Four percent of the world’s trade passes through the Panama Canal, but market goods are not the only thing moving through the country. According to Amable Polanco, Panama JESUS Film Country Coordinator, “…everything goes through the Canal, including different beliefs.” Over 4 million people reside in Panama, making it a melting pot of different races and faiths.

“Are you sure it’s a Christian church?”

It was strange hearing my exact thought come out of someone else’s mouth, but this man said the same thing I was thinking.

It was the early evening of Easter Sunday, and I found myself in the produce section of our neighborhood grocery store. I had just overheard two people greet each other with “Happy Easter” and talk about their experiences at their respective churches that morning.

“And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for Him, to give His people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins” (Luke 1:76-77).

When I was asked to write about a woman’s perspective on the call to pastoral ministry, I had a difficult time figuring out where to begin. My mind flashed back to last year when I was sitting at a conference, thinking about how there was no way I’d ever be a spokesperson for women pastors in the Church of the Nazarene. I didn’t even want to be!