May Day fell on a Sunday, one year to the day after I graduated college. I already was a minister of music and youth at the local First Baptist Church. Back then, we thought it was a good idea. Folks…
She preached anyway
On March 15, 2020, my husband and I were preparing for one of the most important moments of our lives: Our ordination ceremony. We had prayed about it. We had sought God’s direction. We believed with all our hearts we…
Why I stay in the SBC as an ordained woman
That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. — 2 Corinthians 12:10 I was ordained alongside my husband on a Sunday afternoon in…
We ordain women because we baptize girls
“In those days,” God declares, “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. … I will pour out my Spirit on both men and women, and they shall prophesy.” — Acts…
Affirmed yet not ordained?
As Meredith Stone of Baptist Women in Ministry announced the results of the State of Women in Ministry 2025 report, she said this: “BWIM has counted 2,856 Baptist women ordained to the gospel ministry.” My immediate reaction was, there has…
Florida church ordains four women for ministry on same day
While some Baptist churches are actively running away from any hint of supporting women in leadership, a Florida Baptist church recently ordained four women as ministers on the same day. In a Sept. 21 service filled with pageantry, liturgical readings…
With fewer ordinations, seminaries find ways to serve young professionals in other fields
On a Tuesday evening in early April, an audience sat enraptured in Princeton Theological Seminary’s dining hall as, one by one, adults in their 20s walked up to a platform, took the microphone and shared a story.
Two LGBTQ British Baptist ministers ordained in Canada
A Canadian Baptist church and association ordained two ministers from the United Kingdom Oct. 27 because they could not be ordained in the Baptist Union of Great Britain. First Baptist Church of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the Canadian Association for…
My ordination is precious to me
When the Southern Baptist Convention voted last week to reaffirm its expulsion of churches with women pastors on staff and to begin the process of amending its constitution to make sure any member congregation “does not affirm, appoint or employ…
Want to understand why the SBC expelled its largest church? Listen to W.A. Criswell
W.A. Criswell would be so proud of the Southern Baptist Convention this week. The man who once was the spokesman for why women should not — cannot — be pastors has reached peak influence 114 years after his birth. About…
PC(USA) committee lambasted for choosing a ‘text of terror’ for ordination exam
The committee overseeing ordination exams for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has been called out for its selection of a so-called “text of terror” for this year’s written examination all candidates must complete. The passage from Judges 19 involves gang rape,…
An important conversation about ordaining and unordaining
Our motto here at BNG is to inspire you, dear readers, with change-making conversations. We’ve hit a nerve with one of those conversations this week, which tells me it is extremely important that we talk about this. The “this” is…