BRANCHES May 2013

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SOUTHWOOD contents ABOUT THIS ISSUE Have you seen the latest Dove Real Beauty Sketches videos that are being shared on social media? An FBI sketch artist draws an image of how an individual sees themselves and then the artist draws someone else’s description of the individual. What happens every time? They see themselves as much less attractive, highlighting their flaws. Yet others describe them in a much more positive light, and more accurately! The video ends with “You are more beautiful than you think.” ˜ What does this illustration say about our self-identity? We are so wrapped up in ourselves that we often miss the picture. Many of us are focused on how we look (and some feel like it’s just better to give up!) However, it’s not just our looks that affect our identity. Work performance, academic success, athleticism, those statuses that get lots of “likes”, our children’s success, our ability to deal with our children’s problems, our homes, how “Christian” we are—in most every facet of our lives we struggle with our identity. It’s not a new struggle. Remember being school-age? Jocks, geeks, cheerleaders, freaks, scholarship recipients and dropouts—everyone seemed to get a label or were trying to define one. 2 3 6 10 15 9 about this issue pastor’s note REFLECT thoughts for young men Applicable excerpts from John C. Ryle sharing identity struggles Parents of youth in a candid discussion older streams Kevin Twit’s inspiration for Indelible Grace RESPOND 5 questions RUF coordinator Rod Mays talks about getting involved in RUF In this issue we’ll be dealing with identity. It’s one of the greatest burdens dealt with in youth ministry, but we rarely grow out of it. Dive in to the discussion and consider your identity. The “Sunday school answer” is that it’s in Christ. If you’ve spent much time wrestling with it, I suspect you’ve found that indeed if we can’t rest in that answer, we’ll continue to struggle. So if you see me around, be sure to tell me how great you think BRANCHES is (one of the many things I factor into my identity). Or better yet, don’t, and remind me to rest in Christ. Bonus points for doing so on any day but Sunday. BRANCHES Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Barnette Designer Jacki Gil CONTRIBUTORS Will Spink James Parker Annalise Townsley Chad Townsley Rod Mays Vinit Mahesh PHOTOS Jonathan Barnette Katie Cochran 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 2 MAY 2013 | SOUTHWOOD.ORG Jonathan Barnette, Editor JEAN F. LARROUX, III Senior Pastor MELISSA PATTERSON Executive Assistant ADULT MINISTRIES SARAH NIEMITZ Director of Community Development/Assimilation JAMES PARKER Chief Musician WILL SPINK Associate Pastor/Shepherding STUDENT MINISTRIES KIM DELCHAMPS Administrative Assistant NINA BANTA Director of Children NANCY McCREIGHT Assistant Director /Children/Nursery CHAD TOWNSLEY Associate Pastor/High-Life WINNIE WINFORD Assistant Director/High-Life MINISTRY SUPPORT PAT TRAPANE Bookkeeper JONATHAN BARNETTE Director of Communication JACKI GIL Graphic Designer JANICE CROWSON Director of Facilities/Finance LYNDA CLAYDON Facilities MIKE MARREN Facilities 14 16 4 5 5 8 17 18 19 question of the month How do you honor your mother on Mother’s Day? ask a pastor Chad Townsley addresses going to college and church involvement RELATE southwood by the numbers session update from the kitchen Triple Chocolate Salted Cookies from Annaliese Townsley ruf in huntsville Highlighting the campus pastors from UAH and Alabama A&M senior tweets Southwood’s seniors sound off in 140 characters or less welcome to southwood Welcome these new families and communicants to Southwood all that is fair Looking at Switchfoot’s John Foreman’s “Christian” music UPCOMING EVENTS may 5 New Adult Sunday School Begins may 5 Senior Sunday may 14 Providence Presbytery Meeting
