Living Reconciled
Living Reconciled, hosted by Mission Mississippi, is a podcast dedicated to exploring reconciliation and the Gospel that enables us to live it out. Mission Mississippi has been leading the way in racial reconciliation in Mississippi for 31 years. Our model is to bring people together to build relationships across racial lines so they can work together to better their communities. Our mission is to encourage and demonstrate grace in the Body of Christ across racial lines so that communities throughout Mississippi can see practical evidence of the gospel message.
Living Reconciled
EP. 89: Neighbors At The Table with Jill Buckley
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Our newest episode of the Living Reconciled Podcast is here!
This week, we sit down with Rev. Jill Buckley from Stewpot in Jackson for a powerful, down-to-earth conversation about what reconciliation really looks like—breaking bread with our neighbors, choosing humility, and learning to love people well in everyday life. It’s honest, hopeful, and one of our most inspiring episodes yet. Tune in, be encouraged, and let us know what stood out to you!
Special thanks to our sponsors:
Nissan, St. Dominic's Hospital, Atmos Energy, Regions Foundation, Mississippi College, Anderson United Methodist Church, Grace Temple Church, Mississippi State University, Real Christian Foundation, Brown Missionary Baptist Church, Christian Life Church, Ms. Doris Powell, Mr. Robert Ward, and Ms. Ann Winters.
This is Living Reconciled, a podcast dedicated to giving our communities practical evidence of the gospel message by helping Christians learn how to live in the reconciliation that Jesus has already secured for us by living with grace across racial lines. Hey, thanks so much for joining us on this episode of Living Reconcile, episode 89. I'm your host, Brian Crawford, with my incredible co-host and good friend, Nettie Doctor, Reverend Nettie Winners. Sir, how are you doing?
SPEAKER_01:I'm doing great, man, but Nettie would just be fine, man. Just as long as you you can call me whatever you lack. Just don't call me too late too.
SPEAKER_04:No, no, no, no. I mean, for those that are listening but cannot watch, I'm I'm I'm looking at Nettie uh sitting in front of this illustrious backdrop of books. And so it brought it it inspired me academically, which is why I use the term doctor, Reverend Dr. Nettie Winners. Um great to have you, brother. Great to have you. It's good to be here.
SPEAKER_01:I'm really excited about our program today.
SPEAKER_04:Yes, I'm incredibly excited about our program and our guests. But before we get started having a chat with our guests, we want to give a quick shout out and special thanks to our sponsors, Nissan, St. Dominic's Hospital, Atmos Energy, Regis Foundation, Mississippi College, Anderson United Methodist Church, Grace Temple Church, Mississippi State, Bell Haven University, Real Christian Foundation, Brown Missionary Baptist Church, Christian Life Church, and then good folks like Miss Doris Powell, Robert Ward, and Winners. Thank you so much for everything that you do. It's because of what you do, that we're able to do what we do. If you would like to join uh this incredible uh list of sponsors and investors in the work of reconciliation, you can do so very easily. Just visit missionmississippi.org. There is a donate slash invest button, typically on the top right of that page. Click on it, and you too can join uh this incredible, incredible list of uh sponsors and participants in the work of reconciliation, those that make this podcast possible. Today on our podcast, we have a very special guest. Um she is a dear friend to this ministry and a dear friend to us. Uh, she is um an incredible woman with an incredible passion for God's kingdom and the people of God uh all across all across this state and all across this country. Her work is very unique um but very impactful and very necessary, and we can't wait to dig into it. And that is uh Reverend Jill Buckley. Uh Reverend Jill Buckley is the director of the Stew Pot, which is an incredible ministry uh in the city of Jackson, and you will hear more about that in just a moment. Um but Reverend Jill, it's a pleasure, pleasure to have you on our podcast today.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you. It's really an honor to be asked and to spend time with both you and Nettie. Nettie and I have known each other a long time. Anytime I get to spend with Nettie just makes me a better person. So glad to be here.
SPEAKER_01:I want you to know, Brian, she was a very little girl at the early age. I'm sure you figured that out already because she's still a young lady. So, you know, she had to be even younger when I met her.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, okay. Thank you.
