In 1984, Sarah Ann Hobbs, director of mission for the North Carolina Baptist State Convention, offered some predictions for women in ministry over the next 30 years. She rightly noted that as women took on more roles in the workforce,…
Watching the Tonys, thinking about church
The presenters sound like ministers winging the announcements. I am watching The 76th Annual Tony Awards, celebrating the best of Broadway, and missing the writers. The Writers Guild of America is on strike, so they came up with a curious…
The Southern Baptist Convention is wrong
Baptist Women in Ministry is grieved by the actions of the 2023 Southern Baptist Convention. Today, the vote was announced in which the SBC upheld its Executive Committee’s decision to disfellowship Fern Creek Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., where Linda…
Banning books, bathrooms and medical care in the name of Jesus is a sin
Recently, when I went to my local grocery store outside Houston, I was greeted by rainbow-colored cups and recyclable grocery bags emblazoned with the message “Y’all Means All” on the front of a Texas-shaped rainbow. “Woohoo!” I exclaimed when I…
Female pastors: Appointed or apostate? Southern Baptists decide
What roles should women fill in Southern Baptist churches? Worship leader? Youth minister? Senior pastor? A group of Southern Baptists is convinced women who feel called to be pastors must have misunderstood God’s voice. These Southern Baptists will try to…
Dear Southern Baptists, if ‘all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy,’ then listen to all of Scripture
When messengers from churches of the Southern Baptist Convention assemble in New Orleans for their annual meeting this week, they will consider an appeal from Saddleback Church of California to reverse its expulsion over the ordination of female ministers. (See…
Will Southern Baptists give abuse survivors stones for bread?
As the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention approaches next week in New Orleans, one line from the Gospel of Matthew keeps rising in our minds: “Who is there among you, who, if his son asks for bread, will…
Juneteenth emancipation then and now
“There were two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other.” Harriet Tubman (c. 1822-1913) Born into slavery in Maryland around 1822, Harriet Tubman dreamed of freedom….
I’m relearning how to take Pride
I grew up in a small town of about 25,000 people. Our high school mascot was a lion, so it was natural for us to speak in terms of having “pride.” The big block letters in the band hall read…
Finding hope in the church despite these two documentaries
I watched the documentary Shiny Happy People over the weekend. This documentary focuses on the cult following of Bill Gothard and, subsequently, the Duggar family. The Gothard teachings very much oppressed women and were based on power and control, so…
What I learned when I invited a friend to church who processes the world differently than me
I love my church. Inviting my friend to join me for Pentecost Sunday and lunch afterward was an easy, uncomplicated act. The service that day was jubilant; our people warmly inviting. There was much shaking of hands and a few…
A friendly conversation on being ‘woke’
“What is ‘woke?’” she asked. The question interested me because I knew it was not being asked as some kind of loaded “gotcha” question. She wanted to know. She honestly wanted my help. She, being a friend, older than I,…