Connection with Stephen Streett

[00:00:04] Will Adams: Hey Frazer And welcome to another episode of the Forum at Frazer. We're excited today to have our own executive pastor, Stephen street, joining us today. We're continuing to talk about connection and how that plays out in lots of different contexts within our church, without our church. And today I wanted to have Stephen on to. First off, Steve, why don't you explain a little bit about what you do here at Frazer for those who may not know what an executive pastor is. [00:00:35] Stephen Streett: Well, glad to do it, Will. Well, you see, being the executive pastor here at Frazer, I'm kind of the overseer of anything that deals with operations, administration, and I'm very, very blessed that I have a fantastic staff to serve me in that capacity and serve with in that capacity, you know, also have secondary responsibilities where I get to preach and teach and provide pastoral care, which is something God has called me to do. Very blessed to be in this position. [00:01:05] Will Adams: Yeah. Well, and we're always blessed whenever you get to share with us in sermons and your benedictions and even in our staff meetings. Really enjoyed having you. So now, some of you may have heard that Stephen also got a new position. And this is in addition to your work here at the local church level. And can you explain what that is? [00:01:30] Stephen Streett: Certainly. Well, I think many of you know we have a superintendent in the Free Methodist Church [00:01:35] Will Adams: Mike, who was on just last week. [00:01:38] Stephen Streett: Yes. For the Southeast Region Conference. And Frazer is a Free Methodist Church in the Southeast Region Conference. Well, that includes a lot of churches in the Southeast. And so about a year ago, the idea came up that we needed to have support for Superintendent Mike. So we developed these regional superintendents. And I've been blessed to be assigned, so to speak, to be the Alabama regional superintendent. And what that means is I'll be responsible for about 14 churches. Now, most are in Alabama, but we also have two in Florida and one in Mississippi. [00:02:16] Will Adams: Yeah. So now, one of the things that I think just even from us talking here, in case it isn't obvious, you're not leaving. [00:02:26] Stephen Streett: Correct. I am not leaving. We love being here, so please don't think we're leaving. This is just another way for me to serve in a connectional way. We're talking about connection through the Southeast Region Conference of the Free Methodist Church. [00:02:39] Will Adams: Yeah. Awesome. As you've moved into this role, I think you know something that a few people had questions about Mike brought up actually, in a meeting just last week that we had that to be clear, Mike is directly superintending Frazer So there's no conflict of interest or anything. Like that with that. [00:02:58] Stephen Streett: Correct. [00:02:59] Will Adams: Along with this, is there anything that's going to be changing with your role, with this new role involving you being a regional superintendent? [00:03:07] Stephen Streett: Well, the main thing, before I became the regional superintendent, I was chair of the Georgia MEG board. Now, MEG stands for Ministerial Education Guidance Board. Now, if you were in the UMC tradition, the United Methodist Church, you may have heard of the Board of Ordain Ministry. Very, very similar. Well, I was the chair of the MEC team for Georgia, but now I'm in Alabama, and so I finished that term, and now I am the Alabama regional superintendent. And what that will really entail is I'll work closely with Superintendent Mike and the MEC team, and I'll provide support for pastors and leadership and church boards. And I'll do that on a monthly basis, basically checking in with them. I'll go visit the churches on occasion, but primarily it'll be over phone conversations or maybe a zoom or a teams call. But I'll be fostering collaboration between the churches and the conference just to make sure they're healthy, they have what they need, I'm there to serve them. [00:04:13] Will Adams: Yeah, well, and I think that leads into kind of my next question and the theme we've been having for the last several episodes of this podcast, and that is connection. And so my question is, how does your role help churches connect with each other? [00:04:30] Stephen Streett: Well, you know, one of the great strengths of the Free Methodist Movement, we like to call it, it's a movement of the Holy Spirit, not such an institutional denomination. We are a denomination, but not your, you know, your normal, if we can say that, denomination as we really are focused on the people and making disciples and staying in connection with each other. And so we're connection in nature. And so our pastors and leaders and church staff and members benefit from this accountability that we have. Because we do have accountability through the Free Methodist Church, we have extended resources. We're able to partner with other churches around the world, whether that's financial resources, whether that's missional resources. You know, we can bring together people from all over the Southeastern region and all over the world, especially when we have annual conference, which it so happens that Frazer hosts that conference. And we're in agreement to do that for several more years, we're hoping. And there's also the General Conference, which happens usually about every four years. We are extending that now due to the makeup of the bishops and how that process is happening. But that's an opportunity for free Methodists from around the world to gather and show that we truly