SPEAKER_04:Absolutely. Well, why don't you just why don't you just start uh our time, Jill? Tell us a little bit about your journey, a little bit of your background, a little bit of your story, and then and in particular your journey of faith and how you just came to uh to walking with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00:Sure. So I had the really uh good blessing to grow up in the church. My parents were very involved in uh the church when I was little from the time I was a baby on. So I never knew anything different. Well, my dad served as chair of deacons, my mom was, you know, chair of finance committee, and they we were at church all the time. I kind of consider the church like like a womb, right? So like it really protected me and uh formed me for the world. So um, so because of that, I made that decision for Christ to accept Christ as my Lord and Savior at an early age when I was like seven. I was baptized when I was seven. Um but of course I have really been working out that decision my entire life. You know, as I uh as I grow and evolve uh as a person, as I encounter new and different things, as um as life presents itself. So that is a um a decision that I find myself having to make over and over again to follow Jesus. Um so it hasn't been just all you know, kind of all peaches and cream since, you know, since age seven. So um my calling really came as really when I was about 12. So I've known for a long time that I wanted to be involved in missions. Like I really felt that urge when I was young. And when the very first time that I saw someone walk down the aisle of the church, I grew up Baptist and give themselves to full-time Christian service. I was like, that is what I want to do.
SPEAKER_04:And so you were driven, you were driven towards that at the age of 12, watching a missionary announce that, hey, I've been called to the field. Wow.
unknown:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Well, and at that time, of course, uh, this was, you know, 1984, like really, and living in a small town and growing up Southern Baptist, I really thought the only avenues available to me were going to be um teaching children or going really across the seas as a missionary. So that was really what I was prepared to do um because I thought that was the only way I could serve God through the church. But um, you know, as uh God would have it, you know, life unfolded in a different way. And I had some really different mentors um kind of come out along and show me that that God actually had something different in mind for my life. So um, so again, I I want to say that I mean, just because I was 12 years old when I first felt that um that calling doesn't mean that um that it was a straight line from there to here. It was very crooked. And I had several times when um, you know, mentors and people who barely knew me or knew me well kind of called me back to it. So uh so it just wasn't a straight line, but you know, here I am.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, there's a lot of small towns across Mississippi now. Which small town you hail from?
SPEAKER_00:Summerall, Mississippi. Right outside of Hatburg.
SPEAKER_01:I know where Summerall is than that on some of the kids. Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:A lot bigger now than it was when I was growing up growing up there, a lot bigger, and I'm happy for them.
SPEAKER_01:It was 10 in your family when you were here, and now it's 50 in your family, is that right?
SPEAKER_00:Sure, sure, exactly. So uh so when I I say that I grew up in Summerall, but really I grew up in Hattiesburg because at that time Summerall was so so small, like everything we did besides go to church and go to school was in Hattiesburg. So uh so I kind of grew up between Summerall and Hattiesburg.
SPEAKER_04:Hattiesburg has changed so much. Oh much since then. Yeah, it's incredible. It's incredible. Yeah, Jill, when you when you talk about uh, you know, kind of straight lines and cricket lines, I'm re I'm reminded of a story I was um told years ago when somebody he he he had a vocation in mind and he had someone that he um had a lot of respect for who was in that particular space and in that particular vocation and so and was doing incredibly well in it. And he said, he he walked up to the gentleman because he got a chance to meet him. He said, Man, I admire you so much and what you do and um and and where you are in this particular space. Could you give me some advice because I'm aspiring, I want to be in this position. And and the guy told him, he said, you know, I like to think about my own life like the life, like the story of Moses. Like um, you know, Moses, Moses didn't Moses didn't start out saying, you know, what I really want to do is I really want to go and deliver the people of E uh uh Israel out of Egypt. That's not that's not how Moses started, right? He did not have that in mind, but God had it in mind, and so and so he took him on this scenic journey around his vocation and the and around his calling, but it all started with just simply the the daily act of obedience, just simply saying, Lord, I'm yielded to you, just take me where you desire to take me. And so, and so I'm reminded of that in turn in terms of hearing your journey to StuPot. Um, and speaking of StuPot, could you talk to us a little bit about just the ministry in general? Um, what what the the aim, the purpose, um, its particular reach and audience. Uh, talk to us a little bit about this ministry in general.
