Faith over Fear: Savannah Chrisley at Southern Women’s Show

Featured

by

Special Feature

<em>While at the Southern Women’s Show at the BJCC on Saturday October 7, expect to see Savannah Chrisley wearing clothes from her just released fashion line. She also says she will have news to share about a new hosting project she is completing in Los Angeles this month.</em>
While at the Southern Women’s Show at the BJCC on Saturday October 7, expect to see Savannah Chrisley wearing clothes from her just released fashion line. She also says she will have news to share about a new hosting project she is completing in Los Angeles this month.

Best known for being one of five siblings on her family’s reality show, Chrisley Knows Best, 20-year-old Savannah Chrisley is blazing her own trail as the youngest person ever to appear on HSN. Her new fashion line, “Faith over Fear,” is featured on the network. “Faith over fear is just something I have lived by for quite some time now,” says Chrisley reflecting on the name she chose for her line. “I just feel like so many people, especially people my age, get scared of things working out
We don’t want to fail. So, for me I have to let my faith be bigger than the situation.” Chrisley says her faith in God is what guides her, and she sees the opportunities God has given her as a platform to share her faith and encourage others. “A lot of women will dim down their worth just to be with someone and that’s just not good,” says Chrisley. “I have found myself guilty of doing that and at the end of the day it’s not the right way to be.”

Expect to see Chrisley wearing pieces from her clothing line when she is in Birmingham October 7 for the Southern Women’s Show at the BJCC. “This was about designing something I truly love and I’m going to wear. If I’m not going to wear it, why would I expect anyone else to,” says Chrisley whose clothes have a modest but stylishly comfortable flair. You will also have the chance to hear Chrisley share behind the scenes details on what it’s really like growing up under the watchful eye of her protective father who she calls a huge faith influence on her life, along with the rest of her family. Besides an appearance by Chrisley, here are some other exciting highlights from this year’s Southern Women’s Show October 5-8.

  • Hourly cooking demonstrations by Birmingham’s best chefs with complimentary samples.
  • Hourly runway shows featuring the latest trends plus musical entertainment.
  • Hundreds of boutiques to browse and shop.
  • $3 admission after 3 p.m. on Thursday, and $5 after 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
  • Present your ticket stub from the Auburn or Alabama game and get in free on Sunday.
  • Every ticket to the Southern Women’s Show includes a gift of one year free magazine subscription. Register at the show entrance and pick from a selection of popular women’s magazines.

For more show details and tickets ($12 at the door, $8 in advance on line) visit www.southernwomensshow.com. †

by

Back in the Game

<em>“There’s bringing it back and there’s bringing it back the right way. I think we’re bringing it back the right way,” says Bill Clark of the reinstated football program at UAB. The Blazers game on Sept. 2 at Legion Field marks the first since the program was eliminated in 2014. Photos Courtesy UAB Athletics</em>
“There’s bringing it back and there’s bringing it back the right way. I think we’re bringing it back the right way,” says Bill Clark of the reinstated football program at UAB. The Blazers game on Sept. 2 at Legion Field marks the first since the program was eliminated in 2014. Photos Courtesy UAB Athletics

When the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) discontinued its football program in 2014, Bill Clark had just completed his first season as head coach with a 6-6 record that made his team eligible for its first bowl appearance since 2004. What seemed like a giant step in the right direction for the program was followed by the University declaring the sport fiscally unsustainable. This was a devastating blow for the coach, his team and the community, but it wasn’t long before Birmingham businesspeople, alumni and former players began to rally: Blazers football will return. “Obviously it was tough, but to watch those people fight for us made me want to stick around and help them make a difference,” Clark remembers. “One of the things that I always wanted was to be a part of making a difference in a community or a school. That’s the stuff I’ve always loved.” Raising more than $44 million to fund both the program and new operations facilities, the team kicks off the 2017 season with a game against the Alabama A&M Bulldogs at Legion Field on Sept. 2. Clark celebrates the victory by reflecting on how his small-town upbringing and lessons in faith led him to the life he leads today.

