It is never good to feel one has been betrayed by a loved one. I can sense that feeling in the article “Voices: Our response to the 2023 BGCT annual meeting,” written by the leadership of Calvary Baptist Church in Waco.

I write this response through the lens of a male in a pastoral role. I want to offer my condolences to any woman in the audience at the annual meeting who felt the Baptist General Convention of Texas has turned its back on them.

I also want to respond to the authors of the above-mentioned article. They seem to be advocating for the BGCT to respond in the same manner the Southern Baptist Convention did in June—by completely removing church autonomy from the equation.

Local church autonomy

Church autonomy was described so wonderfully in the opening paragraph—“God led us to call …”—that I find it ironic the authors would suggest the BGCT ignore it. Church autonomy is the key to this whole discussion on women in pastoral roles.

When the local body comes together for the purpose of selecting its next pastor, it is the church that speaks, not the BGCT. The local church must be the one to affirm the calling.

“Denominational bodies,” as the authors describe the BGCT, cannot and should not affirm either way on this issue. What it can do is offer equality in its own organization related to women in ministry.

The BGCT does this through equal opportunities for scholarships to our Texas Baptist universities. If a woman feels led or called to the pastorate, she will receive the same education as her male colleagues and will be funded equally through the BGCT.

The authors said they wanted to “articulate a vision of the church’s bright future shaped powerfully by women’s pastoral leadership.”

What is meant by “church.” Is this the church universal or local? If the article refers to the church universal, then I agree. I think women in ministry and pastoral roles show a diversified image of God within his bride, the church.

However, if the end game is calling on the BGCT to shape the local church, then the BGCT would be doing the same thing the SBC is doing—interfering with local church autonomy.

What people believe about the Bible

The authors mention messengers who gave their interpretation of Scripture, likening that interpretation to “spiritual abuse.” How is this abuse? How is someone’s belief about the word of God—and their expression thereof—abuse?

Such an accusation is inflammatory, and I do not believe it helps the cause of unity within the convention. We may not like or even agree with the interpretation, but we ought not publicly shame a pastor and call his expressed beliefs “abuse” of women.

During discussion on the motion, messengers spoke “for” and “against” the motion, so I do not see how one could say, “No one challenged the hurtful words.”

Women at the table

The authors cited statistics from previous surveys and the current makeup of BGCT boards. I serve on the committee that nominates BGCT Executive Board members, and I have two responses.

First, we strive for a diverse makeup of the Executive Board. The number of laypersons, pastors and church staff, males and females, and ethnic backgrounds serving on the board is set by policy. We spend all year painstakingly finding nominees to present to the messengers.

If only 0.6 percent of Texas Baptist churches have female pastors on staff, and we can only have a certain number of pastors and church staff on the Executive Board, how can we ever have an “equal space around the tables.” It can’t happen. There aren’t enough females serving in ministerial roles—which is the local church’s decision—for that to happen.

Second, the Executive Board is made of 30 sectors with three representatives per sector. Since we can choose no more than three people from each sector, we need more women to say “yes” when asked to serve.

I cannot speak to the decision of who preaches at the annual meetings, but as for women on the platform, we will have one on the platform next year. Why? Because she was nominated and elected.

If we want more women to be seen, more women need to step out and serve, and be willing to be nominated and to nominate other women.

I attended a question-and-answer session with the BGCT executive director search team in Waco in 2022. During the session, I said the search team needs to be open to the idea God may be calling a woman to the position of executive director.

Encouraging church autonomy

This response is not to demean or diminish the fine women of our convention, or Calvary Baptist Church and its leadership. I write this to show the BGCT is not the enemy.

The BGCT must remain “neutral” on issues that are not sin-related. Whether or not a female can pastor a local church is not an issue that needs the affirmation of a convention or association. It needs the affirmation of the local church.

By supporting each church’s fundamental Baptist right to be completely autonomous, the BGCT is preserving the unity of cooperation. How do I know this? Because even after the second business meeting on Tuesday, the convention went into a time of worship where the whole convention praised our Lord together.

We can disagree and still cooperate. If the BGCT takes a verbal stance in either direction on any issue that involves church autonomy—much like the SBC is doing—it will alienate churches on both sides of that issue.

Our best hope to see the results Calvary Baptist leadership want is to continue to have churches like Calvary Baptist that exemplify women leading and leading well in their calling.

It will take pastors, like myself, who believe God calls and equips all of humanity to his will and to his church to lead in local churches.

We need to educate our congregations on good hermeneutics. We need to “equip the saints” of our local congregations and stop relying on parachurch organizations to do it for us.

We need to recognize those who may have a calling on their life—men and women—and cultivate that calling in our churches.

I call on all the 5,276 Texas Baptist churches to pastor their congregations as the Lord leads you in your local context. May you be blessed in that calling.

All for God’s kingdom!

Seth Pitman is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Seagraves. The views expressed are those of the author.

Many attendees of the 2023 Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting stopped by our booth and shared their support for women in ministry. Both women and men had questions. Women had many stories to share—of their pain, their calling and their journeys. It was joyous and heart-wrenching.

A motion in support of women in ministry was presented, revised, amended and finally adopted during that meeting. The original motion specifically named “women in all ministry and pastoral roles,” but the adopted motion substituted “leadership” in place of “pastoral.”

We, like Meredith Stone—executive director of the national Baptist Women in Ministry organization—are disappointed by the change of terms. But, like Stone, we also are “hopeful that the motion will provide measures of support for women ministering and leading in Texas.”

As an independent organization cooperating and collaborating with Baptist Women in Ministry, Texas Baptist Women in Ministry’s goal is not to change any church’s beliefs to match a predetermined set of values.