SPEAKER_00:Sure, sure. Um, I before I do that, I want to just go back a little bit, uh kind of preference what you were saying, Brian. And and for me, it really wasn't an unwillingness to go where God wanted me to go. It was more of uh disbelief. And it was more of um, it's really more of a very dark night. I consider that discernment time in my life, getting to to where I where I was ordained is a really time of real struggle where I really had to reshape and reform some of the things that I had been taught from a child. You know, being an ordained woman in ministry, it's not something that, you know, that many, you know, little girls growing up in Southern Baptist Church know they can dream of. But um, fortunately, the way I see it, the um, yeah, I see it as the good news still has to be embodied sometimes to be believed. And the way that that happened in my life was that I was uh ministered to and mentored by some women who were ordained ministers, and I saw how God was working through them to accomplish God's purposes. And that is what got me to the point where I was willing to entertain that God might be also inviting me to uh to ordination and to a pastoral ministry as opposed to you know being a missionary. So uh I I really want to make that clear to anyone out there who's listening is that you know the road from calling to um to kind of realizing that calling or whatever uh can be very hard, right? It can be really difficult for some of us. And so I don't want to I don't want to diminish that in any way because uh I've really discovered over time that part of my story is really important for some people to hear.
SPEAKER_03:So yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Stewpot. Um so stewpot was started back in 1981 by a group of congregations uh um um interdenominational that came together to um address needs in the Jackson community that increasingly were kind of presenting themselves at their doorsteps, right? So so for example, Stew Pot right now is located at 1100 West Capitol Street in the old Central Presbyterian Church built building in that campus. Central Presbyterian Church, where we are right now, is only two or three blocks from uh from Union Station where buses and train, you know, the Amtrak go uh come and go. And and so it it is a place where you know over time, you know, people have come and then started looking for help, you know, originating from the bus station uh or going to the bus station, but it's a place where people, you know, kind of central enough where people have started just looking looking for assistance. And so Central early on became uh a destination for people who were seeking some some some kind of assistance. So um Central Presbyterian Church, their um the chair of their missions committee at that time had heard about an effort in Dallas, Texas, where First Presbyterian Church was feeding uh people lunch on a daily basis, and it was called Stewart. And he and his wife went to check it out and loved it and came back and was like, you know, we can do something like this here. So they gathered mostly downtown congregations uh at that time at Capitol Street United Methodist Church, which is the building that is now Voice of Calvary Church, um Galloway Methodist Church, St. Andrew's Cathedral, St. Richard's Catholic Church, um, Calvary Baptist Church, which is just a block away from here, and then St. James Episcopal Church, which is a little bit north of here, gather them together and just decided that they could all give some volunteers and all give a little bit of money and start doing lunch five days a week. So it was uh um it was a very kind of interdenominational effort of working together to um to respond to needs of our time that just grew. The more the way I see it, and the way that I've really heard the story over time and come to believe about the story, is that as soon as people got to Stewpot, which uh which was opened in an old gas station across the street from Central Presbyterian Church, as soon as people got to Stewpot saw and understood the need, then they really became passionate about helping their neighbors. Like it it was it's it caught on. And I think it's because some people for the first time actually met their neighbors in need, right? Um kind of name and a face and a story um to go along with it, and were kind of in my you know, in the the way that again, the way that I've heard the story told by the people who were there, just found their life, you know, and in serving others at Stewart and found a real sense of like living out their own faith. So over time, uh through lots of volunteer efforts, lots of congregational efforts, Stewart grew right now. You know, we're 44 years old and we have 14 different ministries under our umbrella.
SPEAKER_03:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:Probably uh involve around 200 congregations somehow in our ministry.