PASTOR’S NOTE Chasing the Rabbit Into the Gospel Wonderland It was Friday night. The ACT was the next morning. The look of angst on my daughter’s face was palpable. When I asked her if anything was wrong she gave the definitive answer indicating total meltdown—she said she was “fine.” I knew we were in trouble. I looked at her across the kitchen and said, “Ann, when you don’t know an answer on the test you need to look straight at that question and tell it— ‘you are not a crack baby!’” She looked at me the same way you are looking at this page right now. I said again, “Tell question #32 in the math section— ‘you are not a crack baby!’” Puzzled, she said, “Huh?” I said, “Ann, when you see question #32 and you don’t know the answer, you panic. When you panic you think: ‘I’m gonna fail the ACT. ‘ Then you think: ‘If I fail the ACT then I’m never gonna go to college.’ Then you think: ‘If I fail the ACT and never go to college then I’m never gonna get a job.’ Then you think: ‘If I don’t go to college and I don’t get a job then I won’t have any money. If I don’t have any money then I will have to live under an overpass. If I live under an overpass then the only happiness I will find is in doing crack. If I do crack I will probably end up getting pregnant and living under the overpass raising that crack baby all by myself.’” Then in a much louder voice I said, “Annie, question #32 is a math question, not a crack baby!” She laughed and said, “I got it!” In a split second we can extrapolate a “worst-case scenario” in our minds. I have held so many “crack babies” in my life I cannot tell you. If a bill is late or a phone call is missed or a house closing is delayed I begin emotionally spiraling toward the overpass. I want to appeal to you to turn your ability to “chase a rabbit” down the hole in a bad way into a skill that allows you to take a thought and “chase that rabbit” the right way in order to find the Gospel root of your struggles. This is really one of most helpful ways that we can “experience grace.” Let’s say that you are struggling with a particular sin. We’ll choose something safe like cutting people off in conversations. While rude and annoying, this isn’t one of those “bad sins” that we think, “Boy I’m really glad Jesus died for this….” But we need to “chase the rabbit” a little bit in order to see our real need for Christ. First, we need to re-file the behavior as a symptom of the sin and not the root sin. Whatever we see going on is an indication of something deeper in the heart. Therefore we ask, “what am I really saying when I interrupt my sister while she is talking?” Aren’t you really saying that your opinion or story or insight is more important than hers. Aren’t we also saying that our desire and need to communicate our story supersedes any value we might garner from listening to her story? Even worse, I cannot allow someone else to get the spotlight. I do not have the ability or humility to listen and be instructed by someone else. I am impatient and intolerant of playing second-fiddle to anyone. Now imagine you are corrected. You say, “yeah, yeah, I’m sorry… now finish and let me tell my story.” The problem remains, but now you have just given it some Christian frosting. Now, instead of actually listening you are pretending to listen so that you can be certain to be the next to speak. So now, added to our previous list we have hypocrisy, deception, anger and impatience. This is all wrapped up in a pretty little package called “I’m sorry” which was really just a down-payment on “it’s my turn next!” When we “chase this rabbit” down the hole we see a heart that is self-absorbed, self-serving, self-enamored and self-deceived. If we simply do sin-symptommanagement and teach ourselves to “wait our turn” we will never see our need for Jesus. We might see our need to use better timing or greater self-control but we don’t get to Jesus if we just manage symptoms. The real issue isn’t communication—the issue is my heart! I need deliverance not direction on how to be better. In most scenarios I need to look way past question #32 and see the cracks in my heart before I can really see my need for Jesus. Take the risk of “chasing the rabbit” all the way down the hole on one of your sins this month. Find the cracks in your heart at the end. If you need help, ask one of your parents. If you are a parent, ask one of your kids. You both probably see the cracks in each other’s hearts pretty clearly. Whenever either of you tell the other one that you are “fine” then know this: you are just entering the Gospel wonderland. For more from Jean, check out his sermons at southwood.org jean.larroux@southwood.org @jflarrouxiii Jean F. Larroux, III Senior Pastor MAY 2013 | SOUTHWOOD.ORG 3
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BRANCHES May 2013

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