SBC Amendment

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“Fidelity, Clarity, and Unity”

Delivered at FBC Lawton, OK, April 16, 2024

Please turn in your copy of God’s inerrant, inspired, and sufficient Word to Acts 20:28-31.

We’ll turn to that passage in just a few moments, but first I want to say a word of thanks and then a word of introduction.

Thanks

First, I want to say thank you to Mike [Keahbone] and the saints here at First Baptist Church of Lawton, and to you all who have gathered here. It is a privilege of speaking about why our Convention should amend Article 3, Paragraph 1 of our Convention’s constitution to state that a church [is] in friendly cooperation with the Convention…which…”6. Affirms, appoints, or employs only men as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by Scripture.”

As I address this subject, keep in mind that we’re talking about the composition of the Convention. It is a rather technical matter. That is to say, defining which churches may seat messengers at the Convention. Again, thank you Mike for the opportunity to speak on this subject, and thank you to the saints of FBC Lawton for your generous and gracious hospitality. It is a joy to be here with you. 

Introduction

In March of 2022, then Supreme Court Nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson was asked, “What is a woman?” Justice Jackson could not answer the question. Three months after Justice Jackson’s testimony, in June of that SAME year (2022), the Credentials Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention asked that a Study Committee be formed in order to answer the question, “What is a pastor?” 

It was scandalous in 2022 that a Supreme Court nominee could not say that a woman was an adult human female, and it was disappointing just a few months later (in that same year) that the Credentials Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention did not say what the Bible and Southern Baptists have always said – a pastor cannot be a woman, but rather must be a biblically qualified man who is appointed, affirmed, and deployed for spiritual leadership in a local church.

Beloved, let me give you the bottom-line up front. We will either have women pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention, or we will not. We will either coddle sin and tolerate a corrosive error, or we will be faithful to what our God has revealed in the Scriptures. We will either let confusion reign, or we will speak with clarity. We will either be divided over Scripture and the Baptist Faith and Message, or we will be united in and faithful to them.

I want us as a Convention to be faithful to Scripture, don’t you? We have a glorious mission together of making Christ known, and the best way to do that is to remain faithful to Scripture, to remain faithful to God’s Word. That means positively and purposefully we must side with God and his Word. That means not standing by while sin and corrosive error grow.

The Bible teaches that only qualified men may serve as pastors/elders/overseers, and you should stand with the Bible positively and practically. So, Lord willing, when the Southern Baptist Convention meets in Indianapolis in June, you should vote to adopt the amendment (if you are a Messenger, you should vote) to adopt this amendment for the sake of fidelity, clarity, and unity.

That’s the thesis of the rest of this talk: You should vote to adopt the amendment for the sake of fidelity, clarity, and unity.

You should vote to adopt the Amendment for the sake of fidelity to Scripture.

You should vote to adopt the Amendment for the sake of clarity in our Convention.

You should vote to adopt the Amendment for the sake of unity in our Mission.

I’m here to say, really what I have been saying for the last 2 years.

And I pray that the Lord would be pleased to give us the courage to keep in step with the Spirit who gave us the inspired, inerrant, infallible, and sufficient Word of God that tells us a pastor is a biblically qualified man who is appointed, affirmed, and deployed for spiritual leadership in a local church.

First, you should vote to adopt the Amendment for the sake of fidelity to Scripture.

1. Adopt the Amendment for the Sake of Fidelity to Scripture

Fidelity is simply faithfulness to your commitments. Husbands and wives should remain faithful to one another and their vows. Fathers should keep their promises to their children. Christians should hold fast to their confession of their hope without wavering. Southern Baptists should stick with Scripture.

So, you should vote to adopt the Amendment for the sake of our Convention’s fidelity and faithfulness to Scripture, for the Amendment simply mirrors Scripture.

I want to stir you up by way of reminder about what pastors do, what pastors are like, and why pastors serve by looking at 2 passages of Scripture. First, let’s take a look at Acts 20:28-31.

a. Acts 20:28-31

In verses 17 to 38 of Acts chapter 20, Paul gives instruction to the pastors/the elders/the overseers of the church in Ephesus. Paul reminds these men of his work, and then in verses 28-31, Paul speaks about their work.  I’ll be reading from the ESV. Read Acts 20:28-31:

28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. 29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.

In Acts 20 we get a constellation of words related to the pastoral office. Throughout Paul’s farewell speech these men are called elders (in verse 17), and they’re called overseers (in verse 28). Also in verse 28, Paul exhorts them to care for the church of God or “shepherd the church” as some translations put it. That’s where we get our word for “Pastor” from.1 

These titles and terms are all addressing the same men, their office, and their work. So, an elder is an overseer who shepherd’s or pastors the flock of God. After all, who leads a flock but a shepherd? Pastor is perhaps the best word, the strongest word, the one word that wraps up all that elder and overseer mean into one neat package.

