At 69, the Rev. Dorinda Broadnax waited a long time for her chance to be a senior pastor.

She will be installed on Sunday as the pastor of First Congregational Church, at 1024 Center Street North in Birmingham.

She’s the first woman pastor in the church’s 137-year history. She may be the one of the oldest first-time senior pastors ever in Alabama. And she’s got style.

“She preaches in heels – that’s what gets me,” said Marcia Bentley, chair of the Deacon Board at First Congregational Church, affiliated with the United Church of Christ. “She was truly called by God and truly has a gift for preaching the Bible and unifying people.”

But it was no clear and easy path to the pulpit for Broadnax.

She was born Aug. 24, 1950 in Forest Home in rural Butler County, about 15 miles south of Greenville, the fourth of nine children. She graduated from Alabama State University in 1972 with a degree in business administration.

She lives in Montgomery and works as an administrative assistant at BTL Technologies, and commutes to Birmingham every weekend, staying with her daughter in McCalla. She drives to Birmingham on Friday night and returns to Birmingham on Sunday night, after preaching at the 11 a.m. Sunday service.

This Sunday, there will be a 3 p.m. installation service to recognize her as the new pastor. She was brought on in 2017 as a supply pastor, then the church’s board approved her in December as its pastor.

“She was able to unify the church,” Bentley said. “She was able to pull us together and help us grow and renew our enthusiasm for serving.”

Broadnax began preaching in 1969. “I was licensed to preach in a small Holiness church in Greenville, Alabama when I was 19,” she said.

She was later licensed to preach in 2002 by the United Church of Christ and became associate pastor of Community UCC in Montgomery.

“It seemed like the right fit,” she said. “It was a beautiful experience.”

In 2014, she was ordained through a program the UCC instituted as an alternative path to seminary.

“It has been a blessing,” Broadnax said. “I get emotional when I talk about this. There were a lot of churches that did not want to consider women in ministry.”

Along the way, Broadnax was married and divorced twice.

“It’s a journey,” Broadnax said. “God has prepared me for it. He’s been faithful. It’s been His grace, His mercy, that kept me going. It’s being able to share his word with people that love him and even that don’t love him, that give us the ability to develop. I will not give up a moment of what I’ve learned through experience.”

First Congregational Church has average Sunday attendance of about 50, with 19 members over 80, and six in their 90s.

“They give me the drive and the inspiration and motivation,” Broadnax said. “It’s beautiful to see them come. Some are on walkers, some have oxygen tanks, some have canes, but they come every Sunday and it’s a beautiful experience.”

Broadnax said the church has sustained her through hard times.

She’s watched one sister die of lupus. Another sister had two kidney transplants, then died of breast cancer. Her oldest sister died of a heart attack. Another sister had polio. She had a brother who was an addict who was found dead in an abandoned house.

“I can only think about what God has done for me, and how God’s people have embraced me, encouraged me, walked with me,” she said. “I believe that God can still use us if we’re willing and open to the call he’s placed on us.”

Her varied experience makes her a perfect fit for ministry, Bentley said.

“She relates so well to all kinds of people,” Bentley said. “We have a lot of elderly members, and children and everything in between. She relates to all of them. She’s very calm and peaceful, while still being enthusiastic. She’s got a lot of enthusiasm.”

Broadnax has a message she wants to convey every Sunday.

“We need to make sure our anchor is in Christ and his word,” she said. “Love people, being imitators of Christ, whether you’re old or young.”

With her fresh start as a pastor, Broadnax said does not think about retiring.

“I don’t put time limits on God,” she said. “Why not do what God has planned, until God calls me home?”