February 2018 Branches_Web

BRANCHES
BOLD AS LOVE
the challenge and beauty of genuine
relationships
now what:
living out express grace
who is my neighbor:
learn about this year's c4 conference
FEBRUARY 2018 | southwood.org

SOUTHWOOD
BRANCHES
DESIGNER Eli Maples
CONTRIBUTORS
Will Spink
Ron Clegg
Peter Render
James Parker
PHOTOS
Southwood Members
Eli Maples
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
OVerVIeW
COVER PHOTO
Peruvian pottery church
CHURCH STAFF
CHRISTINE BETTS Assistant Director, Youth/Families
NIÑA CASH Director of Children's Ministry
RITA CLARDY Executive Assistant
SHANNON CLARK Administrative Assistant
RON CLEGG Assistant Pastor, Discipleship
TY COMMONS Youth and Family Intern
JANICE CROWSON Director of Facilities/Finance
KIM DELCHAMPS Administrative Assistant
TERRI GOOD Accountant/Bookkeeper
DERRICK HARRIS Asst. Pastor, Shepherding & Young Families
ELI MAPLES Graphic Designer
ROBERT BLEVINS Director of Community Development
JAMES PARKER Chief Musician
PETER RENDER Assistant Pastor, Youth/Families
ANGELA SIERK Assistant Director/Children's Ministry
WILL SPINK Senior Pastor
CONTENTS
3 pastor's note
4 saturday seminars
Living missionally where we are
5 men's and women's ministries
6 bold as love
the challenge and beauty of genuine
relationships
8 now what
living out Express Grace
10 who is my neighbor
2018 C4 conference
11 all that's fair
UPCOMING EVENTS
Annual Congregational Meeting
February 4
Communicants Class Begins
February 4
Sr. High Winter Retreat
February 9-11
Family Movie Night
February 16
Saturday Seminar
March 10
Women's Retreat
March 16-18
FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT
Friday, February 16 at 6pm
At the Lodge • Popcorn & Pizza
$
4 per person or $ 15 per family (four or more)
2 FEBRUARY 2018 | SOUTHWOOD.ORG

PASTOR’S NOTE
Black History Month at Southwood?
A friend recently asked me, “Does Southwood
do anything for Black History Month?” My
initial response was a somewhat embarrassed,
“Well, not really … maybe we should be.” But
the more I thought about it, the more I realized
that there are important things going on – and
perhaps even more importantly, not merely
because it’s February.
Now don’t get me wrong: Southwood has a
long way to go in terms of racial reconciliation
and building true partnership with our minority
brothers and sisters; I’m not suggesting we
have it all figured out. Furthermore, it’s not
wrong to have a particular month set aside
to highlight particular people in our society
– especially when they have been mistreated
and marginalized for decades.
February would be a great opportunity to come
alongside lessons our kids will be learning in
school about Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks,
and others with conversations about what the
Gospel says about loving others different from
us. We could learn with them about Francis
Grimke, Maria Fearing, and other influential
African-American Presbyterians.
But back to encouraging things going on.
Later this month (Feb. 20) several of our staff
and members will participate in the annual C4
Conference, where the Jackson Center will be
filled with a couple hundred diverse people
from across our city. We are partnering with
one of our local mission partners and some
minority churches in town to discuss “Who Is
My Neighbor?” and learn from each other how
to develop better community across racial and
social boundaries uniquely in Huntsville. You’ll
find more information in this issue of Branches,
but it’s not too late to sign up; we would love
to have you join us for this exciting event!
A couple weeks later, Southwood is hosting
an event focused on building relationships,
especially across cultural lines. We have been
learning how vital such relationships are so we
can listen, learn, and love our brothers and
sisters better, and this Saturday is designed to
equip us for engaging in those relationships.
Tedd Offutt is coming from Atlanta to conduct
this training, and I hope you’ll take advantage
of this special opportunity as well.
Already I’m encouraged by conversations in
our Sunday School classes and ways we’ve
benefitted from minority brothers and sisters
sharing their stories with us. I’m glad to see our
kids developing friendships with classmates
and teammates of various social classes and
leading their parents into new relationships.