Historically this has been the understanding of Southern Baptists – that pastor/elder/overseer are all terms which speak of the same office. Through their writings, James Pendleton in 1867, E. C. Dargan in 1897, J.J. Taylor in 1899, O.C.S. Wallace in 1913, H.W. Tribble in 1929, Herschel Hobbs in 1964 and 1971 all affirm2 what Dr. Malcom Yarnell nicely summarized in 2007 when he wrote: “The three major Greek New Testament terms describing a pastor are episcopos, ‘overseer’ or ‘bishop’; presbyteros, ‘elder’; and poiman, ‘shepherd’ or ‘pastor.’”345

Now, from verses 28 to 31, look at the text and ask yourself what do pastors do? According to verse 28, pastors pay careful attention to themselves, so that they can care for the church of God, and oversee their particular flock.6

Fellow elders, pastors, overseers here today, you must keep watch over your life and doctrine. You must have earnest, sweet, and true communion with Christ if you are to lead the people of God to have the same. How can you pay careful attention to other souls if you are careless with your own soul?

Verses 29 and 30 teach us that pastors protect the flock from danger, from fierce wolves, who would draw disciples away from Christ. Fierce wolves? Shall we send our wives and daughters and sisters in Christ to face these fierce wolves? Or like godly men, shall we defend our wives and daughters and sisters in Christ? Will we stand between them and the wolves? Sometimes a pastor may literally have to stand between an angry husband and his wife, to risk his own physical well-being, to protect the weaker sheep. This is what godly men who love the Savior and his sheep must be prepared to do.

In verse 31, Paul admonishes these brothers to stay alert. Indeed, they should imitate Paul. He did not stop teaching and admonishing with tears, and neither should they.

So, from this passage, we see that pastors carefully take inventory of their own souls, so that they may lovingly tend God’s flock, tenaciously guard the sheep, and constantly teach.

Now, did you see in this passage why pastors serve? These men serve, according to verse 28, because the Holy Spirit made them overseers. The Holy Spirit does not make sisters in Christ overseers in contradiction to the clear commands of the Scripture that he inspired in 1 Timothy 2:12.

The Holy Spirit does not give sisters in Christ the gifts required for an office, which he elsewhere expressly forbids them from taking up. We do not serve a double-minded God.

The Holy Spirit creates a desire in and equips a man for pastoral ministry, while encouraging a local church to call him to pastoral ministry. The Holy Spirit does not do this with sisters in Christ.

There is another reason in verse 28 why pastors serve. Godly pastors serve because the church is precious to God and purchased by the blood of Christ. Brothers and sisters, we barely have words to express how precious the church is to God. 

[GOSPEL PROCLAMATION//INVITATION]

This is why pastors must pay careful attention to the flock, because the sheep are precious to Christ, and they should be precious to us. Our God has placed elders on earth to pastor Christ’s flock. And we do not have any authority to change God’s design, or disregard God’s Word. Instead, we should be faithful to it, and encourage our fellow churches to be faithful to God’s Word.

Let’s look at another passage. Turn in your copy of God’s Word to 1 Timothy 3:1-7. Follow along as I read.

b. 1 Timothy 3:1-7

1 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.

Here we encounter the qualifications of an overseer, an elder, a pastor. And you can see beyond doubt that this office must be carried out by a man. He must desire this noble task, verse 1. He must be a man of exceedingly high character, verse 2. He must be the husband of one wife, verse 2. Beloved, that’s not something a sister in Christ can do.

We may live in an androgynous and cross-dressing age, but Paul clearly speaks of biological males. This is the plain teaching of the Bible – pastors/elders/overseers must be godly, qualified men.

On the first and third Tuesday of the month I lead a Bible study at a Senior living facility. Five precious women normally attend. I’m going to miss them today because I’m here with you. Two weeks ago, we were studying this passage. One woman in the study said, “I believe that women can be pastors!” Before I was able to respond, sweet Jan (a member of my church), I call her Granny Jan, sweet Jan shot back, “We’re Baptists! We believe and follow the Bible!” Yes! Let’s be Baptists who believe and follow the Bible. Let’s be found faithful to Scripture. 

Our Convention is at a crossroads. If we cannot be clear and unashamed about what the Bible says a pastor is NOW, then there is little hope that we will stand firm on other teachings of God’s Word that are out of step with the standards of the world. Now is the right time to invite every church that seats messengers at our Convention to walk up to the line of Scripture, and walk on the line of Scripture.

We should expect our churches to be clear – to mean what they say, and say what they mean. We should expect, as Dr. Mohler said at the Convention in 2022, “…that churches that use the word ‘pastor,’ mean it.”7 In other words, it didn’t happen by accident. It was a deliberate word choice.

c. Words Matter, Semantics is Theology

Some dismiss this issue as a matter of mere words, mere semantics, but Beloved, theology is bound up in semantics. The word “semantics” is literally related to the meaning of words.8 There is significance in the semantics because words mean something. The words, “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, he was raised on the third day from the grave in accordance with the Scriptures” means something that has eternal significance. 

The word pastor means something too.9 It means a biblically qualified man who is appointed, affirmed, and deployed for spiritual leadership in a local church. Southern Baptists should not change the word pastor to mean that women can serve in the office and be a pastor of any kind. Rather, we should faithfully hold to God’s definition of the word.

The question of the Amendment is one of fidelity to the Bible and God’s design for his household of faith. Our cooperation does not honor God when it comes at the expense of redefining His words. You should vote for the Amendment because it affirms what the Bible announces – a pastor is a biblically qualified man who is appointed, affirmed, and deployed for spiritual leadership in a local church.

