Each week, Baptist Women in Ministry introduces an amazing minister. This week we are thrilled to introduce Pamela Kellar.
Pamela, tell us about your church and your call to pastor at Antioch.
In September 2016, I was designated as pastor-elect of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church of Nashville, Tennessee. It is an honor to serve this congregation. My father, the Reverend Marcel Kellar (pastor, preacher, teacher, and author) is the organizing pastor. I serve as the second pastor of this church.
My service as pastor begins on December 1, 2016. Although the appointment itself was not a unanimous selection by the congregation, by God’s grace I received the full support of the congregation to serve as their pastor. My first love letter to the congregation was posted on Facebook. It is as follows:
My Beloved Antioch Family,
Today begins our journey as shepherd and flock. I am grateful to Pastor Emeritus Marcel Kellar for the most touching text (yes, the eighty-five-year-old can text) that he sent me, acknowledging that today was the day that he officially passed the staff to me to continue the vision God gave him to organize the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church. An extremely touching and moving moment for me was when he said that I was his pastor.
Even more so I am grateful to God and I thank him for the foundation laid through the efforts work and service of our pastor of twenty-five years which anchors us in successfully accomplishing the new opportunities that God has positioned Antioch for Kingdom building. My beloved sheep we are equipped with the tools to successfully move our Kingdom building efforts to heights that we cannot even dream. We thank God for his dedication to his call and love for God and the church.
My first day as your shepherd will always be remembered for we began as one body in Christ in corporate prayer this morning on our prayer line. I thank God for your prayers and ask that you will continue to pray for me and our church as we move forward to make Disciples of Christ. I am excited about this new journey and look forward to serving you as your new pastor.
So, I leave you with this: “Let’s get busy building the Kingdom of God at Antioch!
Tell us about your ministry journey and other ministry roles you have had in the past?
I am a second-generation minister of the gospel. I previously served under the leadership of my father at the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church as part of the ministerial staff, minister of music, and co-chair of the ministry of Christian education.
I began my career in ministry as Christian education specialist for the R. B. Boyd Publishing Corporation, where I designed programs of study for the National Baptist Sunday School Congress and curriculum for the distance learning program portion of the Congress. While at the publishing board, I designed Christian education workshops in the areas of music, Vacation Bible School, women’s ministry, and creative arts ministry.
I created the National Association for Creative Arts Ministries (NAFCAM®) based in Nashville, Tennessee. I am the owner of Clef and Notes Music and a member of “Preachers 3” a Christian vocal group whose specialty is non-traditional genres of sacred music.
In addition, I am a freelance songwriter of children’s Christian music and have recorded and published more than fifty tunes through Clef and Notes Music and R. H. Boyd Publishing. I was a member of the inaugural faculty at W. O. Smith School of Music in the capacity of instructor of piano and flute; and worked as producer/technical director of Black Entertainment Television Networks #1 rated program – Bobby Jones Gospel.
For more than thirty-five years, I was a performer, television producer, and music director. I earned a bachelor’s degree in music as a triple-disciplined major (classical piano, flute, and voice) from Tennessee State University and am currently pursuing a Master of Divinity degree with a concentration in Worship and Christian Education at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. I am also an assistant director for the National Consortium for Black Women in Ministry, Nashville, Tennessee chapter.
From 1999-2000, I served as a member of the faculty at American Baptist College in Nashville, Tennessee and taught as an adjunct professor of Church Music, the director of chapel, and director of the church music performance program. I previously served as a freelance writer for the music devotional quarterly published at Urban Ministries, Inc. (Chicago, Illinois) and as research assistant and transcriber to my father, Marcel Kellar who was an affiliate of the National Council of Churches (New York, New York) Committee of the Uniform Series International Bible Lessons for Christian Teaching.
What have been the greatest challenges and greatest joys you have faced in your ministry journey? The greatest challenge was to accept the call. Growing up as a preacher’s kid I quickly learned that ministry isn’t always pretty or fun. It is hard, and leadership is harder. Knowing what that looked like having a front row seat, I struggled and wrestled with accepting ministry as a life calling. The greatest joy was being licensed and ordained by my father and brother. The second greatest joy was being called to pastor the church that my father organized and installed by my brother, friends, and sisters in ministry the National Consortium of Black Women in Ministry.
What advice would you give to a young woman who is discerning a call to ministry?
“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-13)
Know your calling to be true. Know that it is what God has called you to do. God is with you at all times. God has called you to stand up, to build up, and to grow up.