On this 11th episode, I speak with Jill McCrory, the first Baptist female preacher I’ve ever met. And I love her for that and for the wisdom and insight of our chat.

Jill McCrory is a straight woman whom God has called to be a Baptist voice to the LGBTQ community. I talk with her about her theological questioning as a teenager and why she left the church for twenty years. We discuss the moment when she discovered that there was more to the Bible than what she’d been taught in Sunday School, and her decision to attend seminary. She admits that she never expected to be a minister. But that all changed when she was told that she couldn’t preach the truth because people couldn’t handle the truth.

Jill discusses the importance of the four freedoms to Baptists and how her stubbornness keeps her loyal to the Baptist brand. She talks about her work spear-heading the development of an LGBTQ community center in her Maryland county of Montgomery. 

She is the epitome of someone who practices what she preaches. Her insight and wisdom on Scripture and the teachings of Christ are inspiring. We talk about the church’s history of “othering” and its abuse of the political process. 

For information on the MoCo Pride center in Montgomery County, MD, please see https://www.mocopridecenter.org. For information on centers in your area, please see www.centerlink.org.