65th Anniversary Celebration

Announcements

Good morning. Welcome to Southern Hills Baptist Church. It is wonderful to see all of you this morning.

Thank you for joining us today as we celebrate 65 years in the life of this local church, planted back in 1961 to serve Sioux City and beyond.

The liturgy of our service will look a little different this morning as we seek to look back and celebrate our history and then look to the future and all that God has in store for us. The celebration service will be followed by a catered lunch in the gym, which you are all invited to. So, please plan on joining us for that time of fellowship.

I want to welcome many of you who may not have been here for a while. Friends and former members, welcome back. We missed you. Please enjoy your time catching up with old friends and making new ones.

If you happen to be a first-time guest with us, you may have picked the best day to visit. But we’ll leave that to up to you. Either way, we want to invite you to celebrate with us and stay afterward to enjoy lunch with us. There will be no cost.

If you are a first-time guest, you will find a Connection Card in the pew rack in front of you. We would appreciate it if you would fill that out and place it in the plate during our offering time. That gives us a record of your visit and allows us the opportunity of reaching out to you this week to answer any questions that you might have.

Online giving is available at our website, southernhillsbc.com. By clicking on GIVE, it will take you to our giving page where you can easily give by electronic check or credit card. You can also give during our offertory time or in the box at the info table.

If you are a guest, please know that we do not expect you to give. Our members and regular attenders provide for the ministry of the church.

See bulletin for Calendar Updates

Please know that this is our weekly Family Worship service time. And because of that, our children will remain with us for the entire service. We do have a nursery available for children under 4 just down the hall if you would like to use it.

With that, let us turn our focus to God and lift our eyes to King Jesus this morning.

I am going to invite Pastor Bob up to read our call to worship. As he comes, please stand with us as we enter into a time of corporate worship.

Call To Worship (Pastor Bob)

1 Chronicles 16:23–27 ESV

Sing to the Lord, all the earth! Tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his place.

Opening Hymn

Scripture & Prayer: Dave Kincaid (Psalm 103)

Song #1

Missions Minute: Global Hunger Relief

Our Missions Minute this morning is about Global Hunger Relief, or GHR for short. GHR is a part of the Send Relief agency of the Southern Baptist Convention. Send Relief is a combined effort of the International Mission Board and the North American Mission Board. They are working together for a single purpose: to bring the gospel to people all over the world through by meeting peoples’ physical needs.

Please watch this short video:

VIDEO

Global Hunger Relief funds food assistance all over the globe, including here at home. There are inserts in your bulletins as well as prayer guides for you on the Mission table in the lobby. Please grab one of those after service today. In your prayer guide, you will learn about the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota that has one of the highest poverty rates in the country.

And GHF has even been supportive of our own food pantry as we seek to provide food assistance to those in need in Sioux City.

If you would like to donate specifically towards this effort, you can visit the website provided on the bulletin insert or simply write Global Hunger Relief on your giving envelope and that money will be designated for that purpose.

I’m going to ask Matt Widman to lead us in prayer for GHR and for our offering this morning.

Offering & Prayer- Matt Widman

Song #2

INTRODUCE MARK ELLIOT

Church History- Pastor Mark Elliott (Daniel to introduce)

Song #3 (Great is Thy Faithfulness)

Lord’s Supper

Morning by morning, God is faithful to us. He redeems us in our weakness. His mercy for us is never-ending. And Jesus, being God-in-the-flesh, filled with the fullness of God’s character, and being the physical image of Yahweh God, shares with us that same faithfulness.

As adopted sons and daughters of God, we have become His brothers and sisters, His friends. And “greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

But Jesus was not only willing to prove His love to us through His sacrifice on the cross, He wanted His friends and family to live with Him in His kingdom forever. His desire was that they wouldn’t have to experience death.

(beat)

We’re going to continue our reading about Jesus from the book of John. Today we will continue in chapter 11:

John 11:1–16 ESV

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Jesus then went to Bethany to show the power of God and relieve the sting of death. He has offered that same relief to us. For one day, all will taste death. But those who are faithful to King Jesus will be resurrected with Him into new life. And with that thought, may we each be like Thomas—ready to take up the mission that Jesus has given to us, even in the face of death.

At this time, I am going to have our ushers come forward. If you are a follower of Jesus, in that you have accepted Him as Savior, bowed to Him as King, and been baptized in obedience to His commandment, we invite you to participate with us. In just a moment, we will pass the plates. Please take a piece of bread and a cup and hold it until we take together.