In fact, our main goals are to affirm, connect, inspire and advocate for women in ministry. One way we can do this is by helping churches assess where they stand on this important issue and to evaluate how well they are implementing their values.

If you are wondering how you or your church can support women in ministry in Texas, we would like to offer 10 ways you can demonstrate your support.

10 ways to support women in ministry

1. Converse with a woman in ministry. Better yet, buy her lunch and listen to the story of her experiences as a woman in ministry. Be as generous and respectful as you would to any other pastor, minister or preacher.

2. Call her pastor. If you are into titles and love to call people “Reverend,” “Doctor,” “Pastor” or other ministerial title, then call her pastor.

3. Invite women to lead. Make an intentional decision to invite women to preach, teach and present at all co-ed events. This includes convention events as well as annual meetings, leadership conferences, preaching conferences and more.

4. Pay her well. Women in ministry should be paid equitably to the men in ministry at your church. Consider her experiences, education and value to the church.

5. Feature churches with female pastors. Churches with women in ministry should be highlighted as examples of God’s faithfulness to the next generation. This includes on social media, in newsletters and other written publications, and in committee meetings.

6. Create new policies. Consider the differences women in ministry have compared with men in ministry. Create new family-leave policies, as well as policies on yearly sexual harassment training and how misconduct will be handled.

7. Consider her spouse. When events are created, name the events using gender-neutral terms to be inclusive of her spouse—for example, “Pastors and Spouses Appreciation Luncheon” instead of “Pastors and Wives.”

8. Speak up and speak up boldly. When men stand up and speak violently about women in ministry anywhere—including at conventions—stand up and speak out boldly against language that denigrates the imago Dei and incites division. Passive support is not enough.

9. Provide pathways to employment. For every little girl sitting in the pew of a Texas Baptist church, create shadowing and internship opportunities in all areas of ministry. Celebrate and highlight young women who receive a call to ministry. Provide scholarships and leadership opportunities for her.

Invite female seminary students to preach on a regular basis. Then, ensure when she graduates from seminary, she has a job in a Texas Baptist church that will embrace her fully.

10. Evaluate your table. Use a church consultant and other resources to evaluate how well your church or convention is implementing its stated values around women in ministry. When discrepancies are found between professed and enacted values, build a new table where women and people of various backgrounds are equal architects.

This can be as simple as rethinking the way your church does baptisms and communion to something more challenging, such as having equal representation of men and women in the leadership of your church and convention.

If you or your church need or want help assessing or demonstrating your support for women in ministry, please reach out to Texas Baptist Women in Ministry. We are here to help you.

Rev. Jill Hudson is the coordinator of Texas Baptist Women in Ministry.

Disclosure: TXBWIM board member Mariah Humphries also serves on the board of the Baptist Standard and had no involvement in the decision to publish this article.

This article is 8 of 9 in the Leading from the Center series by three writers.

When the North African theologian Tertullian (c. A.D. 155–220) posed the now famous question, “What does Jerusalem have to do with Athens, the Church with the Academy, the Christian with the heretic?” in Prescriptions against Heretics 7, he intentionally was contrasting the “sacred” with the “secular” and divine revelation with philosophical speculation.

Paul, the apostle whom Tertullian loved, also could think in opposing pairs. He did so, for example, when he juxtaposed light and darkness, day and night, and waking and sleeping (see 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11; compare 2 Corinthians 7:14).

Jesus, the Lord whom Paul loved, was equally apt in pitting, for example, truth against lies, night against darkness, and life against death (note John 8:44; 9:4-5; 11:25).

In concert with other ancient teachers, Jesus, Paul and Tertullian set believers (or insiders) over against unbelievers (or outsiders) in an effort to convey they were poles apart. A chasm, as it were, was fixed between the two (see Luke 16:26). In Sesame Street parlance: “One of these things is not like the other. Come on, can you tell which one?”

While such binary pairings, which also feature in the Old Testament (see, for instance, Deuteronomy 30:19; Psalm 1), are invaluable in shaping the identity and morality of believing communities, if used exclusively, an imbalance may develop, “a binary bias,” if you will.

Scripture, for example, instructs us not to be “squeezed into the world’s mold” (Romans 12:2), but it also calls us to be salt and light (Matthew 5:13-16) and “to do good to all people” (1 Thessalonians 5:15; Galatians 6:10).

‘Why can’t we be friends?’

The subject of the present essay is not how Christians might best relate to non-Christians. Rather, this article focuses upon how Christ-followers who have decidedly different views on various matters might relate and cooperate with one another constructively, on which the above paragraphs arguably cast some valuable light.

Not a few of us who self-identify as centrists have experienced (sometimes significant) disagreement with sisters and brothers both to our left and right. As it happens, fundamentalism is not the preserve of either extreme conservatism or liberalism. Indeed, it can be sobering to realize how wide the divide between the two poles actually is.

If, for example, the “right” can fashion the Bible into an idol by making it in principle—if not practice—an object of worship, thereby turning the Trinity into Father, Son and Holy Scripture, the “left” can diminish or even dismiss God’s word.

To take another example, if the “right” engages in “civil religion” by dangerously conflating God and country, reducing God to a totem and wrapping the LORD in a national symbol, the “left” embraces a form of civic life that tends to privatize religion, cordoning it off from the public square.

Additionally, if the “right” has adopted wholesale a contemporary iteration of the “moral majority,” the “left” has jettisoned time-honored commitments to Judeo-Christian values.

Controversy and conflict between Christ-followers on the left and the right can grow especially acute over political affiliations, preferred media outlets and “hot button” ethical issues, not to mention a myriad of biblical and theological issues, some of which are foundational to “traditional, orthodox” Christianity—for example, how one perceives God and understands and speaks of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.

