I was at my daughter’s school when her teacher asked, “Did you see what your daughter wrote? All the teachers are coming down to read it.”
My daughter is 7 years old and in the first grade and anything she writes is a work of art, but this time I was very curious. I immediately walked out into the hallway outside her classroom. On the wall a sign read, “I have a dream.” Children had created artwork describing their dreams. Here is what my daughter wrote:
Derik Hamby
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“I have a dream that I will be a preacher and I will preach about God. And I will preach about Jesus. I will work at a church. I will preach on a stage. I hope my dream will come true.”
I realize she loves her daddy and if I were a cowboy she’d probably want to be one, too. I realize her career ideas will change a million times. A few years ago she wanted to be a butterfly and then it was a mermaid. I know all this, but I still cried.
And yet I also know it is at this age that kids really are thinking about what they want and desire from life. It’s obvious to me that my kids are blessed to be in a loving church environment that is nurturing them to be the person God has made them to be.
Back in the mid ’90s I was a student at Southern Seminary when the school turned upside down. The president of that historic seminary declared that no professor who supported a woman as pastor would be allowed to teach anymore. We were told that if we supported women in ministry we needed to go elsewhere.
I swore that I would never attend a school that would deny my daughter her calling to preach the gospel. I was single with no prospects and no children in sight. Yet I made myself that promise. I also promised to not attend a church that would do the same thing.
I headed to the recently new Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond and found a home. Those were some of the best years of my life and I give thanks to God for the shelter I found on Brook Road. I also found churches that welcomed boys and girls to be who God called them to be.
Now I’m much older. I now have a son and a daughter. I have no idea what their futures will bring but I am glad that both are nurtured among Baptists who will welcome them to follow God no matter the path.
I remember women on campus in Kentucky being told by other students that their presence was an affront to God. They were told that if men did what they were supposed to do they wouldn’t be needed. Those were someone’s daughters. As surely as my Rachel is my flesh and blood, those brave women were daughters to someone who loved them.
During February churches are encouraged to have a woman preach (the Martha Stearns Marshall Month of Preaching). Our church will join this movement this year. One of our college students who is exploring her call with God will preach her first sermon. She is someone’s daughter. I plan on having my 7 year old sit in the pews that day to listen to this brave young woman preach the good news. I want her to know that if she is called to preach she is welcome. I want her to know that if she is called to heal the sick, fly to the moon, lead our nation or wherever God leads she can go. She is my daughter. And apart from being a butterfly or mermaid she is more than welcome to answer God’s call.
I often wonder about the daughters of those who fear women who preach love and grace. What if their little girls grow up and feel God’s call? What if they are invited to stand in a hallway and read a note sharing a little girl’s dream? I wonder what they would think as they read those words — after all, that would be their daughter.
So my daughter can dream. And her dreams can soar higher than those butterflies! I hope your daughters dream big too!
Derik Hamby ([email protected]) is pastor of Randolph Memorial Baptist Church in Madison Heights, Va.