Covenant Life Church

April 20 2012 at 6:53 pm

Sovereign Grace Ministries Relocation

The Board of Sovereign Grace Ministries announced yesterday that the Pastors College and ministry headquarters are being relocated from Gaithersburg to Louisville, Ky. We encourage you to read the announcement, where Sovereign Grace gives the background for this decision.

Even though we receive this news with a sense of loss, we thank God for Sovereign Grace and the good fruit the Lord has granted through our partnership. We want to express what a privilege it has been to see Sovereign Grace Ministries established and growing for the last 30 years right here alongside this local church. Sovereign Grace was birthed out of Covenant Life Church in 1982, giving our church family a unique opportunity to observe the grace of God in and through this ministry. It’s brought joy to many Covenant Life members through the years to host and serve Pastors College students, host Sovereign Grace events like WorshipGod and Leadership Conferences, welcome guest teachers, and interact regularly with church planters taking the gospel across the nation and around the world. We are saddened that we will no longer be in close proximity to those on the Sovereign Grace staff making this transition, friends we love and have walked with for so long.

We would like to specifically thank all the Sovereign Grace leaders—C.J. Mahaney, Gary Ricucci, Jeff Purswell, Bob Kauflin, Tommy Hill and Paul Medler. We will miss these men and their families. They have invested their lives and gifts into this church in numerous ways. We are grateful for these dear friends, and we pray that this next chapter in their ministry is fruitful and effective for the cause of Christ. As these brothers and sisters make this transition, and Covenant Life continues in dialogue with Sovereign Grace about our partnership, let’s fix our eyes on Jesus with thankfulness for his abundant mercy to us all.

“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:3-6 ESV)

The Pastors of Covenant Life Church

December 3 2011 at 11:12 pm

Praying for the Review Panels

0 Comments

Dave Harvey, Acting President of Sovereign Grace Ministries, posted the following on the “Plant & Build” blog yesterday, and we wanted to repost it here and ask that you join us in prayer. —Covenant Life Pastors

This week Bryce Thomas and the review panels completed the testimony phase of the evaluation for the allegations that Brent Detwiler brought against C.J. I know that this process is important to everyone who cares about C.J. and what happens in and with Sovereign Grace Ministries. Now the three review panels will begin deliberating on the information before them so that they can deliver reports on their findings later in December.

I’d like to invite you to pray with me about this. Here are the things that I’m praying for:

Pray for clarity to emerge from all the materials (Brent’s documents, testimony from this week, etc.) that are now being sorted through.
Pray for Bryce Thomas, the independent facilitator who has already served so well this past week. His job continues as he guides the committees of men who haven’t done this before to handle their tasks in a consistent and God-glorifying way.
Pray for the three committees—men who have accepted a sobering responsibility to address the charges that have been brought against C.J. Pray for “wisdom from above” (James 3:17) in their conversations and deliberations over the next couple of weeks.
Pray for all who have taken time to participate through their testimony. We are so grateful that many accepted the invitation to come and provide their perspective.
Pray for CJ and his family, who are humbly cooperating with this extensive review of his actions and decisions. C.J. wants to see what God has for him in this. He has patiently prepared to appear before all three panels and remains eager to hear their findings.

And, if you have some time when you’re done with that, pray for me. There is a lot going on that needs my attention, but I want most of all to live out the passage preached at our local church last week from 1 Thessalonians 5:18: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

July 7 2011 at 11:57 am

An Important Announcement

0 Comments

Today an important announcement from C.J. Mahaney was posted on the Sovereign Grace Ministries website. In it C.J., the president of Sovereign Grace and the former Senior Pastor of Covenant Life Church explains that he’s taking a leave of absence and why. There is also a letter from the Sovereign Grace board expressing support for C.J.’s leave and explaining more about its purpose.

Please pray for the people involved and for our network of local churches. This is a difficult time for us, but we see God using these events to refine us and prune us (John 15). We want to embrace all God has for us in this time and pray it will lead to greater fruitfulness. Psalm 37:3 & 5 carry a precious promise: “Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness … Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.”

June 6 2011 at 6:08 pm

Pete Greasley Will Preach Here on June 12

1 Comments

Pete Greasley preaches at Sovereign Grace Church, Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales.

Pete Greasley, senior pastor of Christchurch in Newport, Wales, will preach here at Covenant Life on Sunday, June 12. Pete helped to found Christchurch and has served there for 16 years. Pete and his wife Jenny have been married for 28 years and have three grown children.

In his blog on the Sovereign Grace Ministries website, C.J. Mahaney describes Pete as a “jolly Englishman, erstwhile rock musician, and would-be sailor who serves Sovereign Grace Ministries by traveling to Asia, Europe, Africa, and Australia, preaching the gospel and serving churches for the glory of God.” For more on Pete and his ministry, see CJ’s three part series—“Meet Pete Greasley.”

