Sixty years ago, Baptists would have had little reason to debate the meaning of the word “pastor.” In those simpler days, “the pastor” was the primary staff leader of a congregation — the person who preached most Sundays and provided…
Southern Baptists approve sexual abuse response and debate doctrinal parameters
Southern Baptists spent their annual meeting debating how tight the doctrinal boundaries should be around the denomination’s fellowship. Sexual abusers are out. But so are members of the LGBTQ community and those who support them. Women pastors are out, although a…
43 years after launching one of America’s most innovative churches, Rick and Kay Warren name their successors
Saddleback Church has operated differently than a typical Southern Baptist church from the beginning, and that tradition continues in the selection of a successor to founding pastor Rick Warren. The Southern California megachurch — the largest congregation affiliated with the…
What does history teach us about Saddleback Church and the SBC?
The prominent Southern Baptist (or maybe soon-to-be-former Southern Baptist) congregation Saddleback Church touched off a firestorm last weekend by publicly ordaining three women as pastors. While it’s unclear exactly how the Southern Baptist Convention will react, it’s going to be…
Saddleback, women’s ordination and Jezebels: An open letter to Al Mohler
Dear Al, May I call you Al? We both have doctorates, so I would prefer we forgo honorifics; you can just call me Jonathan. I’m not sure we’ve met, although I’ve known you from a distance for years. I doubt…
Largest church in SBC ordains three women as pastors
The largest church affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention ordained three women as ministers May 6, sending shock waves through the male-centric leadership of the nation’s largest non-Catholic denomination. Saddleback Church, founded by Pastor Rick Warren and his wife, Kay,…
Rick Warren: Churches aren’t being persecuted by COVID restrictions
Christmas week brought more twists and turns to the legal battles in California over coronavirus-forced closures of in-person worship, while the spike in COVID infections, hospitalizations and deaths skyrocketed. In contrast to a few pastors and churches that have made…
Rick Warren’s conundrum: What’s the nature and extent of salvation?
What if more of us believed in and trusted in a more loving, gracious, inclusive God? What if more of us focused on this life rather than the afterlife and understood salvation in terms of healing, wholeness, reconciliation and liberation from the life diminishing forces that possess us and oppress us, so that we are free to truly love God and love others?
Soulforce asks Facebook to divest from National Religious Broadcasters
A Christian advocacy group for LGBT inclusion is trying to organize a Twitter storm to force a face-to-face meeting with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg calling on the company to divest from right-wing Christian media. Soulforce Executive Director Haven Herrin hopes…