KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Danielle Walker recalls one of the first times she ever preached the word of God as a seminary student in Virginia.
"This one man shakes my hand and he says, 'You're a woman, and you're wearing pants. I don't know what to do with this,'" she said.
She spent years waiting tables while she searched for a church to call home.
"I was 26. I was a woman, I was single. I got letter after letter from churches, saying we have rejected your resume," Walker said. "Churches I didn't even know they had my resume. I was getting letters that said 'We are rejecting you. We're waiting for the man of God.'"
Walker went on to minister in a Baptist church in Knoxville, eventually becoming a pastor.
She thrived in her roles over the years but the criticism still crept in.
"In every one of my 18 years there have always been comments, but I shrug it off," she said. "I've always felt very assured that the calling I have is from God."
This month, the largest Protestant Christian denomination in the country voted to expel two churches led by women pastors.
Delegates to the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting in New Orleans approved an amendment to its constitution completely restricting all pastoral and elder roles only to men.
The move would require a second vote next year before it could become official, affecting even more churches and female leaders within the SBC.
"It's a matter of biblical commitment—to a Scripture we believe unequivocally limits the office of pastor to men," Southern Seminary President Albert Mohler said.
"When I think back to my upbringing, in a Southern Baptist affiliated church, they laid the foundation for me of what scripture is," Walker said. "I felt very known. I felt very seen, and even to this day those people that love me, believe in me, they see the calling in me."
Walker shared her reaction through her online ministry called Slated for Grace.
"This message is to anyone who feels like they have voices in their life that are telling them they are somehow disqualified from proclaiming the good news of who Jesus is," she told viewers. "Do not let that enemy win. Don't let those voices win."
Her message quickly began circulating online.
"That video was to say to people, men, women, everyone, you are not disqualified. God is the one who calls, and he's the one who qualifies you to do his work," she said.
Walker continues to preach the scripture to anyone who will listen and spreads a message of encouragement.
She is preparing to lead a large group bible study for women online this fall.
"God can use you. That's what this book is all about," she said.