Trusting the Process, Trailblazing in Ministry
Editor’s Note: Stephanie Nance is a featured speaker at this year’s Influence Conference in Orlando, Florida.
In ministry, trust and trailblazing often go hand in hand, and Stephanie Lynn Nance is a remarkable example of both. Recently elected the lead pastor of Chapel Springs Church – now the largest U.S. Assemblies of God church pastored by a woman – Nance is making history and disciples.
From her childhood days of growing up in an Oklahoma Assemblies of God church, Nance was familiar with the Pentecostal salvation experience, but she knew there was more to understand. In her heart, Nance wrestled through the idea of there being more to the sanctification process.
While pursuing her teaching degree at Evangel University, Nance took a freshman level Christianity class that brought everything she had been unclear about into focus. She learned about the process of transformation as part of salvation and, she says, “it messed up my world.”
Nance began to feel called away from her path towards teaching music and into full time ministry. Although she thought she would pursue missions, as did most single women in ministry at the time, she had a strong desire in her spirit to teach and preach in a church setting.
After she completed her bachelor’s degree, a friend connected her with an internship opportunity serving a small AG church in Alaska. The internship was supposed to be six months, but five years later, Nance was still faithfully serving the congregation in what she calls a “very formative experience.”
Eventually, Nance moved back to Springfield, Missouri, where she obtained her Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. Then in 2009, Beth Grant asked Nance to work with her in the Network of Women Ministers, a role she filled until 2014 when she was hired as the spiritual formation pastor at Chapel Springs.
For 10 years, Nance worked alongside a great team of leaders, serving the church, the community, and continuing to champion women in ministry. When the senior pastorate position opened in the summer of 2023, she filled the role as an interim pastor and was officially elected as lead pastor of Chapel Springs in May of 2024.
She admits that while she is not a “typical lead pastor”, something she has been told many times, she unashamedly and authentically brings the gifts God has given her into her ministry and surrounds herself with others who bring talents and abilities that are different than her own. This is a practice Nance states helps build a strong ministry team.
“When I surround myself with others who do things I can’t, that allows me to lead the way I’m made and lean into who God created me to be,” she states.
She says that the skills learned working bi-vocationally in Alaska, volunteering at the church and working in jobs in the community, have helped her grow into her calling. “Most people would love to walk into a church like I’m leading right now but I wouldn’t have been prepared to lead a church like this without the years of experiences God brought me through first.”
According to General Superintendent Doug Clay, Nance’s leadership has created a church culture that is “life giving and is not only having a local influence but is having a global impact with their commitment to missions.”
Nance encourages female ministers to trust God in the process, through all of life’s journeys. “When you start off in ministry, I think it’s really healthy to start as a generalist instead of a specialist. Start by helping in kids ministry, filling in on the worship team, or even cleaning the building. This well-rounded experience prepares those called into ministry with foundational experiences that will enhance their ministry,” she says.
For women in ministry, Nance stresses the importance of mentors. She states that she has had mentors in her life every year she has been in ministry. The encouragement she has received from other women in ministry has strengthened her and sustained her as she continues blazing trails for others who will come after her.
She says, “I’m the first female lead pastor of our church and it has taken time for some people to get used to my voice in the pulpit. Being able to talk to other women who have been where I am and then being able to pass that on to others is an encouragement.”
Through it all, Nance states that she has seen the faithfulness of God time and time again. As she navigated each season, she stepped boldly in the firm belief that women are called and used by God in all types of ministry assignments. Her quiet and steadfast heart, shaped by years of obedience and a life fully surrendered to God’s call, has culminated in a story of influence and a ministry empowered by the Spirit.