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                                                                    EXHIBIT 31.1

                                  CERTIFICATION

I, Gary McGaha, President and C.E.O., certify that:

1.    I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-QSB of Southern Community
      Bancshares, Inc.

2.    Based on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any untrue
      statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to
      make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such
      statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by
      this quarterly report;

3.    Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
      information included in this quarterly report, fairly present in all
      material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash
      flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this
      quarterly report;

4.    The small business issuer's other certifying officer(s) and I are
      responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and
      procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for
      the small business issuer and have:

      a.    Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
            disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
            supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
            small business issuer, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is
            made known to us by others within those entities, particularly
            during the period in which this report is being prepared;

      b.    [Intentionally omitted pursuant to SEC Release Nos. 33-8238 and
            34-47986]

      c.    Evaluated the effectiveness of the small business issuer's
            disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our
            conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and
            procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based
            on such evaluation; and

      d.    Disclosed in this report any change in the small business issuer's
            internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the
            small business issuer's most recent fiscal quarter that has
            materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect,
            the small business issuer's internal control over financial
            reporting; and

5.    The small business issuer's other certifying officer(s) and I have
      disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over
      financial reporting, to the small business issuer's auditors and the audit
      committee of the small business issuer's board of directors (or persons
      performing the equivalent functions):
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      a.    All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design
            or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are
            reasonably likely to adversely affect the small business issuer's
            ability to record, process, summarize and report financial
            information; and

      b.    Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
            other employees who have a significant role in the small business
            issuer's internal control over financial reporting.

Date:  November 14, 2003

                                                  /s/ Gary McGaha
                                                  ------------------------------
                                                  Gary McGaha, President and
                                                  Chief Executive Officer