Adria Green

I would have to say my mom, honestly. We, in a sense, grew up together. When I was little, I thought my mom was actually my sister because she worked a lot - her first job was Wendy's. She had me when she was young, got pregnant at one age and had me at another, so she was a teenager too, a kid raising a kid. My grandma pretty much did most of my raising, though my mom stepped in more when I became a teenager. We watched each other grow up, and I've seen her grow into this amazing woman. My mom went to Greenhill, but because she got pregnant with me, she couldn't continue and had to go to Adamson instead. She had dreams of being in the Air Force. My mom is super smart, an avid reader, and anybody that ever meets her asks where she went to college, and she's like, I didn't. So many people do not believe it. She's certainly impacted my life and shaped me into the woman I am today. Every bit of advice, every bit of lesson, whether verbal or by example, my mom has shaped literally everything about me. She's always given me this freedom - she always says that Christians should have the most adventurous lives because our lives are not our own, and we should be willing to go along for the ride wherever the Lord takes us. As someone who is a planner, very careful and safe, she's always challenged me to bust through those fears and anxieties. She's walked me through the toughest times and been there through the highest points of my life. It's crazy because she's never gone to college, but she's the smartest woman I know, and anybody who encounters her says the same thing. She still teaches me things - we're nerds by nature, so we share fun facts. I would definitely attribute my success to her, for sure.

I believe the biggest challenge but opportunity at the same time is figuring out how to give people hope because of how uncertain the times are. I've never been a believer of false hopes - I'm a very practical and realistic person. For me, I'm watching these last two generations, Gen Z and Gen Alpha, and how inquisitive they are, how they question everything, and I love that. While a lot of youth pastors find that challenging because they're used to how we were brought up - your parents told us this is where you're gonna go, this is what you're gonna do, this is who and what you're gonna believe in - our students in these last two generations are not like that. They're like, okay, you're telling me this, but tell me more, what does this have to do with me, how do I benefit? The biggest challenge is you really have to know the Bible - context, history, all the things, languages - because if not, you're going to be stumped with their questions. It's no longer this concept of do as I say, not as I do. It's a concept of, no, if you're gonna tell me anything, I'm gonna watch you. I've always had this mantra that before a student ever opens a Bible, they're going to want to open you. They're going to want to know what you are, who you are, what you consist of, is there sustenance there? Do as I say, not as I do, is not gonna fly anymore. You have to make the gospel palatable and personable and practical. It has to make sense. That's the biggest challenge, but it's also an opportunity for them to see that this gospel I preach is not just something that stays in the book - it comes to life through us. Another challenge but opportunity is just being a woman in this field, especially in my denomination. Women preachers and pastors aren't affirmed often. I'm in rooms oftentimes with men who literally don't affirm what I do, my calling. During my great-grandmother's funeral, I have cousins and uncles who are pastors, and they told me I couldn't go up to the pulpit - I had to step down and stay at the podium on the floor because I was a woman, and the church didn't affirm women pastors. The church I'm part of is an old Baptist church filled with deacons who also haven't come around to affirming women preachers and pastors, so I'm constantly up against that. But if I'm very candid, women don't really affirm women pastors and preachers either, so I'm having to fight that too.