CEP SEASON TWO EP:18 - WITH GUEST DUSTIN STRADLEY
By Dave Mckeown and Nathan Benger
The Church Explained podcast is a conversation to help grow your leadership, develop your team and build your church. Your hosts will be Dave Mckeown and Nathan Benger. We talk about all things leadership with key team players from IKON Church and other guests during each show.
Welcome to Season 2 Episode: 18 of the Church Explained Podcast with guest Dustin Stradley from Elevation Church.
A Short bio
Dustin has been married to Maddie for four years, and they have just had their first daughter, Jovie Catherine. He has been in vocational ministry for nine years and is currently the regional pastor overseeing and leading multiple Elevation Church campuses throughout Florida in the US.
In part one of the conversation, Dustin shares his faith story, call to ministry and some unique leadership insights around validation, healthy life rhythms and the need to focus on what we want to be in five years from now rather than what we want to do.
SHOW NOTES
FULL TRANSCRIPT
David Mckeown 0:00
Hey everyone, welcome to the church explained podcast a conversation to grow your leadership and build your Church today. We've got an amazing guest. We've got Dustin straggly the whole way from Florida.
David Mckeown 0:19
Hey, Dustin, how you doing?
Dustin Stradley 0:21
Good, sir. How are you, Dave?
David Mckeown 0:22
Yeah, very good. Hey, thanks for joining us today on the podcast. And let me just share a little bit with our audience. A little bit about you. So they're aware you have been married for four years to Monterey. And you've got a little daughter called Jovi Catherine, and she's just five months old. This week. We say
Dustin Stradley 0:43
five months old this week, five
David Mckeown 0:47
months old this week, and you've been in ministry, for Kingdom ministry for the last nine years. Currently you lead Elevation Church campuses throughout the state of Florida. What a dresser, what a great place to be in state. So Jade said it is so good to have you with us on the podcast. And Nathan, who's normally with us as a host. He's not available today. I think he's got stuck somewhere. I want to say maybe he's got stuck in an elevator or lift. Who knows he could be on this site, because this is going to be a brilliant conversation today. Isn't it
Dustin Stradley 1:21
Nathan's gonna miss out. We're gonna miss him. But we're gonna have some we're gonna have some fun. Thanks for having me.
David Mckeown 1:27
It is a pleasure. So hey, Dustin, come on. Tell us a little bit about your story of coming to faith. I know we spoke offline, you shared a little bit about your story. I'd love just to hear about that coming to faith. And also your your sort of route in the ministry or vocational ministry. It'd be great just to have some feedback and some sharing on that.
Dustin Stradley 1:50
Absolutely, Dave. So, quick story. Growing up, dad took me to Church every Wednesday, every Sunday. But I never really connected with Church and I never connected with Christians, as I got older, as a teenager, had some bad experiences with Christians and Church. So like many young people rebelled against Christianity, decided it wasn't for me, and really didn't believe that God could love someone like me. Based on the decisions I was making, based on the thoughts that I had, I really just couldn't measure up to this standard that I had projected on who God was. I thought it was, if you do the right things, God will love you. But if you do the wrong things, God is mad at you. And so I turned to alcohol as one way to cope with some of the painful experiences I had. Throughout my life, I became addicted to alcohol, I went to jail twice. And it was the second time that I ended up in jail. That was my rock bottom experience. I never thought that I would wake up wearing an orange jumpsuit, laying on a plastic mattress pad in a small jail cell. And I had a friend who came and got me out of jail. That was in July of 2009. And at that point, I wanted to take my I wanted to take my life, I didn't really see how I could continue. I saw no way out of this. And I didn't know where to turn. I was in a really bad space. I remember looking at a mirror right after I got out of jail and I was so disgusted with who I was looking at. I said, if I took my life right now, I don't know that anyone would care. And within just a few days, I had a friend who cared enough about me, his name's Brett, we still talked to this day he was at my wedding four years ago, who cared enough about me to say I'm not going to leave you in this place. And he said, I'm taking you to Church this weekend. And I said, Brett, I don't do Church. He said, Well, what