Meeting in the middle for the good of the gospel

In forming my own theological convictional world and in relating to believers across the theological spectrum, I have benefited from something referred to as the “Wesleyan quadrilateral.”

This valuable approach to Christian life and faith posits the primacy and centrality of Scripture in shaping belief and behavior, while simultaneously recognizing the importance of tradition, reason and experience.

When seeking to find common ground with other Christ-followers, I start with Scripture, which I regard to be authoritative for matters of faith and practice. Common ground also might be found with other believers through the orthodox Christian tradition. Reason—though limited and tainted—and experience—though contextual and personal— also may assist when seeking to find a place to stand together.

The latter three, however helpful they may be, ultimately are—in my view and according to the Wesleyan quadrilateral—subject to Scripture, under which we must stand and seek to understand, as it does not interpret itself.

In my admittedly limited experience and exposure, I often have found it possible and profitable to collaborate with those who, arguably, are to my theological right when evangelistic emphases and efforts are in view. The same has been true with large group gatherings, such as concerts, camps and conferences, and with times set aside for spiritual renewal, praise and prayer.

Meanwhile, I also have found it valuable and meaningful to join together with those who might be to my theological left to combat, for example, racism, poverty and ecological concerns and to support women in ministry, religious liberty and interreligious dialogue.

The previous two paragraphs are not necessarily meant to suggest the left has no interest in the former or the right in the latter. I simply am seeking to offer examples, upon which others might care to tweak or improve.

Not infrequently, “conservatives” and “progressives” can meet in the middle for common cause and gospel good. Centrist Christian educational institutions, denominations, organizations and congregations often are able to rise above polarities for the expansion of God’s kingdom and for the benefit of many.

Building bridges instead of blowing them up

Although I am no expert in bringing together people across theological divides and, arguably, can do a better job in doing so than I have done until now, I would like to offer a few suggestions for those who would care to engage in this painstaking work, which can be risky business.

1. Be in contact and conversation with people who are not your theological clones. If we are not careful, we can create theological echo chambers. We must resist the temptation to retreat to our own theological corners and playgrounds.

2. Forego labelling and name-calling. Vilifying the other to glorify oneself is not helpful. We do well to remember people are far more complex than a simple label allows. As one wag once quipped, “God created people, and people create pigeonholes.”

3. Try to work through your theological differences with others in person or by Zoom, not on Twitter. Small (Zoom) rooms are a better venue for working through conflict than social media.

4. Relatedly, do not “cancel” those with whom you disagree and experience conflict.

5. Finally, remember those with whom you have theological differences are to be loved and prayed for, as they, too, were created in the image and likeness of God and are people for whom Christ died.

Todd Still is dean and professor of Christian Scriptures at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary. This article is 8 of 9 in the Leading from the Center series by three writers.

RE: Voices: Women pastors: The title should match the call

Hannah Brown recently penned an article in which she argues if a woman is called to be a pastor, she should not be denied the title of “pastor.” Her premise contains a critical flaw, however.

The problem is not simply one of labeling a particular calling, but whether, according to Scripture, a woman can serve in certain church-related capacities. In other words, are there gender-specific roles that devolve exclusively upon men in Christian church polity?

Hannah’s article cites no scriptural support for her proposition.

Baptists typically lump “pastor” with “elder” and “overseer.” Assuming this is accurate, then 1 Timothy 2:12-3:7 limits this office to male leadership. The actual function in view here is authoritative teaching for the preservation of sound doctrine (1 Timothy 2:12; Acts 20:28-31).

This is not to say women are incapable of teaching or of fully functioning in the gifts with which they are imbued by the Holy Spirit. There is, however, good scriptural support for an office called “pastor” reserved for men only.

As believers, we have a sacred, solemn and at times challenging duty to carefully examine God’s holy word and allow it to inform us regarding matters such as what Hannah has raised. A careful examination of Scripture compels us to refrain from conferring any title, irrespective of gender, if this runs contrary to Scripture.

I have been praying for Hannah and hope, if she reads my response, she is spurred on toward further study in God’s word and not angered or discouraged. More importantly, I want her to develop a biblical framework from which she can defend her beliefs. We may still disagree at the end, but hopefully we’ll walk away more confident of what we know about God and his plans and purposes for us.

Bud Bennett
Bryan, Texas

RE: Voices: Our response to the 2023 BGCT annual meeting

Calvary Baptist Church in Waco is a spiritual place for me. It hired me as a music intern as a Baylor undergraduate (1968), provided a strong home base when I taught at Baylor (1972–1977) and married me (1976). Its beautiful baptistry stained glass matches our wedding flowers of 47 years ago this month.

The beacon of Calvary Baptist Church in Waco continues to light the dark of night in myriad lives and hearts.

“Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

Beam, beacon of Calvary, beam! Amen.

Susan Borwick
Winston-Salem, N.C.

For decades, our congregation has experienced the power of God’s Spirit present in women’s pastoral leadership. God has led us to call remarkable female pastors to lead us over the last 30 years. Under their leadership we have known the power and presence of God in Christ.

Alongside that power, we have witnessed and experienced the toxic resistance faced by women leading in pastoral roles. The scenes of protestors lining our sidewalks and the need for security escorts are not quickly forgotten.

We strive to be a congregation where freedom of conscience and beloved community coexist, which is to say we honor one another’s convictions and take responsibility for the weight our convictions bring to bear on each other’s lives.

For as long as our church has been in existence, we have been affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, a Baptist denominational body we have understood historically both to honor and reflect a diversity of conviction regarding women’s pastoral leadership in the church.

