Anti-egalitarian forces in the Southern Baptist Convention made a clean sweep of their agenda to exclude women from serving as pastors of any kind in SBC churches. In the process, they affirmed the expulsion of the denomination’s largest church and…
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…
Saddleback and Fern Creek churches face off against Al Mohler at SBC meeting
By appearances, the deck was stacked against Linda Barnes Popham and Rick Warren before they ever took the microphone at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting Tuesday, June 13. Just an hour or so before, the nearly 13,000 messengers to…
In irregular move, SBC Executive Committee puts forward a proposal it doesn’t want to pass
The Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee doesn’t favor a proposed constitutional amendment banning female pastors but wants messengers to the SBC annual meeting to vote on it anyway. During a June 12 meeting in New Orleans one day before the…
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…
Rick Warren apologizes to women for his previous views on church leadership
In the runup to the biggest theological fight of his life this week, Rick Warren has issued a public apology to “Christian women.” “My biggest regret in 53 years of ministry is that I didn’t do my own personal exegesis…
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…
The rhetorical genius of Rick Warren
I look forward to Rick Warren addressing the Southern Baptist Convention at its annual meeting in New Orleans, June 13-14. Warren deserves more credit for his decision to publicly dissent from the SBC ruling expelling the church he founded from…
Is Rick Warren reviving the fight against the fundamentalist takeover of the SBC?
Rick Warren announced a couple of weeks ago that he will appeal the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee’s decision to disfellowship Saddleback Church. In the past few days, Warren has grabbed a bullhorn and “taken to the streets,” so to…