Fay Rochelle Nutt was born to Daniel and Henrietta Nutt on September 23, 1986, in Greenville, Mississippi. Daniel received his Master of Divinity from Southern Baptist Theological Society in 1985. He and his wife then moved to Greenville, where he served as senior pastor of a small Baptist church. Henrietta dutifully served her husband and family.

Fay was an only child, and her parents doted on her until she was around seven years old. When Henrietta learned she was unable to have more children, she began withdrawing her affection from Fay.

Fay loved to debate and was an excellent student. Her second grade teacher recognized Fay's critical thinking skills and encouraged her independent thought.

When Fay was young, her parents tolerated her inquisitive nature, but when she reached adolescence, her father demanded that she look to her mother's example of behavior befitting a woman. Fay dreamed of becoming a lawyer, but under the crippling pressure of her father's religious beliefs, these dreams were destroyed, and Fay lost her desire to pursue any profession.

Flying in the face of her parents' ultra-conservative views, on her 18th birthday, Fay moved to Oxford to cohabitate with her boyfriend, Zach, who was studying pre-law at the University of Mississippi.

Horrified, Fay's parents cut off all contact, telling Fay that her refusal to adhere to God's laws would lead to her eternal damnation and that her continued presence in their lives would incriminate them in God's eyes. Fay was devastated and slowly developed a strong resistance to commitment of any kind.

Her on-again-off-again relationship with Zach lasted for five years. Fay finally ended it for good in the middle of Zach's third year of law school when she realized she didn't want to be married.

Fay supported herself with long-term temporary secretarial assignments. In 2008, she reluctantly accepted a temporary job at the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit Church. While she wanted nothing to do with any church ever again, she found that the senior pastor's views and his wife's were very different from anything Fay had been exposed to. The Martinsons were down-to-earth, inclusive, and nonjudgmental.

After three months, Pastor Martinson offered Fay a permanent position. She accepted it without hesitation and happily settled into a supporting role for the pastor, his wife, and their church community.

Fay began attending church regularly by choice, and Pastor Martinson's perspectives on faith and the practice of Christianity profoundly affected her. Through Pastor Martinson's example and teachings, Fay was able to find forgiveness for her parents and, more importantly, for herself.