Baptist News Global
Sections
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Curated
  • Storytelling
    • Faith & Justice >
      • Charleston: Metanoia with Bill Stanfield
      • Charlotte: QC Family Tree with Greg and Helms Jarrell
      • Little Rock: Judge Wendell Griffen
      • North Carolina: Conetoe
    • Welcoming the Stranger >
      • Lost Boys of Sudan: St. John’s Baptist Charlotte
      • Awakening to Immigrant Justice: Myers Park Baptist Church
      • Hospitality on the corner: Gaston Christian Center
    • Signature Ministries >
      • Jake Hall: Gospel Gothic, Music and Radio
    • Singing Our Faith >
      • Hymns for a Lifetime: Ken Wilson and Knollwood Baptist Church
      • Norfolk Street Choir
    • Resilient Rural America >
      • Alabama: Perry County
      • Texas: Hidalgo County
      • Arkansas Delta
      • Southeast Kentucky
  • More
    • Contact
    • About
    • Donate
    • Associated Baptist Press Foundation
    • Planned Giving
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Advertising
    • Ministry Jobs and More
    • Transitions
    • Subscribe
    • Submissions and Permissions
Donate Subscribe
Search Search this site

I went to a preaching conference co-founded by women. Where were the men?

OpinionEmily Holladay  |  September 28, 2018

“I am angry.”

Although expressed in various ways, this was a common refrain from speakers at the Nevertheless She Preached conference Sept. 23-25 in Waco, Texas.

“We’re angry and we sell it, and the Church has a lot to do with it,” claimed Enedina Vasquez, rector of the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in San Antonio, Texas.

“Anger affects us physiologically, so when we try to hide it, our bodies make us feel it,” said Kyndra Frazier, director of HOPE Center in Harlem, New York.

Throughout the first day of the conference, I tried to suppress my own anger. But, as I heard these words bounce off the walls of the University Baptist Church sanctuary and into my ears, I couldn’t escape the rage building up inside me.

Being a woman in Baptist life is not easy. Being a woman in Baptist life called to ministry is even more difficult. Being a woman in Baptist life called to a ministry of preaching and pastoring sometimes seems impossible.

“Where were the people who taught me to preach? Where were the people who invested in me, trained me and helped me find my voice?”

Walking into the sanctuary on the first day of the conference, I carried the weight of a weekend inundated with messages from the leaders of our country that women’s bodies do not matter, that women’s voices are not worth being heard, and that it is OK for women to live in fear of being violated because “boys will be boys.” I carried the weight of wondering if not being in full-time ministry meant that I no longer belonged in a room full of ministers. I carried the weight of hopelessness and heartache for my country, my religion and my gender.

Walking into the sanctuary that day, I remembered a tweet from the previous day from a mentor – one of the first people to ensure that I heard women preaching as a teenager – who was making his way to a preaching conference a mere 90 minutes away from the one I was attending.

Walking into the sanctuary, I looked around for familiar faces and found only a handful.

One might say that this was an opportunity to make new friends. And while I was eager to be around powerful women for two days, learning how to preach persistently, boldly and courageously, I couldn’t help feeling disheartened by the faces I didn’t see.

Where were the people who taught me to preach? Where were the people who encouraged that spark within me that led me to explore my countercultural calling? Where were the people who invested in me, trained me and helped me find my voice? Didn’t they belong here too? What would it mean to know that they found this conference as important as I did?

Conference speaker Wil Gafney of Brite Divinity School preaches on “Nevertheless Gomer Persisted.”

“Why aren’t men flocking to hear women teach about speaking and preaching,” asked one speaker, Wil Gafney, associate professor of Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas. “When they let us in, we flock to their conferences.”

Gafney’s words rang over and over in my head, haunting my thoughts.

Once again, I looked around the room at the faces of hundreds gathered to hear powerful, courageous, academic preachers teach about the calling we all share to preach the Gospel. At that moment, I could count the number of men on both hands, and the number I knew personally on one finger.

So many male pastors, professors and mentors will make time for a preaching conference this year. Maybe they’ll go to Dallas to hear Tony Campolo or Chattanooga to hear Brian McLaren, but clearly the majority of these male influencers chose not to be here.

