Friday evening, I attended the premiere of “No. 1: MARY ALICE,” the inaugural entry in the micro-documentary series, each entry to feature a woman pastor, co-produced by BAPTIST WOMEN IN MINISTRY (BWIM) and ETHICS DAILY.
The namesake of this first entry is MARY ALICE BIRDWHISTELL, senior pastor of CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH in Waco, Texas. Accordingly, the premiere was held in Waco, at the Mayborn Museum Complex Theater on the Baylor University campus. Calvary hosted a reception prior to the showing, a reception that was a wonderful opportunity for many of us to renew old and treasured friendships. I also enjoyed getting to meet some new friends, including Mary Alice and some of the members of her church.
Mary Alice Birdwhistell, flanked by her parents, Mark and Martha
On entering the theater, we were handed a Bingo card, all filled out with various phrases, items of some interest, locales, etc. Jon Singletary, a Calvary member, explained – in introducing the film and the evening’s program – that the phrases on the card are references that Mary Alice frequently raises during her sermons. In fact, some of her congregants actually listen to her sermons with their Bingo card at the ready; when they hear her cite one of those phrases, they circle it on the card. I assume that they later compare cards with their neighbors, because Jon said that – so far – no one has jumped up and yelled “BINGO!” during a sermon; but it’s only a matter of time.
Hearing Jon talk, seeing the large number of Calvary members in attendance, and hearing several of them talk about her – both in my conversations with some of them before the showing and during the panel discussions that followed it – I was struck by the deep love and respect her congregants have for Mary Alice. I’m not surprised, after meeting her and seeing the testimony of her life and ministry, as portrayed in No. 1: MARY ALICE.
Both PAM DURSO and MITCH RANDALL, executive directors of BWIM and Ethics Daily, respectively, spoke before the film was shown and explained how this series originated – it was Mitch’s idea; and how Mary Alice Birdwhistell was chosen for the first documentary – Pam said that, when Mitch asked her who should be the first “subject,” she immediately thought of Mary Alice, and the rest is history.
(L-R) Mitch Randall, Mary Alice Birdwhistell, Pam Durso, Cliff Vaughn
CLIFF VAUGHN, Ethics Daily’s media producer, spearheaded the production of this documentary. As I told Cliff afterwards, his work on this film was simply masterful. Several – including Mary Alice and her parents – remarked on the seamless way in which Cliff had woven together the pieces of her life and ministry, particularly in showing some of the “brave steps” that Mary Alice has taken in struggling with a congenital bone disease known as osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), which has left her with over 30 broken bones in her still-young life, and using them to illustrate the brave steps that she has taken throughout her faith and ministry journey. Simply masterful.
Pam Durso explained that one of the key purposes of this series is to enable people to see women ministers, particularly those who are serving as senior pastor, in action. Women have been denied this role in the vast majority of churches; in fact, messengers to the 2000 Southern Baptist Convention meeting adopted a prohibition against women pastors in their rewriting of their Baptist Faith & Message – formerly a confessional statement, today a creed.
But even Cooperative Baptist Fellowship churches – which have been publicly supportive of the concept of women ministers – have been extremely slow to call women as senior pastors.
Because of this, many people in our Baptist pews, including those who serve on pastor search committees, still have a hard time imagining a woman in their pulpit and exercising the varied and demanding responsibilities of a senior pastor. As Pam said, the hope is that this film series will begin to break through that barrier, moving people’s imaginations into line with the boundless imagination of Almighty God.
DOUG WEAVER, a Baylor professor who served on the Calvary search committee that recommended Mary Alice as pastor, pointed out the fallacy of search committees that make it a priority to choose the pastoral candidate having the most experience. “If they insist on calling the most experienced pastor,” Doug said, “they will NEVER call a woman.”
(L-R) Mark Birdwhistell, Mary Alice Birdwhistell, Martha Birdwhistell, Carolyn Cole, Doug Weaver
I shared with Pam following the film about a conversation I had recently had in which I said that churches seeking a senior pastor should make it a priority to call a woman. “Even if a man is better qualified?” I was asked. “That’s not going to be the case,” I replied. “I know far too many women who are just as well-qualified (or moreso) as any man.” As for experience, women bring to the pastorate their own unique experiences that are just as relevant as the experience brought by a man.
It was moving, during the panel discussion following the film, to hear Mary Alice’s parents speak about their daughter. Her father expressed that, when Mary Alice first shared with them that she believed God was calling her to ministry, even the pastorate, he felt some reluctance. But then, as he thought about it, he concluded that it wasn’t his place to question God’s call or to discourage his daughter from pursuing that call, wherever it led her. Her parents have been consistently, lovingly, and enthusiastically supportive of her throughout this journey.
Though I’ve admittedly never been an expert at estimating crowds (hopefully the only thing I have in common with the man in the White House), I’ll go out on a limb and say that there were at least 200 people there on Friday evening; but whatever the number was, it was a very good crowd, and an enthusiastic one.
Now that the film has premiered, it will be released to the public this coming Tuesday, November 20, on both the Baptist Women in Ministry and Ethics Daily Web sites, and is completely free of charge.
Please take the time to view No. 1: MARY ALICE – it’s only about 20 minutes long and well worth your time. Then share it with your Sunday School class, your church (if you’re a “techie,” download it to a DVD and give it to your church library), and particularly with pastor search committees.
Let them see what a pastor looks like!