So, first, you should vote to adopt the Amendment for the sake of fidelity (faithfulness) to the Scriptures. Secondly, you should vote to adopt the Amendment for the sake of clarity in our Convention.

2. Adopt the Amendment for the Sake of Clarity in Our Convention

Clarity means things are not cloudy or confused. For example, my eyesight has slowly been diminishing. Every 2 to 5 years, I must see the eye doctor and get a slightly stronger prescription for my glasses. I want to see clearly, and if you are on the road with me you want me to see clearly. So, I take the steps necessary. I go to the eye doctor. I get my prescription. I order my glasses. When they arrive, I put them on.

When things get cloudy, you should want clarity. You should do more than “want.” You should take practical steps to pursue clarity.

There is doctrinal error and confusion in our Convention with respect to women pastors. Why?  Because the number of women pastors and confusion about women pastors has been growing.

First, the number of women pastors has been growing over the last four decades.

a. The Growth of Women Pastors

Writing for both “The Conversation” and “Sojourners” just last year, Susan Shaw, a professor at Oregon State University noted that in 1987 there were 18 women serving as pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention.10  Susan Shaw should know, for in 1983 she received an MA and in 1987 she received her PhD from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY.11 

18 in 1987. Fast forward to 1997. Writing for Baptist Women in Ministry’s FOLIO magazine, Sarah Frances Anders concluded that there were at least 85 women serving as pastors in Southern Baptist churches.12 

3 years later in 2000, when the Baptist Faith and Message passed, the leaders of the study committee quibbled with Anders’ number of 85. As reported by the Baltimore Sun, leaders of the BF&M Study Committee “pointed to a survey conducted by the Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary that found there were between 50 and 75 female pastors of Southern Baptist churches.”13

18 in 1987. Between 50 and 75 in 2000. So how is it going today?

After conducting a study in the Spring of 2023, Kevin McClure, writing for the American Reformer concluded that “there are approximately 1,844 female pastors” in the SBC.14 Many do not like Kevin McClure’s number. That’s fine. Around the same time, on June 8, 2023, Dr. Warren said that there were “at least 1,928 SBC churches have women pastors quietly serving on staff.”15 

From 18 in 1987 to over 1800 today. Beloved, the number of women pastors has grown across our Convention. You either think this is a problem, or you think it is progress. The Bible teaches that this is a problem, and the problem is not getting smaller, the problem is getting larger. 

Moreover, from coast to coast there is growing confusion across our Convention.

b. The Growth of Confusion Across our Convention

Let’s travel through three State Convention annual meetings that took place in 2023. We’ll begin in California, then travel to Texas, and finish in Virginia. As we do so, notice the progression from a confused hesitancy to a complete abdication of the male-only pastorate from these state conventions, all of which are in friendly cooperation with the SBC.16

i. Confusion in California [October 2023]

At the most recent annual meeting of the California Southern Baptist Convention in October of 2023 there was confusion over a non-binding resolution entitled, “On the Legacy and Responsibility of Women Fulfilling the Great Commission.”17 18

It was the exact same resolution that passed in New Orleans, that I and nearly every messenger voted for in June of 2023. This resolution rightly announced that:

“Scripture calls women to obey Christ’s Great Commission and demonstrates women are crucial and indispensable to His mission.”19

But the California Southern Baptist Convention could not agree to adopt this non-binding resolution affirming the “Legacy and Responsibility of Women Fulfilling the Great Commission” because within the resolution there was a citation of Article VI of the BF&M. 

What was the citation of Article VI?  This: “While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor/elder/overseer is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”

During the discussion, a pastor from La Palma, CA asked:

“So, if we were to say yes to this [resolution] today, what would we be doing with all of the churches that currently have pastors in our Convention? Because honestly in California we have women in that role.”20

When the resolution finally came to a vote, a pastor from Clovis Hills, CA urged the California Convention to table the resolution because, he said,

“Bart Barber, has asked the State Conventions to hold on any making any drastic moves toward this till they have made a decision.”21

Now, that is a mischaracterization of Dr. Barber’s request, but Beloved, affirming our historic, and more importantly, biblical position that the office of pastor/elder/overseer is limited to men is NOT a “drastic move.” It is an ordinary move to reaffirm what you believe again and again. It is ordinary to say that sisters in Christ are called to fulfill the Great Commission and that the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.

If there was confusion in California this past year, then there was trouble in Texas.

ii. Trouble in Texas [July 2023]

What happened at the annual meeting of the BGCT in the summer of 2023 shows what it looks like to attempt to manage the disobedience of allowing women as pastors.

Dr. Meredith Stone, the Executive Director for Baptist Women in Ministry, moved that the BGCT’s Executive Committee staff “create programs, resources, and initiatives to assist churches in affirming, appointing, and employing women in ministerial AND pastoral roles.” 

Dr. Stone explained her thinking to the Baptist Women in Ministry community by first recalling the BGCT’s history of attempted neutrality on the question of women pastors, but then Dr. Stone went on in her video to say:

“[W]hen we’re talking about a long-held oppression of people, neutral is just not enough…so what I’m going ask the BGCT to do is to no longer be neutral but to affirm women in ministry…In this motion, I’m asking them to affirm women in ALL ministerial and PASTORAL roles.”22

Do you hear how Dr. Stone was calling for advancing disobedience to the Bible in the BGCT? The BGCT had tried to manage the sin of women as pastors, but sin cannot be managed, because sin is a master.