you're doing right now is not working. So I don't think you really have any other options. So Brett threw me in the car. He took me to Church, and it happened to be Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. That was in August of 2009. And I was hesitant again, I believed that there was a God. But I didn't like Church and I didn't like Christians and I didn't believe God could love someone like me. But when I stepped into this place, something was different. For the first time in my life, and I couldn't articulate it that day or even that year, but nine years. I mean, let's see 2009 over 10 years later, I look back and I can see that the tangible love of Jesus was was very present through the people. The way they met me with arms wide open the way they didn't judge me for where I'd been just a few days before and I experienced the Love of Christ for the first time. And it was through Elevation Church that I gave my life to Jesus, I got baptised. I started serving as a volunteer in 2012. And then in 2013, I felt God nudging me to leave corporate world, I was in the insurance industry. I went to university or went to school for marketing and management, and had a degree in business and ended up in the insurance industry. But I felt God calling me to step into vocational ministry, it didn't make sense, I'd had no desire to do it. If you were to ask me a list of top 1000 things I want to be when I grew up, it would not be a Pastor, it wouldn't even go close to making the list. But now, I've been on staff at Elevation Church as a Pastor for the past nine years as of this month, and it's been the greatest privilege and been so rewarding.
David Mckeown 5:54
And that's such an amazing story. And just listening to what you were saying there that, you know, that point in your life where you felt so low, like what was going on what else was going through your mind? Then? You know, you were saying like, you didn't think anybody would miss you? Why do you think that was? Right? Why did you feel that way?
Dustin Stradley 6:15
Yeah, I think a lot of the I was just so hopeless and so empty, and trying to find validation and people's opinions for validation through fitting in, whether it be this workplace or using my skills here or with this crowd of people. And the same thing I believed about God, I believed about everyone. And that was that if God can't love me, people can't love me. And it's really because I didn't love myself. Yeah. And so I projected that on not only God, but those around me. So I was in such an empty place that I said, Well, maybe the best way out is to give up. But God cared enough about me to stop me from giving up. He said, I'm not gonna let you give up. I've got more in store for you. And he did that through someone that that I'm really close with. And I'm thankful for that.
David Mckeown 7:14
What a great story of transformation. Obviously, you're an elevation. And at some point, did you meet your wife there as well? Did you wait? You did? Yes. 16. Yeah, come on. I think our listeners are really interested in that not the ministry side of stuff. They want to know how that came about.
Dustin Stradley 7:40
Well, I was the first I think I was the first single campus Pastor at Elevation Church. But it's which was, which is an interesting dynamic to be in a city pastoring families with children. Yeah, I had no spouse or children of my own. But when God calls you, he not only calls you He equips you and I was able to lead through but then I met my wife, September 4 of 2016, I stepped off stage at Church, I walked out into the lobby, I see this beautiful blonde Angel serving on one of our volunteer teams, I said, I've never seen her before. And I know every one of our volunteers. So then we did the Christian flirting, which can be awkward. And I, you know, tried to try to cite all the Bible verses I knew and get her reserved seat in the auditorium and, and we ended up getting to know each other over the next few weeks as we served together. And and then I sought wise counsel, through different pastors on our staff and my counsellor, and because I've been through some, some unhealthy relationships before and so I really want to make sure that we're doing this God's way and, and she ends up being the most amazing human being I've ever met my entire life. And so we went on 21 dates before we became boyfriend and girlfriend, we dated for a year and a half before we got engaged. We were engaged for six months. And then as of next month, we will be married for four years, with our first daughter of five months. So
David Mckeown 9:09
congratulations with like, from memory down. I think I'm right in saying that did you baptise your wife?