SPEAKER_03:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:Um and that is, you know, whether some congregations are giving us money, some are doing food or clothing donations, some are sending volunteers uh to our various ministries. So about 200 congregations all across the metro area, as far as away is Utica. They come, you know, um as far, you know, north as you know, Gluckstadt, and south as you know, Byram and Terry. So it really does take in the whole metro area of uh congregations working together for one purpose.
SPEAKER_04:How what I guess I guess the the piece that I heard that really stood out to me is this ideal of people connecting with their neighbors and that energizing them in some ways. They they they see something different about what it means to to support their neighbors when they connect with their neighbors. Could could you just can we just take that thread a little further and just kind of peel the layers back on that? What is it that you see and that you that you hear and that you observe and that you experience when you're watching people for the first time connect to their neighbors and then the light bulb starts clicking, like, oh, wait a second. What what are some what are some things that are uncovered during those times that just kind of that stand out to you? Sure.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I do think the discoveries go both ways. So I don't think it's just the people who come to serve here who suddenly get to know their neighbors. I do think that it's the people who come to us for assistance who also get to know their neighbors in a different way, right? So, like there is a real sense, especially when people have the opportunity to interact one-on-one of breaking down walls and um somehow really kind of changing our minds about those stereotypes that we have about one another, even if it's you know, one person at a time, you know. Um, you know, I um I really think, for example, I I'll say this. So like I have many, many times encouraged people to come and eat at stew pot as a way, it's kind of a doorway into ministry. Um, and I say to help you get through the awkwardness of sitting at a table with a stranger with you have which you have very little in common.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_00:Come on a Monday, make sure on Sunday you have at least like seen what the scores of the football games are, the NFL football games are, or if it's basketball season, the NBA games are, uh come sit at a table and start talking about whatever professional football game was on Sunday and start talking about who is your favorite team, why is that favor your favorite team, and that right there can get you started on a really unexpected conversation that goes both ways, and you realize oh gosh, this guy likes the Dallas Cowboys for the same reason that I do, because he was watching it when he was nine years old, you know, or or whatever. Like, you know, this guy hates, you know, the Chicago Bulls as much as I do because you know, and so like that gives enough common ground to um to start connecting in other ways, right? So it's it can be very hard for strangers to talk to each other, which is why you know, um you've got to have one at least one common thing to talk about in the food pantry. It is um, oh my gosh, do you like this is how I use diced tomatoes in my cooking. And uh the person that you're shopping with will say, Well, I use them this way. And you like, well, I never thought about that. What about this? And so, and so there is that breaking down of the strangeness uh where we're not strangers anymore. Really, just two humans kind of having a conversation. Um you know, it makes it sound very simplistic, but it it can be that easy. Um so I I do think that we want to recognize that in one another. We want to find common ground. I don't think that we have very much opportunity on a regular basis. Stew pot is a a place that gives you opportunity. In my life, I don't have very many like natural places where I would just be able to sit down and talk to someone who is that different from me. But stew pot is an opportunity for anyone to um to start breaking down those barriers.