Pass

Instruction from Jesus: Read 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 ESV

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Prayer of Blessing on bread and cup

Song #3

Pastoral Prayer- Pastor Atreju

Scripture Reading (Psalm 78:1-8) & Introduction of Pastor Leo Endel- Dennis Gallagher

Pastor Leo Endel Sermon & Comments

Pastor Leo Endel Prayer

[INTRODUCTION SLIDE]

Introduction

I want to thank both Pastors Mark and Leo for being here with us this morning and for their participation in today’s service. Both have meant a lot to our members over the years and contributed much to the history of Southern Hills. So thank you both.

(beat)

But before we start looking to the future, there is one more person that I want to honor this morning. And as I do that, I am going to ask Pastor Leo to come back on stage and help me.

Celebrate Past

You heard Pastor Mark share the history of the church a little earlier. In our 65 years of life, we have had 9 Senior Pastors, along with a few Associate Pastors and Youth Pastors. But out of more than a dozen men voted in as an Elder to lead this church, only one of them has served us for over a quarter century.

Pastor Bob, will you and Linda please come and join us on the stage?

(beat)

[PICTURE SLIDE]

According to the membership book, Pastor Bob joined the church along with Linda and their children on June 27, 1999. On the slide, you will see a picture of that entry in the old membership book.

As we honor you both for your continued service to our church, I found it fitting to let the Pastor who hired you have a few words.

LEO TO SPEAK

Pastor Bob retired from his official office in the church 3 1/2 years ago. After 24 years on staff, through good years and some difficult years, Bob was always faithful to Southern Hills. He finally thought that he had escaped from doing ministry in an official capacity here. But last January, after he retired from hospice, I lured him back on as a Volunteer Associate Pastor with the enticing promise of ministerial work with no salary…

(beat)

He cautiously said yes.

Well, Bob, I hope that you have found the last 18 months enjoyable serving as much as you feel called to.

God has carefully crafted Pastor Bob to love people and to care for them. That is what he does best. And I know that our members and former members love him in return. I hope that he will continue to serve our church in that capacity as much as he feels that he can in the years to come.

He has been a blessing to me, personally.

But more importantly, Bob has been a blessing to this church and the glue holding us together over the last 27 years.

And for that reason, we want to honor him today with a plaque and the honorary title of Elder Emeritus.

PRESENTATION OF PLAQUE TO BOB

[INTRODUCTION SLIDE]

When I arrived two years ago, I found a small, but prayerful, group of church members. Over the last two years, I have come to know our people and our community. Having a background in church revitalization, I came with the plan to be tactically patient and to implement change intentionally and slowly. And while we have done that, God has continued to push our timetable, growing us stronger and faster than we could have anticipated.

The first 18 months, we set out to build a healthier church by looking inward and building a foundation of personal holiness and discipleship. But this past December, I sensed that it was time for us to move back to being community-focused.

So, this year our focus was on covenant and mission—understanding that we must be committed not only to each other, but to the growth of the big “C” church.

We must have a Kingdom mindset.

And that mindset will propel us into mission.

God has not placed us here to build a local mega-church, but to help build His church in every corner of the globe, beginning here at home. We’re not looking to build a bigger worship center. We’re looking for opportunities to raise up leaders and send them out into the mission field; to gather kingdom resources for the purpose of deploying them in the field.

The church must be faithful and holy if it is to be effective. But the mission must always be ahead of us, reminding us of our calling: that we are to encourage and equip the body for the work of the ministry—that is, that each of us must carry the light of Jesus into our homes and our communities as we seek to make disciples.

This is the purpose of our mission statement:

[MISSION STATEMENT SLIDE]

The mission of Southern Hills Baptist Church is “to seek holiness as we covenant together as a faithful local body of Christ and to engage in the Great Commission by making disciples in our homes, our communities, and around the world.”

We cannot allow ourselves to become an inward-looking social club, content to have our ears tickled and then return to our “regular lives” each week. The church is not meant to be a place of casual and superficial relationships.

And we cannot be willing to accept the status quo of our society and avoid confrontation with sin and the enemies of God in the search of personal comfort.

We are called to something more.

We are called to something better.

Let us go back to our text, picking up again in verse 4:

[MAIN PASSAGE SLIDE x3]

Psalm 78:4–8 ESV

We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, (/) that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; (/) and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Church, we must constantly remind ourselves and our children of the who God is and what He has done.