Dustin Stradley 9:18
I got to baptise my wife. What a great experience Simba of 2016 and this was before wish he was here. We knew we'd get married. Yeah. So if you see the picture, you could see that I'm looking at her a little differently. We know that one day we would we would end up we would end up married to one another. Yeah,
David Mckeown 9:41
that twinkle in your eye was different than everyone else. Actually. We're
Dustin Stradley 9:45
a little different.
David Mckeown 9:49
Hey, well, thanks for sharing some of the personal stuff that are and listen what do you do for fun? What what's what's the thing that you know, excites you?
Dustin Stradley 10:00
Yeah, so we, my wife and I do a weekly 24 hour Sabbath. And we do things that only bring us pure joy. So it looks different each week. We like to try new restaurants. We live in our from the beach. So we go to the beach, probably two to three times a month, I love to go to the movies by myself occasionally. And just sit back and enjoy the entertainment. I love to play basketball. We love to travel, but we don't just wait for the next vacation. But each each week, there's a 24 hour period where it feels like Christmas Day where we wake up and do only things that bring us pure joy, we spend time with God, we delight in one another. And we just have fun. And it really refreshes us to to work hard the other six days. So that's what we'd like to do for fun each week.
David Mckeown 10:54
I like that and something around that Sabbath or by doing that, which really brings you joy or like a like that. And for you then I know we've got we've got a lot of questions here. We've gone off script a little bit, but it's good. So for you, then it's up in a new practice that you've developed over the last wine, or is it been as part of your practice for the last 19 years?
Dustin Stradley 11:21
Really the last year and a half? Wow. So I leaned on the extreme side of Sabbath is completely irrelevant. Yeah, that's where I was. That's where I was before. And I would I would grind from morning until night, seven days a week. There's always things to be done. There's always people to reach, there's always people to encourage, which is true. But trying to keep up with culture wasn't working. Sure. And we found ourselves with all the influence. And we had seen God move mightily on our behalf. But we were purely exhausted and feeling empty. And I think 2020 We really evaluated some of our rhythms and really started to seek God to do it God's way, not our way. And reality is God can do more in one day than I can do and all seven. So if even God himself arrested, not because he needed to, but because he wanted to model for us what it means to rest and delight and him and to delight and each other and to delight in creation. Why would I think that I don't need to rest. Yeah, so last year, we started to exercise the discipline of honouring a Sabbath. So even like tomorrow is going to be our Sabbath. So today being Thursday, we will we will not only do everything as it relates to ministry and work, but we clean our house, we make sure all the dishes are done, all the grocery shopping is done. All the Amazon packing packages are ordered, all the bills are paid. We try to do anything and everything we can to prepare for the Sabbath. Nice so that we can truly just enjoy it. And not Oh, hey, I forgot to order this. Oh, I forgot to do this. Oh, we don't have enough laundry. So instead of a we used to spend our one day off, catching up on all the things we didn't do the other six days.
David Mckeown 13:27
Yeah, so so just picking up on that in a very practical way does not think of that for a minute. Because I'm sure there's some leaders listening and are thinking. That sounds like me, in the sense of all the things we're just gathering up at the weekend that we would do them then blah, blah, blah. So So have you changed your sort of routine at home? In the sense are you doing little bits day by day? What have you done differently to allow you that space?
Dustin Stradley 13:58
For sure. I think it's improved communication between my wife and I. Yeah, I think it's it's improved our rhythms of working together. So if we want to have a peaceful fun, enjoyable Sabbath tomorrow, what do we need to do Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and we break it down day by day by day. We share a calendar with one another and look at each evening outside of our ministry hours. And of course ministry is fluid. It's not a nine to five, you're always doing ministry. But for example, my wife had a Church event last night so I was on Dad duty while she had the Church event last night. But we reserved this evening for us to take care of household responsibilities so that we can wake up tomorrow morning and have a clean organised house. And just enjoy. The bills have been paid budget has been updated. did the laundry is caught up to speed, we've got groceries in the fridge. But it's really it took us probably three to four months of of adjusting and figuring it out. And we still some days we do it better than others. Some weeks are very much enjoyable. Some some weeks are oh my gosh, this, you know, we mess this one up. It's a process. It's a process. But I had a friend challenge me. He said the day of preparation is just as important as the day of Sabbath itself. And so really just spending a day or two preparing for that Sabbath has been the key to having a successful one for us.
