I'm a Wimp

Confession One: I rarely bring up the fact that I'm a woman.

Confession Two: Often when I'm out at random places (getting my hair cut, eating out, etc.) and people ask me what I do for a living, I respond, "I work at a church," as opposed to "I'm a pastor." (for a really funny story about this, ask me sometime about an outing I made with friends a few years ago to a Japanese steak house - for the even funnier version, ask Greg Horres to tell the story)

At this point, you may be saying "What is she talking about?" especially in relation to the first confession. Obviously I'm a woman - this is not something I hide, in fact I've come quite a long way from my elementary school tomboy days when I loved to race the boys at recess and took great pride in beating all of them. I now love shoes, massages and girl's nights almost as much as Duke basketball :)

Here's what I'm talking about. I am an evangelical, and in evangelical circles (I'm about to make a big generalization) women who call themselves pastors are often regarded as feminists without any further discussion. For example, in February I went to an incredible conference for church planters and after registering online as a church planter I received an e-mail invitation to the luncheon for pastor's wives that was being held on the second day and at registration when we arrived, I was asked if Jamin, our church's worship leader, was my husband.

I don't want women in ministry to be the issue I'm known for and I fear being branded as a crazy feminist by those who wouldn't have the chance to get to know me and see beyond that initial label.

Why am I writing about this today? There is a great discussion happening over at Carlos Whitaker's blog on this subject that I would love y'all to check out. Thank you Carlos for facilitating this discussion!

I'll share more on this subject another day, but for now I'm going to stop hiding from who God has made me and what God has called me to do in everyday conversation. I'm not a woman pastor, but I am a pastor who happens to be a woman and I love, love, love what God has called me to do and I'm thankful for the privilege and opportunity to proclaim Jesus Christ!!