The churches are far apart geographically, and the stories are separated by 20 years. Yet they share much in common--the ordination of Silvia Nogueira and the call of Erica Grace Saunders to serve as pastor.

 

Silvia was ordained 20 years ago by First Baptist Church of Campo Limpo, São Paulo, within the Baptist Convention of Brazil where she was serving as a seminary intern. Having been nurtured in Baptist life and trained at a Baptist seminary, Silvia followed the call of God to local church ministry. Her graces and gifts for ministry were plentiful and obvious. The church she served was under pastoral transition and the pastoral commission requested her ordination as quickly as possible in order to call her as their pastor. With no history of having ordained women, the male leadership within the Baptist convention balked, resisted and delayed responding to the request. Nevertheless, the local church, exercising its autonomy, persisted.  

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After 28 years of living in this country, I recently became a United States citizen. For most people born into privilege, it is difficult to fathom what this means and how difficult this journey often is. While every immigration story is different and everyone's process may not take as long as mine, each immigrant I know - documented or undocumented - has tread some path "through the blood of the slaughtered" to be here. My story is no different.

 

My family came to this country in August of 1991 to escape the civil war in Liberia. My dad was already in the United States working on his  Ph.D.  when the war broke out. The rest of the family, including 2-year-old me, was still in Liberia with my mom. For almost a year my dad didn't know our whereabouts or if we were even alive. Through a miracle or chance meeting we met a priest from Louisiana who helped arrange our travel and reconnect us with my dad. Once we got here and I assumed an age of reason and conscience, I knew that my story was different.