PASTORING TODAY MAY ISSUE

$4.99/$5.99 CANADA

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RESOURCE FOR WOMEN PASTORS AND LEADERS

WWW.LEADINGANDLOVINGIT.COM

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LEADING AND LOVING IT This is an excellent website for any woman in ministry. They provide tons of great free resources, including an app for your phone, for pastor’s wives and women in ministry or leadership.

One of my favorite things they do is an annual virtual conference called “Just One”. This is a series of videos sent out over 10 days that offer encouragement, guidance, and support.

Leading and Loving It also has a Facebook group, which is full of women who are willing to pray for one another and offer support for the unique challenges faced in ministry life.

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THIS ARTICLE IS SHARED AS A MEMORIAL REFLECTION FOR REV. DR. KIMBERLY CREDIT. Photos are property of www.drkimberlycredit.com

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THE REVEREND DOCTOR KIMBERLY CREDIT The Reverend Doctor Kimberly Credit serves as the first female and seventh Pastor at the 100-year-old Mount Zion Baptist Church of Boonton Township, New Jersey. She was elected as Pastor in December 19, 2015, with over 95% of the vote.

Dr. Credit is a theologian and a Christian apologist. She received a BA in Psychology from the William Paterson University, in New Jersey and done graduate work in Forensic Psychology. She received both her Master of Divinity (May 2012) and her Doctor of Ministry degrees (May 2015). Both degrees were earned at the New York Theological Seminary in NY. Her Doctor of Ministry dissertation focused on Homiletics and Christian Apologetics.

Dr. Credit currently directs the Doctor of Ministry Cohort for the Transformational Preaching at Payne Theological Seminary in Wilberforce, Ohio (2018). Prior, Dr. Credit successfully designed and served as the Doctor of Ministry Cohort Director of the Inaugural Transformational Preaching Program at the New Brunswick Theological Seminary, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, until her resignation in January 2018. She is an adjunct professor of Homiletics and has also taught at New York Theological Seminary and Nyack Christian College.

This article is shared as a memorial reflection of Rev. Dr. Kimberly Credit.

Photos are property of www.drkimberlycredit.com

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THE REVEREND DOCTOR KIMBERLY CREDIT Continued…

Dr. Credit is the Founder and Director of “The Preaching Lab,” a monthly preaching clinic where she provides coaching and training for preachers.

She also serves as the Vice President of the African American Clergy Association of Morris County, N.J. and as an Advisory Board Member of the IC3 Church Growth & Development Conference in Houston, TX. Dr. Credit travels regularly to preach, lecture, and train preachers and leaders across the nation. She is the author of Prophetic Apologetics: Exegeting the Culture; Equipping the Church, and Fifty Shades to Being a Female Preacher, and Thirteen Crucial Lessons for the New Pastor; From the Book of Nehemiah.

Dr. Credit also has the honor of being the first female and African American to present in the National Conference on Christian Apologetics, the first female preacher to present in the E.K. Bailey Expository Preaching Conference and remains an annual speaker. In addition, on April 4, 2019, Dr. Credit had the esteemed honor of being inducted into Morehouse’s MLK Board of Preachers.

Dr. Credit was widowed young and has one son currently completing graduate school. She enjoys reading, traveling, and investing in pastors, preachers, and leaders.

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Photos are property of www.drkimberlycredit.com

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WWW.TONYAGIPSONENTERPRISES.COM 15

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By: Dr. Tonya Merriweather Gipson

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As a Woman Pastor of today let me start by saying it’s time for women to have equal access to pulpit ministry and to be called as pastors of churches. For some, that sentiment is old news, settled long ago; for others, it is offensive or just plain wrong. But many believers are somewhere in between, demonstrating degrees of resistance or apathy around the subject.

In my view, the case against women pastors is based on some faulty assumptions and so I will share information to help make it plain.

1. A faulty biblical assumption — that scripture prohibits women preachers and pastors. Yes, the Apostle Paul told women to keep quiet in the church (Cor. 14:35; 1 Tim. 2:11). But be careful. Biblical literalism can be a trap. Paul also told women not to braid their hair or wear jewelry (1 Tim. 2:9).

Honest interpretation requires that we continually distinguish between instructions which were unique to the culture and time and those which are eternally binding. The same Apostle Paul who encouraged women not to speak also gave instructions for women to cover their heads while they preached (1 Cor. 11:5).

Upon closer examination, the New Testament does not limit the role of women; it elevates their role. The prophet Joel preached that when the Holy Spirit came, women and men would preach (Joel 2:28-29). All four gospels make a point of describing women as the first to proclaim the resurrection of Jesus (Matt. 28:1-10; Mark 16:1-9; Luke 24:1-12; John 20:1-18). The evangelist Philip had four daughters who had the gift of preaching (Acts 21:9).

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2. A faulty theological assumption — that all evangelicals are opposed to women in ministry. For years, I’ve heard the old saw, “Only liberal churches allow women to preach or pastor.” In fact, many Holiness churches and historically black churches are led by females. And most of them are theologically orthodox, evangelical and conservative.

Our own Baptist tradition has a rich, albeit muted, heritage of female pastors that we sometimes forget. Listen, for the first 144 years of our nation’s existence, only men could vote. In the grand sweep of history, only recently have women been accepted as lawyers, doctors, airplane pilots, jury members and much more. Before those opposed to women in ministry throw around the word “liberal,” they should make an honest effort to distinguish between cultural norms and eternal verities.

3. A faulty pastoral assumption — that men are more naturally suited for the duties of pastoral care and preaching. Back in 1999, when our church was preparing to call its first-ever female youth pastor, someone asked, “What happens when a boy needs to talk about guy stuff with his youth pastor?” I replied, “I guess the same thing that happened for decades, when a young lady needed to talk to a male youth pastor about girl stuff” (awkward pause).

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Churches which have opened their pulpits to both genders have made a discovery: Women, just like men, are fully capable of offering strong and visionary church leadership as well as thoughtful, healthy pastoral care.

Likewise, females are just as able to provide Christ-honoring preaching and worship leadership.

How interesting that the Apostle Paul sometimes used feminine, maternal metaphors when describing the work of church leadership (Gal. 4:19; 1 Thes. 2:7). By the way, I agree with Paul. Pastoring a church is very much like guiding a house full of rowdy, inquisitive, sometimes incorrigible (but always lovable) children. Such work requires that our very best men and women answer God’s call. And it requires the church to acknowledge that call.

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WWW.LIVINMYBEST.LIFE 22

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