SPEAKER_01:You know, you know, Jill, as you describe uh Stew Pot and neighbor getting to know neighbor and and uh making those connections. And you said when you were 12, you saw these missionaries going on a mission field. Now it's it can you distinguish between what you do at Stew Pot and that vision and dream you had when you was 12?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I think that um um part of me wants to say that this is the fulfillment of like that mission work. At the same time, um I hesitate to call it mission work because I want it to be more part of my life and my living. You know, I I don't want it to be the thing I do, I want it to be the person I am, right? So um so I I guess I just hesitate to call it missions necessarily or as a descriptor. I understand why we do, but I think that can be kind of uh othering, you know. I think that it can be a way to like put people at arm's length.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I know. Um, you know, I I spent some time, you know, serving S DuPot as well as serving on the board and been in the inner city ever since I moved to Jackson in '81. You know, the the challenge I have with that, I feel like this is and and and Brian, you're probably gonna have to get me off of this, but anyway, this is authentic mission and ministry where you don't go visit, but it's in your face every day, and you have the capacity to really disciple folks out of the situation that they're in, and you do it by taking those those that are more fortunate, if we say, in in a sense, to disciple them. I like the way you said it worked both ways because I see discipleship taking place both in the people you are serving in that community, but also the people that come to serve has and many times I like the way you introduced the subject of fighting over the Dallas Cal. Now, you know, uh uh uh how you introduce that and get people to come to that. Many times people come there, they don't expect to be, how do I say this? They don't expect to have the transformative mindset and some other things that happen to them. Some people even uh how do I say this, get real say? But you know, they come there and you know, and and they leave there with eyes running, mascarica messed up, you know, and all those things because they've been church so much, and sometimes I think it does more for uh me. You know, I would stupot, uh we would go, you know, the church of the city, all those same inner city ministries that I was a part of. And it did more for me to show up at three o'clock on Sunday or or or on Tuesday morning in StuPot than it did for the people that were there, I believe. That's my take on.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, 100%. 100%. Uh uh, I'm sorry, Jill, go ahead.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I I just want to say in response to that, Nettie, is that um it's that at Stupot, because we are represented, we you know, are supported by a range of congregations, you know, Christian congregations mostly, because that's where we live. But we also have some folks who you know are serving who are Jewish, some people who are agnostics, you know, Unitarians, you know, so it's it's a big umbrella. So we don't kind of as a rule call um people to proselytize. And that's because can you imagine how quickly it can get confusing around here if you are hearing from every single Christian denomination, you know, all of the minutiae that we all get, you know, kind of focused on. We want to keep the main thing the main thing. God loves all of us, all of us without exception, and uh wants a relationship with all of us, period. And I think actually that Stewart, as opposed to like being a place to preach the gospel, has a gospel to offer. It's a gospel of conversion to your neighbor, you know, um to your your the neighbor that you are are estranged from because of the way that society is ordered or because of the way that you're you have ordered your life, you know, based on you know norms. Um I have a friend that I met a long time ago that says that you know, if all of your friends look like you, think like you, act like you, then you are living in a kind of poverty. And um, and so there are lots of different kinds of poverty. Stew pot, the what we, you know, our mission is is to um is to help people who are in financial distress mainly. They don't have enough of this world's goods, they're depending on other people to share so that they can have enough. But spiritually, often there's a lot of richness there that other people may lack around our community. Um, and you know, that's what people I think sometimes get when they come and they're they serve, but they realize, I think, that there's a spiritual depth or maybe a spiritual um kind of richness that they're lacking, even though they have, you know, plenty of money. So uh so you really have to look at poverty wholly, I think, if you want to really get what StuPot is and does uh to me.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, Jill, that's powerful. You said it exceptionally well. My whole point was where you took us through, and I thank you for that, is the diversity of the people that shows up in and out of StuPot is is so rewarding in every every sense of our society. And I think we so so often limit ourselves to our perspective, faith, belief, or whatever the case might be, and not have the full exposure and discovery of the whole human race. If I can put it that way.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I agree.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah. Uh, I mean, you you said a whole lot, Jill. I I I just want to I just want to um echo appreciation for for the work that StuPod does and bringing in bringing some of those truths that you've highlighted to life and to light, for that matter. Um, because that that overarching identity, that common ground piece that you talked about where it's like, hey, I like football, you like football, right? Let's let's let's let's let's start there. I like sports, you like sports. Let's start there. Um Yeah, but but but it's just that ideal of just finding you know, exploring all the ways in which God has created us alike. And and so so much so much of the struggle right now in our day and time is that we've we are always razor sharp focused on the things that divide us. And and our and our eyes and our gaze are fixed there, and there are so many other things that that br that that that we hold in common, but we cast all of those things aside in favor of the one or two things that may separate us. And we and like I said, we are so sharply focused on those on those particular things. And so thank you for the work that Stu Pot's doing in that area. And then and then the other piece about this idea of the the gospel, uh, of uh uh proclaiming a proclamation of the gospel being made visually, um, I think is an important thing because so you know there are times in which we lose all of the all of the implications of the gospel. It's yeah, the gospel is vertical, and uh, and it's a restoration uh with God and man, but it's also very much a horizontal gospel. And there and there's a restoration that sometimes goes untouched as it relates to uh humankind and humankind being connected uh together and and and rich, poor, black, white, um, you know, uh Vicksburger and Jacksonia, you know, all of those different pieces and parts and geographies being brought together is very much a part of the uh the gospel proclamation and the gospel experience as well. And we oftentimes don't put enough emphasis on it. Um if you don't mind, let's explore a little bit. I want to take a little bit more of uh the remaining time than we have to explore some of the misnomers or misconceptions, rather, that um that we sometimes have as it relates to this line of ministry, this particular space of ministry. What are some of the ways in which the church, um, more broadly speaking, when I say the church, and just the community at large, what are some ways in which we misunderstand this this work and misunderstand the the the object of this work, the people that we are engaging? What are what are some ways in which we misunderstand?
