Three of the key leaders in our family of churches are serving at a conference in Puerto Rico this weekend. Bob Kauflin, Jeff Purswell, and Mark Prater.
Check out this brief video taken in an informational meeting about Sovereign Grace Churches. Pray God would use our church union to encourage and equip the church in Puerto Rico.
Our Sister Church in the Bahamas
Please pray for Kingdom Life Church. They are a sister Sovereign Grace church in Nassau, Bahamas and bracing for Hurricane Mathew.
Ask God to protect the members of this church and to use them as a source of mercy and grace in the days and weeks to come.
We've asked everyone who accepted our challenge to read 12 books in 12 months to submit one sentence from every book they read. As John Piper says, “Books don’t change people, paragraphs do — sometimes sentences.”
This month two different guys named David read Under Our Skin by Benjamin Watson. Here are their sentences.
"The solution to the problem of race in America will be found only by ordinary people, "good" people, looking inside themselves, being honest about the assumptions and biases that have formed, and beginning to change what's in their hearts."
"I'm embarrassed because the looting, violent protests, and lawbreaking only confirm-and in the minds of many, validate-the stereotypes and thus the inferior treatment."
From our denomination's blog early this week...
The city of Charlotte, NC experienced the second night of protests last night after a deadly police shooting earlier this week. On Tuesday, Keith Lamont Scott, an African-American man, was shot and killed by a police officer while waiting for his son to get home from school. At this point, the specific details of the shooting remain unclear while police conduct their investigation.
Because Sovereign Grace has a church in Charlotte, Crossway Community Church, I reached out to their Sr. Pastor, Mickey Connolly, and asked how we can pray for Crossway and the city of Charlotte. Because the shooting incident occurred less than 3 miles from Crossway, Mickey asked that we, as a family of churches, pray in the following ways:
- Pray for, and grieve with, the Scott family
- Pray for all those who have been injured in the protests
- Pray that wise and peace loving people in our community would join together to bring help and healing to the present and genuine strategies for change in the future
- Pray for justice to be done as the police conduct their investigations
- Pray for our police officers that they would be protected while doing their jobs. Pray that they would exercise wisdom and discretion especially during the high-pressure situations they so often face.
- Pray for racial reconciliation in our nation—that men and women with good hearts and good judgment would work together to bring increasing reconciliation so that all could live free from fear and in genuine harmony with all who are made in the image of God.
- Pray for the Crossway Community Church Pastoral Team who are participating in a prayer meeting today with other local pastors asking God to use their prayer meeting to build them together so they can help serve their communities.
Thanks for taking the time to pray for Crossway, and for the city of Charlotte. In the midst of the unrest and racial tensions currently in our nation, we as Christians can offer hope and peace that is found only in Jesus Christ and his work in the gospel, “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility” (Eph. 2:14, ESV).
Nine Men
Twenty-four Hours
One Goal
Please join us in praying for the leaders headed out this evening on a 24 hour retreat. Ask God to meet them as they labor to serve us with faith and joy. They need courage and strength and skill and gifting if we are going to go where God calls us to go.
A Six Week Study.
Join Jim and Angie (hosts) for a six week study designed to strengthen your marriage. Using the video series titled "The Art of Marriage", you'll spend time learning together in the group and alone as couples. This is a great way to grow healthy marriages in the context of community, learning from teachers like Wayne Grudem, Al Mohler, and Paul Tripp.
The next group meets Mondays, October 3rd through November 7th at Jim and Angie's residence. There is no childcare provided and the cost is $25 per couple.