At the 2023 BGCT annual meeting, two motions came to the floor regarding women in ministry. One was brought by Meredith Stone, executive director of Baptist Women in Ministry and member of Calvary Baptist Church. The other was brought by Ellis Orozco, messenger from First Baptist Church in Richardson.

After discussion in the second business session, messengers amended and then voted to approve an amended version of Meredith Stone’s motion:

We request that the Executive Board resources BGCT staff to continue developing more strategies, resources, and advocacy initiatives to assist churches in affirming, appointing, and employing women in ministry and leadership roles.

After learning about the actions taken at the annual meeting and reviewing subsequent news coverage, we are concerned women in pastoral leadership and their advocates were not reflected fully and fairly at the annual meeting or in subsequent news coverage.

With grace, compassion and open hearts, we are writing to offer an alternative perspective of what happened at the BGCT annual meeting and to articulate a vision of the church’s bright future shaped powerfully by women’s pastoral leadership.

A thriving future for women in ministry is free of spiritual abuse.

During the annual meeting’s Tuesday business session, one speaker equated women serving as pastors and their advocates with the serpent in Genesis 3, saying women in ministry is the clearest form of rebellion against God in the church today.

Women were told if they support loving unity in the church, they will accept their role as subordinate to men, and men may have the power to put them in positions of leadership in the church, but it will not be God’s leading.

Women were told it would be “unfriendly” for the convention to affirm women in pastoral leadership, and the Bible is very clear only men can be called to pastoral leadership in the church, though this is not the case.

It was suggested those who advocate for women’s pastoral leadership in the church are not “on mission” for Jesus and are a “distraction.”

Though these statements amount to spiritual abuse, they received more robust applause than others. As hurtful words were said, women wept. No one challenged the hurtful words, but they did challenge those advocating on behalf of women called to pastoral ministry. It is wrong to use religious beliefs and Scripture to hurt, scare and control women.

Christ-followers have the sacred opportunity to profess religious beliefs, interpret Scripture and speak in such a way as to reflect the liberating presence of God and the self-giving love of Jesus Christ for the sake of fullness of life.

Faith communities among whom God calls women to pastoral leadership have a sacred opportunity to resist spiritual abuse and respond with faithfulness to the leadership of God’s Spirit in the lives of women.

A thriving future for women in ministry embodies leadership equity.

The BGCT was founded in 1886 and is one of the oldest and largest surviving Baptist denominational bodies in the United States.

A woman has never preached at a BGCT annual meeting or served as the BGCT’s executive director. At the time of the 2023 annual meeting, women comprised 15 percent of the BGCT Executive Board.

As reported in the 2021 State of Women in Baptist Life report by Baptist Women in Ministry, 0.6 percent of BGCT churches have women serving as senior pastor or co-pastor, with negligible change since the first State of Women in Baptist Life report in 2005.

The BGCT gives 21 percent of state Cooperative Program contributions to the SBC—who firmly rejected women’s pastoral leadership this summer—unless those funds are designated “Texas only.” The BGCT does not allow passthrough financial giving to other Baptist denominational bodies affirming of women in pastoral leadership.

In 2014, the BGCT closed its women in ministry division and several years later started a new women’s ministrydivision under complementarian leadership.

During the Tuesday business session, there were no women on the platform among leaders running the meeting. Women were not invited to participate in developing the final form of Ellis Orozco’s motion or the amendment passed by the convention.

Prior to and during the annual meeting, there were efforts behind the scenes to prevent Meredith Stone from successfully bringing her proposed motion to the business session.

During the business discussion, one messenger said approving the amended version of Meredith’s motion would allow the convention to remain “neutral” on women in ministry. The convention is not neutral on women in ministry. The convention is clear that women in pastoral leadership are not welcome or supported implicitly or explicitly by the BGCT.

Christian denominational organizations truly open to diversity of theological conviction regarding women’s pastoral leadership reflect diversity of conviction in their organizational structure and influence.

This looks like female pastors carrying equal weight and taking up equal space around the tables and on the platforms where decisions are made. It looks like reshaping systems and structures with intention, repentance and perseverance until they reflect the fullness of God’s image.

A thriving future for women in ministry is a thriving future for the church.

The amended motion passed by the BGCT at the annual meeting changed three components of Meredith’s proposed motion. The changes reduce accountability for the Executive Board and BGCT staff and definitively remove the language of pastor from the motion.

The amendment suggests BGCT staff are providing resources and support for women serving in all areas of church ministry, including pastor, though this is not the case. The amended motion permits BGCT staff to continue resourcing churches for women in ministry as they do currently, which is to say, toward complementarian—not egalitarian—ends.

The BGCT did not affirm women leading in pastoral roles at their annual meeting, did not stand in solidarity with sisters ousted by the SBC this summer, and has made no commitment to substantive change in its current structure or influence.

The love of Christ compels us toward a bright future in which women’s pastoral gifts prepare the way of the Lord and invite fresh winds of the Spirit to fill us with new life. Data conveys when women thrive, everyone thrives the world over. We have faith that when women thrive in pastoral leadership, Christ’s body—the church—will thrive.

While we hope individuals and congregations will experience the blessed joy and hope of saying “yes” when God calls women to pastoral leadership in their midst, we respect diversity of conviction and do not believe unanimity of conviction is required for partnership in Christ Jesus.

We are, however, grieved and concerned when organizational decisions and structures hurt and diminish the personhood of God’s beloved children. We do not believe the personhood of our sisters in Christ must be sacrificed to maintain diversity of conviction.