I’m thankful for many of our members involved
throughout the year with local groups seeking
to deepen cross-cultural relationships.
These realities are important for us because
while it can be helpful to focus for a month on
“Black History,” God would have “their story”
and “our story” woven together every day as a
part of “His story.” See, developing inter-racial
relationships is not first and foremost a social
or political issue; it’s a Gospel issue. It’s an
issue of loving others the way God loves them
and the way God has loved us.
We’ve just spent an inspiring weekend
considering the priority of Expressing Grace.
We were challenged to have our experience
of God’s grace transform us and compel us
outward. It’s the good news of that Gospel that
has sent people from Alabama to Africa, Ireland,
and Peru. It’s the good news of that Gospel
that RIMI wants to spread across India. It’s the
good news of that Gospel that compelled the
Apostle Peter to go to the Gentile Roman
centurion and declare forgiveness of sins in the
name of Jesus to someone whose lifestyle and
history were foreign to Peter.
The Gospel sends all those people across all
those great distances because it’s founded
upon the grace of a God who crossed greater
differences and distances to love us. It’s based
upon the mercy of a God who welcomed into
his life and around his table people who didn’t
fit in there. It’s driven by the love of a God
who united people from every tribe, tongue,
language, and nation into one family because
Jesus was the most important thing about all
of them. May we celebrate that Gospel crossculturally
this February (and beyond).
Will Spink
Senior Pastor
If you would like to contact
Will, use the following:
will.spink@southwood.org
@WillSpink
FEBRUARY 2018 | SOUTHWOOD.ORG 3

SOUTHWOOD
SESSION UPDATE
The Session is excited for the February 4 Congregational Meeting
as we get to rejoice together in God’s gracious provision for
Southwood and the ways that is allowing us to see the kingdom
advance in our church and far beyond as well. This annual
meeting will occur immediately following the worship service,
and while there is much to talk about, we will seek to cover the
items in a timely fashion. In addition to reviewing last year’s
giving and expenses, the 2018 budget plan will be presented
as we look forward to what God will do through, beyond, and in
spite of us.
Following elections for church officers and corporation trustees,
we will also consider the sale of the “White House” property. The
Session, Diaconate, and Finance Committee have recommended
this action to the congregation, but the congregation maintains
oversight of such property decisions. As we have communicated
in the worship service, this recommendation comes as a result of
ongoing thoughtful and prayerful consideration of the resources
God has given Southwood to steward as well as the current and
future ministry plans we have. While we have benefitted from
several different uses for the White House over the past few
years and while we are in a healthy financial position today, we
believe the best strategic stewardship of this resource would
be to attempt to sell it and designate the proceeds of that sale
toward debt reduction.
Finally, please pray for your church officers as we prepare for and
participate in our annual Officers Retreat at the end of February.
This weekend is an important time for us to pray extensively for
you and for God’s kingdom, to consider strategic planning for
the church, and to deepen our relationships with each other so
that we lead in a unified and passionate manner. Pray that God
would bless that time and would give humility and wisdom to the
leaders of Southwood.
LIVING MISSIONALLY: ENGAGING THE WORLD WHERE WE LIVE
We don’t have to move to another country in order to be a missionary.
We are called to do that right where we live. But how
do we do that? How do we build redemptive relationships in our
own neighborhood? How do we build meaningful relationships
with those with a different ethnic, socioeconomic, or cultural background?
We will explore these topics with Tedd at the Living Missionally
Seminar.
Please reserve your space by contacting Shannon at the church
office.Come and enjoy a time of learning and practicing together
how we can engage our world more effectively.
4 FEBRUARY 2018 | SOUTHWOOD.ORG

Southwood Men exists to Engage, Encourage,
and Equip the men of Southwood to be faithful
disciples of Christ and effective ambassadors
for the Kingdom. We do that by building strong
faith community through special training events,
recreation opportunities, small group studies, and
more. Below are some upcoming events for the
spring. Some are in the planning process, and
some will be announced at later time.