At the microphone, Dr. Stone even argued that women in pastoral roles was: “the way of Jesus.”23 One sister in Christ from Waco, TX argued for the affirmation of women in pastoral roles as participation in “eternity life.”24  

Later in the discussion a sister from a church in Abilene, TX cast her vision for the future of the BGCT. She said that she wanted girls in the pews to “grow up with female pastors…preaching prophetic sermons.”25 She wanted the BGCT to provide the necessary resources so that “the female ministers of tomorrow can finally be pastors instead of ‘female pastors.’”

The thing to note here is that for the past 25 years the BGCT has attempted a “neutral” position of tolerating women as pastors. But this past year, these speakers openly pushed for full egalitarianism. This is the trajectory of tolerating and attempting to manage disobedience. This is the trajectory of attempting to take a neutral position. Which is what some in the Southern Baptist Convention want us to do, and that is what some in the BGCT wanted to do. Some think the BGTC can continue to maintain this neutral position. So, a pastor from a church in Longview, TX argued:

“[B]e assured of this, if we don’t make space for some of the women who feel called to ministry, we will drive them to more progressive strains of our denomination. We will drive them away, if we don’t make a home for them, make space for them here.”26

Such a posture of attempted neutrality fails because feminist progressive theology demands the affirmation of sin. What the BGCT debate shows us is that there is no neutrality between contradictory positions. We must clearly side with God’s Word. 

Now, as you may know, the motion was modified, and it did not pass as originally offered, but these tremors speak of trouble.

In 2023 there was confusion in California, trouble in Texas, and a vacuum in Virginia.

iii. A Vacuum in Virginia [November 2023]

At the most recent annual meeting, in November of 2023, of the Baptist General Association of Virginia (BGAV) a resolution passed calling for “a seven-member task force to explore programs, resources, policies, initiatives and relationships which further support and advocate for women in pastoral, ministerial and leadership roles among Virginia Baptists.”27

The sister who proposed the motion argued, “As women in ministry, we have answered the Spirit’s calling on our lives to serve God’s purposes in the world. We teach, and we preach.”28 Here is how Baptist Press concluded its reporting on the Virginia motion, “No messengers spoke in opposition to the motion.”29 There’s a vacuum in Virginia.

The authority and sufficiency of the Bible are abandoned when the faithful are absent or fail to speak up.

So, notice the progression from confusion, to compromise, to capitulation. Notice the progression in the degree of sin and disobedience. California cannot pass a non-binding 2023 SBC approved resolution affirming women fulfilling the Great Commission and the male-only pastorate. Next in degree, BGTC tolerates multiple women pastors pushing for full egalitarianism without having their credentials challenged. And finally, the BGAV where there is no opposition to full egalitarianism at all.

The Southern Baptist Convention cannot comfort itself by thinking we are not yet where these state conventions are. Each of these conventions and most of their churches are in Cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention, and may seat messengers at the annual meeting. 

A trajectory of 18 pastors in the 1980’s to over 1800 today is not something to place our hopes in. You should show up and vote to adopt the amendment for the sake of clarity in our Convention – announcing clearly for the benefit of our sister churches and Credentials Committee that any pastor must be a biblically qualified man who is appointed, affirmed, and deployed for spiritual leadership in a local church. Only churches affirming and practicing this should be allowed to seat messengers at our Convention to keep our entities faithful to our mission.

We should pursue clarity, and we should NOT tolerate error, especially when it comes to the pastoral office. Why? Because when we plant churches together, they should be churches that are clear, and not confused, about the male-only pastorate.

So, finally, you should vote to adopt the amendment for the sake of unity in our mission as Southern Baptists.

3. Adopt the Amendment for the Sake of Unity in our Mission

a. Our Past, and the Past of Others

As you may know the act to incorporate the Southern Baptist Convention was approved on  December 27th, 1845. Our Charter announces that the Southern Baptist Convention was “created for the purpose of eliciting, combining, and directing the energies of the BAPTIST denomination of Christians, for the propagation of the gospel.”30 Our Baptist forefathers aimed at directing “the energies of the Baptist denomination of Christians, for the propagation of the gospel.” This means that in our mission we cannot lose or lay aside our Baptist identity. 

Is our Baptist identity of first importance? Of course not. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is of first and most importance. But our Baptist identity is important, because together we evangelize, disciple, baptize, and train believers in order to plant Baptist churches. That’s what we’re united in, and we believe that our Baptist ecclesiology (our doctrine of the church) accords with New Testament faith and practice. Our doctrine of the church helps both protect and promote the faithful “propagation of the gospel.”

We have a particular faith and practice which is biblical, beautiful, and a blessing to the lost world. And a non-negotiable part of that faith and practice is the Bible’s teaching on the pastoral office.

Keeping our Convention’s unity on this issue, and thus our unity in the authority, clarity, and sufficiency of Scripture, cultivates a healthy soil in which our seminarians, church planters, and missionaries grow. Those raised in such a soil are those who, by God’s grace, adopt the attitude, “What he says we will do, where he sends we will go.” They are those who trust and obey God, precisely the kind of Christians needed to carry forward the mission of Christ and the mission of our Convention. On the other hand, abiding women in the pastoral office materially harms the work of our Convention because it cultivates disunity where we have long been united.