To our sisters in the BGCT who were not seen, heard and valued as a result of this year’s annual meeting, we express our conviction that God can call you to serve in pastoral leadership in the church, spiritual abuse is wrong, women’s leadership can carry equal weight in a space as theologically diverse as the BGCT, and God’s bright future includes fullness of life and fullness of voice for you. We stand with you.

This is a joint statement from Rev. Hannah Coe, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, and Calvary’s leadership. The views expressed are those of the authors.

Let’s talk about pastoral mental health.

Perhaps this topic seems out of left field. After all, it’s not May—Mental Health Awareness Month—and the Baptist conversation seems to be about other things at present—such as women in ministry and where Southern Baptists and Texas Baptists are headed.

It doesn’t need to be May to talk about mental health any more than it needs to be Mother’s Day—also in May—to appreciate moms. And to think what Baptists are talking about most right now isn’t related to pastoral mental health is itself out in left field—says this former pastor.

We need to talk now about pastoral mental health, because it affects our team, every member of which deserves our attention and care. We need to talk about it now, because some pastors are enduring mental health struggles now.

Feeling ‘out of left field’

When it comes to our team, are pastors the pitcher, the manager or someone else? Based on the reactions pastors often receive, many feel as though they’re out in left field.

We know the expression comes from baseball, and we’re pretty sure it means something like “crazy” or “irrelevant” at worst, or “unexpected” at best. A little baseball history enriches the expression.

Center field used to be much farther out than it is today. If a left fielder was able to throw to home plate, the runner headed home—whose back is to the ball—could be surprised when the catcher came up with a ball thrown from way out in left field.

According to Chicago Cubs lore, the expression might point back to the Cubs original ballpark—West Side Grounds (1893–1915). At the time, Cook County Hospital was located close enough to that original left field that psychiatric patients supposedly could be heard by fans and players during games.

This second bit of history will not make pastors feel better about their mental health. But the reality is, too many pastors too often don’t feel like they’re even on the field. They feel like one of the patients outside the wall, while the people around them are trying to drown out their struggle with an afternoon’s—or morning’s—entertainment.

Struggling alone

Consider the irony. Today, we pay small and large fortunes—with little complaint—to watch a game. Part of that fortune goes to keep elite athletes in prime condition. Meanwhile, we often pinch pennies taking care of those who tend to eternal matters—those who teach us, guide us, baptize us, marry us and bury us.

We hardly expected Nolan Ryan to pitch every single game of even a single season, nor every inning of every game. We also did not expect him to be at the top of his game with every pitch. Or, maybe we did.

Pastors, however, are expected to be strong—mentally and spiritually tough, if not also physically—at all times. We don’t expect pastors to struggle with depression, anxiety, stress and other mental health challenges.

We might fear if even those we believe have a direct line to God have these struggles, what hope is there for us? In our false beliefs about pastors, we add still more strain on them.

So, when pastors do struggle, they struggle out in left field, far from the rest of the team. If they can afford counseling, they receive it secretly, because what would the church think? If they take medication(s), it must be more clandestine than their alcohol consumption—if they consume alcohol—because if the church spooks at counseling, it might bolt at medication.

And if a pastor needs more than counseling and/or medication? Well, we’re just not going to talk about that.

Providing care for pastors

Maybe your church isn’t like that. Maybe your church recognizes your pastor is a human being, with all that entails. Maybe your church is investing in whatever it takes to keep your paster in prime condition. May your tribe increase.

For the rest, consider another illustration from baseball.

If a pastor is like a pitcher: Every Major League Baseball team knows starting pitchers get a few days of rest between games in which they pitch. Someone else pitches those between games. Even the best pitchers are afforded and take this rest. In fact, the best pitchers don’t get to the Hall of Fame without the rest.

Church, we shouldn’t let a baseball team take better care of its players than we take care of our pastors. One way we can improve our care for them is by affording them the space and grace to process and heal mental illness.

This space and grace looks like withholding judgment and turning off nosiness and gossip about our pastor’s emotional and cognitive condition. Mental health is something to address compassionately; it is not something to stigmatize.

It looks like enlisting a safe, trusted and small group of people who compassionately stay abreast of the pastor’s total health—body, mind and soul—pastoring the pastor.

About this group: How much this group knows about the pastor should be judiciously and appropriately delineated in consultation with the pastor, as should the nature and degree of authority the group has in relation to the pastor. The group should not be an ecclesiastical Big Brother, nor should it have power over employment. Its role is to care for the pastor.

Space and grace also looks like allocating resources for the best mental health care the church can afford, and churches can afford more than they think. This care may include professional counseling, medication, retreats and more.

It looks like securing time on the schedule weekly, quarterly and yearly for the pastor to pull back, rest and recuperate—whether anyone, including the pastor, thinks it’s needed. Pastors, God love ’em, don’t always know what they need—says this former pastor.

Care for your pastor well

Pastors understand leadership requires them to be strong in ways and at times others are not. Pastors don’t typically shy away from that. But leadership does not require them to be strong in every way or at all times, and it definitely doesn’t require them to be the strongest.

Pastoral leadership also does not require complete self-sufficiency. Too often, our pastors struggle alone with mental health challenges, unsure how their churches will respond to their humanness. We won’t tolerate our pastors treating us that way when we struggle. They shouldn’t have to tolerate it from us, either.

Don’t go straight from this to your pastor with a bunch of questions about their mental health. Do go from this committed to caring for your pastor as well as you want your pastor to care for you. Giving your pastor a word of encouragement is a good start.

Eric Black is the executive director, publisher and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com. The views expressed are those of the author.

This article is 7 of 9 in the Leading from the Center series by three writers.

