Protecting sacred spaces is a passion for Selena Ruth Smith. A firefighter and deaconess, the cradle United Methodist shares tips for how all of us can promote fire safety in our local congregations.
Guest: Selena Ruth Smith
- Smith is a United Methodist deaconess. Learn more about the United Women in Faith deaconess and home missioner movement.
- She is a lieutenant with the Sumter (S.C.) Fire Department.
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This episode posted on July 5, 2024.
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Transcript
Prologue
Protecting sacred spaces is a passion for Selena Ruth Smith, a firefighter and Deaconess. The cradle United Methodist shares tips for how all of us can promote fire safety in our local congregations.
Crystal Caviness, host: Deaconess, welcome to “Get Your Spirit in Shape.” I'm so happy to have you as a guest today.
Selena Ruth Smith, guest: Thank you for the invitation. I was very excited. So thank you for the invitation.
Crystal: You're welcome. Before we jump into a long list of questions I actually have for you, can you tell us just a little bit about yourself?
Selena: Oh boy. Okay, so my name is Selena Ruth Smith and I am from the big rural city of Maysville, South Carolina. And if you do your history, you would know that Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune is from my hometown and she is a distant relative, so education is very important. I attend St. Mark United Methodist Church from the womb and it is one street over from my house. One thing I will say is everything about me started and a foundation for me started at church and it started with the love and the support and the nurture of United Methodist women, which are now called United Women in Faith. And the ladies definitely nurtured me. They gave me opportunities where I did not have, and everybody always talked about my great speaking skills came from church, reading scriptures, Easter speeches, you had to recite a Easter speech. So the bulk of what I know besides my spiritual life, I gained other things in church.
So church for me has been just a base, definitely a base. After graduation, June 3rd, 1994, June 6th, I was on my way to the United States Navy. I spent four years there where I was a hospital corpsman. And after that I came back to South Carolina and did what I was supposed to do before the Navy fell in my lap, went to a united Methodist, all female girl college, Columbia College, graduated from there and life just happened, worked, things of that nature. And about the age of 29, I was your typical job hopper. I worked at the prison, I worked at the bank, I worked at the state house. And so I was like, you know what? You're nearing 30. You're going to find your retirement job, you're going to find what you do. Always wanted to be a missionary, always wanted to do something in missions. And so through the United Methodist Church you could be a USB two, you could do mission work outside of the United States.
So that's what I wanted to focus on. During that time, I sent my application in to United Methodist for the missions certified return receipt. The return receipt comes back, but they never got the packet. So I'm like, that's odd. During that time, the person who's my partner now in community risk reduction slash fire prevention, he and another female from the local fire department wanted more volunteer firefighters. So I'm like, Hmm, that would sound, that would look good on my resume. So I inquired about it, took the volunteer firefighter class, sent in again thinking that it would look good on my resume. And once I graduated, started in January, graduated in March of 2006, filled out another application certified return receipt, waited about three weeks, they never got it. And I'm like, now I got my end back. So God was telling me the way that you're going to do ministry is not how you want to do ministry.
You're going to do ministry in your community, it's going to be in the form of firefighting and you're going to serve your community from local. You don't have to be abroad, you don't have to be international. That's fine, that's great, but this is how you're going to do your ministry is through firefighting. Ever thought about it like that? And to this day, even though we'll talk about it later, I went through my Deacon S classes and I was commissioned in 2012, they have yet to find the certified return receipt. So it was great eviction because I remember having those and I was like, wow. So God knew where he wanted me and I am just glad that I was bold enough to listen instead of running away. So that is my story. I've been at the fire department 15 years, so love it.
Crystal: Thank you for sharing that, Deaconess. And I was really drawn to your story because I was sharing with you before the podcast started that I come from a family, a long line of firefighters. My grandfather, my maternal grandfather, started a volunteer fire company in the neighborhood where in the community where we live, my father retired as a fire captain in our hometown. My uncle was a member of the volunteer fire department. My brother-in-Law retired as a captain in a nearby city fire department. So I have so much respect for the work of firefighters and I mean it's just been in my community my entire life. So many of our friends are firefighters as well. So thank you. One, I wanted to tell you thank you for serving our country thank you in the US Navy and thank you for continuing to serve your community in such a vital way.