Southern Baptists are facing a decisive moment concerning gender roles and the pastoral office. If we cannot agree on what and who a pastor is, then that means we can’t agree on who should be leading our churches. This impacts our church planting efforts nationally and internationally, which is at the core of what we do as Southern Baptists. This issue is critical for our cooperation. 

And the reality is, this issue has been a canary in the coalmine for many denominations and may be for ours if we don’t stand united with conviction and clarity. Generally speaking, history shows that once a denomination allows female pastors, it’s usually just a matter of time until they affirm practicing homosexuals as pastors. 

For example, the American Baptist Churches USA allowed female pastors in 1985 and homosexual pastors in 1999. The Episcopal Church USA went from having female pastors in 1976 to homosexual pastors in 1996. For the ELCA, they ordained female pastors in 1988 and homosexual pastors in 2009. For the PCUSA, it was 1956, and then homosexual pastors in 2011. The United Methodist Church allowed female pastors in 1956, they are now hemorrhaging over homosexual ordination, and it’s the conservatives who are leaving.

Why be united on this issue? Because it is important to reaffirm our faith in God and his good design for his church. 

Why be united on this issue? Because we want to be found faithful while we wait for our Redeemer’s return. 

Why be united on this issue? Because we want to be biblical, and because obedience to God, glorifies God.

The slope really is slippery, and you must consider the unintended consequences of tolerating this error. But upholding God’s truth and our Convention’s convictions in unity shows our faith and trust in God and his authoritative and all-sufficient Word.

b. Our Present, and the Pastoral Office

Our present reality is this – some churches in our Convention do not have the same theology on this cooperative issue. That’s why some churches have fought, not merely to stay in the Convention, but to shift the Convention.

Dr. Rick Warren openly hoped that the next generation of Southern Baptists would (quote) “remove [this] restriction on women.”31 But we haven’t placed any restrictions on women. God simply does not call sisters in Christ into the pastoral office. We’re simply being faithful to God’s Word.

God called our sisters in Christ into other wonderful, valuable, vital, necessary, urgent, important, even essential ministry in the life of the church. My church, Arlington Baptist Church, would be impoverished, weak, and feeble if we lost the ministry of our sisters in Christ. We need them and their ministry in our church family.

Let’s be exceptionally clear, the Amendment is not about women in ministry. It is about women in the pastoral office. And at present, some in our Convention do not have the same theology on this matter.

At present, there are a few churches represented on the Cooperation Group that have women who serve as pastors. One member of the Cooperation Group has openly said, “We unwaveringly, unequivocally, gratefully have female pastors in this church.”32 This is an open admission of disobedience to the Word of God. Another member of the Cooperation Group has his wife, an Executive Pastor on staff at his church, preach on the Lord’s Day. This ought not be. It is sin. How will messengers from these kinds of churches help keep our entities faithful to the Bible’s teaching, when they are willfully rebelling against it?

But what about local church autonomy? Adopting the amendment does not violate any church’s autonomy. Though I wouldn’t recommend it, in its autonomy, any church may continue in its sinful disobedience to God’s Word on this issue. This amendment would not fire any female pastor or take away a church’s self-governance. This amendment simply falls under the Convention’s own autonomy to determine who can be credentialed as Messengers at our annual meetings. Every church would remain autonomous. But those churches that do appoint, affirm, or employ women as pastors are unsettling the unity in the Convention.

Some have said that Saddleback and Fern Creek’s removal proves that we have what we need, but beloved, it doesn’t. The Credentials Committee has only acted upon a few cases where churches have installed a woman as the Senior or Teaching Pastor. But just recently, a church, who has a woman serving as a pastor asserts they have been cleared by the Credentials Committee, and that they are in friendly cooperation with the Convention. On their website they openly state that they (quote) “[R]ecognize God’s calling to ordain any qualified individual, male or female, for pastoral ministry.”33 

In other words, the Credentials Committee is operating by a more limited definition than that of the Baptist Faith & Message. The BF&M does NOT say that “the office of ‘Senior Pastor’ is limited to men.” The Baptist Faith & Message says that “the office of pastor is limited to men.” That means any kind of pastor. 

Dr. Richard Land, one of the original members of the BF&M Study Committee confirmed this understanding of the BF&M through an article published in the Christian Post in August of 2022. Dr. Land writes: 

“I am certain that the overwhelming consensus among the study committee members was that the prohibition on women as ‘pastors’ was meant to be inclusive, and did not leave room for female church staff members to be accorded even a qualified version of that title.”34

In other words, sisters in Christ may not serve as associate pastors, assistant pastors, Campus pastors, Connections pastors, Greeters pastors, or Counseling Pastors…or any kind of pastor, even if it is “under” a so-called “Senior Pastor.”

As Dr. Land wisely said in that same article: 

“[I]t is impossible…for a church to confer even a qualified portion of the term “pastor” on a woman staff member without conferring some degree of pastoral authority upon her, which would be a violation of New Testament teaching.”35

B.H. Carroll, founder of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary said it with even more verve (quote):

“The custom in some congregations of having a woman as pastor is in flat contradiction to this apostolic teaching and is open rebellion against Christ our King, and high treason against His sovereignty, and against nature as well as grace. It unsexes both the woman who usurps this authority and the men who submit to it. Under no circumstances conceivable is it justifiable.”36

Anyone serving under the title or in the office of pastor should be a biblically qualified man. And this Amendment gives the Credentials Committee the guidance they need on this issue. It streamlines and makes decisions easier for the Credentials Committee.

