Transcript

Amy Golberg · Called to Serve

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Hello and welcome. This is called To Serve, a
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podcast where we share stories from women who have been
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ordained by the Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada.
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We have spoken with over 100 pastors, chaplains,
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missionaries, and community leaders as we learn what it's
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like to be a woman in ministry. If you haven't heard yet, Called
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to Serve, the book has been published.
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It tells 14 powerful stories of Canadian Baptist women who
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served in ministry from the 1970s onward.
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There are discussion questions at the end of each chapter
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designed to make this a resource that you can work through with a
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small group or a book club. You can find Called to Serve on
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Amazon and other stores, so please head to our website
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Called to serve.ca to check it out.
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Today you'll be hearing from Amy Goldberg.
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Amy was ordained in 2025 at Russia Gornish Baptist Church in
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New Brunswick. She now serves as senior pastor
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for The Bridge Church in Fredericton.
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Amy shares about her journey to faith as an adult, coming from a
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more secular background. She describes the strong support
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she received along the way, whether from her husband, who is
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a chaplain, from female role models in Ministry, or from a
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small group of pastoral colleagues she calls the Core 4.
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My name is Amy Goldberg I I grew up in a family in downtown
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Toronto. Religion wasn't high in
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priority. It was more for people who had
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more struggles in life. I think I was part of the
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generation that did say the Lord's Prayer at school and
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that's about it. We did take a religious
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education course in Grade 7. I guess that was cool. the
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United Minister that did it, her name was Reverend Mary Ranger
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and she, she was fantastic. I guess that's the first taste I
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had of the Bible. And then when my parents split
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up, I guess they decided I needed some sort of external
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something and so they sent me away to camp, which happened to
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be a pioneer ranch camp. And so I and another taste of
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this sort of Christian thing that I was, I sort of loosely
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aware of, I ended up at a boarding school where my house
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mother was the Anglican minister for the church.
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She was the chaplain. So Jesus is in there, but I did
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not go to church at all. It was a strange thing for me.
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I didn't fully understand what, what the purpose was.
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I didn't actually start going to church.
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So I was about 28 and honestly, I, I went through a divorce.
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I was sort of a little bit aimless, I guess.
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You know, that's where God does grab ahold of us.
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And I met the man who is now my husband, Cam Goldberg.
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He's a military chaplain with the Canadian Armed Forces.
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He was a Christian and he was just very comfortable in his
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faith. He just had this sort of
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understanding of who he was. I've never had never possessed
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even an ounce of understanding of who I was in terms of I'm
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Amy, but I don't even know what that means.
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And he just sort of sauntered, sauntered into my life very
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casually and confidently. I'm like, I, that's interesting
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to me. Like, I could really use that
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right now. We started falling for each
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other. And part of that was my
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questioning him quite in depth about how ridiculous his faith
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sounded to me from my, you know, secular point of view.
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So embarrassed to say that now, but that's just where it grew.
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And so we went church hopping and we ended up at Calvary
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Baptist Church after trying a whole bunch of different
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denominations, etcetera. And the pastor was starting a
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sermon series on the 23rd Psalm at my boarding school.
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Our school song was the 23rd Psalm.
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It's the only Scripture I knew. And so he was suddenly speaking
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this language, like, oh, OK, I understand what's going on here.
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And I remember that day, though. I remember Cam put his arm
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around me in church. I thought they were going to
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kick us out, but they didn't. In fact, everybody else was
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super relaxed. And it just wasn't what I
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thought being in Christian community would be like.
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I didn't have to sit up straight and look all pious.
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And I guess probably a few months later, I came to Christ
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after giving everybody a bit of a hard time.
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I really pushed hard. But you know, Jesus always wins.
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And about six months later, I was baptized at the same church.
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And I'm going to blame everything on Cam for a little
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while. Cam prayed.
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Lord surprise me. And very quickly after that, he,
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he realized he was being called into the military as a chaplain.
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And at that exact same moment, I was receiving a message from the
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Lord, which I was not comforted. Like it wasn't a normal thing
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that he should go to theology school.
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So we decided to move to Acadia, to Nova Scotia, do Acadia
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Divinity College. And I literally had hunkered
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myself down into this really shocking realization that I'm
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going to be a pastor's wife, which made me laugh.
