Blazing a Trail: Addie Elizabeth Davis’ Life of Active Faith

Often called a trailblazer, Addie Elizabeth Davis, born in 1917, became the first woman to become an ordained minister in the Southern Baptist Church. In an article in Baptist News Global following her death, she is said to have told her then pastor, Rev. Warren Carr, who would recommend her for ordination, that she had sensed a call to ministry as a young girl. Imagine being a young girl feeling called to become something that was not heard of at that time in history.

Addie was born into a deeply committed Baptist family. While neither of her parents had a formal education, her father was insistent that all three of their children attend college. She graduated in 1942 from Meredith College with a degree in Psychology and a minor in Speech. She served as an education director at a 500-member church in North Carolina for four years before becoming dean of women at Alderson-Broadus College in West Virginia, where she realized the need to further her education and pursue the calling on her life she had felt as a child.

Upon the death of her father, Addie stepped into the family business to help her mother, setting aside her desire to continue her education. She had applied and been accepted to both Duke Divinity and Yale Divinity, but would have to set that aside. During that time, she was able to serve in a pastoral position at her small rural congregation for a brief time. This only served to further instill in her the desire to follow the call on her life. Upon her mother’s retirement, Addie attended Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. She graduated as one of six women who graduated in May 1963.

Within the walls of Watts Street Baptist Church, the ordination of the first woman to the Southern Baptist Church didn’t register as a notable occasion, but it would later be seen as a turning point that would lead to the ultimate divide over the role of women within the Southern Baptist Church. Being the first is a challenging place to be, and it was difficult for Addie to find churches that would welcome a woman pastor. But she would persevere and be an example for young girls and women for generations to come, proving her belief that when God calls, you answer regardless of what the world says should limit your dreams.

A strong, whip smart, dedicated, social justice oriented woman who moved in the direction of her dreams, overcoming obstacles and with faith and intentionality, Addie Elizabeth Davis blazed a trail that still leads the way in 2026.