Each Friday, Baptist Women in Ministry introduces an amazing minister. This week, we’re excited to introduce Katie Callaway.
Katie, tell us about your ministry journey, the places and ways you have been serving and are serving.
My vocational journey has been defined by ordinary events and decisions taking on holy qualities and meaning. Growing up in the South as a PG (preacher’s grandchild — the far more holy preacher’s relative), church was an unquestioned part of my family’s life.
Looking back now, I can see places and times when I came alive through church and how my vocational calling was unfolding before my very eyes. Now, as a minister called to nurture the spiritual development of adults, I remember vividly sitting through a worship service captivated not by the sermon, but by my father’s Sunday school teaching resource in my lap. I highlighted phrases that seemed important and marked out ideas that were unnecessary to my ten-year-old faith. This memory is a rich reminder that God has been actively involved in shaping me for a life of ministry. Hopefully, I use more discretion so that I am not haphazardly negating ideas today as I was that day years ago. I use more wisdom now in the way I seek to highlight important ideas in my congregants’ lives of faith. In many ways, I see this as illustrative of my calling: drawing out, highlighting, and lifting up life-giving ideas and actions that help people make sense of their experiences with God.
I am currently serving as associate pastor at University Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland. I am responsible for adult discipleship, children’s ministry, and young adults. Here, I am able to minister alongside the full spectrum of age groups as we help each other discern God’s unique manifestation in our lives as individuals and as a community.
What have been your greatest sources of joy in ministry?
One of the greatest joys I have is to step into the holy place of curiosity and exploration alongside people who are seeking to make sense of their life experiences with God. With an educator’s heart, I find joy and vibrancy in ministry when people come to me seeking to expand their horizons by asking questions of their own faith. Together, we walk a journey that is both unknown and known quite deeply. There is nothing more fulfilling to me than watching as someone discovers their deepest self and God’s presence with them along the way. This happens in lightbulb moments as they recognize they are not alone, saying, “I thought I was the only one.” It occurs in the echo of communal confession. It happens as people are reaching beyond themselves to a neighbor in need. It happens in dialogue about a book that touches the heartstrings of a person, giving them the words to help them understand their faith better. All of these occurrences are begun through holy curiosity and brought to completion by a Holy Guide. It brings me great joy to simply be a witness to these monumental experiences.
What have been the greatest challenges you have encountered in ministry?
Ministry is not for the faint of heart. As a woman in ministry, I am sure the challenges I face are not unique. Along with many of my sisters in ministry, I have encountered sexist comments from congregants, ongoing fixation on my clothes rather than the content of the worship services, and difficulties with male leadership in the church. Probably one of the greatest challenges that I have encountered, however, would be with myself.
On my best days, I have learned to let the comments and difficulties roll off of my back. However, I have days in which I have to overcome incredible self-doubt because of the opposition that I have encountered along the way. In these moments, I have realized that even though I’ve tried to be intentional about not internalizing the comments and difficulties of others, they have found their way into my subconscious. It is an ongoing challenge for me to overcome these doubts, but I have learned that being in touch with my sense of calling is often the first step in facing my self-doubts with courage and boldness.
How do you stay healthy, physically and spiritually?
I have always been aware of the link between physical and spiritual health in my own life. Running has become a ritual in which I am able to clear my mind, connecting with God and my deepest self. Reading nourishes my soul in ways that running cannot. I try to make time to get lost in a good book. Since having a child, I have recognized the absolute necessity of self-care and boundaries for the sake of my family. As a family, we have added “family adventure days” (complete with its own theme song) to our weekly routine. These holy moments together encourage us to disconnect from work and care for each other, nourishing the collective soul of the family. Family adventure days have varied from day trips to the beach, hikes in the mountains, and exploring D.C.’s museums.
What is the best ministry advice you have received?
This is a hard question because I have been surrounded by an incredible cloud of witnesses. So many people have loved me, supported me, asked me hard questions, and pushed me in ways that I could have never imagined. One particular nugget sticks out to me in this moment. On the first day of a Christology class at Wake Forest, Frank Tupper wrote a large and imposing “40” on the whiteboard. He explained that my classmates and I were being prepared for ministry over three years, but that what we learned could never sustain us nor the church for the 40 years of ministry that (hopefully) was before us. He encouraged us to take on the posture of lifelong learners, an admonition that I have sought to take seriously for my own sake and for the sake of the ever-changing church of the 21st century.