A Passion for the Game. Clark jokes it was an air conditioner that first influenced him to fall in love with football. The son of a high school coach, the only way for him to get cool in his Ohatchee, Ala. home was to hang out in the room with the window unit A/C, which also happened to the office where his father watched films to prep for upcoming practices and games. “That was where I liked to hang out, for obvious reasons, and spend time with him. I loved everything about the sport,” he says. “I loved the strategy. I loved the interaction with the players. I loved game nights. I loved pregame speeches. I think everything that went with it, I enjoyed, and I just knew that’s what I always wanted to do.”

Grounded in Faith. Clark’s family eventually moved to Piedmont, Ala., where his father took another coaching job. His mother was a home economics teacher who played piano at the local church. “It was a simple childhood growing up, just athletics and church and school,” he remembers. “Most things revolved around the community
 We were brought up that the church is just a part of everything you do. I was lucky in that—blessed I guess is the word—that’s just kind of who we were.” Life changed when Clark’s mother was killed in a car crash when he was 19 years old. Already studying physical education and history at Jacksonville State and starting his own coaching career, he moved back home with his father as they dealt with their loss. It’s an experience he draws on to this day when mentoring young men. “I tell guys all the time there’s always the why of why things happen. You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t think that. One of the best people I had ever known—just as good a person as you’ll ever meet—was killed. That is when your faith is so important. That’s when you need it.” Clark says he never had any doubt that his mother’s resting place was in heaven. “That’s the faith that helps us go on.”

Dream Come True. Clark’s first head coaching job was at Prattville High School, where his players were awarded 106 wins and only 11 losses during his tenure. They won back-to-back Alabama High School Athletic Association State Championships for the 2006 and 2007 seasons. In 2008 Clark began coaching at the college level as defensive coordinator at the University of South Alabama until 2012. He then spent one season as head coach at Jacksonville State University before he was hired at UAB.

<em>Coach Bill Clark and wife Jennifer with their children at daughter Katie’s October 2016 marriage to son-in-law Justin Spinks. Son Jacob Clark is a Redshirt Freshman for Blazers football this year. Photo: CWF Photography</em>
Coach Bill Clark and wife Jennifer with their children at daughter Katie’s October 2016 marriage to son-in-law Justin Spinks. Son Jacob Clark is a Redshirt Freshman for Blazers football this year. Photo: CWF Photography

Seeing the Big Picture. Prepping for the return of Blazers football has not been a singular focus for Clark’s team. Joined by Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) staff, he leads the charge in giving back to the community that supports the program. Last year coaches and players teamed up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Birmingham to become Big Brothers and mentors of males in middle and high school in the greater Birmingham community. Participating students were bussed from their schools once per month to spend time with their Big Brothers on the UAB campus. Clark also purchased and donated 100 season tickets to the upcoming season to the mentoring program. In June, Clark and more than 40 members of the UAB Football team helped construct a five-bedroom house as a part of Habitat for Humanity’s 30th Anniversary build in Pleasant Grove. “College age, sometimes it’s easy to just think about yourself, but when you get around Big Brothers Big Sisters or you are doing something for Habitat for Humanity, you realize this world is bigger than you and we are called to serve other people,” says Tavon Arrington, UAB Campus Director for FCA, which returned to campus with the help of Coach Clark and former UAB FCA Board Chairman Charlie Nowlin.

Observing his athletes both on and off the field, Clark says youth today are intelligent and tech savvy but still need the face-to-face effort that a team sport like football offers. “I don’t think kids have changed as much as our expectations have changed. These kids today are so smart. They’ve got access to so much information,” he says. “[However,] human interaction is so important, and that’s the great thing about athletics. It still requires the same things it required 10 years ago, 20 years ago. It takes each other, it takes a physical effort, and I think an emotional effort, which is what I love about football. It takes more than yourself. It is truly a team effort.”

