BRANCHES September 2015

BRANCHES
WHEN YOU'RE HERE,
YOU'RE HOME
High-Life at the Lodge
new faces, new fun:
highlighting new leaders
in Children's Ministry
SEPTEMBER 2015 | southwood.org

SOUTHWOOD
overview
CONTENTS
3 pastor's note
BRANCHES
DESIGNER Phillip Lackey
CONTRIBUTORS
Will Spink
Sarah Niemitz
Niña Banta
Winnie Winford
PHOTOS
Phillip Lackey
Southwood Members
FEEDBACK!
We want to hear from you! Please send
your suggestions and comments to
branches@southwood.org
1000 CARL T. JONES DRIVE | HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA 35802
(256) 882-3085 | WWW.SOUTHWOOD.ORG
COVER PHOTO
Dog doorstop at the Lodge's entrance
CHURCH STAFF
NIÑA BANTA Director of Children
ELIZABETH BUTZ Receptionist
JANICE CROWSON Director of Facilities/Finance
KIM DELCHAMPS Administrative Assistant
TERRI GOOD Accountant/Bookkeeper
PHILLIP LACKEY Graphic Designer
NANCY McCREIGHT Assistant Director /Children/Nursery
SARAH NIEMITZ Director of Community Development/Assimilation
JAMES PARKER Chief Musician
MELISSA PATTERSON Interim Administrative Director
WILL SPINK Associate Pastor/Shepherding
WINNIE WINFORD Assistant Director/High-Life
4 when you're here, you're home
Youth Ministry at the Lodge
6 session update
Keeping you informed
6 search committee update
God's good timing
7 new faces, new fun
Highlighting Children's Ministry leaders
UPCOMING
EVENTS
Pastors on the Patio
September 1
Office Closed for Labor Day
September 7
Jr. High-Life Returns
September 9
Southwood Men's Retreat
September 11 & 12
Sr. High-Life Returns
September 13
community
development
opportunities
this fall:
Family Friendly
• Donate gently used books to Lincoln Academy.
• Prepare a meal for an upcoming Jobs For Life class.
• Bake cookies for the staff at your school.
• Pick a school, a class, or a ministry and pray for them
regularly as a family.
Young adult & older
• Lead early morning Bible studies for students at Montview Elementary.
• Tutor after School with the Village of Promise on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:30-4:30pm.
2 SEPTEMBER 2015 | SOUTHWOOD.ORG
for more
opportunities...
Go to www.southwood.org/serve
for more ideas and how to sign-up!

PASTOR’S NOTE
I’ve really enjoyed spending a few weeks
thinking together about marriage from the
book of Ephesians. And I’ve really appreciated
the feedback and questions many of you have
given me—questions about gender roles in
marriage, biblical grounds for divorce, samesex
attraction, and others. Many of these are
answered best in conversation (one reason why
we’re intentionally having a dialogue at Pastors
on the Patio Tuesday, Sept. 1), but others can
reasonably be answered in writing. I’m going
to address some in the upcoming issues of
Branches and try to provide some answers.
But before answering any of the specific
questions, I want to remind us to consider
the source. What is the basis for answers to
these (or any other) questions, and how do we
evaluate the answers we hear? This is vital to
answer because we are all prone to seeking
truth in man-centered ways rather than being
directed by God himself through his Word.
Many of us develop opinions on truth based
on trends in our culture. The positive aspect of
this is that we are sensitive to how truth will be
received in different cultures at different times,
and we want to be intentional to communicate
the good news of Jesus in language people
can understand. The danger, though, is that
we sometimes allow public opinion to loosen
our own grip on God’s truth. God’s truth is not
subject to the opinion of mankind—no matter
how many people see things differently.
Consider the Source
do this with the gospel itself because when a
popular preacher is caught in moral failure, we
hear many who follow his message “leave the
faith,” revealing that they believed because of
the man rather than because of God’s truth.
If I preach a sermon on the call for husbands to
love their wives sacrificially and then go home
and am instead self-serving in my marriage,
that is certainly hypocritical, but it does not
disprove the truth of the message preached.