do have a connection and a very fast growing connection as Free Methodism is growing. And we're really thankful for that. [00:05:59] Will Adams: Yeah. Well, I mean, and it is cool to see for those who have never been able to come to one of the. Our annual conferences, I really do recommend it, particularly our evening services that are open to anybody. It won't be coming around for another year now, but just go ahead and put it on your calendar. It's the second to last week in June next year. And just plan on being here either Thursday or Friday night. It is a wonderful time of worship. We have people from all over our conference. We have songs in both English and Spanish and speakers from different churches as well as. As our superintendent, Mike. And it's a really great time to see that connectionalism that you're talking about, really us getting to be part of that at Frazer in a very active way, to be able to be a part of ministering to the ministers. And also it's. It is just a wonderful time of worship and all that, getting to see kind of the diverse expressions of worship from across just our little section of the world. And the fact that we have people that are worshiping in Creole that are from Haiti. We have, of course, people worshiping in Spanish. We actually have one of our pastors, ordained pastors from our area, is deaf, and she has an interpreter that is speaking ASL and so. And she has a online deaf church that she hosts. So when you're talking about, like the strength of that connection and everything, I just want to give some context as a person that gets to be a part of helping to put together that it really is wonderful. And I do encourage folks to take advantage of it. Now, if you wanted to right now, you could actually go over to the southeast Region Conference YouTube page or Facebook page and actually check out the videos that we had from this past conference. And I'd encourage you to do that. [00:07:58] Stephen Streett: Well, if I might say, another way of connecting as far as the Free Methodist Church goes, part of my role as the superintendent will be to schedule our regional clergy gatherings. And the reason I bring that up is that, you know, we've got churches in rural areas as well as churches in more established areas. But what it gives the pastors opportunities to do is to come together in one place, usually for a full day, sometimes it could be a weekend. And they get to connect with each other. And there's training, there's equipping, but it also gives them a chance to share, you know, hey, what's Going on in your personal life. You know, they can be vulnerable and transparent. I like to say it's some clergy care, some pastoral care for them, but also gives them opportunity to share with other pastors and leaders that are at those gatherings, you know, what's going on in your church, what are some issues, what are some struggles, you know, and to receive some advice and guidance. And it'll be my pleasure really to help establish those gatherings and provide resources and you know, make sure that people are, their needs are being met. Yeah, at, at those levels. [00:09:07] Will Adams: Yeah, well, and that's so important. You know, I, I've had so many friends and family members that are in ministry work, pastors, and it is such a unique position to be in and it can be very isolating at times if you don't have that network, that, that kind of great cloud of witnesses, if you will, that can come around you and to help support you, help kind of guide you through some of the difficult circumstances that are unique to ministry, also with that and just be a, be a encouragement in the midst of the storms that inevitably will occur to folks in ministry. So I just, I know that seeing it here, even just with our annual conference, seeing it as a person who's had just so many ministry people in, you know, in my family and in my friend group, you know, to me it is just very clear that that is a necessity. You know, there's a lot of movement toward churches being independent towards and, and no, no, no shade towards non denominational. But it's, it's hard, it's hard to kind of move through that without having a support network for a lot of reasons. And, and one of them being that that spiritual, emotional kind of support that does get offered as well as the accountability piece, the training piece, those kinds of things too. [00:10:37] Stephen Streett: Well, yeah, well, Will, and some folks may know this, you may not all know this, but you know, I've been in ministry in some way, shape or form almost 38 years now, you know, and I've been a youth minister, a leisure minister, whatever that is, associate pastor, a senior pastor, and you know, had opportunity to serve in, in many different capacities in many different places. And what folks may not know is that I actually am a church planter and planted a church in Atlanta, Georgia, successful church plant, started in a home and pastored that church for nearly seven years. And I was a member of a church planting network in Atlanta where I mentored and guided young church planters. It's an exciting place to be. But I agree with you being a part Bishop Keith will sometimes call us a tribe, you know, the Free Methodist tribe. Being a part of a connectional group like the Free Methodist Church, where you do have that accountability, you do have the resources, you have the connection with people from around the world, there is great benefit to that. But I also want to remind folks, we're always, you know, we're Christian first before we're Methodist or Baptist or Presbyterian or whatever tribe you're a part of. And, you know, we're brothers