David Mckeown 15:43
And gives you that new rhythm, doesn't it where you're working out of rest, rather than working to rest. And I think that's the genesis, isn't it really with this idea that we started off with rest and then work rather than we work to rest. And I think a lot of people out there that say they live to work, work work, and then they rest. But actually the idea is is we rescue them from our rest and we do better work. I think that's what you're describing, isn't it?
Dustin Stradley 16:13
Exactly. And most of the people listening are probably driven leaders. Yeah, absolutely. And say yes to any and every opportunity and work hard. And there's nothing wrong with with having drive and being committed to giving excellence to all things. But in the end, it's working from rest instead of working. You know, like you said to rest and if I can take that one day, and that energises and refreshes me for the other six. Knowing that I'm working out of the overflow of what God's doing in my life, instead of only running to him because I'm exhausted all the time. Trying to outpace God, but instead is working in in, you know, in step with God.
David Mckeown 17:02
Like that doesn't thanks for sharing that. Just thinking then for you as a leader. Hey, what's the one thing that sort of gets you up in the morning besides your newborn baby? So you can't use that? What's up?
Dustin Stradley 17:15
Besides? Besides the double alarm clock and the dirty diaper?
David Mckeown 17:22
Yeah, besides that? What's the motivation?
Dustin Stradley 17:25
Yeah, I think it's just the discipline of knowing that I have a responsibility every day, a responsibility to God a responsibility to my family a responsibility to the people that I lead, to give them everything God has given me. So to start with why, like, I know what I'm doing each day, it's in my calendar. But start with why like, why am I throwing myself into six meetings a day? Or why am I saying no to certain opportunities? Instead of saying yes to every opportunity, I have to start with why because most of the time, if I'm being real, I don't feel like getting up. I'm not a morning person, I don't jump out of bed with joy and enthusiasm, ready to just to run full speed into into my day. Some days, I'm more energised than others. Many days, I'd rather I'd rather sleep in. So it's not a feeling that that gets me up. Because feelings are fluid. They come and go. Some days I wake up and I'm very energised and focused and some days. I'm not it has to be deeper than that. So it's looking at my daughter and thinking about the model I'm setting for her as her father. It's looking at my wife and thinking about what kind of husband do I want to be to her today? As looking at my staff, and thinking, how can I help them experience God's best for their lives. It's thinking about who I want to be five years from now and then doing the things today that will help me to become a better meat five years from now a better husband, a better leader, a better Pastor, a better father. So it's really about being not just doing we all had to do list. But recently, I've been challenging myself to put together a to be list like Who do I want to be five years from now? And that's much less much more motivating to me then here's my to do list for today. So what who I want to be drive what I'm doing today? Does that make sense?
David Mckeown 19:45
Yeah, it does. It does under something quite powerful writing that isn't thinking of what you want to be in five years rather than what you want to do because that's that's the bigger driver as you say underneath Let's just pick up a little bit of your journey then in an Elevation Church, you became a Christian as you turned up there, yeah, obviously you got baptised. You've met your wife there. I wonder if you could just share with our listeners something about your journey then at Elevation Church and what's what's up been like? What's the thing that's inspired you the most?