April 3 2011 at 1:35 pm

“Risen” Is Here

0 Comments

Sovereign Grace Music announced last week the release of a new recording, Risen. Bob Kauflin describes it on his Worship Matters blog as “a whole album of songs that celebrate the reality and meaning of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” A number of musicians from Covenant Life took part in the recording, including vocalist Erin Hill and members of the Na Band.

The CD is available in the church bookstore, and there’s lots more information about the project at Sovereign Grace Music.

February 21 2011 at 3:33 pm

Mark Mitchell Describes Haiti Exploratory Trip

4 Comments

On Thursday, February 10, Claude Allen, Grant Layman, Andy Tvardzik, Dr. Phil Perdue, Chris Jesse (of Metro Life Church in Orlando) and I took off from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., to travel to Haiti. The purpose of this brief trip was to deepen our relationship with a specific local pastor and explore ways Covenant Life Church (and other Sovereign Grace churches) could partner with and serve him in his vision to reach the Haitian people with the gospel.

(In order to protect and best support the important ministry being done in Haiti, we won’t be referring by name to any of the folks who serve there.)

We were warmly greeted by the pastor and key leaders of his church shortly after 9 a.m. on Friday morning. The first thing I noticed was the heat. (Honestly, the 70-90 degree temperatures were a welcome sensation after leaving behind 20 degrees or so in D.C.!) The most lasting impression of the trip, however, was the stark and seemingly unabated poverty. We encountered it in various forms:

• In the children at the airport coming up to the window of the car to beg for money…
• In the marketplace where items virtually anyone here would consider “junk” are being sold to make a subsistence living…
• In the long stretches of garbage and plastic bottles that litter the shoreline…
• In the ubiquitous display of unfinished and often broken down buildings around the city…
• In the faces of so many people whose everyday lives are harder than we can imagine.

During our first day, the pastor introduced us to six area pastors he knows, some of whom traveled great distances to meet with us. They told us of their families, their ministries and the impoverished conditions of their churches. A consistent refrain was their cry for help, both spiritually and materially. Their hearts ached for their congregations and they acutely felt the constant lack of ability to help them with their needs. All of these pastors have other means of work to support themselves and their families, and out of whatever overflow they may have, seek to meet the needs of the people. It was sobering to hear their stories and an honor to have spent time with them.

Later in the day we visited the orphanage our host pastor sponsors. There are 14 children who live there, ranging from around two into the late teens. Not all of them are orphans. Some have families that can’t care for them. They are fed, cared for, and educated at the orphanage. There is some structural damage to the building due to the January 2010 earthquake. We also took some time in the afternoon to evaluate several potential construction projects that could be done in various locations.

That evening we visited a youth meeting at one of the churches. What a joy to hear the young people worship the Lord in Creole!

We spent much of Saturday traveling to visit another church that meets a little more than two hours away from where we were staying. Once we left the main city, the condition of the road was so bad that for most of the journey we could barely travel 5-10 miles per hour. Several things caught our attention along the way: women washing their clothes in little streams (that could easily be a source of cholera), a residence lined with colored flags (the telltale sign of a witch doctor), the occasional goat or cow tied to a tree, rusty and abandoned vehicles on the side of the road, dilapidated structures used to provide shelter from the heat, all against the backdrop of a countryside that is full of beauty. Once we arrived at the church, we were greeted by a room full of children and adults in a structure where one whole side of the building was gone because of earthquake damage. The children were absolutely precious! They welcomed us with a greeting in English, and we had the privilege of briefly greeting them (through an interpreter!), expressing Christ’s and our love for them, then handing out candy to the kids.

Our final full day in Haiti began with attending our host pastor’s church at six in the morning! Initially we had no power in the building because the generator wasn’t working. But the Lord was gracious, and after only about a 15-minute delay, the service began with power. There was congregational worship, a selection of songs by the choir, a brief greeting by our team to the church, and listening to the pastor as he preached in Creole and periodically translated for us into English. There were over 400 people packed into a building that probably was meant to hold half that much. It was a joyful time of fellowship and singing. Later in the day we traveled to visit another church (via much better road conditions). This church had no structure in which to meet; they met under a large mango tree. Others from a nearby church, through funds generously donated by Sovereign Grace Ministries, have been helping this church by providing food for the kids, practical help against cholera, teaching school two days a week, and digging a latrine. They are currently in the process of helping to dig a well. We spent the final part of the day discussing many things over dinner late into the night.

As I mentioned Sunday morning (February 20) at Covenant Life, thank you for praying for us! The Lord was merciful with our travels, and the only bout with sickness (affecting, of all people, our doctor!), was thankfully not serious.

There are many, many needs to be addressed in Haiti. It’s going to require wisdom and a lot of planning to determine what is most important and how best to help. Please pray for the team that traveled to Haiti, the pastoral team of Covenant Life, and the leadership team of Sovereign Grace as we together seek the Lord on how to serve and support this dear pastor and those that relate to him in Haiti. Thank you for partnering with us through your prayers!

—Mark Mitchell

Page 1 of 5 pages 1 2 3 > Last ›

Church Blog