Likewise, my “good” behavior in that regard
would not establish the truth of my message. I
ought to live consistently with what I preach—
and this lends legitimacy to my message—but
my life itself cannot be the basis for establishing
the truthfulness of what I preach.
Even the Apostle Paul commended people
for considering the source. He praised the
Bereans for believing his message not merely
because he preached it but because it was
consistent with the Scriptures (Acts 17:11).
This is what we really need—answers from
God to our questions, perspectives shaped
by his Word. We should expect that at times
the truth of God’s Word will contradict our
sensibilities or challenge our cultural wisdom.
“Sola Scriptura”—the principle that the Bible
alone is our final authority—means we put
ourselves, our culture, our church, and our
favorite teachers under the Bible and establish
what we believe based on God’s Word. God,
then, is the final and firm source for truth.
If you would like to contact
Will, use the following:
will.spink@southwood.org
@WillSpink
Others of us are tightly tied to the teachings
of a denomination or church tradition. This can
be helpful for giving us direction on particular
issues because it moves us beyond our cultural
moment to the way believers have for centuries
understood God’s Word. But if the traditions
of our church are our final authority, they too
become dangerous. Church history shows that
even a large number of well-intentioned men
can make errors on issues of great significance.
Perhaps the area we are most susceptible
these days, however, is believing things to
be true because some teacher we trust or
respect or really like says it. We know people
One final factor is important to keep in mind
as we answer these questions about marriage:
The Bible answers them in the context of the
one great story it tells; thus, the answers will
often make sense only in light of the primacy
of that story. This is the story we talked about
every Sunday: The Bible tells of a Prince leaving
his throne to rescue a lost and abandoned
princess to restore her to her intended beauty
and live in relationship with her forever. It’s
a true story and the one God has designed
marriage in particular to tell over and over
again. As you wrestle with the tough questions
of marriage, the primacy of God’s Word and
God’s story must undergird every answer.
Will Spink
Associate Pastor
SEPTEMBER 2015 | SOUTHWOOD.ORG 3

wHEn YOU'RE HERE,
You , re
home
bY winnie winfORd
“Winnie, do you live at the Lodge?” a sweet eighth-grader
asked me recently. While I am happy to say I have a home
cottage here in Huntsville that is not also my place of work,
I was thrilled to receive such a question—thrilled because
this means that a High-Life student views the Lodge as a
place that could be a home … and indeed it is.
Southwood members had a heart to build the lodge
11 years ago with one specific purpose: to be a home
to the students of Huntsville. The Lodge has happily
hosted events from wedding receptions and small group
gatherings to high school wrestling banquets and birthday
parties and, of course, the annual Christmas spectacular,
Fa La Lodge. But it is home to the youth of this city.
What does home mean to you? When you hear the word
“home,” what images, smells, memories and feelings rise up
in your soul?
Growing up in the Air Force, I was able to live in many different
houses, but they all felt like home. While it might have taken a
while after each move to get the furniture set or put the dishes
in the kitchen, every house was a home instantly because of the
people I was blessed to share the house with. We had shared
memories, a deep love for one another and acceptance. I
knew that no matter how many times my sister got mad at
me, I would still be her sister. I felt secure and at rest. This is
why when I hear the word “home,” I instantly picture my dad
ironing his fatigues every Sunday night, I hear the sounds of
my sister listening to Full House while she was reading, and I
smell peanut blossoms baking at Christmas time.
I encourage you to say the words “The Lodge” to a student
at Southwood and watch their face react as they communicate
to you the love and joy they have experienced in the building
you have provided and set apart for them.
The elders of Southwood and adult leaders of High-Life have
always aimed for the Lodge to be a “kingdom environment”—a
place where the kingdom of God is felt and advanced—
because it is a home where a student or parent may walk in
and feel security and acceptance right where they are. High-
Life has several values that are at the core of what it is as a
ministry, and all of these core values are constantly being
lived out together in the Lodge. Here’s a brief look at how
our core values of Kingdom Environments, Prayer, Partnership,
The Word, Presence, and Servanthood and Good Works are
continuing to take place this fall at the Southwood Lodge.