And we are going to talk about that it's your vocation, but it's also your call. And that was another part of your story that just really has intrigued me. You are a deaconess and I would love to take this opportunity to tell our audience a little bit more about the Deaconess and Home mission or program because it is so important, the work that is being done through the Deaconess and Home Missioners, but I don't know that a lot of people know much about it. I just thought we would have, since you are a deaconess, it would take just a minute to give us just a little shout out and maybe just a little lesson about that.
Selena: Well, first of all, before I go into that, thank you for being an honorary firefighter since you have all of those fire people in your house. We don't think about fire, we think about the firefighter, but firefighter have family and that extends. So we are a family deaconess. I always again, wanted to go into the ministry, but I didn't know if pastoral ministry was for me. And I was like, well kind of delved into that. And I'm like, no, it has to be something. I had a mentor and the Reverend Tele l Gatson, and she is my current district superintendent. She said, well, there's this thing called Deaconess. And I said, wow, I never heard of that.
Now let me tell you how I know about Deaconess is around the corner from my house. I live in a small community and we have several churches. Now, the way that I've always heard about Deacon Nesses was from the Baptist Church and love anybody, Hey, we all Jesus people call us the domination, but I'm glad I'm United. Methodist Deaconess is would marry the deacons. I had this lady in the neighborhood and she called me one day, she said, I heard you're a deaconess. She said, did you get married? And I said, no. And I said, Deaconess is get married. And she said, well, in the Baptist church, deacon become a deaconess. You have to take some classes. I said, no, it's just a little different. In the United Methodist Church, you have to take classes and there are five classes that you must take. Theology, admissions, history, policy, doctrine, there's some other classes that you also have to take.
And it is a mandated course through New York Theological Seminary and you base it around a laity issue because Deaconess and home Missioners in the United Methodist Church are the highest form of laity that you can go. We are part of laity and we are moving up a little bit, but I think a lot of people don't know about us. And just because when you think of a deacons or a home, missioner deacon is right there and a lot of people don't know what deacons are. So we are the national for the United States, we are the national missionaries. That's basically what we are. When you think of missionaries, you think of abroad. So home missioners, home missionaries, home missionaries and Deaconess is we serve right here in the United States. And you can be a deaconess abroad, you can definitely be a deaconess abroad. But our basis in our communities, in our states, and it is an issue that for us, we feel that needs to be told.
And a lot of times church can be very churchy and an issue that you think need to be talked about or delved into a little bit more may not be the priority of where the church formally wants to go. So individually, you can focus on your area of the expertise. When I graduated April 29th and was commissioned 2012 at General Conference in Palmea, Florida, we had nurses, we had construction people, and it was just a myradt of things. Who would say, okay, well a constructionist and this is a home mission. Home mission or males Deaconess is a female, that's his business and we all want safe shelter. How many people in our congregations may not have safe shelter? So that is his ministry in his community. Building a ramp, making sure that you have a roof on your home, making sure that you may have vinyl siding coming in, making sure that your floor is, and these are all things that we don't think about.
That foods us to our health. So it is just very different. And what better way to pair than my job that I do every day in my call for laity and doing deaconess work is making sure people are safe. That's my love language. I want to make sure everyone is safe. And we don't think about safety like that in the church. A lot of times when we think about safety in the church, it's like an active shooter or someone coming in, but there are things that are safety life measures that we can think about and we just want to keep everyone healthy. So the deaconess movement started in 1888. One of the things that the deaconess that they did was voting rights. They were there women's rights. They were there at every turn of something being an injustice. You had your deaconess. One thing about being a deaconess was when it first started, you couldn't be married because they wanted the deaconess out in the field. They wanted them out there on the front line and being married, you could not do that. Now years later, they rescinded that. And of course you can be married now. So that is a basis of what Deaconess and home missionaries are. We are missionaries in home, we are still battling those injustices and we are going to be there because that's our mandate and that is exactly what we do.
