By Chris Hughes

On paper, Rev. Melissa Hatfield would not be someone you’d expect to be leading the First Baptist Church of Jefferson City, Mo. “I’m a single female and a seminary dropout,” Hatfield shared. “It’s a resume that looks interesting for sure.”  

Despite its modern sanctuary, the congregation has a deep history tracking all the way back to 1837. In another time, the congregation enjoyed strong ties with the Missouri Baptist Convention located just a block away, with members playing pivotal roles in the state convention and the church being a flagship in Missouri Baptist life.  

It would be hard to find a congregation of its size and prominence in the community that would consider hiring a pastor without an advanced degree, maybe even a doctorate. But as a people’s church — a congregational church — Hatfield’s journey to the pastorate is something to which many a Baptist church would aspire. That’s because long before Hatfield ever set foot in the pulpit of First Baptist Church Jefferson City, she sat in its pews, being nurtured in the way of Jesus by the very congregation she now leads.  

“I’ve been a member here since my junior year of high school,” Hatfield recalled. “In fact, the very first sermon I ever preached was my senior year here at First Baptist Church as a 17-year- old. Either thankfully the church didn’t remember it, or it went all right,” she joked. 

Her story is remarkable not only because she is a woman and a seminary dropout who leads the historic First Baptist Church, but also for her journey from the pew to the pulpit. Hatfield says she felt her calling well before she knew what to do with it. “I knew my senior year of high school; I remember that’s really where I first recognized a call,” she said.  

That calling followed her to Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo., where she found a passion for serving students. “I had a deep love for my fellow students and a desire to share God’s love for them; it was a passion for my peers, really,” Hatfield said.  

Without any examples of women in ministry before her, Hatfield pieced together her calling and her education as best she could, taking youth ministry classes alongside her education major and serving on the college’s revival teams. Her intention was to be the best kind of volunteer she could be. “I didn’t know any females in ministry of any kind. I just didn’t even question or think about it; so when I went to college, I thought my future involvement would be maybe as a volunteer at a church,” Hatfield said.  

At her conservative Southern Baptist college, Hatfield also discovered some of the obstacles in her way, for just simply following her calling. “I remember signing up for the revival teams that they sent students out to churches; I signed up for everything. I was willing to preach or lead children and youth activities or direct music,” she shared. “But I never got called to preach on a revival team.”  

Hatfield finished college and landed a teaching job back in Jefferson City, where she came back to First Baptist and began volunteering in the youth ministry. From there, her journey to the pastorate began to unfold, though it wouldn’t be without some hard twists and turns.  

The first stop on the path came unexpectedly when the church asked her to step in as the interim youth pastor and then to apply to be the next full-time youth pastor. It was an idea she had only dreamed of before they asked her to apply.  

“I remember being very surprised. I mean, would they even consider me for that? It was my dream job to do that.” That dream came true in 2000 when the church called her as pastor of youth and recreation, a role in which she would serve for the next two decades.  

Although the church had female deacons and a part-time female minister on staff, Hatfield became the first full-time, female pastor in the church’s history. She pursued living her calling in the new position zealously, starting as a full-time student at Central Baptist Seminary just three years later. Full-time ministry and full-time seminary proved to be too much, however. “I burned out heavily,” Hatfield said. 

Years later, as the church was considering her for the senior pastor role, she didn’t shrink away from this chapter of her ministry. “I told the pastor search committee I could not promise that I would finish seminary at any point, and if that was a dealbreaker, I was okay with that. I wanted to be upfront and honest about that because I know the toll it had taken on me to try to do that and also do the full-time work here.”  

When the COVID-19 pandemic descended upon the world, it brought it a whirlwind of loss, adversity and change that challenged Hatfield’s church, ministry and personal life. In August 2020, First Baptist Church’s longtime senior pastor, Doyle Sager, was diagnosed with cancer. He left his life at the church and died soon after in January 2021. In May that year, the church’s other full-time female pastor, Hannah Coe, was called to be the senior pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, Texas. In December 2021, the longtime pastor of worship, Rod Maples, retired.  

In a little over a year’s time, the church grieved the loss of their longtime pastor and lost over 50 years of combined ministerial experience from three staff members, leaving Hatfield as the lone, full-time pastor at the church. Then in March 2022, grief struck home when Hatfield’s sister died unexpectedly. 

“It was a very challenging season; probably the hardest season of my ministry,” she shared. Amid this shared grief, Hatfield recalls how both she and the congregation cared for one another, walking the hard road together. “I’m really grateful for a wonderful church,” she said. “They showed up for me and my whole family in the loss of my sister. They have been entirely compassionate during these last three years.”  

During this time, conversations were beginning in the church about whether she would consider being the new senior pastor. Already, Hatfield had been sharing pastoral responsibilities after Sager’s passing; first with the trio of staff ministers and then with an interim pastor the church had called. 

It was something the church might have never considered without having the unique opportunity to see her in a different light. “I might not have pursued the youth pastor job here because of a lack of confidence that they would even see me in that role, or that I could do it,” she admitted. “And seeing myself as the lead pastor — I needed that window of time over the last couple of years; I needed the people to call that out in me for me to even consider it. 

“Even the day the church was voting, I sat in the office with a friend on the pastor search committee and I was not confident –not until I heard the applause from down the hallway,” she said, reflecting on the day in Feb. 2023 when the church officially called her as senior pastor. “I had not fully ever allowed myself to think that this actually could be where God was leading this church and me.” 

It’s a peculiar path that Hatfield and the First Baptist Church of Jefferson City have walked together. But it’s one that has shown Hatfield how God works and has proved to her that the church was exactly the church whom she thought it was all along. “It’s been beautiful to see it unfold,” she said. “God has definitely been ahead of me and ahead of us here at First Baptist, preparing our hearts and making the way for it.”    

For other women who feel called to the pastorate, Hatfield says to be faithful to the calling. “Stay true to the calling that God has given you, despite the obstacles, despite maybe the lack of belief from others or even within yourself.”  

She also advises congregations to recognize the gifts and graces that may be sitting in the pews right in front of them. “Don’t miss what may already be right in front of you. Don’t hesitate to call out people from within your congregation in whom you recognize gifts and callings. They may need that,” she continued. “They may not see themselves in that way, and they may need people to call that out in them.” 

As Hatfield shares, it can be as simple as preaching on Youth Sunday, where she felt a holy nudge from God. “It’s kudos to Youth Sundays and opportunities for young people to lead in churches and serve on committees; it gives them an experience and a chance to start to nurture that call in themselves, especially for women.”