For the sake of argument, let’s say that a church has a sister in Christ serving as the “Connection’s Pastor.” Imagine 100 kids growing up in that church learning that it is just fine for a woman to be a pastor. 

What if that is happening in over 1,000 churches in the SBC, as Kevin McClure and Dr. Warren both suggested? Are Southern Baptists content with 100,000 children learning that errant theology? Do we really want to multiply that error across the generations? This is to say nothing about their parents, visitors, and other church members for whom a woman serving as a pastor is being normalized week by week. 

In that scenario and situation, we’re not inoculating ourselves from errant theology, we’re injecting ourselves with errant theology. In that scenario we’re encouraging ongoing division amid our churches, rather than unity.

We need to be united in faithfulness here at home, because it sustains our future unity and faithfulness on the Mission field. 

c. Our Future on the Field, and Our Faithfulness at Home

By God’s grace the International Mission Board is abundantly clear when training our missionaries. In their training materials the IMB states that:

“We believe both men and women have vital roles in the ministry of the church. However, the role of pastor/elder/overseer is exclusively assigned to men in the church and not to women (1 Timothy 2:11–12). This is not a Western cultural practice but a biblical command, and we are not at liberty to change it. Nor can we step around this requirement by calling women by a different title but then assigning them the leadership and teaching functions of a pastor/elder/overseer.”37 

That is a wonderfully faithful statement from our International Mission Board. Our faithfulness on the mission field is connected to our faithfulness at home. If we tolerate unfaithful practices at home, they will soon find their way to the mission field. 

Continuation of the mission and cooperation in the mission springs from a shared conviction and commitment to God’s message and means for the mission.

 “The office of pastor/elder/overseer is limited to men as qualified by Scripture” and as the Preamble to the BF&M says this is one of the things “most surely held among us” and “which we believe.” This is our Convention’s conviction. We should be faithful to it, clear about it, and united in it.

Conclusion

So, let me conclude. Doctrine unites us as it drives our devotion to Christ and fuels our declaration of Christ. We yearn to see Christ made great among the nations because he is worthy of all possible honor, confidence, love, and worship. 

We have to be united in our message if we’re going to be united in our mission.

In our time, there has been an attempt to erase the glorious and God-created distinctions between men and women, we saw that from a Supreme Court nominee, and we’re seeing it in the church. Jonathan Leeman once wrote:

“[T]he egalitarian and androgynous push of the last several decades is a front-burner, generationally urgent issue for the church, and anyone who denies this is naïve. Our culture’s assault on gender differences and authority is generationally urgent because it’s unique to this Western moment, this time and place. This is our battle, and if you cannot see that, I believe you are more affected by our time and place than you realize.”38

We must address this pressing problem with the truth of Scripture and the hope of the gospel. As believers in Jesus Christ, we must hold fast to our Savior’s teaching that “He who created them in the beginning made them male and female.”39 

We must be faithful to God’s Word, providing a firm foundation for those who would otherwise be confused about the Bible’s teaching on sex and its implications for the Church. If we fail to uphold God’s Word, we will fail to reach God’s world.40 If we conform to our culture, we will corrode God’s commission. We don’t want to do that as a Convention. We want to carry forward the Great Commission with conviction, with joy and gladness in Jesus Christ.

Ask yourself this: Does the Amendment reflect fidelity to Scripture? Yes, so you should vote for it.

Does the Amendment make clear that the pastoral office is reserved for biblically qualified men? Yes, so you should vote for it. 

Does the Amendment serve the Credentials Committee in answering their question of who may serve in the pastoral office? Yes, so you should vote for it. 

Does the Amendment announce our unity in God’s Message and the Mission to reach the lost and build churches as God has designed? Yes, so you should vote for it. 

This Amendment expresses fidelity, brings clarity, and strengthens our unity. It puts us all on the same page about what and who a pastor is – a biblically qualified man who is appointed, affirmed, and deployed for spiritual leadership in a local church.

This gives us confidence to support our church planting and missions sending agencies. It backs them up and blesses them as they go to plant churches with pastors who are biblically qualified men.

Let us be a Convention who joyfully takes Christ to the nations in God’s way according to God’s Word. Would you join me in praying for that now? Let’s pray together.

