SBC Credentials Committee Boots Saddleback Over Ordination of Female Pastors
The Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee followed the Credentials Committee’s recommendation to disfellowship Saddleback Church of Lake Forest, California due to the church’s ordination of women to the office of pastor, putting an end to the 18-month controversy that has raged within the convention over the Bible’s teaching versus the practices of the California megachurch.
In May 2021, Saddleback ordained three women to the pastorate – a move that not only contradicted the Baptist Faith and Message (the SBC’s doctrinal statement) but contradicted the biblical and historical teaching on the reservation of the office of pastor/elder/overseer to qualified men (1 Tim. 2:11-14, 1 Tim. 3:12, Titus 1:6). Recently it was revealed that Saddleback is (much like Andy Stanley’s Northpoint Community Church) partnering with pro-LGBTQ+ “ministry” Embracing the Journey.
Not only did recently retired Saddleback pastor Rick Warren employ a novel and twisted interpretation of scripture to justify the move (claiming that the office and the gifting of pastor were distinct), he almost fooled the Credentials Committee, which at the 2022 SBC Annual Meeting refused to make a decision on the complaint brought a year prior, choosing instead to “study” what the Baptist Faith and Message meant by the sentence, “the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”
In true Rick Warren style, and in the same spirit he insulted the SBC to its face at the 2022 Annual Meeting, he bragged about his church’s “accomplishments” by listing metrics as a parting shot to the SBC:
Warren’s replacement Andy Wood and “co-pastor” wife Stacie have faced recent criticism not only for their pastoral egalitarianism but for being functionally gay-affirming and unwilling to draw even the simplest conclusions on the biblical teaching regarding marriage.
The Credentials Committee disfellowshipped four additional churches with women pastors, as well as one church – Freedom Church of Vero Beach, California – over “a lack of intent to cooperate in resolving concerns regarding a sexual abuse allegation.” Freedom Church pastor Rick Demsick called the claim “slanderous” and “false reports based on gossip.”
It remains to be seen what the financial ramifications of disfellowshipping a massive megachurch like Saddleback will be for the SBC, but it looks like the convention may have to tighten its belt even further as it budgets for the likely incoming wave of sex abuse claims and the super-expensive website to track them.
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Wow, so they do have a spine…
This tragic situation could have been so easily avoided if they would have just given the title of “minister” to the women like the other 99.9% of SBC churches. Sheesh, learn how to roll with our closet-egalitarian denomination.