Perhaps you have heard this anonymous “little ditty” somewhere along the way: “To dwell above with saints we love / Oh that will be grace and glory! / But to live below with saints we know / Ah! That’s a different story!”

While humorous to most of us, this hackneyed turn of phrase accurately captures a common Christian experience—namely annoyance, aggravation or even anger toward other Christ-followers.

As it happens, not a few of us have become rather adroit at rubbing one another the wrong way as we seek to follow the Way. Like porcupines on a cold winter’s night, we need one another, yet we needle one another.

Over the span of my ministry—some 40 years now—I have observed and experienced a curious, if troubling, phenomenon. Conflict often is most disconcerting and acute with those with whom we hold most in common. Given that I majored in sociology as an undergraduate, this should not have surprised me.

Based, at least in part, upon the classic work of Lewis A. Coser, The Functions of Social Conflict, it is all but axiomatic—at least in social-scientific circles—that close contact with others—including family members, for example—can create meaningful, mutual relationships.

If or when something goes south, however, division and discord, not to mention rancor and resentment, can rear their ugly heads and grow like a rapidly spreading wildfire. While such thankfully is not always the case, it has been so among evangelicals of late.

What differences might obscure

In recent years, it has become increasingly clear to me that “convictional congruence” can sometimes eclipse “denominational allegiance” in importance. For my part, “I am BGCT-born and BGCT-bred, and when I die, I will be BGCT-dead”—or something like that.

That being said, I have found it both surprising and significant that I sometimes seem to share as much, if not more, in common with Christians from other denominations with respect to certain theological convictions and ethical commitments, if not ecclesial and liturgical patterns, than I do with some people within my own, bewilderingly broad Baptist tribe.

If this strikes you as a far-fetched notion, it is worth framing and reflecting upon a question like this: What do Alliance Baptists, for example, have in common with Southern Baptists? Once one moves beyond the denominational label, congregational polity and certain observable liturgical practices, theological and ethical differences appear to be greater than not.

Evangelicals generally defined

Though fraught because the term has been hijacked by those with certain political agendas, not a few Baptists regard and describe themselves not only as “orthodox” believers—embracing and espousing what most Christians in most places at most times have embraced and espoused—but also as “evangelicals.”

For my part, with respect to what constitutes an evangelical, I have been aided by the so-called “Bebbington quadrilateral,” posited by the British Baptist historian David W. Bebbington.

Bebbington maintains there are four primary components and commitments that demarcate and animate evangelicals:

1. Biblicism—the belief that all essential spiritual truth is found in the Bible, which is authoritative for matters of faith and practice.

2. Crucicentrism—a focus upon Christ Jesus and his life-giving, atoning death upon the cross.

3. Conversionism—the view that all people need to experience conversion and regeneration through Jesus Christ.

4. Activism—the belief that the gospel is to be expressed through effort, that is, good works.

Although not all church historians would describe and delineate evangelicals or evangelicalism precisely as Bebbington does, his quadrilateral has been adopted by many as a “rough and ready” description of the movement.

Finding common ground

As it happens, however, evangelicals are anything but monochrome. If evangelicals are united by the four aforementioned convictions, one does not have to look too hard to discover decided differences within evangelicalism.

For example, while some evangelicals are content to speak of the Bible as authoritative and inspired, others insist on using the word “inerrancy.” While some evangelicals are “Calvinists,” other evangelicals are “Arminians.” While some evangelicals are “dispensationalists,” other evangelicals are “amillenialists.”

While some evangelicals are “complimentarians,” other evangelicals are “egalitarians.” While some evangelicals are political and social “conservatives,” other evangelicals are political and social “progressives.”

Given this complex though realistic picture, one may reasonably ask if it is even possible to find “common ground with different centers.” My answer is a qualified “yes.” It requires, however, a habit of heart and mind willing to say: “In the essentials, unity; in nonessentials liberty; in all things charity.”

It also requires piety, patience, perseverance and not a little bit of humility in seeking to discern what the (non)essentials are. This is as simple and as hard as it sounds.

On loving a five-point Calvinist

Although I now have been on the faculty of Baylor’s Truett Seminary for 20 years, I started my academic career at Dallas Baptist University at the invitation of then-President Gary Cook.

I was delighted to be there and have wonderful memories of the five years I spent at DBU teaching courses in New Testament and Greek to wonderful students.

Yet, it was clear to me from the beginning that a goodly and sometimes vocal majority of the faculty in the Mary C. Crowley College of Christian Faith were very wary of me. Indeed, a few of them made it crystal clear they wished I never had been hired and did what they could to cast aspersions on me and my theology.

If this was the rule in the college, there was an exception in the person of David Naugle, now of blessed memory. Early and protracted theological conversations with my learned colleague in philosophy revealed he was a five-point Calvinist.

Although I was and am highly allergic to that theological vantage point—for reasons I have neither time nor space to consider here—I dare say I never have been closer to a professional colleague than I was to “Davey.”

We shared many meals together, played many rounds of golf together, played many games of racquetball together, played in a band together and spent hours on end talking about family and theology, students and school.

How could and did this happen? I am not entirely certain. We certainly did not lay down our well-known theological differences. We did, however, let down our guard and agreed to disagree about this thing and that.

Furthermore, we opted to focus on all we shared in common. Others were puzzled how we could be so close. We might have been too had we ever stopped to give it much thought, but there were more important things for us to do together.

Davey Naugle left a legacy in various and sundry ways. One way his life has impacted my life indelibly and irrevocably is through his magnanimous, generous spirit.

On my better days, I am able “to keep the main thing the main thing” like Davey did. On my lesser days, I allow the secondary and tertiary to become primary. I know better. Perhaps you do, too.

