I was a pastor’s wife who was working as a high school music teacher when I realized my calling as a preacher. I’ve always enjoyed teaching students, but as time went by, I started feeling that something deep inside of me was lacking. I wanted to know more about God,...
The night before I gave my sermon, I had a dream that my manuscript translated into Spanish and then it deleted itself minutes before church was about to start. Luckily, my preaching experience went better than I dreamed. As I prepared my sermon, I wrestled with what...
When I was at work in the Admissions Office at McAfee School of Theology one morning, Nikki Hardeman approached me with an unusual question. She said, “Hey, are you busy on March 3rd?” Seeing that it was only mid-January, I replied that I honestly didn’t know but that...
It was Christmas break, and my fiancée and I had just returned from a Passion conference in Dallas. After a three-hour drive back to Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, I did what most people do: I checked my phone. I had received an email from one of my...
In Kindergarten I was asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” My answer: “A princess.” Since then my answer has changed a few times. In middle school I wanted to be an attorney after watching too much Drop Dead Diva. I spent most of my high school years and...
Photo: Julie (at immediate right of center) at the Jesse Mercer pulpit with some of her balcony people, 2002. I preached for the first time at the weekly chapel service of Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, on Ash Wednesday of 2001. I was a junior...