Keeping Faith First. A member of Church of the Highlands with wife Jennifer, Clark says lately his faith has been centered on whether the fruits of his faith can be seen in his character and actions. “What do people see in us that tells them something is different? That can be hard for coaches. I know for players and myself, when you are in an ultracompetitive world where everything revolves around winning and losing, I have to remind myself of that.” As a couple, wife Jennifer explains that prayer helps keep them grounded in what matters most. “Praying together is important to us, and Christ is at the center of everything we do and every decision we make,” she says.

“I tell our players all the time, for sure I’m not perfect,” says Clark. “There was only one perfect One, but hopefully that’s something that people can see in our daily walk and how we carry ourselves. Hopefully they see that as something they want to be part of.”

  • Camille Platt
by

After retiring from the NFL, Tide National Football Champion (1992) and Super Bowl Champion (1996) Sherman Williams was sentenced to 15 years in prison on drug and counterfeiting charges. Released in 2014, he now helps Alabama youth and former inmates find freedom in Christ.

There was a time when Sherman Williams would sit on the roof of his mother’s house in Pritchard, Ala., holding a .22 caliber rifle. Wary of rumors of a possible drive-by shooting in his neighborhood, he was 16 years old and no stranger to gang activity. His parents had divorced when he was in the third grade. The youngest of four children being raised by a single mother, he had a passion for academics, but his peer group was bent on smoking, fighting and hustling drugs.

screen-shot-2016-09-28-at-5-15-27-pm
Courtesy: Crimson Tide Photos/UA Athletics

Despite his rebellious nature, Williams was a remarkable football player. He became the first running back in Alabama high school history to rush for more than 3,000 yards in a single season. An LSU fan for much of his life, he initially committed to play for the Tigers, then changed his decision to the University of Alabama. “It was their tradition, the winning atmosphere, the camaraderie, the coaching staff—everyone made me feel like we were going to actually win a championship,” he remembers.

In Tuscaloosa, Williams lived with David “Deuce” Palmer, who grew up in Birmingham and joined the Tide with Williams in 1991 to play for Coach Gene Stallings. Williams scored the first touchdown in the Tide’s 1993 Sugar Bowl victory over the Miami Hurricanes. He also secured a Citrus Bowl win over Ohio State when he caught a pass from Jay Barker and ran 50 yards for a touchdown with only 42 seconds left in the game.

Success continued for Williams in the NFL (1995-1998), where he was a part of the Dallas Cowboys’ Super Bowl XXX championship team, but he struggled to stay away from the habitual mischief of his youth. He was arrested in 2000 and found guilty by a federal jury on charges related to conspiracy to distribute marijuana and passing counterfeit currency. He spent 15 years as inmate No. 07520-003, serving time in Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Georgia.

A decade and a half in prison was a mental challenge, Williams says. “You’re thinking about the longevity, thinking about the crime, thinking about missing home. You’re thinking about people you are missing out on—relationship building—and the time and commitment [you could have] put into something that would have been worthwhile.” Scripture, weekly worship services and memories of his mother’s faith eventually changed his outlook on the future.

“My mother was a faithful Christian woman,” he remembers. “I did vacation Bible studies in the summertime when I was a young kidscreen-shot-2016-09-28-at-5-15-38-pm went on church picnics, played church teams in softball. Christ and faith and God was always heavily preached in our household. That was the foundation that gave me the strength I needed to make it through those 15 years,” he says. “But I had some ups and downs—having faith and knowing that God is real but choosing to let the flesh overtake the spirit, or being disobedient and suffering the consequences. When I was serving that time
 I was able to form that bond and that relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It gave me the inspiration I needed to carry on and be the person that I am today.”

Throughout his imprisonment, Williams stayed in touch with former teammate David Palmer. Before Williams’ release from prison in 2014, the two developed a plan to give Alabama youth the tools they need to avoid the pattern of self-destruction often prevalent in neighborhoods defined by poverty and crime. To avoid the mistakes of his past, Williams says, young people need to be ushered toward God, education, personal responsibility and respect.

screen-shot-2016-09-28-at-5-16-07-pm
Courtesy: Palmer-Williams Group

Today the former Tide roommates’ non-profit, Palmer-Williams Group, operates athletic camps, cheerleading camps, financial literacy programs and a youth football program in Mobile County. LifeSync Academy, targeting ages 9 to 14, focuses on deterring juvenile delinquency and repeat offending by addressing alcohol and drug abuse, gang-related psychology, teen pregnancy, childhood obesity and the value of the law in 10 weeks of workshops, community service projects and counseling. They also offer financial seminars in Montgomery. Williams hopes to expand operations to the Birmingham area soon.

