piper to accept our invitation to come and speak this year. This year, we're going to do something very unique on that Tuesday when the conference starts. Typically, the whole conference kicks off that Tuesday evening in the main session but we are having a session in the afternoon - for Sovereign Grace pastors, visiting guest pastors, those in the ordination process, PC students or PC grads - with John Piper. It's going to a Q&A with John Piper about pastoral ministry from 3:30 – 5pm, three 30 to five. You don't want to miss this. If you listen to the Ask Pastor John podcast or you read it, this man is filled with years of experience and wisdom.
That's what you're going to enjoy from Dr. Piper that afternoon. So make sure your travel arrangements have you in Orlando to be at that meeting at 3:30 on Tuesday, November 18th. He'll kick off the conference that evening speaking in our very first main session. So by the way, we've got other main speakers we're going to be announcing very, very soon. We discussed this at the leadership team retreat last week. We wanted to let folks know that Dr. Piper was coming. We think through the session topics very carefully and there's usually some strategic or leadership reason we choose the topics that we do. But those main session speakers we announce soon. Let me just remind folks of this. I think this is very important. Early registration ends on June 30th, so we're recording this on June 19th. That's only 11 days away. And if you want to enjoy what I would say is a significant savings on your registration, please register before June 30th.
Benjamin Kreps:
One more thing before we go for some folks, I think there's still some confusion at times about who can go to the pastor's conference. So, I was talking to a guy the other day and I asked him if he had been before and he said “Well, I'm not a pastor, so of course not.” And I said, “Oh, no, no, you don't need to be a pastor.” We're actually bringing a number of folks that aren't pastors. Just to clarify for anybody who might be wondering who is invited to come to the Pastor's conference,
Mark Prater:
Well obviously, pastors, and we really encourage men to bring their wives. There's a breakout session this year for the ladies that is going to be done by Jeff and Julie Purswell. It is going to be really good, so you don't want to miss that just as a bit of incentive to bring your wife. But what we would also encourage young men that you think are called to pastoral ministry and then leaders in your church, whether it's they're small group leaders and ministry team leaders, or maybe even leaders that are emerging and will likely be small group leaders. We just want pastors to bring all those folks from their church. So no, you don't have to be a pastor to come to our pastor's conference.
Benjamin Kreps:
Excellent. We look forward to, as you announced on the last podcast 2026, which is going to be the big blowout where we're just saying, ‘Everybody come, all our leaders at every church’ and we're going to be enjoying a great time together I anticipate next year. But we still have this conference to look forward to. So thanks for the updates, Mark. Thank you everyone for checking out the podcast and we'll see you here next week. Lord willing. Bye for now.