  1. The word the ESV translates here “care” is ποιμαίνειν, to shepherd, to pastor. ↩︎
  2. 1867 – James M. Pendleton, Church Manual (republished by Broadman, 1966), pg. 23-25: “Apostles, prophets, and evangelists filled extraordinary and temporary offices.  There are no such offices now.  Pastors and teachers, the same men, are the ordinary and permanent spiritual officers of the churches…(pg. 23). Thus does it appear that pastor, bishop, and elder are the three terms designating the same office.” (pg. 25; same sentence found in Pendleton’s Christian Doctrines, 1878)
    1897, 1905 – E. C. Dargan (SBTS professor, SBC President), The Doctrines of our Faith (Sunday School Board), chapter 22, pg. 162: “In regard to the apostles it is to be observed that they were not called to office by the churches, but by direct divine appointment…Much the same thing may be said in regard to the prophets, and others…The regular and permanent officers of a New Testament church were elders and deacons. The elders are also called bishops (overseers) and pastors.”
    1899, J. J. Taylor, Baptist: Why and Why Not, J. M. Frost, ed. (first book published by Sunday School Board), pg. 93: “Bishop, elder and pastor are different terms applied to the same persons in the New Testament. This is the view not only of Baptists, but of the predominant scholarship of the world, Disciple, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, and non-religious.”
    1913, 1934 – O. C. S. Wallace, What Baptists Believe (Sunday School Board), pg. 146-147: “Pastors may be called bishops, the difference in name being due to the different aspects of their work which may be under consideration.  When the pastor is thought of not so much as a shepherd of the flock as an overseer of the affairs and interests of the flock, he may be called a bishop or overseer.  But whatever the name, the duties are the same.  A bishop is not a pastor of a particular kind or rank:  every pastor is a bishop, as every bishop is a pastor.”
    1929, 1936 – H. W. Tribble, Our Doctrines (Convention Press), pg. 112-113: “The New Testament uses three terms to designate the pastors of churches.  They are ‘bishop,’ ‘elder,’ and ‘pastor.’…These three terms seem to be used almost interchangeably to refer to the officer that Baptists call pastor… [in contrast to Deacons] the pastors, or bishops, or elders are ministering leaders and preachers.”
    1964, etc. – Herschel Hobbs (SBC President, architect of BFM 1963), What Baptists Believe (published by Broadman), pg. 85, 86: “Pastor – This is one of the three titles referring to the same office.  The other two are ‘bishop’ and ‘elder.’  The qualifications for this office are set forth in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9…So the three words—elder, bishop, and pastor—refer to the same office but to different functions within that office:  elder (counsel, guidance); bishop (overseer or administrator); pastor (shepherd to feed, guard, and tend).”
    1971, etc. – Herschel Hobbs (SBC President, architect of BFM 1963), The Baptist Faith and Message, official commentary on BFM 1963, Sunday School Board, pgs. 80-81: “The officers in a local New Testament church are pastors, and deacons (Phil. 1:1).  The same office is variously called bishop, elder, or pastor.  The qualifications for pastors and deacons are set forth in 1 Timothy 3…That these three words refer to the same office is seen in Acts 20:28.”
    ↩︎
  3. 2007 – Malcolm Yarnell (professor SWBTS), Baptist Faith and Message 2000 (Commentary by SBC Seminary faculty, graduates, etc.), chapter on Article VI, the Church, pg. 62-63.
    ↩︎
  4. Also, in 2007 – Mohler, Kelley, Land, eds. (leaders of BFM 2000), Baptist Faith and Message (Lifeway, official commentary and Bible Study on BFM 2000), pg. 90:   
    “The New Testament words that Baptists identify with the pastoral office include terms translated as bishop, elder, and pastor…Each term adds to our understanding of the pastoral office and the pastor’s responsibility.  Bishop means overseer – someone who oversees the work of others.  Jews used the word elder to designate someone who possessed dignity and wisdom.  In the Christian church elder was used for someone who presided over assemblies and served as a counselor.  The term pastor describes a shepherd who loves and cares for the believers who make up the congregation (see Acts 20:28)…Above all else, the pastor must preach and teach the Word of God.  We also affirm that the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.  This assertion has become controversial only in recent years.  Until recently, all Christians affirmed that the pastoral office is limited to men recognized as fully qualified by biblical definitions.  The Bible clearly reveals a complementary relationship between men and women.  Both are equally created in the image of God (see Gen. 1:27; Gal. 3:28).  Both are gifted for service in the church.  But the New Testament defines a pastor as a man who is ‘the husband of one wife’ (1 Tim. 3:2) and a man who is gifted by God to fulfill the pastoral role.  God’s instruction is for men to assume and fulfill the preaching ministry.  Many other ministries and responsibilities are available in the church for both men and women.” ↩︎
  5. As a friend of mine has pointed out, the only people we actually see pastoring/shepherding people in the New Testament are Jesus, elders and overseers, and false teachers. Never women. ↩︎
  6. Peter added in Acts 6 that pastors are devoted to prayer and the ministry of the word, a text reference used by the BFM. ↩︎
  7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=266GFybQhc8&t=753s ↩︎
  8. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/semantics ↩︎
  9. To be clear, I am not saying that the word pastor is a matter of first importance, but what I am saying is that words matter. Dr. Rosaria Butterfield is right. In her book Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age she wrote: “Words matter. And we are living in a world that has become a war of words…Words do more than communicate ideas; they shape our imaginations. Change the words, and you change the world.” Rosaria Butterfield, Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age (Crossway Books: Wheaton, IL), 102. ↩︎
  10. https://sojo.net/articles/primer-sbcs-complicated-history-women 
    https://theconversation.com/how-women-in-the-southern-baptist-convention-have-fought-for-decades-to-be-ordained-161061  ↩︎
  11. https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/users/susan-shaw
    https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/sites/liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/files/shaw_cv_2019.doc ↩︎
  12.  https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-nov-08-me-51709-story.html
    https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/sbc-life-articles/sbc-and-women-pastors/ ↩︎
  13.  https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/sbc-life-articles/sbc-and-women-pastors/
    https://web.archive.org/web/20240404142755/https://www.baltimoresun.com/2000/06/15/southern-baptists-vote-to-forbid-women-pastors-national-convention-adopts-provision-with-little-dissent/ ↩︎
  14. https://americanreformer.org/2023/06/how-many-female-pastors-are-in-the-sbc/ ↩︎
  15. https://twitter.com/RickWarren/status/1666669113790586881 ↩︎
  16. The SBC Constitution, Bylaws, Cooperative Program, and even Workspace all recognize the Cooperating status of state and local conventions/associations.  The Constitution, in Articles VI.1.2 & 2.2, has requirements for boards and trustees based on cooperating state conventions. Also, the Bylaws stipulate requirements for committees based on cooperating state conventions.  State conventions and local associations can also join Workspace and receive their own SBC ID.