Dustin Stradley 20:24
Yeah, for sure. So I, when I was a, I was in the insurance industry for three and a half years, I was volunteering as a greeter at one of our churches in North Carolina. And a couple of leaders on staff at the Church asked me if I thought about vocational ministry, and my initial response was, nope, haven't thought about it don't want to think about it, no desire to think about it. I didn't feel qualified. And it just didn't make sense to me for many different reasons. Financially, it didn't make sense. I was working a really good corporate job, I was climbing the ladder, I was paying off a lot of debt at the time school loans, car loans. And then I just didn't feel qualified based on my past everything I had done everything I had saw everything I had thought, like, I don't think God can use someone like me. But then after hearing about this apprenticeship programme at our Church, I heard about it one time, two times, three times, four times 15 different times. And I don't know about you, Dave. But God is very patient with me. And also redundant, because I don't listen the first time. And after hearing 15 Different times about this apprenticeship programme, I thought, well, maybe I should pray about it. And maybe God's trying to speak something to me. Ultimately, I felt like God was calling me to apply. I even tried to mess up the interview Dave. I tried to mess it up. I tried to get out of it. I was like, I'm not going to even attempt to be impressive in this video that I'm submitting right now. And then it was like, congratulations, you've made it to the next round of interviews. I'm like, I don't know how, because I'm not trying. And long story short, I ended up leaving, leaving the corporate world and stepping into vocational ministry, I took a 65% Pay decrease, stepped out in faith that didn't make a lot of sense to me. I barely made it through the apprenticeship programme. I'm barely made it on staff at our Church. I had no idea what I was doing, as the college guy, the college Pastor, whatever want to call me, the first year, I had no idea what I was doing when I became a campus Pastor a year after doing the college ministry. And I have no idea oftentimes now on what I'm doing, as a regional Pastor overseeing an entire region. But I think my story is this. God uses broken people to do big things
David Mckeown 23:02
like that.
Dustin Stradley 23:04
Yeah, like God uses broken people to do big things. Yeah. So for anyone who feels unworthy, unqualified, who feels I'm too broken, to be used by God. And not on a Church staff that can be anywhere your ministry is where you are. Sure, your ministry is your school, your ministry is your family, your ministry is in your workplace, your ministry is on that sports team. But that God doesn't call the qualified. You've heard this. He qualifies the cult. And God uses broken people to do big things. And that's been my journey at this Church. Often times I'm like, Hey, God, I don't I don't feel like I deserve to be here. I don't really know what I'm doing. But if you call me up, quit me. And we'll figure it out.
David Mckeown 23:54
Yeah. So something powerful about that. Just being open for God, the equip. Yeah. And I suppose even having that sort of that stance or attitude where actually you don't know everything, because sometimes leaders, whether we like it or not, they pretend they do know everything.
Dustin Stradley 24:14
I've been there, trust me. And that's me plenty. I get it.
David Mckeown 24:20
And that's what we get in trouble, isn't it? Because we think we know everything, and we've got all the answers. And actually, it doesn't quite work out. So it's good to have that sort of stands for you're saying it Yeah, I don't know everything. And but I can that's okay. You know what I mean? It's okay. We don't know everything. And I'm sure you've heard of said like, if I'm the smartest person in the room, it I'm in the wrong room. It's that sort of thinking, isn't it? Hey, well,
Dustin Stradley 24:46
100%
David Mckeown 24:47
What about some of this sort of navigation for you like thinking of some of the roles you've done because you've never imagined you're sort of like, overseeing some of the regional stuff in Florida. I think you're looking off for quite a number of campus, pastors and staff, but you didn't start there. So you know what, what was that sort of? How do you navigate those changes?
