In the early 1990’s Aaron Tippin sang a song called “You’ve Got To Stand for Something or You’ll Fall for Anything” that climbed all the way to #1 on the country music charts. The main idea of the song (found in the title) is a principle that I was taught from a very early age. There are some things in life that should be non-negotiable. Unfortunately, a plague of our current society is the decline and decay of moral values. This crisis can be seen in many area such as politics (that one is kind of a no-brainer), business (Enron anyone), and entertainment (another no-brainer). Unfortunately you can also add education and religion to the list as well.

As a husband, a father, a church leader, and even more importantly, as a Christian there are certain values that I must live by that are non-negotiable. Recently I shared with my church the twelve core values that we hold to as a church. (You can listen to that message by clicking here.)I realize that twelve is a large number for core values but I believe each of them to be very important.

I have been wrestling with the challenge to narrow down a list of top three core values for my personal life. I will admit, it is difficult to come up with a top three but here they are …

At the top of my personal core values would have to be” Jesus and my personal relationship with Him.” It’s all about Jesus! I understand this is a broad statement but my greatest goal in life is to hear when it is all over “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” I must work hard to stay focused on this with all the distractions the world has to offer.

Next in my list of top core values would be my “family.” When it’s all said and done, my family is my number one ministry. I live with the reality that there are a countless number of people that could replace me at most everything I do with the exception of being a husband and a father. No one could ever be a better husband to Stacy and no one could ever be a better dad to Ryan, Emma and Drew than me. God gave that responsibility solely to me.

Third in my list of top three core values would be “excellence.” Excellence does not mean perfection, it simply means to do my best with what I have been given. I must commit myself to working hard, not taking the shortcuts, and doing my absolute best. Does God deserve any less? He gave me His best!

Obviously, these aren’t the only things that are of importance and value but I would list them as my top three. So what about you? Have you ever attempted to articulate what are the most important things in your life? It might not be as easy as you think. The challenge is to make sure that our thoughts and actions are in alignment with one another.

Take a few minutes to share your top three or four core values. Post them below or email them to me directly at pastor@solidrockbc.com.

Generally stated, the vision of Solid Rock Baptist Church is to lead people to a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ and then helping them to become just like Him by creating relevant environments for life change to happen.

There are three key phrases in this vision statement. For our church to be effective and successful all three must be fulfilled. The first two are accomplished through a focus on the third.

            Lead people to a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ

Lost people matter to God (Luke 15) and must be a priority for us (Acts 1:8).

We envision a church that …

• Has an exciting, passionate and worshipful weekend service that targets the unchurched unbeliever by using language, arts, multimedia and whatever means necessary to communicate in a way that a person will clearly understand the gospel.
• Consistently has unchurched, unbelievers in the weekend worship services.
• Has its members and regular attenders inviting their neighbors, co-workers, family and friends to the weekend worship services.
• Has its members and regular attenders sharing their faith at work, at home, or in their neighborhood. This ranges from the simple step of walking across the room to offer someone a cup of cold water in the name of Christ to personally leading someone into a relationship with Christ.
• Not only understands the responsibility to introduce people to Jesus in our “Jerusalem”, but also in our “Judea/Samaria” and to the “ends of the earth”. This will be accomplished not only by supporting others in missions endeavors, but by personally participating in missions endeavors.

            Helping them (believers) to become just like Him (Jesus)

Salvation is the most important step a person will take on their journey with Christ, but it is only the first step. The journey must not end there. The ultimate goal is to become just like Jesus (Romans 12:1-2).

We envision a church that …

• Understands discipleship to be more of what a person does than what a person knows.
• Is never satisfied with status quo and never accepts mediocrity.
• Has its members and regular attenders committed to the Life Development Process. This includes a commitment to …
  • Membership. A Christian without a church family is an orphan. Every believer in Christ needs to be involved and committed to a local congregation. The difference between an attender and a member is commitment. This is why we emphasize membership.
  • Maturity. God loves you just the way you are, but He doesn’t want you to stay that way, He wants you to grow. Every living thing that is healthy grows. We envision members leaving the “milk” of the Word and moving toward the “meat” of the Word and we envision this be accomplished without it being spoon-fed by the pastoral staff.
  • Ministry. Every member is a minister. We envision every member to understand their spiritual S.H.A.P.E. and serve accordingly. Our goal is to shatter the pareto principle which states that 20% of the people do 80% of the work.
  • Missions. As stated earlier, we envision every member and regular attender to actively take part in fulfilling Christ’s Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20.

            By creating relevant environments for life change to happen

To fulfill the church’s purpose requires communicating God’s Truth with doctrinal integrity and cultural relevance. (Note: Truth has the value, not relevance). The message must never change, but the methods must continue to change as culture changes.

We envision a church that …

• Seeks to understand the world we are living in. Not to buy into the value system of the world, but to be able to adequately communicate to those that have bought into its value system.
• Invests its resources, both real and liquid, into the proper equipment and tools necessary to be culturally relevant.
• Has a service for adults that is exciting, contemporary, and practical for everyday life.
• Has a service for teenagers that is focused on the specific needs for this age group. This also includes camps, retreats, rallies, mission trips and other environments to aid in the development of the teenager’s life.
• Has a service for grade-school children that is focused on the specific needs for this age group. This includes creating an atmosphere conducive for growth. We envision children begging their parents to bring them to church.
• Has a service for pre-schoolers and babies that is safe, clean, comfortable, exciting and points them to Jesus.
• Is fully committed to the “small group” model of ministry. This is where members and regular attenders will find connection and community.

It is our strong belief that God has His hand of blessing on this church. We will continue to pray and seek His guidance as we move forward to accomplish all that He would lead us to accomplish. We realize this is not our vision but His given to us. Our primary responsibility is to stay attached to the vine, for without Him we could do nothing. (John 15)

For those of us that call ourselves Christians, Jesus left us an incredible challenge. It is known as the Great Commission and can be found clearly stated in all four Gospels as well as the book of Acts. Simply stated it is to tell the whole world the Good News of Jesus Christ. Practically speaking, in our world today there are over seven billion people and it is MY responsibility to share the love of Christ with each one (and it is YOUR responsibility too). This is a huge problem because that is an impossible challenge for me to do alone!

So in order for me to fulfill my responsibility of the Great Commission I must partner with others. The Apostle Paul said it well to the church in Philippi, “… for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard until now” (Philippians 1:5).

The key is that I do the things that I can do and others can’t and I help others do the things that I cannot do. What is it that I cannot do? I cannot be in all places around the world. But I can partner with others who are willing to go. These individuals and families are often called missionaries.

So how can I partner with them? There are at least four ways. First. I must commit myself to praying for them (Ephesians 6:19-20 & Colossians 4:3). Second, I must commit myself to giving financially so they can go (2 Corinthians 8:3, 7, 12). Third, I must commit myself to communicating with them (Acts 15:22-31). Finally, I must commit myself to doing my part in my own personal community (Acts 1:8).