My name is Shirley Taylor and I call myself the street evangelist for women’s equality.
For over a year I have been posting to our CBE Houston facebook my stories of being a street evangelist. Now I would like to share these stories with you on this blog. You will see how you, too, can get the message of women’s equality to those you meet.
Last week I went to an office to do business. I had been there before. I had talked about women’s equality with the manager. So last week I was back and we talked about women’s equality. I gave her my card which says “Shirley Taylor, street evangelist.” She said, “You need to meet my cousin. She has a Street Evangelist ministry in Houston where she feeds the homeless.”
I leaned over to her and put my hands on her hands and looked into her face. I said, “My ministry is not to the homeless, it is to people like you. In offices, at the grocery story, the library, while buying a blouse at J C Penneys.” I told her that God has called people to minister to the homeless, but that I am not one of those people.
Report from the street evangelist. Overdue time for a mammography and bone density test. This is a one-on-one 30 minutes time with a woman technologist, so I tucked my book Women Equal-No Buts into my purse. When we were finished, I told her that I wanted to give her a book I wrote. I pulled out my book and wrote “To Betty” and signed it. I told her that my background was Baptist. Sometimes you just know when to say that. Anyway, she said she was born Catholic but became Baptist and she and her husband attended a large Baptist church here for 14 years. They loved the music, but now attend a large non-denominational church. They still miss the music. I said, “My sister went there for many, many years and she loved the music, too. But then she realized that she could not stand for the pastor to say anything more against women. So she left. Sounding surprised, Betty then said, “I guess he does.” She had not put a finger on what the preacher was saying, but when it was brought to her attention, she saw it.
You may not have written a book, but I challenge you to find a way to be a street evangelist for Christian women’s equality and speak up wherever you are. Both men and women need to hear that God did not make any second-class people.
All the reports from the street evangelist can be read on my website.
