Voices: Minda Purdie: A woman called to ministry

The summer I turned 13, I went to a Youth Evangelism Conference in Dallas. Our youth group had been at Latham Springs Camp all week. We entered a coliseum with thousands of other young people from around the state ready to praise God.

I don’t remember the speakers or the worship band. I do remember singing “Shout to the Lord” while a video played over the jumbotron of children in another country. They sang with big smiles and tiny hands, reaching toward the heavens.

The Spirit moved in me, and God’s call on my life ignited.

My breath poured out in song and promise: “forever I’ll love You, forever I’ll stand.”

I sensed God asking: “Do you mean it? Will you give your life to me?”

I took the moment literally.

Maybe I was called to missions. Maybe I’d use my voice to teach young children how to worship God. These were the possibilities I knew for myself or any woman in church leadership—missions, music, and children’s ministry.

I did not sign a commitment card or head down to the stage during the altar call. I didn’t tell my youth pastor on the bus drive back.

A preacher’s kid, I knew the serious nature of vocational calling. I waited for the Spirit to speak again in the quieter pews of my home church. Perhaps I wanted to be certain the pastor receiving me would embrace my calling rather than diminish it.

I walked the aisle the following Sunday. My father took my hand, and I whispered in his ear of God’s calling. We prayed, and he held me close at his side as he presented me to the congregation.

Sorting out my call

I began the good work the best I knew how. I led Mission Friends, sang in choir, and faithfully attended youth events. I showed up on doorsteps in my best Mary Janes for Monday Night Outreach. I tagged along on hospital visitations and worked in the church office.

I also fell into the typical teen and 20-something temptations. I spent several years in high school and college compartmentalizing my struggles with sin, my role as a minister’s kid, and my personal calling.

Still, I was blessed with friends who asked hard questions, were unafraid of their own doubts, and helped me consider how my faith and actions aligned.

For years, I sorted out what my calling was not. Thankfully, I had a pastor who reminded me knowing what you are not called to do is part of the discernment process. I stayed prayerfully patient, trusting God who called me to guide me.

Hearing the call

On one of our first dates, my now-husband asked what I wanted to do with my life. I told him, “Ideally, I would travel from place to place and love people.”

But, despite my earnest attempts, doors to mission opportunities kept shutting. I felt stuck. Five years after college, I was still in Clinton, Miss., working in a bookstore.

Then, one Sunday, I went to Northside Baptist Church to hear a visiting choir. In the bulletin, I noticed Rev. Susan Meaders’ name where Rev. Stan Wilson’s was typically printed. For the first time, I witnessed a female preach.

Mid-sermon, a familiar still, strong voice welled up within me, “Do this.”

It was almost audible. It frightened and excited me.

God had been preparing me for this work all along. I just needed eyes open to the possibility. A few weeks later, I took a work trip to Memphis, Tenn. My hotel on Union Avenue was just down from Memphis Theological Seminary. On my way home, I stopped for a visit. When I left, a class schedule lay in my passenger seat.

Seminary proved a beautiful, difficult, experience. I traveled weekly from Clinton to Memphis, using my vacation for school. When I ran out of days, I quit my job. God was shaping me at Memphis Seminary, so I took a leap of faith to continue being challenged by professors and peers in an ecumenically diverse atmosphere that valued women’s voices.

My call affirmed

I grew up watching my mother serve the church alongside my father. They met at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. She had a call of her own.

She often reminded me, “God ordains, not men.” I know she said this to me in love. She said it to protect my heart—to give me a defense against the opposition I would face in Southern Baptist circles. She said it as young men my age walked forward with the same conviction and were handed the pulpit while I was given charge of preschoolers.

Church members often supported me individually, but church bylaws allowed no path for me.

My mother’s mantra worked for a long while.

Church ordination meant little to me until seminary. I slowly realized I had been running from this step because it appeared unattainable. Friends in various denominations encouraged me to pursue ordination elsewhere, but I wanted to stay Baptist.

After much prayer and a hard season of doubt, I dared ask, “If the church is a body of people more than a particular institution, could my affirming church be found spread out among my friends?”

I emailed Northside Baptist and began a meaningful year of preparation under an ordination council comprised of their members as well as family and friends. Twenty years after surrendering my life to ministry, I was ordained because a church creatively expanded their support of women.

Living out my call

The following year, my husband and I moved to Marshall. I wasn’t sure how God would develop my calling in East Texas, but soon, I began part-time work as First Baptist Church’s college minister.

When I preached my first Sunday sermon, at least five current and former theology professors sat among the pews. To say I was nervous would be putting it mildly, but I have been humbled by this congregation’s sincere acceptance and support over and over.

In 2019, with the encouragement of Pastor Ryan Berryhill and the personnel committee, the church strengthened their commitment to female ministers and expanded my role to associate pastor.

For the last few years, I have served on the board of Texas Baptist Women in Ministry. My time with TXBWM is especially meaningful, as I am able to walk with other women along their own journeys in ministry.

I’ve also had the opportunity to work at a Christ-centered university, where one of the greatest joys of my job is celebrating students on mission as they travel from place to place and love people.

Minda Purdie is associate pastor of congregational life at First Baptist Church in Marshall. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.