I understand that Waco is not a destination location unless you are a “Fixer Upper” fan. I understand that the organizers of Nevertheless She Preached are not an established church or seminary. I even understand that it would be countercultural to attend this event instead of the more accredited conferences with more years under their belt.

But where are the men who just last weekend were posting on twitter that it is time to listen to women? Where are the men who teach the importance of hearing from voices outside your own experience? Where are the men who speak of empowering women and advocating for women in ministry?

I am angry.

I am angry, because I don’t care about “Fixer Upper,” but I feel like I came to Waco to be siloed in a room full of people who share my gender identity.

I am angry, because I see the potential this event has for dialogue and education. I am angry, because I know that potential will barely be tapped this year, because the women gathered will walk back into a patriarchal society where we have to scream to be heard and fight to be believed.

Panelists discuss “Intersectional Feminism.” From left: Elise Edwards, Wil Gafney, Allyson Dylan Robinson, AnaYelsi Velasco Sanchez, Jennifer Knapp and Kyndra Frazier. (Photos by Stephanie Drum)

This event started in 2017 because two women approached their university and asked to hear more female preachers represented on campus. After being repeatedly ignored, the two chose to bring female preachers to their university town themselves, with nothing more than sponsorships from organizations and people who believed in the cause and proceeds from t-shirt sales.

Their efforts resulted in a cathartic, empowering time of worship, education and solidarity for an ecumenical gathering of people who believe female voices matter.

And I am grateful to co-founders Kyndall Rothaus and Natalie Webb and the team of people they enlisted to organize this amazing event.

But I am also angry that the people who helped me find my voice in the first place are not here.

In her lecture, Vasquez also said that “anger sets you free when you begin to understand it” and that “my poetry is my strongest voice because it has the anger in it… and it is how I pray.”

Today, I don’t have poetry, but I do have a prayer – a dream rising out of the ashes from the fumes of my anger.

“Where are the men who speak of empowering women and advocating for women in ministry?”

I pray that next year, we will be smashing the patriarchy side-by-side with the men who preached to us as little girls, who taught us in seminary classrooms and who encouraged us to speak truth to power. I pray that next year, the men who say they support women in ministry will rise up in support of this gathering of women who need to see that we are not the only ones advocating for ourselves. I pray that more men will flock “to hear women teach about speaking and preaching.”

“Even in the face of rejection, we persist,” Karoline Lewis, associate professor of preaching at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, reminded us at the end of her lecture. “And we are in good company.”

At next year’s “Nevertheless,” I pray that we will be in more good, inclusive community as we continue to preach the countercultural and increasingly imperative message that women’s voices matter.

Related opinion:

When women become pastors: Walls fall and ceilings shatter

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)

OPINION: Views expressed in Baptist News Global columns and commentaries are solely those of the authors.
More by
Emily Holladay
  • Get BNG headlines in your inbox

  • Featured

    • Eight months later, there’s renewed interest in Adam Hamilton’s video on why he’ll remain a United Methodist

      News

    • Bob Banks, longtime SBC missions leader, dies at 91

      News

    • What I learned from meeting Martin Luther King in Louisville and Josie in Hopkinsville

      Opinion

    • For every critic of Jesus and John Wayne there are many more positive responses Du Mez says

      News


    Curated

    • ‘He Gets Us’ organizers hope to spend $1 billion to promote Jesus. Will anyone care?

      ‘He Gets Us’ organizers hope to spend $1 billion to promote Jesus. Will anyone care?

    • National Prayer Breakfast breaks from ‘The Family’ with new organization

      National Prayer Breakfast breaks from ‘The Family’ with new organization

    • The Rise of Spirit Warriors on the Christian Right

      The Rise of Spirit Warriors on the Christian Right

    • Twitter reinstated white nationalist Nick Fuentes. He lasted 24 hours.

      Twitter reinstated white nationalist Nick Fuentes. He lasted 24 hours.

    Read Next:

    Life post-Roe: Is there middle ground between religious liberty and medical freedom?

