Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Leaders Plot To Delay Disfellowshipping Women ‘Pastors’
Leaders of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC) are plotting and scheming to prevent the removal of Texas churches that have women pastors from the state convention, trying to delay by a year the implementation of the ‘Law Amendment’ and the subsequent mass yeeting of churches with lady preachers that would accompany it.
This past summer, messengers at the 2023 Annual Meeting approved a motion introduced by Mike Law to amend Article 6 of the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, clarifying the roles of women and clearly and unambiguously barring them from holding any pastoral roles- whether it be senior pastor, associate pastor, youth pastor, or children’s pastor.
The Law amendment removed much of the semantic wiggle room employed by egalitarians seeking to nestle into the crevices of the confession. However, it still needs to be ratified at two successive meetings by 2/3 of messengers in order to be settled the law.
According to sources, at the SBTC’s upcoming annual conference on November 13, the Executive Board will be asking messengers to amend the date by a year so that Texas’ SBC churches that have women pastors will not be disfellowshipped on these grounds for at least another 18 months.
In response, Mike Law, who has been spearheading the resolution for the 2024 conference, is emailing SBC pastors in Texas about this upcoming event, urging them to vote against it while Sam Webb organizes opposition from the floor.
Of course, Law’s and Webb’s involvement in another state’s convention has raised the hackles of some folk, criticizing them for the move.
This might be a valid point if this tweet from SBC President Bart Barber didn’t exist.
Furthermore, Law is only emailing those pastors who have already signed and signaled their support for the amendment, keeping them in the loop for any developments that may affect the 2024 Annual Meeting this summer. He is not contacting opponents of the amendment and trying to meddle by giving them the hard sell, but instead is informing already interested and committed parties.
Opposition is brewing, and it’ll only get stronger.
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