Who is John Ed Mathison?

Iohn Ed Mathison, wrote the book transformed living. Here is a brief bio culled from a newspaper article that ran just before his retirement as Senior Minister of Frazer Memorial United Methodist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.

Mathison's 36-year tenure at Frazer Memorial UMC was a remarkable time in the church's history, remarkable in terms of both physical and spiritual growth. Frazer, with a membership approaching 9,000, stands as testimony to Mathison's vision and stewardship.

The public spotlight shown on Mathison long before he earned recognition as the builder and leader of a mega-church. He was a highly acclaimed athlete and played on the first basketball team fielded by the late coach Neal Posey at Huntingdon College. In his later years, Mathison also earned recognition playing tennis and winning championships. Today, at 70, he still moves with a graceful confidence good athletes share.

Mathison graduated from Huntingdon in 1960, and set about on a course of study which would allow him to follow his father and grandfather into the Methodist Church ministry. He earned his Seminary Degree from Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta and a Master of Theology degree from Princeton University in New Jersey.

In 1964, Mathison accepted his first assignment as an associate minister at Capital Heights United Methodist Church in Montgomery and commuted regularly between Montgomery and Atlanta while earning his Doctorate in Theology from Emory. The young minister served the church in assignments in Mobile for four years and Phoenix City for two years, before being assigned to Frazer in 1972.

At the time of Mathison's arrival, the church had moved twice in 10 years. Displaced by interstate highway construction, the church moved from its original location (where I-65 and I-85 intersect) to south Montgomery and from there to its present day location on the Atlanta Highway. In 1972, the church sat on a five acre campus and had a membership of 400.

"The shoe ought not determine the size of the foot," Mathison proclaims. With that philosophy in mind, the church optioned and purchased neighboring property and the original 5-acre campus grew to today's 30-acre campus.

Today, Frazer is what Mathison calls an outward focused church with a membership of 8,931. Even more remarkable than the sheer growth of Frazer under Mathison's leadership is the fact that 90 percent of the members are involved in at least one of the church's many ministries and one-third of the church's $10.5 million budget goes to missions.

Frazer offers eight services every Sunday morning and one Sunday evening service at the Atlanta Highway location and two more Sunday services on the Asbury campus on Narrow Lane Road. Included are a service in Spanish and another in Chinese. Members regularly attend more than 75 adult Sunday School classes.

It takes a paid staff of more than 150, half of them part time, to run Frazer. Mathison says the growth of the church over 30 years has been steady, not a huge jump one year and a decline the next. His philosophy for marketing the church is simple. "People bring people," he says.

Matheson says Frazer reflects the face of the city, with a membership that includes Hispanics, Chinese, African Americans, Koreans and Laotians. Frazer places emphasis on missions, "making an impact on the world," Mathison says. "In this community we help folks in need. We want to be a good social witness to eliminate poverty and to bring about racial reconciliation."