Meet Pastor Q
Pastor Quincy Stratford, affectionately known as Pastor Q, is the senior pastor and founder of Carmel Friendship Church, a vibrant and rapidly growing ministry in Wesley Chapel, Florida. Alongside his wife Jennifer, Pastor Q launched Carmel Friendship in August 2010 from their living room with a God-given mission: to connect people to God, others, and their God-given purpose. Carmel Friendship has experienced extraordinary growth under Pastor Q’s leadership. In 2014, the church purchased its first building and expanded from one service to three within three years. In 2016, God blessed the congregation with 11 acres of land, where the church built and opened its first sanctuary in 2021. By 2024, Carmel Friendship’s ministry impact had expanded to three Sunday services, reaching over 1,000 lives with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ. Pastor Q’s call to ministry began at Zion Baptist Church, where he preached his first sermon on July 2, 2000. Before relocating to Tampa, he faithfully served for five years as the Children and Youth Pastor at Mesquite Friendship Baptist Church in Mesquite, Texas. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Ministry Studies from the Baptist College of Florida and a Master of Arts in Christian Leadership from Dallas Theological Seminary. Prior to entering full-time ministry in 2013, he worked for over a decade as a store manager, gaining leadership and organizational experience that he now uses to shepherd God’s people effectively. Pastor Q and his wife, Jennifer Stratford, are partners in both ministry and family life, with five wonderful children—Angel, Aniya (Cerrone), Elijah, Emmanuel, and Anora. With a heart for discipleship and a passion for helping people experience the reality of God, Pastor Q continues to lead Carmel Friendship with vision, faith, and a commitment to seeing lives transformed for Christ.
Our Vision
Our vision is to create a Christ-Centered community where every person has an intimate relationship with God.
Our Mission
It is our mission to connect people to God, others, and their God-given purpose.
REAL GOD.
We desire to connect people to the reality of who God is.We want people to develop aclose, personal relationship with God and experience Him at work in their lives.
REAL PEOPLE.
We desire to connect with ordinary people from all walks of life and extend the love of Jesus Christ. We want people to feel welcomed and at home.
REAL PURPOSE.
We desire to connect people to their God-given purpose in life. We want everyone to know that they were created with purpose and God can use each one of us to accomplish His will. Through faithful service, we glorify Him and advance the Kingdom of God.
Our Core Values
Biblical Authority: God's word governs what we believe and how we live.
Authentic Relationships: We develop meaningful relationships with one another.
Adaptability: We remain flexible and open to change to fulfill the vision and mission of the church.
Intentional Discipleship: We intentionally guide people to grow in their relationship with God, live out their faith, and help others to do the same.
Faith at the Center: We prioritize a deep connection with the true and living God.
Collaboration: We work together to build strong partnerships to accomplish more than we ever could alone.
Living Purposefully: We believe you were created with purpose and God can use us all to fulfill His will.
Our Beliefs
THE SCRIPTURES
We believe that all “Scripture is given by inspiration of God.” We believe that this divine inspiration extends equally and fully to all parts of the Scriptures as appeared in the original manuscripts. We believe that the whole Bible in the originals is therefore without error. We also believe that all the Scriptures were designed for our practical instruction. (Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 2:13, 10:11; 2 Timothy 3:16;
2 Peter 1:21).
THE GODHEAD
We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – and that these three are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes, and perfections, and worthy of precisely the same homage and obedience. (Matthew 28:18-19; John 1:1; Acts 5:3-4; 2 Cor. 13:14; Heb. 1:1-3; Rev. 1:4-6).
MAN, CREATED & FALLEN
We believe that man was originally created in the image and after the likeness of God, and that he fell through sin, and, as a consequence of his sin, lost his spiritual life, becoming dead in trespasses and sins, and that he became subject to the power of the devil. We also believe that this spiritual death, or total depravity of human nature, has been transmitted to the entire human race of man (Gen. 1:26; Rom. 3:10-19; Eph. 2:1-3; 1 Tim. 5:6; 1 John 3:8).
THE PERSON, & WORK OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
We believe that in the prophecies of the Scriptures, the eternal Son of God came into this work that He might manifest God to men, fulfill prophecy, and become the Redeemer of a lost world. To this end He was born of the virgin, and received a human body and a sinless human nature. We believe that, on the human side, He became a perfect man, but sinless throughout His life; yet He retained His absolute deity, being at the same time very God and very man (Luke 2:40; John 1:1-2; Phil.2:5-8). We believe that, according to the eternal counsels of God, He gave His life as a ransom for all (John 1:11; Acts 2:22-24; 1 Tim. 2:6). He voluntarily accepted His Father’s will and became the divinely provided sacrificial Lamb and took away the sin of the world, being the holy judgments against sin which the righteousness of God must impose. His death was therefore substitutionary in the most absolute sense – the just for the unjust – and by His death He became the Savior of the lost (John 1:29; Rom. 3:25-26; 2 Cor. 5:14; Heb. 10:5-14; 1 Pet. 3:18). We believe that, according to the Scriptures, He arose from the dead in the same body, though glorified, in which He had lived and died, and that His resurrection body is the pattern of that body which ultimately will be given to all believers (John 20:20; Phil 3:20-21).
SALVATION ONLY THROUGH CHRIST
We believe that the new birth of the believer comes only through faith in Christ and not according to any measure of human works, such as confession, baptism, prayer, or faithful service (John 1:12; 3:16, 18, 36; Rom. 1:16-17; Gal. 3:22; Eph. 2:8-9). We believe that when an unregenerate person exercises faith in Christ that person passes immediately out of spiritual death into spiritual life. The saved one possesses every spiritual blessing and is absolutely complete in Christ, and is therefore in no way required by God to seek a so-called “second blessing,” or a “second work of grace” (John 5:24; 17:23; Acts 13:39; Rom. 5:1; 1 Cor. 3:21-23; Eph. 1:3; Col. 2:10; 1 John 4:17; 5:11-12).
ETERNAL SECURITY
We believe that all true believers everywhere, once saved shall be kept saved forever. We believe, however, that God is a holy and righteous Father and that, since He cannot overlook the sin of His children, He will, when they persistently sin, chasten them and correct them in infinite love; but having undertaken to save them and keep them forever, apart from all human merit, He, who cannot fail, will in the end present every one of them faultless before the presence of His glory and conformed to the image of His Son (John 5:24; 10:28; 13:1; 14:16-17; 17:11; Rom. 8:29; 1 Cor. 6:19; Heb. 7:25; 1 John 2:1-2; 5:13; Jude 24).
THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the blessed Trinity, though omnipresent from all eternity, took up His abode in the world in a special sense on the day of Pentecost according to the divine promise, dwells in every believer, and by His baptism unites all to Christ in one body, and that He, as the Indwelling One, is the source of all power and all acceptable worship and service.
(John 14:16-17; 16:7-15; 1 Cor. 6:19; Eph 2:22; 4:30; 5:18).