Austin DeLoach, Jr. has served as pastor of Southside Baptist Church, in Lakeland, Georgia, since 1996. He is a 1995 graduate of Liberty University. In 1998 Austin received the Eagle Award from Liberty, a distinguished award given to chosen alumni. He is the founder and speaker of Reachout Radio Broadcast, which can be heard daily on WBTY (98.7FM). Austin is the author of one book, From Cheese Carrier to Champion, based on the story of David and Goliath.

 

Austin’s testimony reveals what can happen when a person fully surrenders to Jesus Christ. In high school, he graduated at the bottom of his class; in college he failed four times. At the end of his freshman year in college, he had a 0.7 GPA and considered himself hopeless. Then, one night, his life changed. This story of transformation from feeling hopeless to being passionate about serving Christ is captured in his book, From Cheese Carrier to Champion. His story offers hope to those who have none.

 

Austin married Jennifer Lee on January 29th, 2000. They have two daughters, seven year old Alora Gail and two year old KenLee. They live in Homerville, Georgia.

 

 

Email the pastor: austin@southsidelakeland.org

Benji Rowland serves as our Worship and Student Pastor at Southside Baptist Church. Benji has been on staff at Southside since 2004. He holds his Bachelor’s Degree in education from Valdosta State University. Currently he is pursuing a Master's of Divinity from Liberty University.

 

Benji was called into the ministry at the age of 20. He has served in three churches during the past eight years in the areas of children, youth and music. He has led worship and spoken at several summer camps and youth events throughout the region. Benji is married to Britni and they have a two-month-old son named Brayden.

 

 

Email : benji@southsidelakeland.org

Scott Sirmans is a full time minister of choir and media at Southside Baptist Church. Scott began serving as choir director in 1995 in a volunteer position. In an effort to keep up with the advancement of technology and to ensure that Southside Baptist is using every avenue available to evangelize and disciple, Southside decided to bring Scott on full time in June of 2007 as Minister of Choir and Media.

 

His duties as choir director are to plan music services and practices for the choir and praise band and to prepare them for the weekly services as well as special performances such as Christmas and Easter Musicals. As the media minister, Scott oversees the volunteer staff that serve in sound production, video production, web site maintenance, and radio broadcasting, to make sure they are trained and ready to meet the technological needs of the ministry.

 

Scott was born in Lakeland, Georgia on November 1st, 1975 and is a life long member of Southside Baptist Church. Scott married Angela Pound on October 27th, 2007.

 

Email : scott@southsidelakeland.org

James A Dixon Jr. is the part time director of children’s ministries at Southside Baptist Church. After listening to Austin’s messages on Reach Out Radio, Jim and his wife Quay decided to join the exciting ministries at Southside in October of 2006. Austin and Benji soon after asked Jim to develop the children’s hallways and classrooms in a theme park style that would illustrate different passages from the Bible.

 

Jim now oversees the children’s department and helps maintain the scheduling and development of children’s church and the mid-week services. Jim’s goal is to ensure that there are plenty of opportunities for the children of Southside Baptist Church to get plugged in to Christ centered discipleship programs.

 

Jim has served twelve years in two branches of the Armed Services and holds a Bachelors of Science Degree in Resource Management and an Associates Degree in Leadership Management. Jim and Quay married on June 9th, 1991 and have four children and six grandchildren.

 

Email : jim@southsidelakeland.org

Linda Bruce has served as the ministry assistant at Southside Baptist Church since August of 2005. Before coming on staff here she served as the Deputy Clerk for the Superior Court of Lanier County for nearly 20 years.

 

Linda and Jimmy Bruce have been married for nearly 48 years. They have two children. Terry is married to Mark Outler and they live in Canton Georgia with their two children. Ben is married to Kim Dent and they live in Lakeland with their two children.

 

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