4 SEPTEMBER 2015 | SOUTHWOOD.ORG

mark your calendars!
Sunday School
Sundays 9-10:10am
Year Round
Jr High-Life
Wednesdays 6-7:30pm
Returns Sept 9
Cookie Tuesday
Tuesdays 3-5pm
Returns Sept 8
Sr High-Life
Sundays 7-8:30pm
Returns Sept 13
SUNDAY SCHOOL
When students walk into the Lodge at 9am on Sunday mornings,
they are greeted with a delicious breakfast and adult leaders
who care about investing in their lives. They are also taught
the Word and have the opportunity to pray together.
COOKIE TUESDAY
Beginning Tuesday, September 8th, from 3-5pm the Lodge
is open to 7th-12th graders. When they arrive burdened
from their days at middle or high school, they step into the
smells of homemade cookies and into the arms of their youth
community. Anytime a person can show the love of Christ and
live out the gospel truths through chocolate chip cookies
is a win in my book! Some students may just swing by for
five minutes on their way home, others may stay for an hour
and play in the gym or study in the conference room. But
they know that they are walking into a welcoming kingdom
environment.
JR. & SR. HIGH-LIFE
For 7th and 8th graders, Jr. High-Life meets this fall starting
Wednesday, September 9, from 6-7:30pm. Students are
energetically greeted as they walk in and are encouraged
to bring their friends with them to Jr. High-Life. Dinner is
provided for $3, and there is homemade dessert. We play
games, worship, listen to a testimony of a high school student
on the leadership team, pray and hear a talk from God’s Word.
For 9th-12th graders, Sr. High-Life meets this fall starting
Sunday, September 13 from 7-8:30pm. There are delicious
snacks made with love by parents who have volunteered to
care for the hearts of high schoolers hungry both for the
nourishment of God’s grace and for food! Through games,
worship, prayer and teaching from God’s Word, a community
of students experiencing and expressing grace is formed.
JR. & SR. CREW
There are several ways in which the programs of High-Life
ministries live out servanthood and good works: annual
missions trips, serving the Southwood children’s ministry,
teaching and encouraging the students to serve, and Jr. &
Sr. Crew! When students are juniors in high school, they may
apply to be on Jr. Crew, where they serve the middle school
students at Jr. High-Life each Wednesday. When students are
seniors, they may apply to be on Sr. Crew and serve at Sr.
High-Life on Sundays. These students not only set up, serve
food, throw away trash, facilitate games, clean up, vacuum,
do dishes and turn off the lights countless times, but they
also show Christ through building relationships with students
younger than themselves. They have a crew meeting where
they are being trained in why and how we love others as Christ
loved us.
PARTNERSHIP
The High-Life adult leaders are invaluable as the hands and
feet of Jesus to the students who come through the doors. The
adult leaders serve for one reason: they have experienced the
grace of God and have a heart to express that grace through
word and deed to Southwood students and their friends. The
way they express this grace is through living life alongside the
students, vulnerably allowing the students to see their messy
sinful hearts and lives that are being redeemed by the Father,
and also peeking into the lives of the students and bringing
grace and healing to the sins and hurts they find there.
When High-Life leaders stand with the congregation during
a baptism and respond “I will” to the vows of assisting the
parents in the Christian nurture of the child, they are joining
with the voices of the nursery and children’s leaders. The
High-Life leaders love to be in partnership with the parents
of Huntsville youth in the Christian nurture of their children
during the teenage years.
A HOME TO RETURN TO
One of my favorite stories to share about youth ministry in
the Lodge is about two of our Southwood students, Sam
Wilson and Kellyn Mahesh. These students attended Jr. and
Sr. High-Life, then served and led both on Jr. and Sr. Crew. In
addition, they sacrificed time after school to serve the ministry
in a program called “student staff.” It was an honor for the
ministry to have Sam and Kellyn get married to one another
at Southwood and have their reception—where else—but the
Lodge. The Lodge was a home for the Wilsons, a place where
they had met Jesus through the staff and adult leaders, a place
where they had heard God’s Word preached and worshipped
him. They feel at home in the Lodge. They view it as a place
they can always return to, have shared memories in, and feel
loved and accepted inside its walls.