Crystal: Thank you for that. I don't know that I've really ever heard it explained as missionaries at home. Yes, I really appreciate that. Thank you. So transitioning then, your vocation is fire safety, but it's also your call and your ministry. Yes. Can you tell us what that looks like? Fire safety in places of worship? What does that look like for you?
Selena: Okay, so fire safety in and most the deaconess is and home missioners, their vocation is there ministry, their vocation is definitely their ministry. So I'll give you a little test. I want you to think about your place of worship and where you go to church. And I'm going to ask you three questions. Do y'all have acolytes on Sundays? What kind of light do they use?
Crystal: Well, I don't know what it's called, but it's lit. And then the woman lights it at the back of the church and they walk down the front and light the candles and extinguish, extinguish this scepter kind of item.
Selena: Yes, ma'am. So it's like that basically at all churches that do the acolytes. Now, what is the one thing that we tell children not to play with?
Crystal: Fire?
Selena: So why are we giving it to them on Sundays?
Crystal: Tradition?
Selena: It's tradition, but it's a safety hazard. Just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean that they won't drop it. Is the carpet fire resistant in the church if they drop it, if the candle drops? One of the best things and what we've done at our church and I implemented and it was tradition, you said the right word, and it took my congregation a little time to get over it, to come to terms with it is using a battery operated light. It's the light that you want. It costs nothing. It's not going to tip over. And so the thing that we tell children not to do, we give it to them on Sunday and you have to sing 12 verses of amazing grace. And it's not 12 verses because they're walking so slow because they don't want to catch themselves on fire. That's the first thing. Or when you have a wedding. So at our church now, you cannot have lytic candles for a wedding. You can't have the candle opera. It has to be the battery operated. The second, the second. Do y'all have greeters and hostesses ushers at church?
Crystal: We do.
Selena: Do they know where the fire extinguishers are if something were to happen or if a person gets sick because we do first responders, is there a wheelchair in the church where they can take the person out of the church environment and probably put them in another room? So church is not disrupted. So when EMS comes, it's separate.
Crystal: Well, I don't know the answer. Those are great questions. I know where those things are because I am a fireman's daughter.
Selena: Okay, Yes.
Selena: Second thing, because how many EMT as well and EMTs on Sunday mornings because just look at the demographics of our church. We are getting more seasoned, not the old word. We get more seasoned. So seasoned people come to church, they may have forgotten to take their medicine or anything could happen with anyone. So having that first responder training or that greet or that usher training to take the person out of the church area and place them in another area. So EMS will not disrupt the services is great. And to have somebody, I'm pretty sure we have some nurses or some CNAs or EMTs or somebody in the health field that can get a blood pressure or something of that nature. So that's another side to it. And so the last thing I am going to ask is if something were to happen at church and everyone has to leave, what exit are you going to use?
Because we are prone to using the exit that we come into. But if the situation is happening there, do we have alternative routes? Is this something on your bulletin or your website that visitors know about or this is where people always look at me a little sitting in my community, I'm out and about so people know who I am. Whenever I come to church, they start looking. Now I always sit in the back because that's where the exit is. And I'm always scoping around to see if something happens at that exit where another exit is. And I'm always trying to count. And at church we always want the most people, but is that the most? Is that the safest? So just like at weddings, we want a church full of people, but is that the safest thing? Especially when you start putting chairs down the aisles, things of that nature.
Is that the safest? Because now there could be a situation where you're excluding people, you're making it a little bit for them to get out and for us to get in. What about mobility issues? Are there people there with wheelchairs? Are there people there that have their gate is not the best. Do they have a separate exit? So these are just some things that people don't think about that as a firefighter I'm like, okay, our churches, we have to take into consideration of that because things will happen and we don't need to be reactive, we need to be proactive. So just some little things to think about. And are your wheels turning in church now that you're thinking about it?
Crystal: Yeah. Great questions. And just awareness.
Selena: Yes.
Crystal: Nothing drastic, nothing that costs money. Just awareness.
Selena: And just a plan.
Crystal: Yes.