SPEAKER_00:Well, um I think one place where we could really grow and evolve our thinking is uh is not painting homelessness or poverty or any of the um related kind of challenges or struggles, uh not painting it all with really a broad brush stroke. Uh all homeless people are alike, all people living in poverty are alike, you know, you know, and so on. Uh because while there might be some similarities, um you'll find that people are in the situation that they're in for a variety of reasons. And so often, especially in the case of homelessness, uh, it's because for some reason the community to which they were connected or their support networks have fallen apart, whether it's because they burned those bridges, you know, sometimes we find that true, they burn those bitch bridges through like substance abuse and uh other kinds of abuse. Um, you know, or you know, it's a mental health issue, and families just don't really know how to help someone with a severe mental health issue, uh, and that becomes unmanageable. And so they have to, you know, for family survival, have to create some separation, or you know, met so many people who there's been somebody important in their family who has died. It was a mom, a grandmother, a spouse, and just a cascade of things happens after that, and uh, and their support networks fall apart, all of the you know, bad family drama gets all stirred up, and then suddenly, you know, you don't have a place to go anymore. So I think um I've heard someone say, and I do agree with this to a large extent, this homelessness is not just about not having a place to go, it's about not having a people to go to. It's isolating. And um, and so I I think that's important to remember um when we think about how we want to respond, right? So we respond not just with providing housing, which is a just response, uh, but friendship, relationship, restoration to some kind of community. Um, so I think that's very important to to include. Also, I really think that um that because people are so estranged from their neighbors that people don't realize how difficult some people have it, like how the lack of a consistent income or the lack of a uh like a enough of an income, how hard that really is. Like I don't really think that unless you know somebody or she live through it, you probably don't really understand. And I'm even always learning more, right? So this whole SNAP crisis, you know, is even a new level of learning uh for me. And you know, I I spend a lot of time thinking about these things and talking to people about these things, right? So so I I think that if we're going to if we're gonna make, if we're gonna um come to some conclusions, if we're going to say anything, if we're gonna say anything about homelessness, about poverty, substance abuse, mental illness, um we we need to we need to start with what is that experience for the person who is living it, uh find out and then there should be a response, right? So um, so yeah, I think there's a just a real real misunderstanding that can be to some extent kind of remedied by getting to know your neighbor.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah, I appreciate I appreciate that, Jill, especially the the sentiment about about Snap and the and kind of the the the November the November crisis that that um that many people uh were were experiencing because it is it is something that we're really a lot oftentimes you're just kind of watching it from a distance, and so you don't know the implications. You don't know the personal or the emotional implications, but sometimes you don't even know the the kind of widespreading like the institutional implications. For example, oftentimes when we we think about Snap, we're thinking we have one picture in mind of who's on Snap. But then when you drill into it, you realize it's a totally different group of people, right? That that it's 70 70 of the 79% of people on Snap, it's you know, households that include children, it's el it's elderly, or it's non-elderly, uh non-elderly with disabilities. Right. So that's 70, that's 79% of the households. It's elderly, children households, and and disabil uh disability households. It's not it's not this, you know, this kind of thing that we tend to think about when we think about Snap, where it's just, you know, 100% of the people out there are just kind of gaming the system. That's not that's not how this works, you know. But but again, sometimes when we're when we're so far removed from a lot of these things and and we're not in we're not integrated in one another's life, um then the only thing left is assumptions. That's the that's the only thing left when we're not integrated in one another's life.