    AnalysisMallory Challis

    More Articles

    • All
    • News
    • Opinion
    • Curated
    • Church historian Richard Hughes reflects on a lifetime of ‘Troublesome Questions’

      OpinionTed Parks

    • Reverend Roboto: Artificial intelligence and pastoral care

      AnalysisKristen Thomason

    • What churches could learn from the Pub Choir phenomenon

      OpinionMike Frost

    • Southwestern Seminary student arrested for alleged ‘felony sexual assault’

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Trial date set for Patterson and Southwestern versus Jane Roe

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Living into lament: A white response to the killing of Tyre Nichols by police

      OpinionRobert P. Jones

    • Faith groups must fight online hate, Interfaith Alliance urges

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Of church cemeteries, pulpit committees, crafts and sweet potato casserole

      OpinionChris Ayers

    • Colorado cake maker back in court, this time for refusing service to a transgender woman

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Of Margie, mountains and ‘El Shaddai’

      OpinionBert Montgomery

    • For every critic of Jesus and John Wayne there are many more positive responses Du Mez says

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • What I learned from meeting Martin Luther King in Louisville and Josie in Hopkinsville

      OpinionBill Thurman

    • Bob Banks, longtime SBC missions leader, dies at 91

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • On the baptism of our firstborn

      OpinionEmily Hull McGee

    • Members of Florida church required to sign ‘biblical sexuality’ statement or be removed from membership

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Eight months later, there’s renewed interest in Adam Hamilton’s video on why he’ll remain a United Methodist

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Life post-Roe: Is there middle ground between religious liberty and medical freedom?

      AnalysisMallory Challis

    • Has virtual worship actually harmed Christianity?

      OpinionSara Robb-Scott

    • 165 religious leaders plead with White House to abandon immigrant travel ban

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Boebert babbles about God, Satan and the Second Coming

      AnalysisRodney Kennedy

    • ‘What can we forgive?’: An interview with Matthew Ichihashi Potts on Forgiveness

      OpinionGreg Garrett, Senior Columnist

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Knowing a church’s history on slavery can be a nudge toward redemption, historians say

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Los Angeles faces a homeless ‘emergency’ as global warming changes the equation

      AnalysisMallory Challis

    • My father’s faith

      OpinionBrett Younger

    • Southwestern Seminary student arrested for alleged ‘felony sexual assault’

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Trial date set for Patterson and Southwestern versus Jane Roe

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Faith groups must fight online hate, Interfaith Alliance urges

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Colorado cake maker back in court, this time for refusing service to a transgender woman

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • For every critic of Jesus and John Wayne there are many more positive responses Du Mez says

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Bob Banks, longtime SBC missions leader, dies at 91

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Members of Florida church required to sign ‘biblical sexuality’ statement or be removed from membership

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Eight months later, there’s renewed interest in Adam Hamilton’s video on why he’ll remain a United Methodist

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • 165 religious leaders plead with White House to abandon immigrant travel ban

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Knowing a church’s history on slavery can be a nudge toward redemption, historians say

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Sandra and Andy Stanley: ‘We’re not perfect parents, but we’ve learned some things along the way’

      NewsMaina Mwaura

    • United Methodists on alert for dissidents ‘poaching’ members and pastors

      NewsCynthia Astle

    • The other speech Martin Luther King gave at Southern Seminary in 1961

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Faith-based leaders discuss the good, the bad and the ugly of Biden’s proposed border policies

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • U.S. churches more likely to have adult and youth education programs than interfaith or ecumenical work

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Here’s Johnny! Embattled SBC pastor back in the pulpit and will headline a men’s conference

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Dan Hobbs, early leader of ABP and CBF, dies at 95

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • ‘Public safety ecosystems’ could help replace nation’s broken criminal justice system, evangelical leaders say

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Reparations should begin with recognition of human dignity, Delbanco says in 50th annual Jefferson Lecture

      NewsMallory Challis

    • Church of England won’t allow same-sex marriage but may allow a liturgical blessing of civil unions

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Transitions for the week of 1-20-23

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Class-action suit against Department of Education alleging discrimination in Title IX exemptions dismissed

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Supreme Court will hear former postal employee’s appeal that he shouldn’t have to work on Sundays because he’s a Christian

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • New survey: Republicans and white evangelicals are outliers in fear of immigrants invading U.S.

