Orphan Sunday_SOUTHBRIDGE Video from Southbridge Fellowship on Vimeo.

McCartney Interview from Southbridge Fellowship on Vimeo.

• According to the US census 17.8% of American children (13 million) live in poverty.

• Almost half of the world – nearly three billion people – live on less than two dollars a day. In 2005 we spent $600 million on ring tones.

• 1 John 4:8-10 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

• There are over 140 million orphans in the world today.

• James 1:27 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

• The dollar value of the food North Americans throw into the garbage each year equals about one-fifth of the total annual income of all the Christians in Africa.

• Matthew 25:35-40 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,  36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’  37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’  40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

• 1 John 4:12 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

• Every year AIDS kills over 2 million people world-wide. That’s more than 5,479 people per day. Over 3.8 people per minute.

• Luke 18:7-8 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?  8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

These are more than statistics. These statistics are about people. These are more than just verses, they are God’s Word. Think about that. We can’t simply think about these things, we must do something. What will we do?

Statistics provided by the Docent Research Group.

Southbridge Serves – 2011 from Southbridge Fellowship on Vimeo.

In the message I was talking about how we make decisions based on our mission. I referred to a talk I was having with Jimmy Carroll the pastor of Journey Church here in Raleigh. During our lunch he asked me what I thought the difference was between, vision, mission and strategy. Without really thinking about it, I replied, “Vision is what you see, mission is what you do and strategy is how you do it.” I don’t know if God just gave that to me or if I heard it somewhere else before, but it made sense to me.

Our Vision is what we see. It’s the picture we get of our ultimately desired result. At Southbridge we say we want to see the scriptures lived out in RDU and we believe it starts with us. If God is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9), then we don’t want anyone to perish in our city. We want everyone to come to a right relationship with God experiencing genuine life transformation from the inside out, experiencing genuine freedom and living the life God intended. We believe the result would be not only reconciled relationships, transformed families, broken addictions and individual changed lives, but that our city as a whole would be changed. We see RDU becoming a city on a hill (Matthew 5:14), where people want to move here (not simply because of jobs, housing costs or because we are close to the beach and mountains), but because the people are different. Where we let our lights so shine before men that they see our good deeds (our lives living out the gospel which permeates everything we do) and glorify our God who is in heaven.

Our Mission – is what we do. For us it is to connect people one at a time, but as many as possible to Jesus for life change. The mission for every church is really the same. We exist to make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). We are to go, make disciples (i.e. connect people to Jesus for life change) by baptizing them (the first step of obedience after salvation) in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and teach them everything Jesus has taught us (teach them everything we know about living a reconciled life reconciled to God, to other people and to the world around us). God promises us that He will be with us the entire time. The wording and expression of this will and should look different based our cultural context, but the mission is the same for every believer and every church. The expression being different leads us to strategy.

Our Strategy – is how we accomplish the mission to ultimately see the vision become a reality. For us this is everything we do starting with our website (which is often times a persons first experience at Southbridge), continuing to our parking lot team, our greeters, ushers, hospitality team, bridgekids ministry, tech team, set up team, worship team, preaching the Word to follow up team on Sunday mornings. Then our strategy continues during the week by living out or value of community through our community groups (a place where people live life on life together in authentic relationships on mission for the glory of God). Then we try to live out our value of growth through ministries like Fearless Men’s Ministry and Nourish Women’s ministry, our student ministry SYU, our Celebrate Recovery ministry and various other equipping ministries to connect people to Jesus for life change. Everything is evaluated based on life change. That is our strategy. Strategy can and should change over time. We want to do whatever it takes to be most effective in accomplishing our God given mission. That is how I believe vision, mission and strategy differ and simultaneously work together.

For an additional resource on Mission, Vision and Strategy check out one of my friends and seminary professors books entitled: Advanced Strategic Planning by Aubrey Malphurs.

