September/October - Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

Caroline Davis photo
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Sarah Jackson Shelton
Baptist Church of the Covenant
Birmingham, Ala.
Sarah Jackson Shelton has served as pastor of Baptist Church of
the Covenant for six years, having previously served as the congregation’s
interim.
“My hope for the future is that I will no longer have to be the token
woman. I was recently asked to serve on a panel where the ministers
would represent either a woman as pastor, a pastor who had
experienced conflict, and a pastor with more than five year tenure.
I knew which role I was supposed to accept, but could not resist
asking, ‘Which one am I supposed to talk about I qualify for them
all.’ How wonderful will it be when we can have men talk about the
experience of having a female pastor and the females can talk about
their good, long tenure of service!”
Melissa Roysdon
Providence Baptist Church
Cookeville, Tenn.
Growing up, Melissa Roysdon’s parents
never told her there were things she
couldn’t do because she was a girl. And,
she said she knew from a young age that
she was called to ministry. After serving
as an associate pastor and co-pastor at
Providence Baptist, she is now the congregation’s
pastor.
“Once I followed that calling to
seminary, many of the same people
who taught me of Lottie Moon and Annie
Armstrong were turning their backs. After
seminary and ordination, I found that the
world that had nurtured me was now a dry
well. I began teaching in the local school
system and felt like Moses, Aaron and
Miriam must have felt wandering in the
desert. My journey hasn’t been the typical
one, but I find that women are in many
ways finding it to be a new path rather than
a worn path that they are following.”
Traci Bunn Powers
Westhaven Baptist Church
Portsmouth, Va.
Traci Bunn Powers said that she felt a call to ministry at age 12. Powers,
a graduate of Campbell University Divinity School, a Fellowship partner, now
serves with her husband as co-pastor of Westhaven Baptist.
“In many cases, people just need to experience a woman pastor. Lack
of experience tends to reaffirm previously held notions and opinions on the
topic. I have had church members tell me ‘I did not vote for you when the
vote was taken, but I would vote for you now.’ They just needed a chance to
see it, hear and experience it. When the myths are dispelled, people are able
to see that I am a just a person who has been equipped and called by God to
be a pastor — and I happen to be female.”
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Photo courtesy Traci Bunn Powers
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Photo courtesy Melissa Roysdon
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f ellowship! SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2008 | 9