Throughout all of history, Authoritarian regimes have sought to control the information given to the public. Whether through the news, formal education, or through control of religious institutions, these governments sought to control what information their people had access to.

Today, we might think of North Korea or China.

But in 1933, the Nazi party made world headlines by publically burning books that threatened their ideological narrative. They began developing their own school curriculum and selectively rewriting their history books to push their own agenda. They tried to silence the church and force belief in the new revelation of the prophet Adolf Hitler.

Ultimately, they were attempting to shape the collective memory of their culture.

Now, it is true that “the victors” get to “write history.”

How different our history books might look today if the allies had not won WWII?

And yet, we see something similar happening in our own culture. It may not be plain for all to see, but there is a subversive movement in the West to erase history. Many of our schools have de-emphasized the teaching of history. And I think that is because those who do not know history are much easier to control.

You see, failure to learn from history will lead us to repeat it.

And that is the concern of the psalmist in our passage: that the people of God would forget their history; that they would forget who God is and what He has done.

As we look to the story of Israel in the Old Testament, we see this happening over and over again. It seems like an endless cycle of collective forgetfulness.

When God made the covenant with them, He instructed them not only to obey out of their love for Him, but to remember who He is. He knew that forgetfulness would lead them into chaos.

Loyal Israelites took serious the shema and recited it 2-3 times a day.

Deuteronomy 6:4–9 ““Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

But I want you to look at what Moses tells them next:

[SCRIPTURE SLIDE x2]

Deuteronomy 6:10–12 ESV

“And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, (/) and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

(beat)

Failure to remember who God is and what He has done leads us back into slavery.

Forgetfulness not only stops the progression of God’s order within creation, but it brings us back to chaos.

The people of God cannot and will not fully forget who God is. Individuals and local churches may forget, but the church at large will not forget because the Holy Spirit will not fail to build Jesus’ church…

The collective memory of the church will endure because Jesus is our shepherd.

(beat)

Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. But thankfully, in God’s mercy, He has provided for us the written Word. And unlike our secular history books, it cannot be re-written to push human agendas.

It is the eternal voice of God to His people.

And if we are to be loyal followers, we must “teach [it to our] children, that the next generation might know” and “set their hope” in Jesus as King.

[POINT 3 SLIDE]

Future (vv 3-5)

And with that reminder, we at Southern Hills Baptist Church look to the future.

As we look forward, it is important to remember that while our future as a faithful local church is unsure, the future of the big “C” church has already been written. John writes about this future in Revelation chapter 19:

[SCRIPTURE SLIDE x2]

Revelation 19:6–9 ESV

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; (/) it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

The future of the church is written. The bride of Christ will make it down the aisle. And yet, there is still much work to be done. For Jesus has called us to the mission of making disciples and of growing the kingdom of God on earth as we wait for His return.

Here in Siouxland and around the country, we are surrounded by people who are lost, and by churches who are unfaithful to Christ. For many of these unfaithful churches, God has already removed their lampstands and turned them over to wicked leaders. They are now reaping the consequences of their own sin.

Will we fall in line by forgetting and walking back into the arms of chaos?

Loyal and devoted followers of Christ, there is a need now—more than ever—for faithful churches to stand up against the tides of culture. There is a need now that they stand together as a bright city on a hill.

(beat)

Let us revisit our text in verses 7 and 8:

[PASSAGE SLIDE]

Psalm 78:7–8 ESV

so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

We cannot let our people forget about all that God has done throughout history.

We must raise up this generation and the next to know who He is and to proclaim to them that Jesus is the rightful King over all of creation.

We must teach our children when they rise up and when they lie down—and every moment in between—that Jesus is Lord and that our neighbors need to know Him.

(beat)

And this brings us back to mission.

As we celebrate our identity as Southern Hills Baptist Church today, we are reminded of who we are.

We are a church family who desires the community to know the truth of the gospel and who will spare no expense to see that happen.

We are a church family who plants new churches—one who is methodical and intentional about growing the kingdom on earth.

Over 65 years, we have planted 7 churches. Only 4 of those churches survive today. And we will not stand idly by and watch the other 4 churches succumb to death.

Nor are we satisfied with leaving that number at 4.

Today, we reclaim that church identity of church planter.

We reclaim the identity of Kingdom multiplier.

We will raise up new leaders and pastors and we will plant churches again.

