A few things I saw / heard this morning:

·         Our parking lot was packed this morning…cars and people everywhere.

·         Mark and the music team sounded great this morning

·         The “what’s happening video” was great…if you were in the 2^nd service we had to cut it due to time…it will be uploaded on our website tonight.

·         Happy 21^st Anniversary to our pastor…I can’t believe pastor as put up with some of you for 21 years.

·         Great job by our Pre-school ministry for pulling together a big Sunday morning and night.

·         Sujo John spoke this morning and here are a few things he said:

o   “God does great things in our life when we are will to be crushed”

o   Minutes before the first plane hit the world trade center North tower, where he was working, Sujo sent an email to a friend that said “I really feel God wants me to do more and step out in faith.”

o   “God reads emails” – great moment

o   It took him over an hour to go down 81 flights of stairs.

o   He passed many firemen around the 41^st floor…sobering thought.

o   Wife was in the other tower…lived for a few hours thinking she was dead.

·         Tonight was a great night of worship…if you missed it then…you missed it!

·         Can’t wait until tomorrow night intro for the conference…should be powerful

I’ve been reading Nehemiah lately and I noticed a phrase in chapter 1, verse 11, that Nehemiah makes about himself.

He simply says, “I was cupbearer to the king.”

I’ve skipped over this phrase so many times, but I tried not to this time. And when I did, it became much more interesting.

It’s almost like Nehemiah wants everyone who reads his story to know that he wasn’t super intelligent, incredibly strong, or anything else like that.

He was just a cupbearer.

And yet, that is exactly where God wanted Him to be.

God leveraged his position as a servant in the king’s palace to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem.

Now, here is that application: God has you exactly where He wants you as well. No matter who you are or where you work, God has you right where He wants you.

It may not seem like it. It may not feel like it. But God is at work right where you are.

And who knows, maybe God has a big time project for you just like He had for Nehemiah!

Below is a list of some of the upcoming events on the Southside Calendar.   

October 19- AM Service (Guest Speaker, Sujo John, World Trade Center Survivor)

October 19- Special PM Service at 6:00 (Worship Concert) 

October 20-22-  Southwide Conference (Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday Night at 6:30;  Tuesday and Wednesday Morning at 9:30)  Click here for more details.  

October 28- Fall Festival from 6-9 PMThis is a free event and we expect somewhere around 3,000 people to show up again this year.  (Additionally, you can help us by bringing in a bag of candy or two to the Welcome Center.)

November 9-11- Missions Conference 

December 13-14- Christmas Musical (Saturday Night at 5 & 7 PM; Sunday Night at 6 PM)

I wanted to give everyone a peek into our Fantasy Football season so far as it relates to staff…and some bias commentary.

·         Dennis is 5-0…solid team…not flashy but solid.  Think his “solid” team will hit some bumps and I will catch him soon.

·         Billy is 3-2…lost 2 games by a total of 12 pts against the undefeated teams.  I should destroy everyone the rest of the year.

·         Charlie is 2-3…had a terrible draft (way to many Oakland Raiders)…claims that he about to get “hot.”  His offense is 9^th best of 12…again, way too many Raiders.

·         Matt is 5-0…his defense is the best and has been getting lots of pts with a little known RB.  I see his future production dropping, but still enough to win his division.

·         Drew is 3-2…looking at his team I wonder how in the world he has even won a game…he has a strange and scrappy team…however; he is in Matt’s division so the playoffs are wishful thinking.

·         Chris Clark is 2-3…has a great team on paper (probably best overall draft) but has not shown up in the game…yet…I expect him to make a late push for the wildcard spot.

·         The others in the league are selected church members who are worthy enough to be in our league…for now.

Things I saw / heard this morning:

·         Everyone sing with me “there is a fountain…” the good old hymn never was more true than as you drove on campus Sunday morning.

·         Can’t wait to film a What’s Happening in the fountain…coming soon.

·         And yes, we will be painting the sign this week.

·         The music was powerful this morning…loved watching people engage in worship.

·         Loved the Bill Cosby video before the sermon.

·         Sermon “Noah did not condemn the world by his words, but by his lifestyle.”

·         Sermon “God sometimes calls us to do things that we are not proficient at.”

·         Pastor made an amazing point about the view of secular vs. sacred.  How churches separate the two, but actually Jesus came and proved otherwise.  If you’re going to give God your best on Sunday to dress up for church, then why not do it every day of the week?  I would encourage you to listen again to the sermon.

·         So glad to have both McCain & Obama help out with the What’s Happening video…it’s going to be a wild month in the political arena.

I’m currently taking the Family Ministry team here at Southside through the book, Visioneering.  I’ve read it before, but this time I noticed a sentence that I somehow skipped over the last time I read the book.  

Here is what Andy Stanley writes: “God’s vision for you does not include pressing you into someone else’s mold.  He is not in the business of conforming us to the image of  other Christians”  

I love that!  

So many of us are missing out on who God wants us to be and what God wants us to do because we’re too busy trying to be like somebody else.

Maybe that’s not what God wants.  Maybe God wants you to be you.  Maybe God has a unique plan for your life.  And maybe it’s time you started pursuing that!