Celebrate Recovery PROMO #2 from southbridge fellowship on Vimeo.

Baptism Testimonies – April 2011 from southbridge fellowship on Vimeo.

My Story – Jim Hendren from southbridge fellowship on Vimeo.

Below is the text from the handout that we gave on Sunday:

This challenge is meant to get us thinking beyond just giving, beyond just “doing what we’re supposed to do.”  It’s a challenge to be generous!  To give because we have received the most generous gift imaginable!  And because of the joy we have in the hope contained in that gift, we overflow with the desire to abundantly give to others.  Below are some suggestions to get you started.  Feel free to be creative.

Week 1:  Giving Away Your Time (March 6th to 12th)

Ideas:

• Volunteer with one of our Strategic Partners (i.e Raleigh Rescue Mission).  Visit the Connections Kiosk for a list of our partners.

• Help in an area that you normally would not – do someone else’s chore at home, assist a coworker in their responsibility at work, take a neighbor’s trash can back from the curb – and try to do it secretly if possible!

• Invite a neighbor over for dinner.

• Pick out an age-appropriate translation of the Bible and read favorite stories to your kids before bedtime.

• Take a prayer walk through your neighborhood.

• Plan a date night with your spouse and pray that God would use that time to draw you closer together and engage in transparent communication.

• Commit to attend a Community Group weekly for 10 months.

• Take a special trip with your kids to a local kids’ museum and take advantage of all teachable moments.

Week 2:  Giving Away Your Talent (March 13th to 19th)

Ideas:

• To learn about your giftings and passions, take Southbridge’s online assessment. (www.southbridgefellowship.com/assessme/about)

• Volunteer on a team (i.e. Tech, Bridge Kids, Hospitality, SYU, Outreach, Music, etc.

• Start a common interest/affinity group.

• Make a gift.  Take something you do well (i.e. baking, crafting, cooking, wood working, etc.) and make a gift for someone who wouldn’t expect something from you.

• Do something unexpected and nice for a neighbor based on your gifts and abilities.

Week 3:  Giving Away Your Treasure (March 20th to 26th)

Ideas:

• Bless someone in your Community Group generously.

• The next time you go out to eat, change your tip – 1) if you go to a restaurant that doesn’t receive tips, give a tip to the person cleaning tables. 2) if they do receive tips, double your tip (or double the bill as a tip!)  Thank God for the ability to do so.

• Sponsor a Compassion International (www.compassion.com) child or family, with your family, friends, or Community Group.

• Carry cash in your left pocket ($5-$50) and look for an opportunity to give it away.  Keep trying everyday until you can give it all away.

• Buy coffee for the person in line behind you.

• Commit to tithing (10%) for 30 days.

• Sell something you own and give the proceeds to charity.

• Go to www.lifestraw.com and donate a personal, portable water purifier that is used to prevent common diseases in many parts of our world.  (Cost = $5.00 each)

• Participate in the LifeCare and Gateway Pregnancy Centers drive March 13th to 27th).  Go to the Connections Kiosk on Sunday for more information.

Week 4:  Giving Away the Truth (March 27th to April 2nd)

Ideas:

• Share the Gospel with someone you love.  This could be in person or possibly a letter.

• Write a handwritten note of encouragement to your family or friends.  Tell the person why you value being in relationship with them.

• Set up a family meeting to talk about your generosity as a family (if single, do with a friend).  Discuss the biblical truth of what it means to be generous and how God wants you to be generous.  Ask for input as to where you should continue being generous.

• Start a Bible Study with your neighbors.  Contact the office if you need resources.

• Leave a Gospel tract with your server.

• Share your testimony (what God has done and is currently doing in your life) with someone.

• Ask God for obvious opportunities to share the Truth with others.

• Buy 10 Bibles and give them away.

We would love to hear how the Lord used this in your life.  Please let us know by going to the link below and sharing your story.  www.surveymonkey.com/s/generositychallenge