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I thought it was funny. So I just jumped in with both
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feet at Middleton Baptist Church.
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I was working in the office and I was helping with the youth and
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the Lord called me. Nobody was more surprised than I
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was. Cam was 100% all in.
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In fact, it sounded like it was already a conversation that had
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been going on. So when I told him he's like,
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well, of course, And my children are incredibly supportive.
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I have a 30 year old son and an almost 20 year old daughter.
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Again, they're all reacting like, well duh, of course you're
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going to do this. It's just such a strange thing
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for me. My family is still very much
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secular. There were gentle jokes about
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the fact that they couldn't quite understand what I was
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doing. So at one point, rumor was I
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joined a cult. And that's fair because it's
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such an extreme departure from their way of life into, you
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know, the new regenerated, sanctified way of life.
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And I can see it from their perspective because I lived from
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their perspective. I, I often look at my mom as
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being my ultimate challenge as a congregant.
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Whenever I'm learning something new, OK, God, I'm always
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learning it from the standpoint of how would I represent that to
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my mom and other people? How would I help them be able to
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see beyond that misconception that, you know, God is this man
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standing with his hands on his hips, all angry and ready to
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condemn. It's strange when you have a
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secular parent and you finally find yourself having that
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conversation with them about what salvation feels like.
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So they're interested, but I think they're very cautious and
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I think quietly supportive just because they don't know what
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else to do. I did my bachelor's because I'm
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old enough not to have to do the Mdiv for my ordination, and then
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my husband got posted outside of the CBAC jurisdiction so we
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ended up being posted to Ontario and my entire ordination track
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came to a complete halt, which was extremely heartbreaking for
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me. I continued with my courses, but
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I couldn't continue with mentored ministry because I'm
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not going to leave him at his church to go find my own church.
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That was sort of his time. So God being the kind and
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generous God, he took that time to point out places where I'd
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gone to the wider Rd. instead of the narrow path.
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In terms of my journey with him. Although it was painful, it was
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a very refining time. We were in the middle of the
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like the throes of the first wave of COVID.
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And since this podcast is for women, I also went through the
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peak of falling into postmenopause.
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That was a journey in itself, let alone all the other stuff
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that God was showing me. And, and oh, it was a whirlwind,
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but at a certain point the Lord turned around and said, we found
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you a spot back in CBAC territory.
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It's almost like I went down this sort of steep, deep valley
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and then I just shot out of it at the other end.
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And the whole time I was praying that the Lord would make it very
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clear because we'd spent this refined time together and I
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really, really wanted to make sure that I was following His
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leading and not my own. And he landed me literally 5
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doors down from Brent McDonald and five doors down from Brent
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McDonald's church, Russia Gornish Baptist Church, a
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extremely well established church.
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It had been LED so well not only by Brent and the rest of the
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staff, but also very, very strong presence of the Holy
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Spirit. A congregation that had been
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through maybe some ups and downs and we're now on the side of
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enjoying the strength of community that the Holy Spirit
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it brings. Looking back, it just all fell
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into place as only God can do. So much so that I did my
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mentored ministry there. Tremendous experience and I did
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a good chunk of my internship. When Brent took sabbatical, he
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handed over the church to me. Well, the church handed over the
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church to me, so to speak. All I could think of when I
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first started was don't Crash it and it was an interesting
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experience. I do have to say that the
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stepping into the church where I had attended as a congregant and
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then done my mentored ministry and then coming into leadership,
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I would call that the harder role because now all my friends
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are people that I'm now helping lead.
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So meeting for coffee time suddenly is very different.
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I I can't talk about my work and they're now a congregant.
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So if they're struggling with something in my head, I'm sort
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of not logging it, but accounting for like that's
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ministry time, ministry hours. By the time I was ordained, it
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felt very strange. When my husband went to basic
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training, he came back and said it's the best time he never
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hopes he ever has to have again. And I would say the same for
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examination Council. I'm glad I'd never have to do it
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again. I'm glad I did it.
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It was very stressful. I knew I knew what I needed to
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know and it was up to the Holy Spirit to help me sort of expel
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the information that they needed.
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It was all in there. I was just, I was more nervous
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just not covering a point that they wanted to or, you know, a
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nuance that they were seeking or my biggest fear would be turning
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into that people pleaser of I think I know what you're asking
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and trying to answer what they want versus what I'm being led
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to answer. So ordination was lovely.