    Though cooperating state conventions do not factor into the Messenger composition for the SBC’s annual convention, it is the basis of giving through the CP as well as counts towards filling Entity committees and boards. The SBC officially recognizes 41 cooperating state conventions, with two each from the states of Texas and Virginia, and some states combined into singular conventions.  See the full list here:
    https://www.sbc.net/resources/directories/state-and-local-associations/.

    That the SBC takes the cooperation of state conventions seriously can be seen by an incident in 2002 whereby a moderate Missouri state convention, which had split off from the historic MO convention over the updated BFM2K, attempted to cooperate with and send money to the CP, but the Executive Committee refused to find them in cooperation with the SBC:
    https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/mo-baptist-leaders-praise-chapmans-stance-on-proposed-new-convention/.

    Relevant sources that include information about the nature of cooperation between state conventions and the SBC: https://erlc.com/resource-library/articles/explainer-what-you-should-know-about-sbc-state-conventions/
    https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/an-aid-to-understanding-the-sbc/
    https://calledtoministry.org/sbc-info/
    https://www.sbc.net/about/becoming-a-southern-baptist-church/faq/
    https://www.sbc.net/missions/the-cooperative-program/about-the-cooperative-program/
    https://www.sbc.net/about/what-we-do/faq/ ↩︎
  17. Video source of CSBC resolution discussion (time stamps 1:20:48 to 1:36:48 (initial discussion, tabled) & 1:53:10-2:02:33 (miscellaneous session, final tabling): 
    https://acts2.vhx.tv/california-baptist-state-convention/season:1/videos/csbc-annual-meeting-session-2 ↩︎
  18. https://www.sbc.net/resource-library/resolutions/on-the-legacy-and-responsibility-of-women-fulfilling-the-great-commission/ ↩︎
  19. https://www.sbc.net/resource-library/resolutions/on-the-legacy-and-responsibility-of-women-fulfilling-the-great-commission/ ↩︎
  20. Abel Galvan, pastor of Faith Fellowship. ↩︎
  21. Pastor Shawn Beaty of Clovis Hills Community Church ↩︎
  22. https://www.facebook.com/BaptistWomen/videos/advocacy-alert-bwim-executive-director-meredith-stone-just-made-a-motion-asking-/208045108528787/ ↩︎
  23. Audio from the BGCT may be found here: https://www.dennyburk.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/BGCT-Debate-Female-Pastors.m4a ↩︎
  24. Hannah Coe, the Sr. Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, TX.  She said this: “[W]hat I am listening for and watching for is our convention willing to participate in eternity life here and now by affirming that God is powerful enough and big enough to call women to all forms of leadership and service in the church, and are we willing to take concrete actions to this end?” ↩︎
  25. Jill Hudson, a messenger from First Baptist Church. ↩︎
  26. Dr. Collin Bullard from First Baptist Church. ↩︎
  27. https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/sbc-digest-several-states-address-role-of-women-in-ministry/  ↩︎
  28. https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/sbc-digest-several-states-address-role-of-women-in-ministry/   ↩︎
  29. https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/sbc-digest-several-states-address-role-of-women-in-ministry/   ↩︎
  30. https://www.sbc.net/about/what-we-do/legal-documentation/charter/ ↩︎
  31. https://churchleaders.com/news/451110-exclusive-rick-warren-churchleaders-reasons-saddleback-challenging-sbc-removal.html/2 ↩︎
  32. https://twitter.com/NateSchlomann/status/1702152186736570563 ↩︎
  33. https://fbcalexandria.org/sbc-amendment-amp-fbca ↩︎
  34. https://www.christianpost.com/news/the-southern-baptists-pastor-controversy.html ↩︎
  35. https://www.christianpost.com/news/the-southern-baptists-pastor-controversy.html ↩︎
  36. B. H. Carroll, The Pastoral Epistles of Paul and I and II Peter, Jude, and I, II and III John, (New York; Chicago; Toronto; London; Edinburgh: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1915), 40. ↩︎
  37. IMB Training Materials, “Foundations,” p. 116, https://issuu.com/trainingdev/docs/imb_foundations  ↩︎
  38. https://www.9marks.org/article/complementarianism-a-moment-of-reckoning-part-2/ ↩︎
  39. Matthew 19:4 ↩︎
  40. Romans 10:17 ↩︎