Selena: And a lot of things now we have TVs, we have all of this electrical stuff. Is there a fire extinguisher near, are people trained to use that CPR classes? Somebody certified in that. A lot of churches now have AEDs. If something were to happen, a lot of our churches are in rural areas, which means the response at those volunteer stations. Because I started out volunteering first and moved into a career, which in our department, the only difference between volunteering career is that we stay at the station 24 hours and other people have different metrics of what their volunteer is. But out in the county, I'm at church, I'm in my neighborhood on Sunday. But if you have someone that volunteer station and they go to different churches or something like that, we have all left church, go get the truck. Things of that nature. So if you're not breathing, it's that four minutes of not breathing that is very crucial. So somebody in that congregation I know has CPR. Could it be everybody? Could that be something that we work on? Could one of the fish fries that we have be to get that? A ED? You never know.
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Crystal: Yeah, I mean we're talking about already in the churches, we're talking about safe sanctuaries, we're talking about a lot of things. This is not a new topic, but to focus in on just asking the three questions that you ask, that's a great place to start.
Selena: Yes, definitely, definitely. And we just want people to be safe. Where's the ambulance going to park? Where's the fire trucks are going to park?
How are the in distance to the road? Because we have a lot of cars, we have a lot of people we don't want anyone to get. And these are just things that we don't think about because we don't see them. And I think every year the trustees are supposed to be doing a trustee annual evaluation. And I know here in South Carolina it's 11 BA and B and it asks you some of those questions there. So I do a lot of fire safety education in churches. I was just at a church, it was a seven day advantage church last week, and they invited me to come in, do some fire safety and told them some things and they was like, wow, we really need to look and just make a plan.
Crystal: Yeah, thank you for sharing those tips. That would be so helpful. I do want to talk about a couple of more things before we end up today. One, I discovered that your life motto is “be safe and stay hydrated” and immediately thought, well stay hydrated. Yes, you need water to put out the fires is where my brain went. But I really loved, I don't know that that's an accurate interpretation of that. So I'd love for you to share some insight into why that's your life motto.
Selena: Okay, so you're almost close. We do a lot of safety tips through the fire department, educating the community. And during covid, that was the only way that we could be visible to our audience. So we did a lot of fire safety videos. So at the end of one of the fire safety videos, this was 20 20th of June, and we were doing weather, heat, weather related incidents, make sure that you stay cool, things of that nature. And I was like, be safe and stay hydrated. And that just became a thing of be safe and stay hydrated. Make sure you drink your water. And I always tell people now hydrated means more on the water side or you need some electrolytes. If you love Pepsi, balance it out, sip on the Pepsi, sip some water. So that's where be safe and stay hydrated comes in. And I work out a lot.
I work out every day, so I have to keep everything hydrated. That's all I drink is water and black coffee and coffee did start out as water, so I get my water during the day. So be safe and stay hydrated is the safety mantra. But then turn it into my life mantra. We got to stay hydrated, we got to stay filled, we got to stay filled with joy, got to stay filled with happiness. We got to stay filled with positivity. We got to stay, stay filled with prayer and just stay filled, filled with something positive. And when you feel that filling up with negative, we must turn that into a positive. And if you don't know how to stay filled positively, you have pastors, you have professionals. And that's how come I flipped it and reverse it so it has a dual meaning. And then that goes to our mental health because if you are not filled righteously or rightfully, it can have effects on you and you can overfill on water. So you have to know how do you know quail that back as well. So be safe and stay hydrated. So it does have a double moniker.
Crystal: I love that. Thank you. And kind of in that same vein, I read that your favorite scripture is Galatians 3 28. And the NIV version of that is there is “neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” I'd love for you to share about why that's a special verse for you.
Selena: Oh my gosh. Let me tell you, God will bring things circle around. And again, I always wanted to be in the ministry. I always wanted to do that humanitarian, that human side because again, of how I grew up and I was like, this is going to fill my heart. It's not about the money, but I am going to be fulfilled. So when I'm in my gear, when I'm in my fire gear, nobody know who I am. They don't know what I am. It goes right back to that scripture. The only thing they know is that I have the skill to do my job. And so when I unveil myself and they're like, oh, it's a girl, you didn't care about that before. The only thing you wanted was that firetruck to get there and for us to come and do our job. But our oath says that we are going to do, you don't call down the 9-1-1 and say, I want this, this, that, and the third.