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I had, I had Cam do the ordination prayer, seeing as
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he's a reverend too. So that's kind of nice.
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And it was such a beautiful prayer, such an intimate moment
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that I didn't think about it. We kissed at the end of my
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ordination prayer. Poor Brent did have to get up
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there afterwards and tell everyone, not everyone has to
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kiss the pastors that bless them.
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Both my children flew out for it.
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And I thought, you know, if I've accomplished anything on this
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journey, right at this moment, they're listening and they're
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listening with their hearts. And they just cried through the
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whole thing. I just kept thinking, Lord, if
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you take me now, I feel like I've accomplished.
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We've accomplished something really, really big.
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And it's up to the Holy Spirit to take the rest.
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But it was one of my favorite moments of 2025.
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I didn't grow up in church, so I didn't encounter that element of
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women not being encouraged to be in leadership.
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I didn't even know there were different flavors of Christians
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or, or you know, that type of thing.
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So it really I was so ignorant as I just when I landed in my
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wonderful church where I learned about the 23rd Psalm and it
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didn't occur to me that all the leaders were men.
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I was in a position of having been through a very painful time
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with my ex-husband. So it didn't strike me as a bad
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thing that I was sort of re establishing my trust in sort of
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men in general. And, and Jesus is a guy.
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Most of the Baptist churches that we sort of went to as we
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made our way through, we're all complimentarian.
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And then when I realized that I was being called into ministry,
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I started bumping up against it a little bit.
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It was surprising to me that sometimes there would be either
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a male or a female that would be like, but you're a woman.
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But it again, it didn't jar. It didn't frustrate until I was
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fully in my education and I started understanding that this
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is a relatively new accepted practice of women in leadership,
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of adults in ministry. And I didn't understand why
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women were allowed to lead the children and women were
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encouraged to lead the youth to varying degrees, but adults was
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the cut off. I was very strange to me.
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I, it was, it was like I suddenly found myself in a land
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where the language felt foreign. Suddenly I worked with Robin
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McCombs. She I think was amongst the
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first generation of people coming through examination
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Council where the question was asked, you're a female, why do
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you think you should be able to be in leadership?
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Like I'm maybe part of the third wave of women sort of pioneering
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their way and I have so much appreciation for how hard it
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must have been for those first women heeding God's call,
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following an obedience, probably in contrast to a lot of negative
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opinions. So I feel like I'm part of like
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a stream. Like thanks for all the hard
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work. I'm going to join in now.
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I recently was asked to explain why I should be able to teach a
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man. I explained that we are all
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welcome to Christ for our salvation.
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Scripture is very clear and when we are saved, we all receive the
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same Holy Spirit. As it says in Joel, I shall pour
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out my spirit on all people and we are all given gifts from the
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Spirit we are and we're not to grieve the Spirit by not using
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those gifts. And so I basically said my
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choice is this to obey God and defy mankind that doesn't think
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I should be or to obey mankind and disobey God.
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And I've done that. And I know the flat out no,
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until God tells me to stop, I'll I'll just keep going.
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But I also understand that I'm not changing anybody's minds
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when I'm asked that question and answering that question.
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I'm aware that that's the Holy Spirit's job.
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That's well above my pay grade, and I know we can't control how
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people receive it. But sometimes I really get
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nervous about answering these questions because I don't want
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to sound like I'm rebuking or reprimanding.
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Who am I to do that? I was present at Oasis when
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Renee was invited and voted upon to become executive minister.
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And I was present for the open floor conversation, both, you
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know, for and against. And what I really quickly
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realized is I had so much empathy for the majority of
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those who expressed their genuine concern.
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They just want to follow what the Lord says.
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And I was really surprised how empathetic I felt for them.
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I did have an experience. We'll water it down a little bit
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by giving it like a three-year span where I found myself in a
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position where I was receiving unwanted physical encouragement,
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we'll say from a fellow congregant of the opposite sex.
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I felt mildly uncomfortable about it, spoke with some
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mentors about it, but it happened again.
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And I was surprised at how. Angry I was.
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I happened to be painting my kitchen at the time and I
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angrily painted for almost 24 hours.
