Southview Connect

Being Mediocre Isn't Good Enough

It seems that most of my life I’ve been in a leadership position.  The oldest of a very large family, a leader during my military career and now twenty plus years in the world of business, not to mention roles within my local church ranging from Elder and Deacon to Teacher and Director of Discipleship Training.  I’ve learned through all these years that as a leader you’ll find the team you’re leading will change from time to time as people move in and out.  You also learn that a good leader learns to bring the best out of the people he’s responsible for and that really good leaders can do this with almost everyone placed under their command…except one – the mediocre person who has little desire to do more than the minimum required.

 

People with few talents, low aptitude, or a bad working environment but a strong desire to succeed will do so when paired with a good leader.  And, of course, multi-talented well motivated people will become exceptional performers under good leadership, but it has been my experience that those who become comfortable with meeting the minimums, who hold up mediocrity as the norm, these are the people who can drag a team’s performance down.  Yes, for me mediocre performers are the ones I try to get off the team quickly and personally who I have a difficult time acknowledging their existence on the team at all.

 

I’ve been blessed with teams, like the team I have today in my secular job, who find empowerment within the team to go beyond their own expectations and become extremely exceptional performers, they “raise the bar” within any organization and accelerate success at rates of speed unthought-of by the “average” organization.  As I write this today I wonder if it isn’t time for Christians to “raise the bar”?

 

Has the big “C” church become content with the “average”, with doing the “minimum”, with simply meeting the standard?  Do we really think Christ wants us to be mediocre?  Is it ok to just get by as followers of Christ?  Can we honestly say we can’t do more because we lack talent, opportunity, or resources?  NO! A Thousand Times NO!  If we accept that premise we don’t really know the God of the Universe and we don’t really understand our responsibilities as citizens of His Kingdom.

 

1 Corinthians 10:31 instructs us, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”  My prayer this week is that this time in our country’s history will cause each of us to examine ourselves and to ask the question “Am I giving my all, am I doing all I can do for the Kingdom of God”?  It’s time for Christians around the world to raise the bar – to have the faith that moves mountains and the deeds to prove it.

 

As we thank God this week for all that He has given us, let’s also thank Him for the honor and blessing He gives us each day to serve Him.

 

In Christ,

Wes

A Day of Thanksgiving and Praise

This is the proclamation which set the precedent for America's national day of Thanksgiving. During his administration, President Lincoln issued many orders like this. For example, on November 28, 1861, he ordered government departments closed for a local day of thanksgiving.

Sarah Josepha Hale, a prominent magazine editor, wrote a letter to Lincoln on 28, 1863, urging him to have the "day of our annual Thanksgiving made a National and fixed Union Festival." She wrote, "You may have observed that, for some years past, there has been an increasing interest felt in our land to have the Thanksgiving held on the same day, in all the States; it now needs National recognition and authoritive fixation, only, to become permanently, an American custom and institution." The document below sets apart the last Thursday of November "as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise."

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

Quoted from here.

My friends, we have much to be thankful for. With Habakkuk, let's praise God together for all He has done, and most especially for sending His Son Jesus so that we can have real, abundant life now and forever.

--Pastor William

Annual Meeting This Sunday Night!

Hi all, 

Southview's first Annual Members' Meeting is THIS SUNDAY NIGHT at 6 p.m.! It's going to be an awesome time of worship, celebrating what God has done during the last year, and looking ahead to what we feel God is leading us toward. You are not going to want to miss this - the Elders have been working hard to prepare for this service, and we're praying that God continues to move among us in a mighty way. We're providing childcare for kids under 5, and we'll have an ice cream fellowship afterwards - bring your favorite ice cream to share!  Be praying now about all that God is doing and will do at Southview - the best is yet to come!

--Pastor William

Exciting Announcement!

The Elders will be presenting the strategic plan and the 2009 ministry budget at the annual meeting on November 16. At this Sunday's members' meeting, you will have an opportunity to catch a glimpse of what we've been praying through and about for 2009. One of those exciting new announcements will be concerning a new staff position for next year. In conjunction with the Elders and the Personnel Team, I'm excited to announce that we are presenting Steve Kane as the candidate for a new position at Southview, Minister of Children and Administration.

Steve Kane has been a member of Southview Baptist Church since 1999. He and his wife, Amy, soon began teaching the 3rd/4th grade Sunday School class. After several years of teaching, he felt a calling to become more involved in the children's ministry at Southview and became the volunteer Elementary Director in September 2005. Steve has a passion for developing true discipleship in the lives of children, built on a solid foundation in Christ. He tries to instill the following truth from 1 Timothy 4:12 in the children's ministry - "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity."

Steve currently works as a computer programmer for Northrop Grumman. Both graduates of Virginia Tech, he and Amy have been married since September 1998. Steve's hobbies include playing sports, reading, video games, and collecting sports memorabilia. Most recently, Steve and Amy became the proud parents of Ella Brynn Kane, born in October, 2008!

In this new position, Steve’s main responsibilities will be overseeing the children’s ministry at Southview, increasing our ministry to young families by ministering to children, their parents, and our children’s ministry leaders. He will oversee the expansion and execution of improvements to the website and the addition of online ministries of the Church, and will plan and implement enhancements using technology to assist in the overall mission and strategy of the church. Steve will oversee all communications for the Church, in conjunction with Leah Carr, our communications administrative assistant. He will serve as a staff minister, serving the whole body as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

With congregational affirmation at the November 16 annual meeting, Steve’s start date will be March 1, 2009.

Alternative Gift Fair...

This past Sunday we had our Alternative Gift Fair. It's our way of using gift giving to help ministries & the people they reach all over the world. We had a great turnout... here's a glimpse of what went on:

 

It's Wednesday

It's Wednesday.

The election is behind us, and it looks like record numbers of Americans turned out to participate in the political process this year.

I've gotten several emails and messages about the election results, and in reading and thinking about what's next, two verse of Scripture have surfaced time and again:

Daniel 2:19b-21 – "Then Daniel praised the God of heaven and said: 'Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.'"

1 Timothy 2:1-6 – "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men-- the testimony given in its proper time."

No matter how you and I voted yesterday, our Scriptural mandate is the same - to recognize that God is sovereign today, just as He has always been; to realize that His love never ends for His people; and to remember our responsibility to pray for those in authority over us.

This country has elected a new President and Congress, and our responsibility as Christians is clearly laid out in the 1 Timothy passage above. We are to pray for them, and we are to pray specifically that all of them will be saved and come to a knowledge of the Truth if they are not believers. God desires that every person on this planet will come to know Him through Jesus Christ, the one and only mediator between God and men. Jesus died for every person who has or ever will live - he "gave himself as a ransom for all men."

You may be rejoicing today; you may be glum today. Regardless of how you are feeling, remember the words of God in His Word. Know that it is God who "sets up kings and deposes them" - that is, He sets rulers in place. Paul wrote clearly in Romans 13:1 that "there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God." It is an Audience of One that we seek to please and live for, and His Word tells us how to live and how to respond to the leaders that have authority over us.

God is not asleep. God is still on His throne, and He is worthy of our worship and praise today.

This last weekend, I challenged our congregation to memorize this verse of Scripture, from Psalm 20:7 - "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God." Our trust and our hope as believers in Jesus Christ is found solely and completely in God.

Do we know what's next? No - just like we didn't a week or a month or a year ago. The future is known only to God. But living in fear is not what we are called to. Know that it is God who reigns today - not a political party which will not endure eternity, not a politician who will serve only for a season - it is God alone who reigns today and forevermore. Keep your eyes focused on Him; remember that our perspectives are limited; and know that God is sovereign over all.