“Now you may call me Reverend!” I exclaimed. We all busted out laughting. Ordination is actually a very solemn occasion, but seriously, who ever thought it would be happening to me?!

In 2017 the Lord gave me this verse:“Abraham, when called… obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” Hebrews 11:8 It was the year I started graduate work at Asbury Theological Seminary.

Now it is September 2023 and I was ordained as a deacon today in Montgomery at the annual gathering of the Alabama-Emerald Coast conference of the Global Methodist Church. At an ordination ceremony the denomination offers an official blessing and bestows credentials that identify you as a clergy and allow you to perform all the duties of the ministry.

This is the verse the Lord continues to bring to mind: “Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it…” Philippians 1:6 And, Lord willing, I will graduate from seminary next May.

A friend captured it nicely when she said, “Congratulations! Now you will officially be a pastor, which you have already been for a long time, just without the papers.” In many ways that is true, nothing changes much in my daily life – I am not changing churches, or jobs, or cities – and I expect to go on teaching and leading and meeting with people as I have been for years. But now I have credentials.

A million thank you’s to the those who have mentored, encouraged, and invested in me – and for all the ministry doors you have opened:
To Susie Walther who discipled me and who first pointed out that I was gifted for teaching;
To Jan Maginnis for introducing me to precept and inductive Bible study;
To Pastor David and Lana Packer who appointed me as the Women’s Ministry Director my second month in Stuttgart;
To Dr. Sandy Richter for encouraging me to attend seminary, for loving the Old Testament, and for continually being a fantastic role model;
To Dr. Jim Miller for loving the New Testament and Africa, and for hiring me as his teaching assistant for inductive Bible study my second semester of seminary;
To Pastors Craig Carter, Terry Tatum, and Rudy Olivo who have been a joy to work with (even through the hurricane) these last eight years at Lynn Haven Methodist, and who have held many ministry doors open for me and encouraged me to walk through them;
To the ladies at The River Bible Study who are always hungry to learn and who tolerate my stories;
And finally to my husband Ross for being an amazing partner in this life journey, I apologize because I am not sure you expected to end up married to a clergy-woman.  

And thank you Lord – may your name be glorified!

All my life you have been faithful, All my life you have been so, so good,
With every breath that I am able, I will sing of the goodness of God…