Narrative Summary
Interview with Amy Artman by Julie Hadley
Amy Artman was born Amy Esther Collier to Roger Collier and Marjorie Collier, in the
1970s, in the small, conservative town of Harrison, Arkansas. Raised in the Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ), they went to church at First Christian Church of Harrison. Her close
relationship and active church life from such a young age has provided her a feeling of comfort
in her church and her identity as a Christian. She says she has always known about God and has
always had a positive sense of God’s love for her. She understood early on that the Disciples of
Christ tend to be more moderate to liberal and she knew that her understanding of God is a
progressive one. At the age of nine, she was baptized by full immersion. She was involved with
her church camp for 16-17 years. While attending church camp, she recalls that this was when
she first had feelings of a call to ministry.
Amy started at Missouri State University in 1989, when it was referred to as Southern
Missouri State University (SMSU). She then took Religion 100 with Dr. Kathy Pulley and
realized she liked it; she fell in love with religion and ultimately declared herself a Religious
Studies major after she took The New Testament with Charles Hedrick. While a student at
SMSU, she travelled to England. She graduated with a B.A. in Religious Studies and a minor in
Antiquities. This was an important point in her spiritual development; because she wondered
whether her calling to the ministry was to teach or to go into the church. Although she felt her
call was more to teaching, she wanted the legitimation that being an ordained pastor would give
her.
While counseling at church camp she met a youth minister named David Artman. He
would become her husband during her senior year at SMSU. After graduating from SMSU, she
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started seminary at Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth, Texas where she received
her Master’s in Divinity in 1997. In May of 1997, she became the first woman to be ordained in
her home church of First Christian of Harrison. She said that there was a little uncomfortableness
from some people in her church but the love and support that she generally received
overpowered the uncertainty from others.
She graduated from TCU and was accepted to the University of Chicago where she
earned her PhD in the history of Christianity. For the first four years in Chicago, they copastored a Disciples Church. She realized that the ministry was not for. Her calling to serve God
was through teaching. The church they led was very small and there was not much growth,
considering Chicago’s secular nature unless you were extraordinarily Catholic. The couple knew
that their time with the church was coming to an end and that their work for God would be
somewhere else. They moved to a cabin owned by her family in Diamond City, Arkansas after
the heartbreak of having to leave Chicago.
At around this time, the pulpit had opened up at First Christian Church of Harrison, her
home church, and David wanted to interview for the senior minister position. She burst into tears
and cried because she knew it was the right thing to do yet she did not want to do it. She also
thought it weird that she would be the pastor’s wife at a church with a congregation that included
people that have “literally changed her diaper”. Another issue she faced with moving back was
the very apparent and deeply rooted racism in Harrison. The task of walking her parents through
the aging process and having to realize that they are dying served as a fear factor for going home.
Her husband, David, ended up getting the job as a minister and so they moved back in 2006. This
is where they now reside. She accredits it to God for putting her on this path no matter how hard
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or difficult because she believes it has led her to where she is now.
Her dissertation for her PhD was about a woman named Kathryn Kuhlman, a healing
Evangelist. She hopes one day she can turn her dissertation into a book. She expressed the pure
shock, joy, and ridiculousness of the random events that led her to her teaching job here at
Missouri State University.
After a health scare, she is made to experience God in a new way. Instead of experiencing
Him through extreme feelings, she has to now figure out how to find God in the center. She
stated that being outside is very important and she still attends church twice on Sundays. Her
view of God is neither male nor female, He is beyond gender lines. She has developed a strong
Trinitarian understanding of God. The female aspect, she experiences through the Holy Spirit,
the protector is through God the father and Jesus; the brother, as one who walks with her day by
day. She tries to involve God in every aspect of her life and daily routine. Her spiritual journey is
now a more physical, tangible, and embodied one.
Amy credits her parents and husband equally for being the greatest influences in her
religious journey. Her parents for giving her such a firm and grounded start in the church and her
believe in God, and for their unconditional and unwavering love and support. Her husband has
had a tremendous influence on her, with his support and love through all the tribulations they
have surpassed together has now given them a stronger bond.
Her advice to a younger person about religions is that God loves you unconditionally and
absolutely. Find out for yourself, study, think, ask questions and do not be afraid because God
loves you and adores you. People should stop worrying about burning in hell, instead focus on
this God of love who has wonderful things for us and not worry because he has a plan.
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