Southwood, please be encouraged to know that you are
providing an amazing gospel ministry to the youth of Huntsville.
Because at the Lodge, when you’re here, you’re home.
SEPTEMBER 2015 | SOUTHWOOD.ORG 5

SOUTHWOOD
branches
SESSION UPDATE
The Session is excited about the start of Southwood’s first Jobs
for Life class this month. As Sarah Niemitz has reminded us,
Jobs for Life is a marathon, not a sprint, but this fall is a great
opportunity for us as a congregation to begin loving and serving
our neighbors and community through this ministry. Please
prayerfully consider in what way you could be involved in helping
this important initiative.
As we enter a season with one pastor on staff, we have planned
for the preaching during the remainder of 2015 to be shared
somewhat equally between Will Spink and some guest preachers.
This arrangement will allow for Will to continue being engaged
pastorally with church members and ministries while also taking us
through the rest of Ephesians when he is in the pulpit. At the same
time, we will continue to enjoy the blessing of hearing God’s Word
preached by different voices, who will challenge and encourage
us like the guests we have already hosted this year. Thank you for
praying for and supporting our entire staff during this season.
Finally, please continue to pray for our Pastoral Search Committee.
They are working hard this fall in particular and are encouraged
by God’s work in and through them. They will be updating the
congregation each month on their progress, and the article below
provides more detail directly from one of their members.
SEARCH COMMITTEE UPDATE
by Tripp Pearson
As we enter the fall, the Search Committee has committed to
giving monthly updates to the congregation. The following
update reflects much of the content communicated by Sharon
Dutcher during the worship service on August 9.
The Lord has been good to Southwood. The search committee
completed the preparation phase by creating Insights, a
brochure describing the city of Huntsville, the mission and
vision of Southwood, and the type of person we believe would
be a good fit for Senior Pastor. Since completing Insights in
April, the committee has been “casting the net” or reaching out
to all of our friends and contacts around the country to see who
may be a good fit. As you might imagine, there has been a lot
of interest, and the committee has made a significant amount
of progress looking through resumés, listening to sermons,
conducting interviews, and evaluating each candidate’s
suitability for service at Southwood. While we are encouraged
by the progress we are making in this process, we still don’t
know the exact timing for the nomination of a candidate to the
congregation.
The Greeks had two words for this “timing”: chronos and kairos.
Chronos is a concept modern Americans are very familiar
with. It is quantitative – the sequential passing of clock-time
(chronology). We can measure it, count it, and schedule events
based on it. With the advent of the atomic clocks and internet
news, kairos is a concept we often struggle with. It is more
qualitative—often described as God’s dimension. The concept
is one of a perfect moment or appointed season. You might
think of it like the opening of a flower—it can’t be forced. It’s
difficult because we can’t control it, but that’s somewhat where
we find ourselves as a church in this search process.
However, take heart; the Lord has not left us high and dry. His
purpose is being accomplished even in this season. Rest and
be assured in the fact that our Lord, who bought us for a price,
continues to hold our hands and woo us into love with Himself.
He is providing our needs; He is in control. He continues to
work in and through us during this season … until his purpose is
accomplished.
The Search Committee is grateful for the inputs you provided to
the congregational survey, the names of men to consider for this
position, and mostly for your prayers that we covet. It is easy to
think the end result or bottom line is the only reason for an activity
like this, but the Lord is concerned with accomplishing his purpose
in our hearts during this season, not merely the end product.
