Baptist Women in ministry...
is not an oxymoron.

Christ calls ALL people to minister in the world -- clergy and layperson, male and female.

She said she wished to be a shrub
And sit in silence, lost, obscure
In some dim woods where no one ever comes
And she could muse and watch the quiet winds go by.

But God, who long ago observed a brambled bush,
Looked at her once among the ferns.
God looked but once: the winds became a storm,
And now she burns, she burns!

"Vocation"
--Ruth de Meneze

        Oklahoma Women in Baptist Life is pleased to offer some present day stories of women uniquely gifted and used by God.  We found their stories compelling and wanted to share them as a way of living out our mission statement, which is to provide inspiration, encouragement and support to Baptist women and girls as they follow God's Calling and seek avenues of ministry.

a a a

After becoming a Christian in the first grade and being raised in Sunday School and educated in a Christian school, there grew in me the deep desire to be used dramatically by God.  I knew beyond a doubt during my sophomore year of high school that God was calling me to ministry.  I did not know exactly what that would be, but I knew that I wanted to serve God and others with every waking second.

Through a series of closed doors and good counsel, I came to Oklahoma State University for my bachelor's degree.  From the beginning, there was no doubt about God's leadership there.  At University Heights Baptist Church, I began to disciple and mentor the high school girls.  I loved it!  My first night in helping with the youth group, I met my future husband, Joshua Taylor, who was the youth intern.  When the current youth minister changed positions, Josh and I were given the youth ministry.  We married after two years and continued ministering together there.  God blessed us immensely as we saw many students come to know Christ and deepen their relationship with Him.

Seminary was the next and natural step.  Josh and I are now students as Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, and are youth directors at Bay Farm Community Church in Alameda, California.  Working with youth continues to be my passion.  I have dreams of writing books for young people and speaking at youth conferences all around the world.  I am confident that through the goal of obedience, God will lead me through a life-long adventure of a ministry full of purpose and passion.

Thank you for the scholarship that will greatly assist me in my seminary education.  I am in a 4-year degree plan with an emphasis in Church History.  I am ready and eager for the great adventure and priceless joy of walking in obedience to God!
 

a a a

I have always wanted to be a teacher.  I grew up, not only loving school, but also observing the skills of my mother who is a gifted teacher.  It was not until my junior year of college, however, that I realized what I wanted to teach.  That semester I was enrolled in both Life of Christ and Greek.  Through the truly inspired teaching of Drs. Mack Roark and Bobby Kelly, I fell in love with Biblical Studies.  This newly awakened passion led to a pressing and important question.  If I wanted to teach, and I really wanted to teach about the Bible and theology, could I do that as a woman?  I spent the next semester writing a term paper on one of the most difficult passages for women in the New Testament, I Timothy 2:8015.  This was a life-changing exercise for me.  Not only did I learn how to do exegesis and practice hermeneutics, but I also come to the conclusion that this was specific text that spoke to a specific situation.  Hence, by paying attention to the canonical voice of Scripture, I concluded that it proclaimed that God can and does call women into ministry.  I had wrestled with the text and walked away with a blessing.

From then on, I was convinced -- not because someone had told me, not because I was rebelling against some restriction, but because I had studied the texts for myself -- that there was scriptural warrant for women in ministry.  With this conviction as my foundation, I knew that God had gifted me and called me to be a teacher of the Word.  My studies at Oklahoma Baptist University in the Religion Department and the entire liberal arts curriculum more than prepared me for graduate work at Princeton Theological Seminary.  At Princeton Seminary, I was able to continue my focus in New Testament Studies while earning my Mater of Divinity degree.  This degree allowed me to prepare for Doctoral work and to hone my skills in the wider areas of theological education, including Systematic Theology and Church History. 

The past four years have also presented opportunities to teach in churches and in classrooms and to preach in various pulpits in New Jersey and Oklahoma.  I have realized that proclaiming God's Word, whether in the classroom or from the pulpit, is one of the most humbling and rewarding experiences possible.  Presently, I am pursuing a PhD in new Testament and plan to focus on the Epistle to the Hebrews for my dissertation.  Ultimately, I hope to inspire students as I was inspired to love God with all their minds and treat the study of God's Word with the utmost diligence and passion.