Spring conference with Scotty Smith, April
20-22. More information coming soon.
Pub nights - these are being planned and
more info will be coming about time and
place.
Saturday morning breakfasts (or “Baconfests”)
Table Talk Groups and Men’s Bible Study.
Contact Ron at the church for information
on meeting dates, times and locations of
existing groups, and when new groups will
begin.
The annual Women’s retreat is just around the
corner! We are heading to beautiful Camp Alpine
in Mentone on March 16th and 17th to enjoy
rocking chairs, campfires, food, fellowship, and
fun. Our speaker, Denine Blevins, will share how
the gospel has transformed her life. Can’t wait to
see you there!
The heart of Southwood’s Women’s Ministry is to
engage all of our women with each other and the
mission of the church. That includes young and
old, working and stay-at-home, visitors and longtime
members. To that end we have small group
Bible studies both morning and evening that are
currently studying 1 Peter together. There are
also other special events like the upcoming retreat
that give us opportunities to connect and
grow together. Let us know how we can help you
get connected!

SOUTHWOOD
branches
The challenge and beauty of genuine relationships
By Peter Render
There probably is no word more ubiquitous
in Christianese than the word "love". The
beautiful, longsuffering, and natural love
of God. The love of brothers and sisters
in Jesus toward one another. The love
known between a husband and a wife. The
love earmarked by devotion and longing.
Regardless of etymology, "love" evokes
a sense of necessary intimacy. It is that
thing to which we are called that seems
impossible to experience or grasp.
Much to the chagrin of the rich Presbyterian
tradition, it is commonplace in PCA
churches to have a cognitive grasp of a
subject like "love" without having much
in the way of experience. Husbands and
wives marry mistaking the conflation of
lust and sexual intimacy with the calling
to love and relational intimacy. Friends
become business partners and quickly
revert to the practice of business over
"love" at the expense of one another.
We jump into small groups seeking
relationship, but really only desiring to
have people get to know us at a certain
level. The practice of any sort of biblical
"love" is painfully elusive.
The Inception of Pain
There is little more heart-wrenching than
hearing a child recount a story of his peers
collectively discounting and renouncing him
for little or no reason. There is something
about bullying that has launched it to the
fore in popular culture as something not to
be tolerated. We can argue about political
and social motives some other time. I
am going to operate under a different
hypothesis for the sake of this article. We
will not stand for bullying because there
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is nothing worse than a person being
disregarded. It is a beautiful common
grace that we would stand against any
person, made in the image of God, being
discounted, disregarded, or even worse,
misunderstood.
Nothing is more painful in life, for any of us,
than to be genuinely misunderstood. At our
deepest levels of personhood, we naturally
experience a great fear of being known and
then being rejected. For most of us, we
know that we could never be "loved," and
so we spend our lives creating a persona
with which people can interact without
severely damaging us. This can come
from tangential experience like watching a
sibling or close friend experience rejection.
For others of us, we made the mistake of
putting our true selves on the line, only to
find out that who we are does not meet
the standards of others. In either case, and
the myriad between, the masks through
which we display ourselves for the world,
shield a frightened person, unable to accept
"love" or experience intimacy.
We believe the lie that we are unlovable
and preach it to ourselves daily. Not only
do we fear this rejection, but also we
know our capability to reject others. This
leads to people who desperately wish to
have relationship and community, but
who stiff-arm its realities at every turn.
We throw around terms like "authentic"
and "transparent" without even realizing
that we have no idea how to attain these
invaluable ideals.
Candy Shell Relationship
A church like Southwood is often
described as being relational. We purpose
to create a welcoming environment for
visitors. We utilize Sunday School time
to equip the congregation to engage their
neighborhoods and communities. We
emphasize plugging into small groups and
serving in the church to develop more
connections. We genuinely engage with
others in a warm and inviting manner. God
used this reality, in part, to draw Emily and
me to raise our children in this church. As
part observation and part introspection,
I have noticed that this warmth and this
invitation often go only so far. Once some
person or some family seems assimilated,
they can be left alone — perhaps very alone.
