Afew years ago, the executives at a women’s prison reached out to me and asked if I would come to their facility and preach the Word of God to dozens of women who were incarcerated there. Somehow, my faith-based books had filtered into the prison system, and its library couldn’t keep them in stock. The women were checking them out and sometimes, not readily bringing them back. When I went to fulfill the ministry assignment, I took with me a full case of books that I donated to the library so that they would have enough to meet the demand.
It still humbles me when I recall the tears rolling down the faces of some of the ladies as I ministered to them about the love of Jesus Christ. I still remember their hands, raised in surrender as God used me as a vessel to lead them to salvation. I still have the many letters that I received from them after my departure. And today, I’m connected with some through social media. They found me once they were released.
The thought of my experience with those women almost always filters through my mind when I hear someone say God doesn’t call women to preach His gospel. There was once a time when it angered me, but now, I just feel sorry for those who refuse to acknowledge that God uses whomever He chooses. In a world where people are dying in sin every day, there are believers who actually feel that a woman is out of order and functioning in sin if she preaches the gospel that leads these dying souls to Christ.
Where would those incarcerated women be today if I’d cared more what man thought of me than what God had called me to do? This prison did not allow male preachers inside their iron gates to minister. There was no way for a man to enter that system and bring the Word of God to these desperate women. To those who condemn my call from God, I ask, should these ladies not have had the chance to be saved? And what about that one sister who gave her life to Christ that day and then died a few weeks later from AIDS? In the minds of those who think God only calls men—should she not have heard the gospel and her soul been lost?
I was a younger woman in my early 20s when I clearly heard and felt the call of God. By the age of 25, I was fully licensed into the ministry. The two or three years of lapsed time between my initial sermon and my licensing were not because I wasn’t sure of my calling; quite honestly, it was because I didn’t want it. I’m the daughter of a pastor—a man who, now at the age of 86, has spent six decades of his life preaching, teaching, evangelizing and pastoring. He was preaching well before I was born. Growing up, I saw the servitude. I saw the sacrifice. I saw the struggles. I saw what being an authentic minister of the gospel and a shepherd to God’s people entailed. What I saw was not glamorized like what many of today’s national televangelists display. Where I come from, there was no celebrity factor to being a pastor. It was, and still is, complete subjection to the will and the ways of God. I didn’t want it, but when God calls, it’s in your best interest to answer, no matter who tells you that your gender disqualifies you.
I’m so glad that my father was never one to discourage me or try to get me to disobey God’s mandate for my life. Instead, he encouraged me and became my greatest role model for what a servant of the Lord, anointed to carry the gospel should look like. I endeavor to be the same for my firstborn daughter, who, in 2021, accepted her call into the ministry.
Most of those who will speak against women preachers and pastors will lean heavily on 1 Timothy 2:12 (NIV) which states, “I do not permit a woman to preach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.” However, they conveniently skip around Priscilla, who, along with her husband, Aquilla, preached the gospel. Priscilla and Aquilla were church planters. Together, they started a church in their home, and they pastored that church—yes, both of them. Paul, the apostle, referred to both as his co-workers in Jesus Christ (Romans 16:3).
Some others mentioned as prophetesses/preachers in the Bible are Deborah, wife of Lapodath (Judges 4:4-5:31) and Huldah, wife of Shallum (2 Chronicles 34:22-28). And what about the five virgin daughters of Philip, the evangelist in Acts 21:9?
As one of my social media friends recently told me, many who speak in opposition of women preachers are quick to remind us that we are living in the last days, but if they really believe that, then they must also believe the words of Peter in Acts 2:16-18: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy.”
To those who are determined to disregard the call upon the lives of female preachers and pastors because of our gender—so be it. Your approval is not necessary. We don’t need you to say, “Good job.” Instead, we’re striving to hear the Lord say, “Well done.”
Kendra Norman Holmes is the multi-award winning, eight-time national bestselling author of nearly two dozen faith-based books. She is the CEO of Royalty Ministries International, Inc., a five-fold parent-ministry that houses all of her entrepreneurships, including Royalty Publications, LLC (an independent publishing house for Christian books), The Royal Trumpet (a seasonal online newspaper that shares inspirational news and information), and “The W.A.R. Cry with Dr. K” (which began as a gospel radio program but is changing to a weekly podcast in 2025).