So, be steadfast in your prayers. Pray for our staff and officers to
lead courageously during this transitional period; pray for wisdom
for your Search Committee while they wrestle to discover the
Lord’s will; and pray for joy and unity of spirit with one another
as we wait patiently for the timing of the Lord’s purposes to be
accomplished. This is a season of humbleness before the King; a
time to seek His face; an opportunity to call upon His name. The
Search Committee is grateful for the comfort of Proverbs 19:21:
“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose
that prevails.” So, praise the Lord for what great things he has
done, humble yourself, and call upon his name; and trust the Lord,
for His purpose will prevail … in His appointed season.
6 SEPTEMBER 2015 | | SOUTHWOOD.ORG

NEW FACES,
New FunB
Y
NIÑA
BANTA
The laughter of children greets you as you walk down the Nursery and Children’s halls. What a joy to hear their voices singing and lifting
praises to the Lord! Southwood’s Children’s Ministry continues to grow by leaps and bounds alongside the volunteer leaders who run it.
Sunday mornings would not happen without their leadership, dedication, and passion for teaching and training the next generation of
believers. We wanted to highlight some new faces in Children’s Ministry so we asked a few of them to share with us what they are looking
forward to about serving in this ministry and what excites them the most. This is what they said!
Emily Polak
(4th/5th grade) Hwy45 Teacher
I’m looking forward to learning the catechism
alongside the kiddos in Hwy45. I learned it a
long time ago, and am looking forward to going
through it again. I'm excited to get to know the
kids. They all have fun personalities, and already
it's a joy to interact with them during the lessons.
Stephanie Lowe
(K/1st grade) KidsWorship Coordinator
I am looking forward to getting to know the kids
and their parents in KidsWorship. As the mother
of a 3 and a 5 year old, this community is exciting
for our family. What excites me about serving in
Children’s Ministry is being a part of God's story
in these kids' lives and helping them understand
how much He loves them. A child being able to
rest in that truth is an incredible anchor as they go
through adolescence and throughout their lives.
Kellie Jo Snyder
(K/1st grade) KidsWorship Teacher
I am looking forward to getting to know a part of
the church body I don’t know. We don’t have any
kids in this age group and I feel we miss out on
knowing some great families that have kids this
age. What excites me about serving in Children’s
Ministry is the opportunity to be silly. I love the
way you can be yourself with kids and the nuttier
the better. You can be goofy with them all while
expressing grace and love to them that comes
from our heavenly Father. Kids are FUN!
Heather and Russell Joffrion
(PreK 4 yr olds) Preschool Teachers
H: Not having had a Presbyterian upbringing, I'm
looking forward to learning the catechism myself,
and hearing all the funny things four-year-olds say.
I'm excited about the chance to show the love of
Jesus to our littlest kiddos!
R: I am really looking forward to getting to know
our preschoolers individually! Serving in Children's
Ministry is exciting because it is a hands-on
chance to fulfill the vow I have taken many times
as a member of Southwood to assist parents in the
Christian nurture of their children.
Reeves Fancher
(2nd/3rd grade) Truth Trek Coordinator
I am most looking forward to building a relationship
with the students. I am also eager to watch them
grow in their relationship with the Lord as they
memorize scripture and study God's promises.
What excites me most about the upcoming year
is learning just as much, if not more, from these
students as they do from me.
Rachael Martin
(6th grade) Ascent Teacher
I'm looking forward to building relationships with
the 6th grade students while getting to know
them and their families. I'm excited to serve the
Ascent ministry through studying God's word and
watching the students learn while they express
ideas and interests through our conversations.

Our Jobs for Life class begins September 8th...
AND WE CANNOT DO IT
WITHOUT YOU!
Administrator
Students, Instructors, Champions
PRAYER
TEAM
Financial Contribution
Meals, Transportation, Childcare,
Business Network: Make connections, help fiind interviews, foster community awareness, offer resume support, employ graduates
Church Family: Pray, welcome graduates & families on a Sunday morning, open doors to small group, celebrate successes, encouragement, share the gospel, express grace, love
JOIN THE
PRAYER NETWORK!
Receive up-to-date prayer requests and timely reminders to pray for classes, students, and
volunteers throughout our 8-week class, and beyond! To join, email edmonds.brandi@gmail.com.