The battle over women serving as pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention took on new heat this week when the new pastor at Saddleback Church affirmed his belief that both men and women are qualified to preach and when a…
Want to get a sense of what it’s like to be a clergywoman? Watch ‘She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’
When Iron Man, the first installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was released in 2008, my husband and I went to see it on one of our weekly date nights. We were obviously out of ideas for activities that would…
Let’s hear from the male allies
On registration day in the fall of 2005 at James Walker Hood Theological Seminary, I looked around and it appeared the females outnumbered male seminarians three to one. I felt extremely proud to be among so many females. Why? Because…
As the third consecutive woman to preside over CBF, Debbie McDaniel is just as surprised as anyone else
As the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s new moderator, Debbie McDaniel said she wants women and girls to know they have a place in Baptist life, whether as ordained or lay leaders. “I want girls to know you and I are both…
Progressive National Baptist Convention elects woman to leadership role for first time
One of the country’s leading Black Protestant denominations elected a woman to a key leadership role for the first time. On Aug. 11, during its 61st annual session, the Progressive National Baptist Convention elected Jacqueline A. Thompson as second vice…
Historic Kentucky church calls gay man as co-pastor
A historic Baptist congregation in Kentucky called a gay man as co-pastor Aug. 14. Jordan Conley will join Andrea Woolley as co-pastor of Crescent Hill Baptist Church in Louisville as Jason Crosby leaves the church staff for a position at…
The equality of all people is indeed inalienable
The recent Supreme Court decision to reverse Roe v. Wade has reminded us that the state of women in our country is more disturbing than we might at first want to think. Not only have the rights of women to…
I pray for a day when the ordination of women is no longer a concern
It is encouraging and difficult to digest the information in the report on the State of Women in Baptist Life. One set of numbers that caught my eye is dedicated to the number of women ordained in the Baptist tradition….
This is my body
The traumas and burdens inflicted by COVID-19 are borne in our bodies, brains, hearts and communities. Physician Bessle van der Kolk explores the connection between trauma, the brain and the body in his fascinating book The Body Keeps the Score….
On women in church leadership: When you know better, you do better
The report on The State of Women in Baptist Life is only a couple of weeks old and already has caused quite a stir. And rightly so. From excellent opinion pieces calling for repentance to recognition and a call for…
How a verbally abusive male pastor derailed a young woman from ministry
“I can’t tell you how many Monday mornings I cried in the bathroom not wanting to go to work because I was so terrified of what the senior pastor was going to say to me when he came into the…
Jesus calls women to ministry by name and asks them to rise up, Stewart says in fiery BWIM sermon
Like the crippled woman in Luke 13, female clergy know what it means to be paralyzed by sexism, patriarchy and other forms of emotional and psychological abuse, Gina Stewart preached during Baptist Women in Ministry’s June 28 worship celebration in…