It is in this identity
that we can truly find
"love" and intimacy.
Each of us is equal at
the foot of the cross.
What I am describing is not so much
a criticism of Southwood as it is an
indictment of humans as being unable to
support themselves. We are vulnerable at
our inmost parts, at the very seat of our
emotions, to the fear of not being good
enough. We experience this when we
cannot get someone whom we thought we
were getting to know to call, text, or email
us back. We experience this when we are
going through a serious life issue, but we
think that we might ruin relationships by
discussing it with the people with whom
we are in contact. We experience this
when we try to press in, only to find that
the "love" and intimacy that we are seeking
is actually only a thin candy shell, covering
a melting blob of someone who is just like
us, who is just as scared and unprepared
as we are.
The Gospel Intersection
Jesus meets us in these places. The person
and work of Jesus Christ is proof positive
of the fact that we are not enough. No
amount of "handshake and hello" can
substitute for our being brought to our
knees at the foot of the cross. All of human
history reaches its crescendo in the Godman,
the perfect One who felt everything
we feel, who suffered just as we have
suffered, and who gave himself up for the
sake of his Father’s will.
It is in this identity that we can truly find
"love" and intimacy. Each of us is equal at
the foot of the cross. Each of us is hopeful
in the truth of the resurrection. Each of
us knows that we ought to be accepted
as an image bearer of the only true God.
Every believer, however imperfectly, has
experienced "love" and intimacy with our
Heavenly Father. A "love" so pure and true
that we cannot resist running to it.
This "love" that we have experienced from
our Father is the same "love" that we
ought to extend toward each other. Fear
has no place in the body of Christ. It is
the truth to which we must adhere. “You
are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a
son, then an heir through God” (Galatians
4:7). The experience of who we are in
Jesus allows us both to rise above the fear
of being discounted by others, and humble
ourselves to "love" those who are different
from us. This is "love." This is intimacy.
“You have been anointed by the Holy One,
and you all have knowledge. I write to you,
not because you do not know the truth,
but because you know it, and because no
lie is of the truth” (1 John 2:20-21).
Let me encourage you, as I encourage
myself, our Father wishes nothing more
than for us to know "love." Let us not
harden ourselves toward the gift of the
Holy Spirit. Rather, let us embrace this
grace, the very person of God, active in us
and amongst us, who comforts, overcomes
fear, and gives us the "love" that we all
seek. May we all preach this Gospel to
ourselves daily.
FEBRUARY 2018 | SOUTHWOOD.ORG 7

SOUTHWOOD
branches
NOW
WHAT?
LIVING OUT EXPRESS GRACE
by Ron Clegg
I love conferences like the one we just experienced
here at Southwood. I love the energy they inject into
our spiritual lives. I love the fresh vision they can create
for us in how we are called to express grace. I love the
new connections we make with our mission partners and
hearing stories of how the Kingdom is advancing through
our efforts.
But now what? What are we to do with the new-found
energy and vision? That is the question of the hour. As great
as conferences can be, they are not enough. They are tools
that help prepare us to be better ambassadors for the King, but
their impact is often short-lived. The new energy we felt drains
out like a battery running quickly down, until, in a short time, we are
back where we started. So, while the flame is still burning, let’s ask
a few questions. With these new insights and a fresh understanding
of the call of the Gospel, what does the Father have planned for
you? How are you called to participate in His Kingdom work? There
are at least three levels at which we can get in the game.
The first level is to GO. Being called to another part of the world
is not for everyone. It is a special calling that the King lays on the
hearts of a few. Such a calling involves significant sacrifice of effort
and relationships, intensive training, and a willingness to enter
uncomfortable and uncontrollable situations. Though it is for a few,
we all must at least consider whether we might be called to join the
chosen few. Most of us probably assume that we are not called.
Leaving our home, changing “careers,” and uprooting our family
from years of relationships would be too costly for most of us. At
the same time, maybe He is calling you to be uprooted from your
familiar life and to be transplanted into another world where the
Gospel can flow from you to others who are in darkness.
