The Southern Baptist Convention might be overtaken by the feminism, but there is still cognizance to the question of “What is a pastor?” Though there are plenty of homosexuality affirming churches, like FBC Orlando and The Church by the Glades, the one red line in the sand is female pastors, which remains the unifying issue of orthodoxy that still garners a majority of the convention.
News broke out that upon recommendation from the Credentials Committee, the SBC Executive Committee has officially disfellowshipped from Saddleback Church, the former home of Rick Warren. Rick Warren infamously bloviated his accomplishments on the floor of the SBC convention in face of calls to disfellowship for Saddleback having ordained women pastors.
And even against the news of his church being disfellowshipped from the SBC, his ego cannot help but brag about the reach that he has had on the church along with the size of his platform. In his subtweet against the SBC, Warren even has the audacity to quote Jesus on the cross saying “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” Rick Warren is exalting himself to the level of Christ, if not higher. The oversized footprint from a man with an outsized ego is an ongoing threat as Warren has influenced an innumerable amount of churches.
It is an overdue process that should never have taken so long, but because the SBC was embarrassed to where even Al Mohler defended the unambiguous language of the Baptist Faith and Message pertaining to women pastors. Moreover, Warren’s successor Andy Wood, lacking SBC history, was less damaging for the Executive Committee to remove.
Per The Tennessean, five other churches were removed, most for having women as pastors.
New Faith Mission Ministry in Griffin: A church in Griffin, GA that was disfellowshipped over founding female pastor Gwennette Watson. This church claims to be nondenominational and their SBC affiliation is unclear from their website. They are seemingly a black church. They also hold some form of new apostolic heresy.
St. Timothy’s Christian Baptist: This is a black church in Baltimore, MD founded by a husband-wife pastor combination. Following the death of the husband, the wife reigns over the church with other women with nepotistic relations. The “pastor” is affiliated with the United Baptist Missionary Convention of Maryland, and there is nothing on their website to indicate a relationship with the SBC. They also had a Covid Screening form on their website, indicating how graven they fell into Branch Covidianism.
Calvary Baptist Church: This church in Jackson, MS is headed by Linda Smith. Linda Smith has SBC roots, growing up in an IMB missionary household and attending Southwestern Seminary. She was even in ministry at two SBC churches.
Fern Creek Baptist Church: Located in Louisville, KY, Fern Creek is held by Linda Popham, who was trained at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary before becoming music minister at Fern Creek.
Freedom Church: Located in Vero Beach, Fl, this church was disaffiliated over its refusal to cooperate with a sexual abuse allegation. Freedom Church is helmed by Richard Demsick, a former Anglican priest who switched to the Baptist team. He is is reported to be a former pastor according to an unrelated article that covered his Black Lives Matter activism. He is a TikToker with 17K followers. While the nature of the allegation is unclear, Demsick could be at the forefront but it’s unlikely as he hasn’t been a pastor for three years, at least. The church is not explicitly Southern Baptist.
Of the other five churches, two were explicitly black churches disfellowshipped during black history month while the other two had female pastors trained up by the SBC. With all the stringency on the biblical orthodoxy of exclusively male pastorate, the SBC, through its seminaries, was responsible for two of these cases. As for the remaining church, it could be another case of the Executive Committee disfellowshipping a non-SBC church over refusal to cooperate over an alleged sexual misconduct.
All six of these churches should have been disfellowshipped for failure of orthodoxy. However, there remains dozens more in the SBC that must be purged. Though necessary, disfellowshipping Saddleback with Andy Wood lacks the sting which would have accompanied the decision had it been ratified under Rick Warren. Better late than never, but the SBC should act promptly as if Christ could return any day.
In any case, this outcome shows the effectiveness of discernment ministries doing reporting and goading this outcome for years.
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Pride is self idolatry. Rick has been more impressed with himself than Christ, with whom he no longer thinks he has a need for. His meeting with Christ at the end of his life will not go well.
Two questions here: A woman doctor can lead her surgical team in complex brain surgery on a man and that’s okay. But, if she goes to a SBC church, she’s not permitted to use her intellect of biblical knowledge to teach while men are in the class? In the hospital, she’s profoundly educated and respected but in church she’s relegated to 2nd class unworthiness.
Why does the EDW permit strange ads like the complicated astrology-ish “theology” touting “the last 7-years” on earth?