Williams also has a heart for adults exiting the prison system. This month he will speak at a fundraising banquet at Briarwood Presbyterian Church for Shepherd’s Fold, a Birmingham based prison re-entry ministry. “We focus on recovery and re-entry from the inside and out,” explains Shepherd’s Fold Executive Director Jack Hausen. “Sherman Williams fought his way through life to achieve a pinnacle of success that is only a dream for many. He inspires men and woman to strive for success, teaching them how not to make poor decisions that will affect them for the rest of their lives.” Williams says he has found new purpose in sharing his story of how a childhood compromised by delinquency forged a path to prison—then God forged a path to freedom. “My story is a testimony to what it would take to become a professional and also a testimony to what it would take to become a prisoner. You can learn from my story on both sides,” he says. “My life purpose is to be a benefit to others, to help others become the people that they would like to be.” For more information on Williams’ appearance in Birmingham October 20 and attending the event, contact Shepherd’s Fold at 205-780-6211 or [email protected].

– Camille Platt

screen-shot-2016-09-28-at-5-18-02-pm

Former University of Alabama and Dallas Cowboys running back Sherman Williams will speak and sign copies of his book, Crimson Cowboy, at a fundraising dinner in Birmingham for the Shepherd’s Fold prison re-entry ministry. See Calendar page 28 for more details. Courtesy: Crimson Tide Photos/UA Athletics

screen-shot-2016-09-28-at-9-15-38-pm

“Gene Stallings is one of the great influences and motivators in my life,” says Williams, who took his youngest son Sebastian (5) to meet his former coach at a reunion in Tuscaloosa last summer. Courtesy: Crimson Tide Photos/UA Athletics

 

 

 

by

College Football Coach of the Year — Faith Trumps Adversity 

“Adversity is either going to define you, destroy you or develop you,” says Dabo Swinney, entering his eighth full season as head football coach at Clemson University. “If you have the right mentality, you can take the adversity in your life and turn all those things into a positive.”

screen-shot-2017-01-09-at-3-56-49-pmBorn in Pelham, Ala., in 1969, Swinney can remember a time when I-65 stopped in Hoover. His father, Ervil, owned an appliance repair shop in town, and he spent Sundays during football season watching “The Bear Bryant Show” with his three sons, including Dabo, the youngest. His mother, Carol, was a substitute teacher at area schools. Swinney was named center on his flag football team in the second grade and played three different sports for the Pelham Panthers in his youth.

By the mid-1980s, however, trouble hit the Swinney family in more than one way. At 16 years old, Swinney’s older brother Tripp was thrown through a car windshield in an accident, and his head injuries resulted in memory loss that took time to restore. The once fun-loving Ervil struggled with finances and alcohol abuse, which made him violent. “Life comes at you really fast sometimes, and sometimes young people deal with a lot of adversity,” Swinney says. “But we’re all going to deal with lots of adversity at some point. For me, I had some difficult experiences as a young person. I saw things that I probably shouldn’t have seen, but as I matured and grew into my life—or in particular as I became a Christian—God over time revealed His plan for me.”

Swinney sought guidance from Stewart Wiley, a youth football coach who started Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) at Pelham High School. At age 16, Swinney heard University of Alabama receiver Joey Jones speak at an FCA event and accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior. “I nailed it down. Since that time, I have always had that peace,” he says. “It’s given me that compass for my life, an anchor for my life. As the storms of life came—and boy have they come strong—I had this conscience that I didn’t have prior to being saved
. I had this voice inside of me. It always kept me centered.”