Todd Still is dean and professor of Christian Scriptures at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary. This article is 7 of 9 in the Leading from the Center series by three writers.

In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, he asks the question: “What’s in a name? / That which we call a rose / by any other name would smell as sweet.”

These lines call into question the power of names and presents the underlying question, “Does naming, or failing to name something, change the identity of the thing itself?”

While Shakespeare wrote these words in the late 16th century, the underlying question is relevant for Texas Baptists today.

During the July 18 business session of the Texas Baptists’ Family Gathering, Meredith Stone, a messenger from Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, made a motion “that the Executive Board resources BGCT staff to continue developing more strategies, resources, and advocacy initiatives to assist churches in affirming, appointing, and employing women in ministerial and pastoral roles.”

However, after much debate, Texas Baptists ultimately voted on an amendment to this motion that changed the phrase from “pastoral roles” to “leadership roles” to protect churches within Texas Baptist life that “hold a conviction that the Bible provides clear gender distinctions when it comes to church leadership.”

In other words, Texas Baptists have agreed not to unilaterally affirm naming or calling a woman “pastor.”

Titles match callings

On the one hand, the amendment seems like a small change. After all, “What’s in a name?” If some within Texas Baptists call women “pastor” while others continue calling her “minister” or “director,” her function is the same.

Women always have served the church in various roles and under various titles, so their function within churches will remain unchanged regardless of what the church chooses to call them. Additionally, those called to ministry are called to serve, to be humble and not to desire a position, title or rank.

So, a woman’s desire to be called “pastor” instead of “minister” or “director” while continuing to serve in various capacities may point either to her desire for power, title or rank, or may cause further unnecessary division within the denomination over a simple title.

However, for many women, “pastor” is more than a simple title. “Pastor” is an accurate description of the thing they have been called to do.

Like their male counterparts, many women in ministry can recall a point in their life when they experienced the clear and specific calling of God to the pastorate. And like their male counterparts, these women conclude that to pursue any other vocation in their life would be to deny the call of God and live in direct disobedience to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

Hiding the calling

Despite this clear and specific calling, women, unlike their male counterparts, also have learned how to hide their calling or articulate it in nondivisive ways.

Instead of telling people they are called to be a pastor, women find themselves using phrases such as “I want to be in ministry,” or “I am called to work in a church,” or “I’m studying religion in school.”

This change in dialogue in no way dampens their calling or what they know to be true in their bones, but after receiving one too many questions, disapproving comments or confrontations, like a survival instinct, it simply becomes easier to give a cheaper answer for the calling God has placed on their lives.

It is difficult to live in a world where you fear being clobbered just by honestly answering the question, “What do you want to do with your life?”

Therefore, despite having the same clear calling experience as their male counterparts, women are forced to downplay the work of the Holy Spirit in their own lives for the sake of a more widely acceptable title.

Refusal to allow women the space, encouragement and affirmation to express the work and call of God confidently and excitedly in their lives not only is disheartening for women in ministry, but it also reveals a double standard not applicable to men called to the pastorate and downplays the work of the Holy Spirit.

Precise language matters

On the other hand, Texas Baptists’ denial of unilaterally affirming women as pastors reveals something deeply troubling about their lack of precise language.

Returning to Shakespeare’s analogy, calling a flower a rose does not change the thing itself. The flower’s color, smell, shape and identity will not change if we choose to call it something else.

In the same way, a woman’s calling by God will not change if we, Texas Baptists, choose to call her something else. However, our inability to call a woman what she is demonstrates our disregard for precise language.

If a botanist continued to call a rose by another name, not only would it not change the essence of the flower, but it would reveal an unacceptable level of imprecision for someone in that profession.

Likely, this botanist would not be able to continue within their field if they displayed a complete lack of understanding about how to properly name a rose. So, why is this inaccuracy allowed to continue within Texas Baptist life?

While some celebrate the decisions made at the Texas Baptists’ Family Gathering in McAllen, others look at the situation soberly.

The decision to omit the word “pastor” from the original motion reveals a harsh double standard not placed on Texas Baptist men, denies women peace of mind to freely express their calling, downplays the work of the Holy Spirit, and reveals a deep flaw in the way Texas Baptists accurately address ministers in their care.

Hannah Brown is a Master of Divinity student at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary. The views expressed are those of the author.

“We’re not an issue-driven convention; we’re a mission-driven convention,” Julio Guarneri, president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, told attendees at the end of the second business session of the 2023 BGCT annual meeting in McAllen.

Guarneri received a rousing response. His description of the BGCT as mission-driven was one of the most well-received statements made during the annual meeting, because it is a statement of identity that resonates with Texas Baptists.

I see in the floor discussion of motions about women in ministry evidence of Texas Baptists’ shared desire to take their mission seriously. And what is their mission? To communicate the good news of Jesus Christ to all people, beginning in Texas and reaching around the world. Women are integral to that mission.

Discussing women in ministry

As reported by Ken Camp, both motions were ruled out of order and revised. Tuesday morning, during floor discussion on the first motion—made by Meredith Stone—an amendment was offered and passed. The main motion subsequently was passed as amended. Ellis Orozco—who made the second motion—withdrew his motion after Stone’s amended motion passed.

Stone’s revised motion read: “I move that the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board be instructed to have staff create programs, resources, and initiatives to assist churches in affirming, appointing, and employing women in ministerial and pastoral roles.”

After a handful of messengers spoke for and against Stone’s motion and time was called, a motion was passed to extend the time for discussion by 10 minutes, because the discussion of women in ministry is important for the BGCT.