SPEAKER_00:Sure. And I think that not all not all our of our sources of input are reliable sources of input. And so to me, one of the most reliable sources of input is someone who has experience or is experiencing the problem, right? And that's why, you know, one thing we really strive to do here at Stewart is making make sure that we have people on our staff who have experienced food insecurity or experienced homelessness because they are a necessary corrective to people like me who've never experienced a problem, but have a lot of theories about it. And you know, that can throw out a lot of good ideas about what we can do, and you know, and they can just be torn right down by someone who's like, you know what, that is really a misconception.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Someone who's experienced the problem. That that to me has been one of my most important learnings here at Steapot is you really can't make good decisions uh unless you are in conversation with people who are experiencing the problem that you're trying to um address.
SPEAKER_01:You you gotta hear their story. You gotta know uh their experiences. You gotta connect with them in in terms of that, you know. And with Snap, we found out that everybody was not homeless, everybody was not on Sheet Row or had a house full of cheering in the chat. We found out in some instances that our neighbors, our friends, our church members, people we interact with on a social level and and otherwise was on Snap. And so we have these uh stereotypical statements we make inside of what I call inside of 395 and 495 in Washington, DC, had no concept of people 20 miles away from them in poverty. So uh but anyway, I think the way that you describe what you all do and how you do it, you help people that are in isolation, that are in their what what do you call them, uh Brian, in their little camps or little silos, silos in those silos to come out of them and learn that they're real folks beyond my silo, beyond my connection. And so I like the integration of how the diversity of the real world connects at Stewart. I talk about the real world of politics, sports, everyday life, and how those connections uh empower, inspire, and motivate our entire community, uh spread across the metro area, or even across the state of Mississippi.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, and I love the diversity of story. Um, you know, there's there's the you know, oftentimes when we're looking at how do we can comprise our leadership groups and councils and boards and teams, you know, we we think purely in terms of ethnic diversity, color diversity. Um, but stupid is taking it a level uh deeper in terms of diversity of story. Um and and you know, la last year uh we spent uh a summer traveling around South Mississippi and doing conversations on uh reconciliation and economic restoration and communities and getting different people of different backgrounds together to have dialogue around these subjects. And I'll never forget when I was on the coast um facilitating these one of these conversations. One of the most important things that I heard uh was uh was um a woman who worked uh with the hospital systems who were doing similar work there. And she said, when they bring that when they convene these groups together, the one thing that they try to um one the one truth that they try to hold to or the one uh motto that they try to hold to, nothing for me without me. Nothing for me without me. So if there's going to be any work that's going to reach a particular community, then there needs to be representation from that particular community, not just color, not just ethnicity, but all the way down to stories, experiences, class, and and I I think I think you guys are are really, really, really hitting the nail on the head in in such a powerful way. That's that's so that's so outstanding, uh Jill.
SPEAKER_00:Um we're just we got I mean we we do have room to grow, like I, you know, so we're not perfect at it, but I do think that um we've worked on it over time, uh, and we want to continue to grow, right?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:It's something we've really tried hard to do, and we want to keep growing.
SPEAKER_04:Absolutely. How go ahead, go ahead, Brian. How can people connect? How can people connect with Stewart, your ministry, uh, your work? Um how can how can people connect you?
SPEAKER_00:So, really one of the best ways to find out about what we're doing, kind of at a more kind of like a detailed level, is to go to our website. We've worked really hard to make sure it's informative without being too wordy. So um, because we do a lot and sometimes it can get really wordy, but um, we're at stewpot.org. And uh once you get there, we've created two buttons, which actually the idea we totally stole from Baitway Rescue Mission. So I gotta give Rex Baker props for that. Um button says um I need help, and another one says, I want to help. And so, you know, you kind of click on whichever one uh fits you at that time. They might, you know. I say this to people a lot of times. People say, Well, thank you for helping me. And I'm like, Well, you would have done the same thing for me. Never know. Life is weird. You uh it might come back around.