(beat)

In December, I presented a vision to the church that we call “Project 30 by 30.”

[SLIDE]

Our goal is to grow our missions budget to 30% by the year 2030. In 2026, we increased our missions budget to 18%, so that means that we need to increase 3% per year between now and 2030 to meet our goal.

And part of that vision is to plant or replant 3 churches by 2030.

So, this morning I would like to give you an update on our progress.

This December, our Admin Team will present the church with our 2027 budget. Their goal this year will be to have our missions giving to be at 21% or more of that budget.

I am in early conversations with 2 dying churches nearby who are in need of revitalization, and may need to be replanted.

And I have had a serious conversation with our sister church, Primer Iglesia Bautista in South Sioux, about launching a Hispanic congregation in our building within the next year or so. We will also be working with them as they explore a new congregation in Le Mars.

We have begun investing in our younger families, because we know that we must love, disciple, and incorporate the next generation into the life of the church. We have done that by adding Sunday School for all ages and going back to Family Worship time on Sunday mornings.

We are halfway done with a nursery expansion that will allow us to care for more little ones.

We just had another one of our Parent’s Night Out to allow our younger parents a date night without the cost of child care.

We also work with our young parents on Wednesday nights to help them learn to disciple their children at home.

Last Fall, we have relaunched AWANA, where we averaged 35 kids in attendance. This not only draws kids from the community and helps to disciple our own children, but it trains our adult leaders in discipleship. AWANA will kick off again in 2 weeks and it will be bigger than last year.

And this year, as kids go back to school, we are re-engaging our partnership with Child Evangelism Fellowship by supporting up to 3 Good News Clubs in our community schools—Morningside, Moville, and Sloan. If you are interested in serving in any of these places, please let me know.

Additionally, we are investing in raising up adult leaders for the big “C” church. Next month we are launching a year long Leadership Intensive course. This will be a rigorous training that will prepare about a dozen current and future leaders for greater responsibility in the church and for possible future opportunities for church planting or missions. And, having a kingdom mindset, we are not limiting this to our own members. We will train and send out whatever leaders that God sends to us.

That will be followed next Fall by a Pastoral Residency program in which we hope to raise up 3 or more new Lay Elders

And lastly, as we remember today who we are from our church history and recognize that we are not the church that we were 4 years ago when Pastor Mark stepped in, we felt that it was time to refresh our image.

As we sit on Southern Hills Drive and the Southern Hills community is our primary neighborhood to witness to, their is no need for our name to change. But, I would like to unveil to you a new logo that is aligned with our future vision.

[SLIDE]

(beat)

Here, you see a church sitting on a hill. But you will also notice two other distinctive features. That of a sword and shield. These tools are integral to who we are as believers and as a local church. We will not stand silent as the world around us crumbles. Instead, we will use the only two offensive weapons that we have in the whole armor of God: the Shield of Faith and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

The local church is not a defensive position for the Kingdom of God on earth.

It is an offensive one.

In Matthew 16, Jesus declares that “the gates of hell shall not prevail” against the church. But gates don’t move forward. They are defensive. The implication here is that hell has exercised its authority on earth and holds sinners captive. They are separated from God within its dominion.

But with the sword and shield, the church will attack and ransack hell. For Christ has “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them.” It is He alone who holds “the keys of Death and Hades.” He alone has been made King and given authority over all of creation.

As one of His local churches, we will seek to proclaim His Kingdom and make disciples in Siouxland and beyond, planting more churches and growing the kingdom, while we seek to empty hell of its spoils.

And we will do all of this for the Glory of God, that the world might recognize the preeminence of Christ—that they may come to know Him and to kneel at the feet of King Jesus.

Southern Hills Baptist Church will be obedient to the call, whatever the cost. For the failure to speak truth to our community is failure to be faithful to the One who sacrificed Himself for us.

May we show our neighbors the love and mercy that God has shown to us through Jesus our Savior.

Invitation

For those of you who are not part of our church family, we ask that you would pray for us as we seek to faithfully follow the King.

We thank you for your love and your encouragement and your partnership in the gospel.

May more local churches seek faithfulness to Christ and band together in pursuit of Kingdom growth.

Next week, we will return to our series through 1 Corinthians. If you don’t have a church family to worship with regularly, please consider joining us next Sunday for that.

CLOSE IN PRAYER

CLOSING HYMN

CONGREGATIONAL BLESSING

Lunch Instructions & Bless Food