By Ida Brown / senior staff writer

During junior high school — a time when most girls are focused on the latest fashions and hair styles — Audrey Lynn Hall was looking toward the heavens.

“I knew when I was a girl that there was a special ‘something’ that God wanted me to do,” said Hall, a native of Enterprise.

Believing that “something” was to preach, Hall spoke to her pastor at Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church. While she expected words of encouragement, she received just the opposite.

“My pastor said women weren’t called to preach,” she said. “He instilled in me that in the Missionary Baptist Church, women are not called to preach.”

On Sunday, Hall will become one of six women in Mississippi serving as senior pastors in the denomination when she is installed as pastor of Holy Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Jackson. She also will be the first female to serve as pastor of the church, which recently celebrated its 19th anniversary.

Hall previously served as assistant pastor at Holy Temple. When the church’s previous pastor resigned, the congregation asked Hall to serve as senior pastor.

“They told me, ‘We don’t see you as a woman, we see you as a preacher and we want you to lead us,” she said.



The path to destiny



After graduating from Enterprise High School in 1978, Hall began studies in political science at the University of Southern Mississippi. She later received a juris doctorate degree at Antioch School of Law in Washington, D.C.

The daughter of the late Dock and Carrie Hall of Enterprise, Hall returned to Mississippi after graduating and in 1986 began working for the East Mississippi Legal Service in Meridian. A year later, she moved to Jackson to work for the United States Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division’s Gulf Coast District Office.

And while she enjoyed reading the Bible and attending church, Hall said she still felt a calling to do something more with her faith.

She enrolled in the Baptist Theological Seminary in Jackson and, in 2001, received her minister’s license. A year later, Hall was ordained.

And though she knew she was following her calling, Hall said it was not without obstacles.

“There are some who do not believe in women preachers, particularly in the Missionary Baptist Church,” she said. “But while they may not support me, they do respect me.”

Hall said some people advised her to change to a denomination that was more accepting of women in a leadership role in the church — but she remained true to her calling.

“God spoke to me back in 1998 about being a trailblazer in the Baptist Church,” she said. “So many people tried to get me to leave but I wanted to stay with the Missionary Baptist. I felt that if all the women who are called to preach and minister leave the Missionary Baptist Church, change would never come.”

She also found strength through her faith and the support of family, friends and other fellow ministers, such as the Rev. Ava Harvey, senior pastor of Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church in Brandon.

“For a long time — in many denominations not just Missionary Baptist — there has been a misinterpretation of what the scriptures say about women’s role in the ministry,” said Harvey, who Hall refers to as her spiritual father.

“This has limited the availability and access to females who know that God has called a purpose for their lives, and this is very unfortunate,” he said.

Harvey said he had no doubts that Hall would fulfill her destiny.

“When someone has a calling in their life, you do need support and people there alongside,” he said. “But if you know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God has called you to do something, everybody else is an addendum to what the greater call that is inside of you.”



Destiny fulfilled



Throughout her ministry, Hall’s focus has been to make a positive difference through more emphasis on teaching youth about the goodness of the Lord, she said.

This has been achieved by exposing youth to more spiritual, cultural and educational enrichments such as organizing field trips to The Civil Rights Museum in Memphis and to Atlanta’s Mega Fest sponsored by T.D. Jakes; organizing a Youth Bible Study Night; and securing a mini-grant from the 100 Concerned Clergy for a Better Jackson that was used to hold a week-long summer and spiritual enrichment reading program that complimented the Jackson Public Schools’ Summer Reading Program.

“I have a heart for young people in the ministry, and I want to offer something to get them out of the streets,” she said.

The church recently purchased land with plans to build a family life center to better implement youth-oriented activities. Holy Temple also offers several outreach ministries, including a prison ministry, a meal program for the elderly and Bible classes.

Hall said she hopes to be an inspiration to other women who seek a higher calling in the church — especially young girls.

“I don’t want them to feel, ‘I can’t be used in the ministry by God because I am a woman.’ I want doors to be opened for young women in the Missionary Baptist Church to utilize them to preach the Gospel.

“Any young girl who feels God is calling them to preach should be prayerful about it,” she said. “I encourage them to go full force with what God is calling them to do because if God is with them, He is more than the whole world against them.”



Want to go?



What: Pastoral Installation of the Rev. Audrey Hall as senior pastor of Holy Temple Missionary Baptist Church, 5077 Cabaniss Circle, Jackson

When: Sunday, 2 p.m.