and sisters in Christ, and that's the main thing. [00:11:59] Will Adams: Yeah, absolutely. Well, and I mean, when it talks about your tribe, I think, you know, you can kind of go to tribalism or just kind of being, you know, isolated from other groups of people. And that's not the purpose. You know, particularly like when Bishop Keith is talking about it, he's really getting at having a family, having kind of group of people that you can return to for encouragement, for support, for accountability, for training, for all the things that you need, but having that communal place that you can come back to, which I think kind of leads us back to that major theme of connection. And so when we're talking about people at Frazer what is it that you would like to see more of? How would you like to see people more connected, both to God, to each other? I mean, there's a lot of different ways that connection can play out. [00:12:56] Stephen Streett: Yeah. Well, I want to say to the Frazer folks, I'm kind of the new kid on the block. You know, been here since December, coming in from the outside, but being born and raised in South Carolina and then living in Georgia for a while, now I'm here in Montgomery, Alabama. I'd always heard about Frazer. Frazer was sort of that model church for decades. And so coming here and seeing behind the scenes and being a part of the staff, I can tell you it's for real, folks. This is a caring, nurturing, loving congregation, very missional church, a very connected church. Can we do better? Yes. And, you know, there are ways that I believe we can do that that are very simple. First of all, the Frazer app, and I know we hear that over and over and over again, but truly, it does connect us. We can be doing the same devotion together, reading the same scripture together. We can listen to the sermons, this podcast, all of our announcements, what's going on in the life of the church. You can register for most anything the church has to offer through the app, so I'd encourage you to get that app. [00:14:06] Will Adams: Thank you so much for that endorsement. As the person in Charge of media and communication at Frazer. I just want to thank you personally for that endorsement because that is exactly what we want everybody to be doing, is to get on that app, enable push notifications so you get daily devotionals, all of those things that will come straight to you through that app. So, yes, thank you. Thank you for that. [00:14:29] Stephen Streett: Well, you're welcome. You know, I'm all about application when it comes to sermons and Bible studies and devotions. And, you know, we have an opportunity here to where the messages and the different Bible studies and small groups that we have, we can take that outside of the church. And it's called Frazer365. That's on the app. You can get that in your daily inbox. It's a devotion that comes in every day. I don't start My Day without Frazer365. If you're an analog person or a book person, we have the book. You can get that in the store on Amazon. But it really coincides with our sermon series as well. So you've got a way to continue applying the sermon on Sundays during the week and also preparing for the next message that's coming up. So really encourage you to do that as well. But, you know, another way, and I've just noticed this coming in from the outside, there's so many ways to connect. We really don't have an excuse not to connect. And you may say, well, I'm homebound. I can't get to the church again. Our services are broadcasted. There's a lot of platforms where you can watch the service, listen to the services, which is nice. They're archived so you can go back if you miss something. So that's. That's a good thing. But, you know, there's also a bunch of small groups and Bible studies and, you know, prayer groups, men's and women's groups, youth group, children's ministry, nursery, you name it. I mean, we have one of the most amazing older adult ministries around here. Very thankful for that. But also we care about you, your physical fitness. You know, we've got the JMAC and we got all sorts of activities going on over there every day of the week, which is thrilling. Another way to stay connected, there's an occasion where I'll go over and shoot a little basketball and connect with a few people and get to know people on a neutral ground, so to speak. And there's also worship. You may say, well, I come to worship and leave. But I'd encourage you to connect during worship, get there early, stay a Little afterwards, meet some people, mingle, leave your normal spot where you sit and sit somewhere different, meet some different people. And I think that'll help you stay connected and make some new relationships as well. [00:16:48] Will Adams: We have such an incredible atrium in our church. The space kind of in between everything is a very large open space, which is really a blessing because particularly during this time of year when no one wants to be outside very long, we have this nice big air conditioning space. So we're taking away the excuse of, I don't know, it's hot, I want to get home, oh, hang out, linger a little bit out in the atrium. People really take advantage of that too. If you stick around, you'll see other people are sticking around. And we have our coffee shop available in between the services. There's all sorts of places all over campus that are facilitating times of community in between on Sundays. So while worship. Yes, we're here to worship God, but he's also wanting us to connect with one another in worship and not just with him, although connection with him is a component of that. Was there anything as far as our