Dustin Stradley 25:12
Yeah, it's been interesting. I was the campus Pastor, meaning that I was the primary Pastor of one Church for nearly seven years. And that was in Roanoke, Virginia. And we saw God do immeasurably more than any thing we could think ask or imagine it grew from five people in a basement to seeing over 7000 people come to know Jesus, in a city of 100,000. God move mightily on our behalf. It was just his hand of pharaohs on it, it was it was such a rewarding experience to have a front row seat for that. But then coming out of the pandemic, I stepped into this role that really doesn't exist in our Church to not just pasture one campus, but to pasture a region. So in the state of Florida, we have two, two Elevation Church campuses. So one in Melbourne, Florida, one in Orlando, Florida, but we also have online Church family. Okay, because if anything, we were reminded out of the pandemic, that the Church is not a building, it's the people. Sure, which we always knew that we always said that. But I think it became real to a whole of us out of the pandemic when the buildings were stripped away. So now how do we, how do we Pastor, not just one Church, but how do we Pastor an entire region? How can we unify the efforts of the people and aggressively expand the gospel of Jesus to reach you know, the ends of the earth, but for me, that would be the state of Florida. So this transition has been it's been interesting, it's been humbling. It's been overwhelming, invigorating, exhausting energising all at the same time. I think the biggest focus, you said it a minute ago. And I just wanted to capitalise on that. The biggest focus has been taking a posture of a student. The more experience and exposure I've had around ministry, the temptation is to find my confidence in what worked in the past, instead of being open to where we're headed in the future. Yeah, like that. So I have a book in my kitchen right over there. It's called What Got You Here Won't Get You There. So what worked for me in a previous season might not work for me and this season. And it doesn't mean God can't use all of my past experiences and exposure to give me wisdom on how to expand the kingdom forward. But the moment I become an expert, you said it is the moment we stopped growing, is the moment I stopped growing. Like the teacher must also always be a student. Simultaneously, same time, teacher and student. So it's open to God's plans above my plans. It's open to others ideas above my ideas. Just because I've been on staff for nine years, doesn't mean, I always have the best idea. As much as I like my idea is being celebrated. being real? What is the the guy who's been on staff for a year, with fresh perspective and fresh eyes? Who's coming from a different industry? Who's been living in Orlando his entire life, and I just moved here a year and a half ago? Am I open to listening to what he has to say? Like, am I willing to pull out my notebook learn from anyone and everyone, not just in vocational ministry, but But regardless of what industry they're in, or what experience they have, we can learn something from anyone and everyone if we're open to it. And that's, that's humbling, especially the longer you've, you've been in a certain industry or a certain profession, or you've been doing a certain thing. Like you, you mentioned, the temptation is to become the expert. Yeah. But that's how I've been navigating this role. The past year and a half is really taking a posture of a student. And it's challenging. But it's also been it's been, it's been really rewarding to glean experiences from others, and really piece together my mind like, oh, wow, okay, I never thought of that. Or I've never seen that. Or, yeah, you actually lived here your entire life, you wouldn't know that better than I do. Or, Wow, your gifts are way different than my gifts. So maybe I should ask you some questions around that instead of being the the nine year regional expert is like, Hmm, I don't really know what I'm doing. This is a role that doesn't exist in our Church either. So I can't really believe that for many people in our Church. Hey, tell me what it means to be a regional Pastor because we don't know. But that's been the fun part is is figuring that out together.
David Mckeown 29:57
Hey, listen. It's been so good to have you with us. Is the hallway from sunny Florida. Thank you for taking the time early in the morning. It's literally afternoon for us, but thank you for being with us. People want to connect with you or find you. Hey, should they do that?
Dustin Stradley 30:15
First, Dave, thank you. I love what God's doing through you. What's happening through opportunities like this, how many leaders you're helping in different industries, different businesses, different churches, your ability to network and connect with people is unmatchable. It's amazing. So, so keep up the great work and, and we're here to support you and we're cheering you on every step of the way. Instagram is just my full name, tried to make it easy. Dustin Stradley. You can add me on Facebook, Dustin Stradley. Email Dustin strategy@gmail.com tried to keep it consistent, as simple as possible.
David Mckeown 30:49
Fantastic. Well, we want to say a big thank you for being with us today. And we want to say to all our listeners, if they want to get some free resources to help them their Church and their team, they can head on over to our website, IKON dot Church forward slash resources, they can pick up some free resources and we just want to bless them as well. Checking right Yeah, absolutely. And again, if you're listening to the podcast, let somebody know about it. Subscribe if you're whatever platform you're on and let people know where to find this because they too, hopefully will enjoy what we've talked about today.
Dustin Stradley 31:24
Share, share, share, get the word out
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
