MARION, N.C. (ABP) — Parker's Chapel Missionary Baptist Church voted Nov. 7 to withdraw from the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina and the Blue Ridge Baptist Association after learning that a woman had been slated to preach the annual sermon at the state convention.
Author and speaker Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of evangelist Billy Graham, delivered the “convention message” during the Nov. 15-17 meeting in Winston-Salem.
In a letter addressed to the Blue Ridge Association, pastor Larry Brown referred to the convention as the “Southern Baptist State Convention.”
“We find that it is impossible for us, as Bible-believing Christians, to support the SBSC in this outright affront to the Word of God,” he wrote. “Our congregation held an emergency meeting during Sunday morning worship and we determined, by a vote of 47 to 0, that we cannot and will not be part of an organization that blatantly ignores one of the most basic guidelines for church leadership, as stated in 1 Timothy 3:1-13.”
The passage in 1 Timothy 3:1-3 discusses qualifications for pastors and deacons.
In the letter, Brown said Lotz is “a fine Christian woman,” and “a good teacher and speaker.”
“However,” he added, “she cannot fulfill the role of preacher, whether this refers to the pulpit of a church or the podium of a convention.”
Brown told the Biblical Recorder his church believes it is unbiblical for a woman to preach. “We just feel like if this is OK this time, what's it going to lead to next?”
“I've been a Southern Baptist all my life,” he said, but “Southern Baptists are getting more liberal all the time.”
Parker's Chapel Baptist Church, with about 75 members, traditionally has contributed small amounts to the association and the state convention, but stated in the withdrawal letter that it “will no longer support financially any endeavors of these groups.”