Pastors Conference 2020 Announcement
On behalf of the Leadership Team, with the support of the Executive Committee, I wanted to let you know that we made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 Sovereign Grace Pastors Conference because of the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. For us this decision was not only very hard to make, but also a sad one to make. We love being with our pastors and wives annually at our Pastors Conference. To make a decision, that we consider an exception during an unprecedented time, is heart-wrenching for us. There is no one else we would rather be with in November than the pastors of Sovereign Grace Churches and your wives.
As we sorted through, and prayed about this decision, here are some of the factors that led us to make this difficult decision:
Most of our global pastors and friends will not be able to travel to the States for our conference in November.
Because some of our pastors and wives are high risk, and because some will understandably be uncomfortable traveling when there is so much uncertainty, we anticipate that our attendance will be lower, especially when you factor in that our global pastors most likely can’t attend.
Some states in the U.S. are requiring or recommending that people self-quarantine for 14 days if they travel from current hot spot states like Florida. We have no way of knowing if that requirement will be in place in the fall, but if it is, that could negatively impact our conference attendance.
If we proceeded with holding the conference anticipating a lower attendance, we estimate that we would lose a significant amount of money. That loss didn’t seem like a wise one to absorb in a year that we project that our income will be down because of the economic impact of COVID-19.
We also know that some of our churches are experiencing a drop in income because of the pandemic making it more difficult for them to incur the expense of traveling and participating in our conference.
Given the size of our meeting room, and the much smaller hallway outside of the meeting room, we think social distancing would be possible, but would also be a challenge.
We needed to make a decision now, not only in negotiating with the hotel, but also to serve everyone to give you clarity as you make plans for the fall. Given the current rise in positive COVID-19 cases in some states, including Florida, we think there remains enough uncertainty about the future that we didn’t think it was wise to proceed with the conference.
As mentioned above, we view our decision as an exception to the norm even if the impact of COVID-19 continues into next year. Having another year gives all of us more time to gather additional information regarding the virus, and more time to potentially adjust to a “new normal” meaning that we all understand better the need for acceptable risk related to travel and gathering together at a conference.
It’s hard for me to write this post because it communicates our difficult decision to cancel the Pastors Conference. I, along with all of the guys on the Leadership Team, will miss seeing you in November. However, may that only build our anticipation to gather for our conference November 9-11, 2021 in Orlando.
Mark Prater is the Executive Director for Sovereign Grace and serves as an elder at Covenant Fellowship Church. He and his wife, Jill, have three married daughters and a growing number of grandchildren.