Swinney’s parents divorced his senior year, and he and his mother became essentially homeless. They slept on friends’ couches, at grandma’s house, sometimes in the car. When he moved to Fontainbleau Apartments in Tuscaloosa in 1988 to attend college, Swinney took his mom with him. They shared a room and a bed. She drove to Birmingham during the day to work as a sales clerk at Parisian department store.

A wide receiver for Alabama, Swinney remembers Coach Gene Stallings as a leader who provided an atmosphere conducive to spiritual growth for players who were interested. He attended team small groups and worshipped at Tuscaloosa First Baptist Church. He also looked up to his peers on the field.  “I had teammates that were great examples to me as a young person that certainly were further along in their faith than I was—guys like Jay Barker and Mickey Conn. Guys that I thought were really living life the way we should all live.”

By the time he finished college, Swinney had reconciled with his father. He worked as a graduate assistant under Coach Stallings then as part of Alabama’s full time coaching staff. In 2003, he joined Clemson as a wide receiver coach. He was named Tommy Bowden’s replacement as head coach in 2008 and since then has coached Clemson to a 75-27 overall record, with top-15 final rankings in the polls in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Last year he took the Tigers to the brink of winning the program’s second National Championship-losing to his Alma Mater, the University of Alabama 45-40.

Swinney reflects on the lessons of his youth when facing new trials today. He says he and wife Kathleen lost two pregnancies to miscarriage—one at 14 weeks and one at 11 weeks—before having their three children. Kathleen’s sister died in 2014 at age 49 following her second bout with cancer. Sober, remarried and back to his gregarious self, Ervil worked at M&M Hardware in Alabaster until his death in 2015. “I’ve learned patience and appreciation and just lots of things through the lessons that Christ has taught me using life. Without that spiritual foundation, you miss that. That’s one of the problems of the world—people don’t have that anchor, so when those storms of life come, they turn to other things, and those other things never can bring the peace. Never. They just leave you empty and lead to more problems.”

Swinney hopes to teach his players that kind words from peers and a positive outlook can make a big difference when facingscreen-shot-2017-01-09-at-3-51-20-pm tough times. Reflecting on his upbringing in Alabama, he says God placed the right people in his life to give him the encouragement he needed to rise above hardships at home. “God kind of puts lighthouses along the way, along your journey, because sometimes we’re going to run ashore. Maybe it’s somebody at the grocery store, a teacher, a friend. Maybe it’s a teammate or a coach. A lot of people knew my circumstances and saw something good in me and knew that I was working hard, trying to become the best I could be. I always tell people it takes a village to raise a child, because that’s what it took to raise me.”

Peace for Swinney doesn’t come from a scoreboard, a bank account or any guarantee that all his hardships are behind him. Peace comes from knowing Christ. “You will never know the purpose of your life until you know the Creator of your life,” he says. “His plan is always bigger and better than what my plan is, and He has taught me that time and time again.”

– Camille Platt 

by
Brodie and Reagan Croyle

Special Feature

Growing up on the Big Oak Ranch in North Alabama, Brodie Croyle and Reagan Croyle Phillips were trained in compassion from a young age. They helped their parents—former University of Alabama football defensive end John Croyle and his wife Tee—welcome in abandoned and abused children with the following four promises: We love you. We’ll never lie to you. We’ll stick with you until you’re grown. And there are boundaries; don’t cross them. Celebrating the Ranch’s 40th anniversary last month, the Croyles have given nearly 2,000 hurting children a chance at a new life in a Christian home. And now John is passing the leadership to his children.

Raised on the Ranch. Whether it was fetching Band-Aids and medicine or watching her brother pull pajamas out of his own drawer for the new children his father brought home, Reagan says that while her childhood was unique, she did not know it. She simply followed her parents’ lead. “If they’re hurt, fix them. If they’re hungry, feed them. It was just a family affair. Just jump in,” she says. “Mom was always cooking huge meals because we never knew who was coming.”

