September 2, 2025

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Laura Brelsford | hcnews@hawks.nyty09.com | (334) 833-4563

Celebrating Campus Ministries with a New Year and New Opportunities

Montgomery, AL – Dean of the Chapel, Rev. Rhett Butler, began this fall in his eighth year at Huntingdon College in staff and faculty roles overseeing Campus Ministries and teaching religion courses. In his time at the College, he has made the work of ministry at Huntingdon a well-oiled machine but not one that runs on a standard semester by semester plan. Ministry changes and grows as the congregation of students and their needs change. The Chaplain and Campus Ministries are excited to begin the year with new opportunities for growth for the Huntingdon family at the weekly Chapel and TNW services, with community church partners, across academic disciplines, and through student leadership.

The most obvious change to the Campus Ministries weekly calendar is the new day for Chapel. In years past, the weekly Chapel communion service was on Thursdays at lunch. It was a way to end the week with gratitude and remembrance.  Due to a new class schedule format, Chapel is now on Mondays at 12:30 p.m. Coming off the third week of classes, Chapel attendance is still too large to move into the smaller Rodger’s Chapel from Ligon Chapel. Each week, the Chaplain and the religion professors are guest speakers in the short service. Huntingdon is pleased to not only have religion faculty that are ordained ministers teaching in the classroom, but that are also sharing their faith and wisdom to the students through Campus Ministries.

The students have responded positively to the new schedule. Rev. Butler teaches an 11:00 class on Mondays before Chapel. Walking with his students to Flowers Hall, he asked their insight on going from an academic lecture on the Bible straight to a sermon and communion. The students responded that this was a relaxing start to their week. Others stated that they can truly see what the Chaplain meant in his summer orientation speech when he said that at Huntingdon, God fills you. As God provided manna to the people, God will also provide spiritual food each Monday for the Huntingdon family through the Chapel service.

Tuesday evenings, the traditional Tuesday Night Worship (TNW) at 8:30 p.m. kicked off the new school year with stellar attendance. The first week, local churches were invited to come and meet the students during a pre-service all denomination church fair. City of Saint Jude Parish Catholic Church, First Baptist Church Montgomery, First United Methodist Church Montgomery, Grace Episcopal Church, Grace United Methodist Church, Trinity Presbyterian Church, and Wesley Methodist Church have been some of the predominate partners supporting students and Campus Ministries, but more are always welcome.

The church fair and continued support from area churches is representative of Chaplain Butler’s philosophy of ministry at Huntingdon for a diverse student body. He views his preaching at TNW and ministry as the beautiful stained-glass windows in Ligon Chapel. The many pieces of broken glass are put together to make a stunning image; much more beautiful than one piece of glass by itself or a window of only one color. While Rev. Butler may see the red glass as the United Methodist Church, his Catholic students may see green, the Baptist blue, and so on. Doing ministry at Huntingdon as a college of the United Methodist Church means respecting and valuing all denominations and backgrounds to create a strong community together. He wants to continue to create an atmosphere where students are learning from each other and coming together to worship the same God that we will one day worship for eternity…together.

This year’s TNW sermons are focusing on the teachings that unite the campus including discerning callings to prepare for an adult life following God, developing spiritual disciplines and seeing the fruit of the spirit, and promoting unity across groups and interest on campus. Rev. Butler stated, “We are a church that is unifying for peace at Huntingdon College to meet new and different people in the spirit of the backdrop of Montgomery’s history.”

In addition to the weekly schedule of services, the Chaplain is also planning events across academic disciplines. A future partnership includes Campus Ministries and the Department of Biology for a joint water activity and clean-up day on the Cahaba River. Whether you call it “conservation work” or “creation care”, the message of looking after what God created and learning about the local treasure of Alabama rivers is a connection to nature and ministry.

Just as students learn in their classes from hands-on experiences, Campus Ministries offers opportunities for students to put their faith and spiritual gifts into practice. This fall, there are over 40 students actively involved in the work of Huntingdon ministry behind the scenes and leading fellow students in exploring their faith.

The weekly men’s Bible study, led by students, is spending the semester going through the book of Psalms. The group is already so popular they are at risk of outgrowing the Campus Ministry offices. The weekly women’s Bible study began last week and is expecting a similar turnout.

The student-led prayer team began the semester with a prayer box set up each week in the dining hall foyer. The team divides the prayer requests and spends the week praying for each person. This group is in their second semester on campus and is looking forward to seeing the movement of God from intentional prayers over the student body.

The Loyola Society, the Catholic student group, is in its third year on campus. They partner with St. Jude regularly for mass and guest speakers. This semester they plan to explore music, art, and prayer traditions of the Catholic Church.

In addition to these groups, student volunteers, the Kingswood Campus Ministries team, and Campus Ministry Presidential Scholars work to bring the weekly events to the student body. Graphics, social media, audiovisual, praise band, preaching, and worship experience management, are all integral parts of Campus Ministries that are run by students. These women and men span several academic disciplines including religion, athletic training, communications, elementary education, and criminal justice, to name a few. They may not all feel a calling to future employment in the church and have plans of ordination, but they have begun to answer a calling to service and have found a place where they can explore their gifts and talents for God at Huntingdon College.

For more information about Campus Ministries or opportunities to be involved, contact Chaplain Rhett Butler at chaplain@hawks.nyty09.com.

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