I want a mail, I want this. I want that. You get what's coming on that truck. And so that is why I love being a firefighter. My skill is the skill. I happen to be a firefighter, that I'm a firefighter, that happens to be black, that happens to be female, just happens. That's it. Who is a deaconess? So that is why that is my favorite, favorite scripture. It doesn't matter. It does not matter. And that's what I've always wanted to do. And God brought that full circle. And I ever thought that it would be in the form of firefighting. If you had told me that I would be a firefighter on a list of a thousand jobs, it would've been number 5,000. I'm like, no, that. But it is perfect. It is just right there. And I think people see me as a human. I have people all the time. I don't see you as this. I don't. I said, you see it, but you don't let that dictate how you think about me. And so that's why that is my favorite scripture and I love being in that uniform. And when I unveil, they're like, oh, okay.
Crystal: Thank you for sharing that. I will never read that verse the same again. I love it. Thank you. Well, Deaconess, as we end up today, is there anything that you wanted to talk about that we didn't discuss?
Selena: Yeah, there's one thing I would like to give a lot of respect to my coworkers that the Sumter, South Carolina, Fire Department. When I first came in, and this is a predominantly male profession. When I came in, it was all about my skills. I'm respected and just like a team or family, you get in your little squabbles and stuff like that. But at the end of the day, it's all love. So I must give respect and honor and praise to the executive team, the chiefs and my coworkers. We are definitely a team and I absolutely love it. And coming in, I had to understand that I was recruited by a female, the female I told you that came to church. And there were women that came before me, Ms. Debbie Ivy, that was with me, Shelly Baker, Kay Rogers that recruited me. And those that came after our inspector, Ms. Tammy, Heather is in there. We have Taylor. She's getting ready to be a mom. We've had Kendall. We've had so many people that it is just wonderful to know that I am taking on my skill and that is it. Again, I just happened to be a female, just happened to be black. So I just want to give them honor and praises. And I knew that when I came in, you are going to break the stereotype. Someone has to do it, someone has to do it. And for such a time as this.
Crystal: Well, and it's clear it was God's call on your life because you tried so hard for it not to be.
Selena: Thank God, man, listen, I did. I did listen. God was calling and I was kind of running, but God always gets way. So I'm like, you know what? And I can say that over the years I know that I've matured. I've definitely, I don't run away from God anymore because I'm like, that does not work. You should know that. So yeah.
Crystal: Well the last question I want to ask you is the question we ask all of our guests on “Get Your Spirit in Shape,” and that's how do you keep your own spirit in shape?
Selena: How do I keep my own spirit in shape is I exercise a lot and with that I have learned how to decompress. So exercising is the way that I keep my spirit in shape mentally, physically, and everything emotionally and everything else comes around that. Every morning at four o'clock I'm up and at it and that is my time and it is so much my time. I don't have my EarPods in, I'm just exercising. And that's just me. It's early in the morning, things are fresh. I feel invigorated when I get out of that gym. I've lifted heavy or I've done my cardio and just being in nature, just being in nature now, letting that sun hit my face and just the mental clarity of it. So exercise is number one for me.
Crystal: I love that. Thank you. Well, Deaconess, thank you so much for being a guest on “Get Your Spirit in Shape.” Thank you for your ministry. Things that you shared with us today, the tips. I know that our audience will take those and make their own places of worship safer. So your ministry is just going to continue to spread. So thank you so much.
Selena: And thank you for the invitation and you have a great day.
Crystal: Thanks, you too.
Epilogue
That was Selena Ruth Smith sharing tips on how we all can promote fire safety in our local congregations. To learn more, go to umc.org/podcasts and look for this episode where you will find helpful links and a transcript of our conversation. If you have questions or comments, feel free to email me at a special email address just for Get Your Spirit in Shape listeners, gysis@umcom.org. If you enjoyed today's episode, we invite you to leave a review on the podcast platform where you've listened. Thank you for joining us on “Get Your Spirit in Shape.” I'm Crystal Caviness and I look forward to the next time that we're together.