connection to God and how we encourage one another? Connect with God through our connection with one another? [00:17:58] Stephen Streett: I'm all about. I've got this acronym in life that I use and it actually came from a pastor. His name's Michael Slaughter. It's drive. And the acronym is Daily Devotion to God, which means very first thing in the morning, wake up in that devotion time with the Lord, whether that's prayer for you, quiet time, Frazer365, whatever that looks like for you. And then the R in that is readiness for lifelong learning. So many opportunities to learn and be plugged in here. You know, we've got a great mix of different generations here. Our superintendent, Mike McAvoy, referred to us as being, you know, one generation, which when you look at it, yeah, we are. But, you know, we can learn from each other. So readiness for lifelong learning, investing in key relationships. So many opportunities to be in relationship here at Frazer. So many people with life experiences. You know, we've got young children, we've got infants, we've got folks well into their 90s. We may even have some hundred year olds by now visioning for the future. And I heard from John Ed Matheson a few weeks ago, he was sitting at Wednesday night dinner, which is another way to connect. Wednesday night supper, Delicious. Very reasonable. You know, there's Wednesday night kids activities going on, youth activities, we got a service going on, but I'm sitting at the table with him. Eating some fried chicken. And he says, you picked a good time to be at Frazer He says, I believe Frazer best days are ahead of it. That's coming from John Ed Matheson. [00:19:32] Will Adams: And for anyone who I imagine everyone probably knows, but for anyone who doesn't know, John Ed is, of course, our pastor emeritus, who was here for close to 40 years and really was an integral part. The Holy Spirit really used him as a major catalyst in the growth of Frazer over the last 50 years. Continues in a lot of ways to use him. So as the senior pastor here for many years, he continues to be an encouragement around. I am fortunate enough that he comes up here to record his podcast, and so I get to see him pretty regularly. And, yeah, he is always so positive about the future at Frazer and so encouraging in that way. [00:20:19] Stephen Streett: Well, you know, the scripture says without vision, we perish. And so visioning for the future. And that's something I believe that God is permitting us to do here is to cast vision. And then the last part of that draw drive acronym is eating and exercising for life. Another opportunity. We mentioned the JMAC and the activities that we offer here. So many ways to get plugged in. But to take care of ourselves physically and, you know, that's important. Our bodies are the temple of God's spirit, to take care of not just our mental, emotional, spiritual state, but our physical state as well. And those all kind of tie in together as we, you know, deal with the whole person. And. And I believe we do that well here at Frazer, that we care about people. We want to create a safe, nurturing environment for folks to come and express themselves and their beliefs and be vulnerable with each other. You know, and these connectional groups, small groups, Bible studies, worship together, all give us the opportunity to, you know, be who God created us to be. And we are works in progress. And it's great. A good time to be here. [00:21:24] Will Adams: Yeah. Well, I just appreciate you coming on, taking a little time. I know you're busy with all of the aforementioned, basically two jobs now that you have multiple hats that you've got to juggle. So appreciate your time. Before we end, is there anything else that you just want to share with the Frazer family that is on your heart today? [00:21:47] Stephen Streett: Well, I would say for those who are concerned maybe about me having this new position as the Alabama Regional superintendent, God has given me incredible rhythm. Some would say balance, say just a rhythm of life. And I'm very blessed here at Frazer with a magnificent staff. Again, we get to serve with each other and you know, this extra position as far as balancing that, being able to do that position again, he's given me that balance and that I guess supernatural ability to have the time to do things that I need to do and the time for me and for my family. And I will say to this, say this to you all. Your self care and self awareness is very, very important. And I'm one that takes a deep breath before I say yes to something. But more than that, I pray about it. You know, Lord, is this what you want me to do? And if it's not of you, may I fail at it? And that's, you know, that may be difficult for folks to say, but I really want to do what God has called me to do. And so praying about this position, just like I prayed about the position to be the executive pastor here, God revealed that to me and it was very clear that this was where he wanted me to be. And I'm very, very thankful. [00:23:15] Will Adams: Yeah. Well, and we're grateful for you. I appreciate your, your spirit is always so positive and appreciate that and as a force and in meetings and in worship and in every aspect of saying, look, love your, your vibe, your energy. So thank you for joining us and thank you for joining us today and make sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Leave us a like a review that helps get the word out. Feel free to share this if this was meaningful to you with your friends and family. So until next time, thanks for joining us as we continue to fulfill the Great Commission by following through the Great Commandment.