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I was so angry because the first thought that popped into my head
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was, they're going to say, This is why women can't be in
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ministry. I think sometimes situations
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like that happen more to women than they do to men.
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I know it does happen to men too.
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I did speak with some male mentors and they're like, Yep,
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had a similar experience. But this is how I handled it.
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And that's all I needed to know. How do you manage it?
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How do you handle it? But I think I'm a warm person.
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And so sometimes that can be misinterpreted or misunderstood.
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It's a puzzle I'm still working on.
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You know, like if you have a male who is having struggles in
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his marriage, I may not be the right person to speak to.
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And, you know, similarly, you know, my husband and I agree
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that if if there's a female who is struggling in her marriage,
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he may not be the person to speak to.
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Thank goodness we're A-Team and we're able to come to that place
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of coaching each other and seeing from the opposite
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perspectives. And one thing I've noticed
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between me and Cam is whenever one of us is going through
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something, the other is definitely not.
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And I find that God never imposes this same circumstances
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on both of us. Or if he does allow for the same
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circumstances, let's just say, you know, like my car breaking
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down. And if I'm not coping with the
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stress of it, then Cam will absolutely have no problem.
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And then if Cam's super stressed about something, I won't be
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stressed about it. And so I've found that we do
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possess different gifts in, in a lot of ways, very different
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gifts. So I almost feel like we make
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like the perfect pastor because where I completely lack, he
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absolutely excels and vice versa.
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But I do have some mentors. Robin McCombs, she probably
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would very, very shyly say I'm not a mentor.
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And Angela Wade, I have a friend for life.
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And Angela, I mean, everybody knows her.
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Everybody knows she's lovely. Anyway, I just, I love her so
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much and I admire her solid footing in listening to the Lord
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and consulting Him and just she's always seems to have an
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ear tilted in that direction. She absolutely has been a role
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model for me. I used to kind of not understand
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when people are like, I'm in love with Jesus or, you know,
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oh, I feel so close with the Lord.
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I'd be like, really, OK, I'm working on it.
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But Oh my goodness, I absolutely love like when I'm preparing to
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preach, I love the closeness with the Lord.
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It's almost too much. I love the process of walking
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with God through what he wants me to say and, and how we're
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going to say it together. And that is an absolute richness
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and a joy that I never ever expected to encounter.
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I mean, when you're doing your M division and heading towards
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ordination, it's an intense and rigorous.
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You are not taking 2-3 courses at a time.
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You were absolutely crammed with courses.
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I mean, there's also children, there's also marriages, all the
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stuff that we've talked about here.
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Then there's physiological changes that we women go through
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that are really hard to manage. So, you know, we need to prop
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one another up. At Russia Gornish Baptist
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Church, we have Nicole by Annie and Cheryl Reese, who are also
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heading towards ordination. I just happened to be the first
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of the three. We're all at different places in
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the journey, and we thought, well, we should get together and
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at least every two weeks prop one another up.
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We've recently added on 1/4 to our trio, and the four of us are
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calling ourselves the Core 4. We women speak differently to
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one another, and sometimes we're really good at cutting through
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the, you know, social norms. Whatever to say.
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Hey, this is a real problem. But it's really proved to be so
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helpful and uplifting and, you know, a solid prayer group.
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It's this space where you catch your breath together and stand
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up a little straighter. You dust each other off.
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I love that. I don't want to call it a
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sisterhood. That sounds a bit weird.
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There's no traveling pants involved.
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But I don't know. It's big.
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So the people that did come before, the ones that I'm just
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like, I'm I'm in awe of how hard that must have been and how deep
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their faith was. Thank you to them.
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Because even though we run into glitches here, it's like, oh,
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it's, it's all happening because of the hard work that they did
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and, and listening to the lore. Thank you to Amy for sharing her
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story with us. If you've enjoyed this episode,
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head over to our website. There's a lot more stories of
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women in ministry for you to find there.
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Don't forget to check out Called to Serve the book.
20:24
We are already hearing from readers about the impact this
20:27
book is having, so please add your review to Amazon or
20:30
Goodreads and let others know what you think.
20:32
You can follow Called to Serve on Facebook and Instagram and
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keep up to date with our latest news at Called to serve.ca.
20:40
We'll be back in two weeks with another woman's story of being
20:43
called to serve.