Below is my message for Sunday, August 29th. Please feel free to reply or forward, As always, you comments are always welcome.
May our Lord continue to bless you all for all you are doing.
Bro. Len Patterson, Th.D
Chaplain, Army of Trans-Mississippi
Sons of Confederate Veterans
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Numbers
Recently, I had the opportunity to speak to the membership of one our local camps. During my presentation, I asked them to consider some numbers. If each member of our Confederation would recruit just one new member in the coming year, next year we would have about 60,000 members. Then, if each of these would recruit one new member in the following year, our membership would increase to 120,000.
If each member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans were to continue recruiting one new member a year, within just ten years, ten percent of the population of the United States would be members of the SCV; which means about twenty percent of the men in this country would be honoring our noble Confederate forefathers. Yes, in ten years we would have about thirty million members.
Think about the effect we could exert on our failing society. Anyone wanting to be president or seeking any political office would need our support. They would beg to speak at our reunions. If we threatened to boycott General Motors if they didn't put a Confederate Battle Flay on the back of every Silverado Pick up, they would do it or go bankrupt. We could demand that the Lincoln Memorial be leveled and replaced with a monument to someone more worthy of the honor. Someone like Jefferson Davis.
Well, as my daddy used to say, "Dream on sweet prince." I know that thirty million members in ten years in not a very reasonable expectation, but then, if you'll allow me to say so, neither is thirty thousand members after almost a hundred and fifteen years. The Sons of Confederate Veterans need to grow and increase. In doing so, we will gain strength and influence, and be more successful in carrying out the mission to which we are so justly dedicated. We're talking about numbers.
So, how do we accomplish this growth and increase? Consider the early church. Within less than three hundred years what began with a few people in an obscure part of the world, became the most powerful force in the Roman Empire. They did it without elegant buildings, Madison Avenue sales tactics, dog-and-pony shows, ads in newspapers, or any of the things many churches do today to attract new members. So, what did they do?
The Scripture says in Acts 11: 23, "That with purpose of heart they would cleave to the Lord." They put their faith and trust in the Lord and sought His guidance and strength. We also must realize that we cannot succeed without God's blessing and leadership. But, they did something else. Something we must also do if we are to grow and increase.
They obeyed the Lord's command to, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." (Mk. 16: 15. See also Matt. 28: 18-20 for the Great Commission) Everyone they knew; everyone they met; they felt should hear the Gospel and have the opportunity to know the saving grace of Jesus Christ, and accept Him as their Lord. We call it "witnessing."
We must do the same. We must feel that every son of the South should know about the Sons of Confederate Veterans and what we do and stand for, and have the opportunity to join our just Cause. We call it "recruiting."
Whether it's the Cause of Christ or our Southern Cause, one person talking to one person is what worked two thousand years ago, and that's what works today. That is how we get numbers.
May God bless each of you in your service to Christ and in serving the worthy Cause of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
Bro. Len Patterson, Th.D
Chaplain, Army of Trans-Mississippi
Sons of Confederate Veterans
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