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Church historian Richard Hughes reflects on a lifetime of ‘Troublesome Questions’

      OpinionTed Parks

    • What churches could learn from the Pub Choir phenomenon

      OpinionMike Frost

    • Living into lament: A white response to the killing of Tyre Nichols by police

      OpinionRobert P. Jones

    • Of church cemeteries, pulpit committees, crafts and sweet potato casserole

      OpinionChris Ayers

    • Of Margie, mountains and ‘El Shaddai’

      OpinionBert Montgomery

    • What I learned from meeting Martin Luther King in Louisville and Josie in Hopkinsville

      OpinionBill Thurman

    • On the baptism of our firstborn

      OpinionEmily Hull McGee

    • Has virtual worship actually harmed Christianity?

      OpinionSara Robb-Scott

    • ‘What can we forgive?’: An interview with Matthew Ichihashi Potts on Forgiveness

      OpinionGreg Garrett, Senior Columnist

    • My father’s faith

      OpinionBrett Younger

    • The apology that never came at Bubba-Doo’s

      OpinionCharles Qualls

    • Trump and his allegedly disloyal white evangelical supporters

      OpinionRobert P. Jones

    • Doom-scrolling, sourdough starter and three kinds of kin

      OpinionJustin Cox

    • Putin needs to be taken down

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • How my eyes were opened to America’s broken immigration system

      OpinionChristian Vaughn

    • Meditating with Buddhists and other Asian lessons

      OpinionBill Leonard, Senior Columnist

    • The Black resistance tradition and its fight for U.S. democracy

      OpinionDavid Gushee, Senior Columnist

    • Five book recommendations on creation stewardship for 2023

      OpinionDon Gordon

    • Queen Elizabeth was a role model for women in faith and leadership

      OpinionChrystal Cowan

    • Two football coaches went up to pray …

      OpinionPatrick Wilson

    • ‘Grief brain’: The three big deficits of grief

      OpinionLaurie Taylor

    • Prayer might not be enough

      OpinionTerry Austin

    • Mending broken pieces and broken lives with kintsugi

      OpinionPhawnda Moore

    • When my church and I let Jesus down: Jesus in the distressing disguise of the homeless

      OpinionChris Ayers

    • What I’m learning as a Maston Scholar: ‘Don’t forget!’

      OpinionAlfa Orellana

    • ‘He Gets Us’ organizers hope to spend $1 billion to promote Jesus. Will anyone care?

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • National Prayer Breakfast breaks from ‘The Family’ with new organization

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • The Rise of Spirit Warriors on the Christian Right

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Twitter reinstated white nationalist Nick Fuentes. He lasted 24 hours.

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • In Rare Rebuke, Elaine Chao Calls Out Trump’s Anti-Asian Attacks

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • How Southern California helped birth white Christian nationalism

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Extreme Israeli group takes root in US with fundraising bid

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Review: Decolonizing Christianity

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Two Leaders Of The New US House Could Put Baptist Diversity In The News Spotlight

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Making Sweat Feel Spiritual Didn’t Start With SoulCycle

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • White Christian nationalism isn’t pro-life. It’s pro-order.

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Stop Using the Bible to Dehumanize Transgender People | Opinion

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Martin Luther King Jr. Was A Saint, But Also Just A Man — That’s The Glory Of It

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • A Houston synagogue is tightening security after a woman broke in twice, damaged a Torah and harassed children

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Islamic paintings of the Prophet Muhammad are an important piece of history – here’s why art historians teach them

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Lutherans ordain first Palestinian woman pastor in Holy Land

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • 2 States Introduce Radical Bills To Prosecute Pregnant People For Abortions

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Flyers coach Tortorella defends Provorov’s Pride boycott

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • ‘Dream bigger’: How weekend marches keep advocates’ fight for Roe v. Wade alive on 50th anniversary

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Rinse, Repeat: Should Believers Be Dunked Again?

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Meet the real Jewish Republican of color being floated to replace George Santos, the fake one

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Florida Gov. DeSantis leads the GOP’s national charge against public education that includes lessons on race and sexual orientation

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians Unite in Support for Apache Fight to Save Oak Flat

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Group of faith leaders sue challenging Missouri abortion law

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • ‘Exporting garbage to the nations’: conservative Christian rifts spreading like cracked glass

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    Conversations that Matter.

    © 2023 Baptist News Global. All rights reserved.

    Want to share a story? We hope you will! Read our republishing, terms of use and privacy policies here.

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • RSS