Yet, there is another aspect of going. It does require some level of
sacrifice and discomfort, and good training is recommended. But we
don’t
h a v e
to move to
another continent
or people group. All of
us are called to be ambassadors
of the King right where He has placed us. He has put us into
networks of relationships where we are the primary connection with
His Eternal Kingdom. Going in this way does not involve the same
level of life disruption as going to a foreign field. Yet, it does require
intentionality and can be costly on various levels. We need to ask
these questions: What is my mission field? To whom am I sent with
the Good News of the Kingdom? How can I better engage with my
neighbors, co-workers, and/or friends that will lead them to more
fully behold the glory of the Kingdom?
Another level of involvement is to Give. The advancement of the
Kingdom, like anything else, requires resources. Psalm 67 tells
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us that God blesses us “that [His] way may
be known on earth, [His] saving power among
the nations.” Just as we are conduits of His joy in
redemption, so are we conduits of His resources.
We might not think that we have adequate funds to make a
significant impact, but it does not require great gifts, as the world
would define them. It requires faith in the Great Benefactor not only
to provide for our needs, but also use our small offerings, multiply
them, and satisfy the spiritually hungry world with the news of His
salvation. In fact, in many places around the world, gifts that may
seem small to us here can really stretch a long way. Just as Jesus
took a couple of insignificant loaves and fish from a young boy and
fed a multitude, He can also use our gifts to feed the nations with
joy and hope. Ask yourself, how has God blessed me with resources
that can be funneled towards Kingdom Advancement?
Finally, we can pray. In many ways, we should have listed this first,
because praying for the advancement of the Kingdom is the most
powerful way we can participate in such work. There isn’t anything
more important in the work of Kingdom advancement than praying
for the darkness to be driven back, the enemy defeated, and hearts
opened to the words of life. Yet, I list it here because you might not
think you can do anything else. Maybe you can’t transplant your
family into another culture or people, or even effectively engage
with your neighbors. You might not think you have the funds to
provide for those who do go. But, there is absolutely nothing
stopping us from getting on our knees and interceding for those
who are actively working on the front lines to see that the nations
hear the gospel. And hopefully, as a result of the Express Grace
Conference, you now know at least a couple of our global ministry
partners better, and you can intelligently pray for the work they are
called to do.
Ask yourself, how can I more effectively direct my prayers for the
advancement of God’s Kingdom? What friends do I know, who as
of yet do not know Christ, whom I can pray for? How can I better
direct my prayers to the movement of the gospel around the world
rather than for my personal comfort?
So, what will you do now?
FEBRUARY 2018 | SOUTHWOOD.ORG 9

WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR
2018 C4 Conference
REIMAGINING OUR CALL TO
LOVE OTHERS AS WE LOVE OURSELVES
As children we are taught the golden rule, “Do unto
others as we would have them do unto us.” As adults
we realize the difficulties in making our efforts “golden.”
We can find ourselves overwhelmed by factors that
separate or confuse our efforts to really know and love
our neighbors.
At this year’s conference, our goal is to begin a
“neighborly” conversation. The speakers at C4 will walk
us through tough questions as they invite us to a place
of deep awareness. We will consider the call of Christ to
re-imagine loving others as we love ourselves. But we
won’t stop there because awareness is of little value if we
don’t act upon what we have learned.
WILL YOU DREAM WITH US AS WE ENVISION:
• Natural opportunities to connect with others who are
not like ourselves.
• Communities that provide the best opportunities for
all (not some) children.
• New friendships that cut across barriers of race and
class.
• Collaborative efforts with non-profits and local
churches.
C4 2018 promises to bring opportunities to move us past
conversations about racial and socio-economic isolation
- towards tangible steps that bring about change. Our
planning team is committed to making sure that every
attendee leaves with options and opportunities to
engage in diverse and life-giving relationships with new
neighbors.
After all, barriers and biases are not broken down by
conferences and quotes, they are broken down by
relationships.
WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR
at the Jackson Center
February 21, 8:30am-2:30pm
Conference Cost $99 per person (includes lunch)
Register at cornerstone-al.org!
CONFERENCE SPEAKERS:
BRYAN LORITTS
Lead pastor of Abundant Life Church
in Silicon Valley, California. Featured
author and speaker at the Willow
Creek Global Leadership Summit,
Catalyst, and a host of other events.
SANDRA CEPEDA
Founder, President and CEO
of Cepeda Systems & Software
Analysis, Inc. in Huntsville, Alabama.
Board President of Intentional Faith,
a ministry created by CSSA.
DEVYN KEITH
District 1 Representative of the
Huntsville City Council and the
youngest elected official in the
history of Huntsville. Desires to see
District 1 become a place where
people want to live and not leave.

ALL THAT IS FAIR
THE WISDOM TO KNOW THE DANCE
by James Parker
Sometimes you find yourself face to face with a dilemma that
feels utterly terrifying. I'm only 37, and I've encountered
more than a few circumstances in my life that have rattled
me. That feeling of being out of control, of having all good
options stripped away from you, of having the rug pulled out
from underneath... it's universal. Yet, you still have to make
a choice. You still have to choose how to respond to the
trial. Coping with the death of a family member, accepting
the realities of a horrible illness, walking through a divorce, or
simply dealing with the consequences of one's own personal
sins and shortcomings are just a few examples of situations we
all dread. We're forced to swallow the truth that our lives do
not look like we would have hoped.
One way many of us deal with this dread is to fight, to charge
into the dilemma with anger and seek to control all or part of
the thing that threatens us. This may feel effective for the short
term but will ultimately lead to a catastrophic backfire! As if
you were a crew member on the Titanic who, after learning the
ship is sinking, decided to frantically reorganize the deck chairs
on the observation level. In the end it doesn't matter because
either way you're going down.
Another, perhaps more common, reaction to troubling events
is to ignore them altogether and seek out ways of diverting our
attention to more pleasant things. I remember as a pre-teen
when my friends or teachers or family members would ask me
how I was coping with the death of my father, I would quickly
change the subject to try and lighten the mood. I'd try to be
funny, or talk about video games or skateboarding... anything
to keep from having to deal with the heavy awkwardness of the
real emotions bubbling underneath the surface. The danger
with this approach is that you can remain blind to reality. You
avoid immediate pain but miss opportunities that are present
in the pain. Opportunities to see yourself better, how the
circumstance might be nudging you toward change in some
way or other.
Recovering alcoholics understand this lack of balance. They
see that all of humanity usually errs to one side or the other of
Niehbur's serenity prayer. We either lack the serenity to accept
reality, or we lack the courage to change it. And we arrive
at these cul-de-sacs because we lack the wisdom to know the
difference between the two. We cannot see the defensive
compulsions we have developed over the course of our lives.
In fact, we won't allow them to be seen, because calling them
out for what they truly are requires that we experience the pain
those mechanisms have been defending us against.
Radiohead (perhaps the oddest and most brilliant band that
emerged during my adolescence) calls our defenses a dance.
On their most recent album they released a song called
"Present Tense." The brief first-person lyric is almost like a
confession framed inside a monologue. The singer is having
an honest conversation with himself about his dance, calling
it a weapon of defense. But to others he's saying, "Don't dig
too deep! Keep the conversation light and on the surface, and
meanwhile I'll continue to dance." It's a weird and intriguingly
beautiful song where a kernel of truth resides. Let this remind
you to get honest with yourself and pray for the wisdom to
know the dance that you perform to shield yourself from what
you may need to walk through.
Present Tense
This dance, This dance
It's like a weapon, It's like a weapon
Of self defense, Self defense
Against the present, Against the present
Present tense
I won't get heavy, Don't get heavy
Keep it light and Keep it moving
I am doing No harm
As my world Comes crashing down
I'll be dancing Freaking out
Deaf, dumb, and blind

southwood
R
Spring Retreat
at
Camp Alpine, Mentone, AL
March 16-18
$
125 per person
Register now at:
southwood.org/womensretreat