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:I understand that. So it could be one or the other. I want to help or I I need help. Um, and if you want to um to do uh some volunteering or get involved in some of our ministry, then just click on the I want to help button and our um our volunteer director will get back in touch with you with a kind of a list based on what your um what you said is your preferences and what your times are that you know that you're available. So that's the best way. Um I also think that coming to Stewart, there's never really nothing like coming and and seeing it uh in the flesh. So I love giving tours and we love showing people around. Um and just come come see us. We're we love it. We we think it's necessary. I think I really do think. So two two thoughts. Number one um this uh is a place that is going to more than probably most other places in Jackson, but on any given day is gonna look more like the kingdom of God than any other place that you'll go in our city. Um and I don't say that as a brag, I say it as a reality because it's like I've said we've got you know folks from you know all walks of life from all parts of the city representing, you know, the the best and the worst of us. Like we're we're all here on any given day. Um and so that actually my second thing is that is what gives me hope in times like these where we are just so deeply divided and can't figure out a way to heal those divisions, is that stew pot is an example of something that we can agree on enough to do together.
SPEAKER_03:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:We don't talk about politics, you know, we don't do a lot of like who's right and who's wrong. We do talk about our faith. I don't I encourage everybody to talk about your faith, like what brought you there, what keeps you there, what's inspiring you, you know, who is God for you right now? Like that's essential. You can't separate that, you can't check yourself, you cannot check that part of yourself at the door when you come. Because then you're not showing up in full as yourself. And that is what God needs is for all of us to show up as ourselves fully. So, but we just don't get into the minutiae because we can, you know, have an opportunity to keep the main thing, the main thing. Uh for just a little while. It doesn't, you know, it's not all day, every day, but you can come and for a little while keep the main thing, the main thing, and restore a little bit of hope that we can work together um somewhere in the world.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I think it's a great place to come and lose yourself from the minutiae of all of that. I don't I don't I can't use that word on the air, but anyway, uh all of that other stuff that we're grounded and in and well not grounded, but uh into that takes our attention and and all of that, we can come there and just be free to love folks and be free to not have to deal with a lot of the stress and strain of the everyday minutiae as you call it. So what would be good if I just wanted to show up, what would be a good time for me to show up?
SPEAKER_00:Our best hours are uh between nine and one of at the main campus during the day because that's when you know food pantry and community kitchen are going. We have a lot of people coming and going during that time. Um, we have an afterschool program that meets in the afternoon. So kindergarten through twelfth grade. We've got one building for kids, one building for teens. So if that's your particular thing, it's to you know be with kids and hang out with teens and mentor them, then afternoons are a good time for you to come anytime between two and six.
SPEAKER_04:Awesome. Awesome. Jill, it's been a pleasure. It's been a pleasure and a joy uh to spend some time um with you and to hear more about your story, hear more about your passion, hear more about the ministry that God um has assigned you. And it is obvious that he has assigned the right person. So we're incredibly grateful to have you in the trenches uh doing the Lord's work. Uh, for those of you all who have uh who are listening in, feel free to like, share, and subscribe uh this podcast. You can go to Living Reconciled on any podcast app, just search on Living Reconciled Mission Mississippi, and you'll find us. Or you can go to our website, missionmississippi.org, get more details about not just this podcast, but about our ministry and the work of reconciliation that the Lord has assigned us uh to continue in not just the city of Jackson, but all across uh the great state of Mississippi. It's been a great joy and pleasure to be with our friend uh Jill Buckley. I'm your host, Brian Crawford, with my good friend and co-host, the Dr. Nettie Winners. Signing off, saying God bless. God bless.
SPEAKER_00:Bless y'all.
SPEAKER_04:Thanks for joining Living Reconciled. If you would like more information on how you can be a part of the ongoing work of helping Christians learn how to live in the reconciliation that Jesus has already secured, please visit us online at missionmississippi.org or call us at 601-353-6477. Thanks again for listening.
