Voices: Kathy Hillman: A woman called to leadership

“Now remember what you were, my friends, when God called you” (1 Corinthians 1:26 GNT).

“Life with friends is better around the campfire” reads the pillowcase atop the patchwork quilt gracing my bed in the rustic cabin I inhabit each summer at Paisano Baptist Encampment.

The saying evokes memories of campfires during my youth and college years—the quiet stillness, glowing embers, soft singing, reflection on worship, and prayers asking God to make his call clear and for us to say “yes.”

I said “yes” but had no idea where God would lead a small-town West Texas girl. I simply knew my call would include missions and “accepting the challenge of the Great Commission.” Perhaps I would be a missionary like I studied in GAs, now Girls in Action, at First Baptist Church in Eldorado.

While working at Glorieta Conference Center the summer before college, I saw women in leadership on state Woman’s Missionary Union staffs and as assistant Baptist Student Union directors.

When several of us discussed God’s call, a male staffer suggested I would make a great pastor’s wife because I was organized enough to lead—one of my spiritual gifts is administration—played the piano, and taught Vacation Bible School. Although I admired pastors’ wives, God clearly didn’t have that on his list for me.

Call takes shape

After a year at Baylor University, a friend applied to be an Invincible Texas Baptist summer missionary. I had met Invincibles at Paisano, knew they worked exclusively in Texas, and that females served in Vacation Bible Schools. An inner prompting urged me to complete the paperwork. After training, my partner and I led or helped in approximately 12 VBSs.

Being an Invincible wasn’t easy. During those eight weeks, we were sometimes on our own, like the time we taught in a park. In one association, we lived in a vacant rural parsonage without air conditioning amid record-breaking heat. When our contact had an emergency, we salvaged left-behind pantry items and ate gas-station fare.

Other weeks, we supplemented fully staffed VBSs. In Wellborn, we ate well, and our hostess let us watch the first artificial turf installed in Kyle Field. But regardless of our role, the last day included decision services where boys and girls accepted Christ.

Because of family ties, Dr. McLaughlin assigned Vicky and me to Paisano Encampment. We spent our next-to-last week there.

One evening during campfire, images of unchurched children flashed through my mind, those in whose lives we planted seeds but lacked a congregation nearby to help them grow. My heart hurt, and I knew God called me to serve in my state through my church, my association, WMU, and Texas Baptists.

God orchestrated

Only God could have orchestrated that call and the calls ahead to learn, listen, and lead. Only he could have put people and plans in place to equip me personally, professionally, and spiritually.

Somehow, every leadership experience led to the next: faculty librarian at Baylor University and director of the Keston Center for Religion, Politics and Society founded in England to be a voice for the persecuted voiceless; church and associational WMU responsibilities; vice president and president of Texas WMU; recording secretary and vice president of National WMU; first female moderator of Waco Baptist Association; second and first vice-president and the second female and first lay president of Texas Baptists since Abner McCall in the 1960s.

Is following God easy?

Was saying “yes” and following God’s call easy? Was ignoring whispers and less-than-kind letters and comments easy? Was it easy being told someone else would handle a usual presidential assignment because “I wouldn’t want to do that?”

Often, I was the only woman in a meeting or at a meal with ministers, some of whom didn’t want me there. Thankfully, God gifted me with those who invited me to join their table or chose an empty seat beside me.

But God offered insights on those occasions that allowed me to see and pray for them and their families. One Saturday, I arrived early to speak at an area WMU meeting. A young woman was already there, so I introduced myself. She explained she was a pastor’s wife and was invited to play the piano.

We talked a bit, and I learned of her family’s tough week. Her husband hadn’t been home any night before their kids’ bedtime due to deaths in the congregation, a physical plant crisis, and various emergencies. With three children, I could relate, even though I’m the wife of a CPA.

Honestly, I don’t know what happened. I only know the Holy Spirit prompted. I approached the microphone, complimented my new friend’s music, and explained the women would understand her minister husband hadn’t been home a single evening all week, but he was there now with three children waiting for her to join a family outing. Then, I sent her home.

Several years later, as I stepped off a platform, the pastor’s wife approached with her husband. He thanked me for that day and the difference it made. I thanked God for putting opportunities in my heart, because he placed me in challenging spaces to hear pastors’ hearts.

‘A patchwork quilt’

Sometimes, Christians compare God’s call to a beautiful tapestry. Mine looks more like a patchwork quilt with pieces of fabric here and bits of color there that remind me of our most memorable wedding gift.

I gasped when I untied the brown paper’s twine and blinked tears when I read the card from an elderly member of my home church. Miss Mary had few possessions, lived alone in an inherited house, and struggled with arthritic fingers. I couldn’t imagine the hours she spent piecing and sewing the large quilt that fit together in a beautiful imperfectly perfect whole.

I praise God for his call to Texas and the beautiful perfectly imperfect quilt he fashioned from the places and faces he put in my path to encourage and enable my call and those he allowed me to support and facilitate in theirs.

In that long-ago quilt, each piece belonged where Miss Mary put it. A similar line from a made-for-TV-romance describes my life’s quilt and the heavenly Father’s call: “We belong where God puts us.”

Kathy Robinson Hillman is associate professor and director of Baptist Collections and library advancement at Baylor University. She is also director of Baylor’s Keston Center for Religion, Politics, and Society, and a member of the Baptist Standard board of directors. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.