July 30, 2001

BF&M cited in crusade to oust Florida church
___By Christopher Hedglin
___Associated Baptist Press
___GAINESVILLE, Fla. (ABP) --The ordination of a woman minister at a church in Gainesville, Fla., has sparked a dispute that may force the congregation out of the Santa Fe River Baptist Association due to interpretation of the revised Baptist Faith & Message.
___In addition, Lynn Williams' dismissal from two consultant positions she held with the Florida Baptist Convention has raised questions about whether ordination was connected to her loss of work with the state.
___Williams, minister of education and students at Parkview Baptist Church, was ordained Jan. 7. In response, three churches alleged that the Gainesville congregation is out of fellowship with the association and called for its removal.
___The churches, First Baptist Church of Archer, Santa Fe Baptist Church of Alachua and Parker Road Baptist Church of Gainesville, contend Williams' ordination goes against the new Baptist Faith & Message statement adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention last year.
___The faith statement reads in part, "While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture." While members of the committee drafting the new language said it was intended to address only women as senior pastors, some are reading it as applying to all ordained ministers.
___Wayne Harvey, the association's director of missions, said the association had "not established any statement of faith," which includes never having endorsed the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message. But Parkview's opponents claim that a section in the association's bylaws automatically puts the congregation out of fellowship.
___The section states, "The association reserves the right to withdraw membership from any church found to be out of fellowship with the association, the Florida Baptist Convention or the Southern Baptist Convention in their doctrine, principles, practices, policies and programs."
___Critics say Parkview's ordination of Williams goes against the policies of the SBC and thus violates the association's bylaws.
___"I'm not against any individual," said Gordon Keller, the pastor of Parker Road Baptist Church, "but I feel and I believe that the Bible is clear that women are not to be ordained. That's why I have taken the stand that I have."
___A decision on Parkview's future with the association will not be made until the association's annual meeting this fall.
___Williams'ordination also has forced her to step down or be removed from a number of leadership positions she held prior to this year, she said.
___Earlier this year, Williams voluntarily decided that at the end of this term she would step down as the association's Sunday School director. In addition she resigned from the association's strategic planning team.
___Those were concessions to the church's opponents in an effort to keep the peace within the association, she said.
___But Williams believes she has been denied leadership opportunities on a state level due to her ordination.
___She was told she would no longer be used as a FAITH consultant for the Florida Baptist Convention or as a state Sunday School consultant. "It is a direct result of my being ordained," she asserted.
___Barbara Denman, a spokeswoman for the state convention, said: "Just because we are not using her now may not mean we will not use her in the future, but as a contract worker, we have no legal obligation to her."

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