I had attended Pensacola Junior College from 1975 to 1977 where tuition was $12 per credit hour. So it was a big deal when my father agreed to pay for me to attend Mississippi College where tuition was $57 per credit hour and I could not commute from home. I chose Mississippi College because a girl I had been sweet on in high school was going there and I admired her family. After I got there, I learned that MC had graduated a Who’s Who list of prominent Baptists over the years, so it suited my plans of becoming the next Billy Graham.
When I met with my academic advisor before enrolling in classes, he encouraged me to major in Religion. I told him that I had already settled on Christianity as my religion, so I wanted to major in Bible and not waste time with anything else. He didn’t argue with me. I mention that interchange to help you understand how conservative I was.
In one of my required classes, during the third or fourth week of school, the professor attempted to bait us into arguing with him about the legitimacy of women in ministry. One or two people rose to the challenge. He was prepared for their off-the-cuff arguments and made them look like fools. I was savvy enough to keep my mouth shut until I was prepared. I decided to go to the library that night to do my homework, so I could come back the next day and make him look like a fool.
Knowing the Bible as I did, I was sure I could prove beyond a shadow of doubt that women had no place in the ministry. I combed through every book I could find in the library on the topic and every one of them made a strong, clear, compelling argument that women belonged in the ministry.
I had not seen that coming.
The next day in class, I kept my mouth shut.
I realized that Mississippi College was not what I had expected. I wanted to get out of there and go to a more conservative school, but the deadline for withdrawing and getting tuition money back had already passed. There was no way I was going to waste an entire semester of high-priced college tuition. I told myself I would finish the semester and then find another school.
I graduated from Mississippi College in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts in Bible with Special Distinction.
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