St. Stephens's Anglican Church

779 Haughton Williams Rd.
Franklin, N.C. 28734
Church Phone: 1-828-332-8325
E-mail:st.stephensanglicannc@gmail.com

Deacon Douglas E. Strack
779 Haughton Williams Rd.
Franklin, N.C. 28734
Home Phone: 1-828-369-9731
E-mail:fr.strack@gmail.com

Here's the "main" altar at St.Stephens in Franklin, N.C.
We are mainly a hospice and hospital/nursing home ministry. In the summer we use the screened front porch with the great mountain views for services.

Stephen was one of the first deacons and the first Christian martyr. His feast on 26 December. In the Acts of the Apostles the name of St. Stephen occurs for the first time on the occasion of the appointment of the first deacons.
Dissatisfaction concerning the distribution of alms from the community's fund having arisen in the Church, seven men were selected and specially ordained by the Apostles to take care of the temporal relief of the poorer members. Of these seven, Stephen, is the first mentioned and the best known.

Deacon and Mrs. Douglas Strack

Acts 6–7

Stephen is known for successfully preaching to his fellow Jews and bringing many to accept Jesus as the Messiah. After a dispute with the members of a synagogue of "Roman Freedmen," he is denounced for blasphemy against God and Moses (Acts 6:11) and speaking against the Temple and the Law. Stephen's defense is presented as accusing the Jews of persecuting the prophets who had spoken out against the sins of the nation:

Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
(7:52)

While on trial, he experienced a theophany in which he saw both God the Father and God the Son:

And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
(Acts 7:56)

He is condemned and stoned to death by an infuriated mob, which is encouraged by Saul of Tarsus, later to be known as Saint Paul the Apostle.