NASHVILLE (ABP) — A Tennessee church that raised controversy after calling an openly gay woman to be an associate pastor has now elevated her to co-pastor — and called another woman from Georgia to complete the pastoral team.
Nashville's Glendale Baptist Church has called April Baker and Amy Mears to be its co-pastors. Mears, previously a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship-endorsed chaplain at University Hospital in Augusta, Ga., will begin preaching responsibilities Nov. 28.
Baker has been the church's associate pastor since 2002. News about her and her sexuality raised controversy in the Nashville Baptist Association and Tennessee Baptist Convention. In 2003, the state convention cut ties with Glendale over the issue.
Baker has served in the church's main pastoral role on an interim basis since March 2003, when longtime pastor Mark Caldwell retired. Her partner, Deborah Lynn, is also a Glendale member.
A South Carolina native, Baker holds an undergraduate degree from Furman University and a master's degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. She has been a leader in both the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America and the Alliance of Baptists. She helped lead a retreat that formed the basis for a resource guide co-published by both organizations that is designed to help churches talk about sexual-orientation issues.
Mears, herself a South Carolina native and graduate of Furman and Southern Seminary, has served as a chaplain, pastor, associate pastor and teacher. She has been a member of the CBF Coordinating Council and on the board of directors of Baptist Women in Ministry. She and her husband, David Webb, have four young children.
Glendale is affiliated with CBF, the Alliance and the gay-friendly Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists. With the addition of Mears to the staff, Glendale will have an all-female ministerial team. Its other staff pastors — ministers of music and youth — are women.