“I’ve heard my sister say before that growing up we never knew that there was anyone else outside that didn’t have all these brothers and didn’t have all these sisters and weren’t raised the exact same way we were,” Brodie adds. “So to us, it’s just a way of life, the way we grew up. We always knew where we stood as our parents’ biological children, but we also knew that there was a bigger picture and that there were 140 hurting boys and girls that also looked to them as somebody special in their life. We just thought this is what everybody did.”

While he also has memories of his father seeking out homeless children across town, grandmothers dropping off grandchildren they could no longer afford to support, and fathers abandoning their sons for life with a new girlfriend, Brodie says growing up with so many siblings was a blessing and adventure. “I’d have friends say, ‘Hey do you want to come spend the night? We can play basketball in the neighborhood.’ I’m like, ‘Man I have 60 brothers with 200 acres and cows and horses and chickens and gyms and everything under the sun. Why don’t you come hang out with us? It’s a whole lot more fun here.’”

Reagan’s Return. Reagan played basketball at the University of Alabama and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in counseling. She married former Alabama Quarterback John David Phillips in 2001 and worked at Brewer Porch Children’s Center in Tuscaloosa before returning to Big Oak Ranch in 2003. She became Director of Children’s Care in 2009. Much of her time is spent reviewing case plans and meeting with social workers and educators to discuss how each child is doing. “Every child’s goals look different. But my biggest goal would be that they would break the cycles that they’ve come from. Whether that was a cycle of addiction, abuse, or dysfunction. That we would alter the course of their life and their children’s lives and their children’s children’s lives,” she explains adding, “For them to be introduced to Jesus while with us is our biggest success.”

As a mother, Reagan says she hopes to mirror the example of selflessness and servant hood modeled by her parents. “My husband and I have three boys, and we try to be very intentional about raising them. They are future men. They are not just children. [We are] raising them up to be men who are going to bind up the broken hearted and take care of the orphans and the widows.”

Brodie’s Return. After playing quarterback for the University of Alabama from 2002 to 2005, Brodie Croyle married wife Kelli in 2007 and played in the NFL for the Kansas City Chiefs until he retired in 2012. He was working in Tuscaloosa in a land and timber real estate business when a conversation with a coworker made him realize his heart was back in North Alabama. “For two months I just prayed about it, and I just felt the conviction that this is what God put us on earth to do. My wife had just come down from putting our little boy to bed and we were sitting down for dinner and I said, ‘Baby, I’ve got to tell you I really feel God’s calling us back to the ranch.’ And she broke down crying. Like crying crying. She said, ‘I’ve been waiting on you to say that for five years. Your dad and I have spent countless hours in prayer, countless hours in conversation, but we knew it had to be on God’s time and we knew it had to be on your time. Tell me when and I’ll have the bags packed.’”

Since then Brodie has been shadowing his father as associate executive director and will eventually take over as executive director, handling day-to-day operations of Big Oak Boys’ Ranch, Big Oak Girls’ Ranch and Westbrook Christian School. “When Brodie and I drive up to the Boys’ Ranch and he hops out of the truck, I see 20 boys come running to his truck just to hug him or shake his hand or hit him or punch him like boys do when they interact,” John says of son Brodie. “The joy in their eyes and the love and respect they have for him and Kelli, living on the ranch with them, there really are no words.”

Reagan adds she has the utmost respect for her brother’s leadership skills. “Dad has always said that great leaders know where they are going and know how to persuade people to go with them,” she says. “I think that really sums up my brother, and I think he learned it by watching my dad. He has a very clear direction of where he wants to go.”

To Brodie, where he wants to go is down the same path his parents have paved for the last 40 years. Inspired by the Scripture the Ranch is built upon—Isaiah 61:3—he will continue to plant seeds of hope to the glory of God. John, who will remain in a supportive role at the ranch, couldn’t be prouder. “I know not only are our children doing what God called them to do but all the ranch children have got protectors and enablers. They have a secure future because our two children are taking them there.”

-Camille Platt 

Get MORE
Good News!

E-subscribe to

Birmingham Christian Family

birmingham christian family logo