Dustin Slaton, pastor of First Baptist Church in Round Rock, then brought an amendment to Stone’s motion: “I move that we request the BGCT Executive Board to resource BGCT staff to continue developing more strategies, resources, and advocacy initiatives to assist churches in affirming, appointing, and employing women in ministry and leadership roles.”

In explaining the amendment’s intent, he said many Texas Baptist churches love, empower and equip women while still holding to a complementarian position—the belief that certain leadership roles, such as pastor, are limited to men.

His amendment offered a middle way between completely rejecting both motions and approving a motion critics saw as infringing upon autonomy of the local church.

Support for the amended motion was strong, but it was not universal. An interesting coalition emerged, albeit small in appearance, to vote against it—those who thought the amendment did not affirm women strongly enough and those who oppose women in pastoral roles of any kind.

Both of these groups—the one for the original main motion and those strongly opposed to that motion in any form—were left in agreement over the amended motion. Neither wanted it.

What did all groups in the room hold in common? They all take seriously Jesus’ command to go and make disciples of all people, teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded. They agree Texas Baptists’ mission is to communicate the good news of Jesus Christ to all people, beginning in Texas and reaching around the world.

Where Texas Baptists want to focus

The majority of messengers in attendance affirmed the amended motion. The amendment expressed their desire that the BGCT not divide over the issue of women in ministry.

Like Guarneri, messengers to the 2023 annual meeting want to focus on mission, not issues—while understanding issues are important because they involve people. They want to take the issues seriously, and they don’t want the issues to supersede the mission.

For many who voted for Slaton’s amendment, they see the mission as so big and so important that it shouldn’t be scuttled over disagreement about whether women can be called to and serve in pastoral roles. The truth is, many Texas Baptists don’t believe women can.

For many Texas Baptists, the urgency and sheer scale of the work involved in communicating the gospel of Jesus Christ is too great to wrestle over whether we have enough agreement about women in ministry to be able to work together.

Guarneri also received a strong affirmative response to his declaration that “doctrinal uniformity” shouldn’t distract from “missional fidelity.”

This doesn’t mean doctrine doesn’t matter. Doctrine matters immensely. But our devotion to doctrine shouldn’t outstrip our humility, and our passion for it shouldn’t exceed our passion for our mission.

But how often do we burn hotter when our doctrinal positions feel threatened than we do for communicating the good news of Jesus Christ?

As I see it, messengers to the 2023 BGCT annual meeting, by adopting the amended motion on women in ministry, sent the message women are integral to Texas Baptists’ mission.

Additionally, messengers communicated that churches who affirm women in ministry and churches who do not both have a place where together they can communicate the good news of Jesus Christ for all people, beginning in Texas and reaching around the world.

As we seek to communicate that good news, we need to consider the full reach of it. When we seek to communicate Jesus’ good news to women under duress outside the church, will they be able to see that same Jesus in the way we care for the women inside the church?

Following the vote, Baptist Women in Ministry posted an update to their Facebook profile expressing their concerns with the motion as passed. Among those concerns is that the motion did not make “clear if women in pastoral roles who are targeted by the SBC will be supported by the BGCT.”

What that support ought to be and how the BGCT can demonstrate such support warrants healthy and diligent conversation leading to God-honoring action. Doing so reflects on our mission.

We have one mission, a shared mission—to communicate the good news of Jesus Christ to all people, beginning in Texas and reaching around the world. This is not a mission for some of us. It is a mission for all of us and needs all of us—men and women, boys and girls.

Eric Black is the executive director, publisher and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com. The views expressed are those of the author.

This article is 6 of 9 in the Leading from the Center series by three writers.

The evangelical movement, with which so many centrist Baptists still identify, emerged in the early 1900s as a positive answer to both the frailty of religious liberalism and the rancor of religious fundamentalism.

Evangelicalism was born in the gap between extremes. Centrism today has the same opportunity evangelicalism did when it stepped into the wide religious gap a century ago.

But stepping into the center inevitably results in arrows from both sides.

Jonathan Bass relates in Blessed are the Peacemakers that during the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham, Ala., Rabbi Milton Grafman declared himself caught between the racist bigots on one side and “bigoted liberals” on the other (p. 178).

In Why We Can’t Wait, Martin Luther King declared he was standing between “the ‘do-nothingness’ of the complacent” and the “hatred and despair of the black national” (p. 87).

You and I are not the first ones to experience the exasperation of the gap.

Responsible to get involved

Part of our responsibility is to step into the public square with both conviction and compassion. That means engaging in today’s spiritual and cultural controversies, including racism, the exclusive centrality of Jesus, homosexuality and gender identity. Anyone who steps into the middle of those hot topics will be criticized from both directions.

It’s true that some people make their way to the center on important topics because they are people-pleasers. But it doesn’t take long to realize, instead of pleasing everybody, being at the center pleases almost nobody.

We talk a lot about developing thick skin, and thick skin is necessary. Yet, no matter how well I understand the psychology of conflict, and no matter how well I steel myself against attacks, it still smarts a bit when people slam me. I draw strength from the reassurance I’m not the only one in the gap getting slammed.

If you are leading from the center and are up to your eyeballs in alligators, you need to know you are not alone. “Misery loves company,” they say, and if you’re in a tough spot as a centrist leader, then know you’ve got company. War stories, bruises and scars come with the territory. Knowing and accepting that is reassuring.

Responding with grace to criticism

The first lesson is being a courageous and vocal centrist will result in taking some licks. More importantly, we have to learn how to respond with grace to those licks.

Proverbs 15:1 reads, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” That verse reminds me of Verbal Judo, a book and course scripted for law enforcement officers. Verbal Judo is also recommended for sports officials.

That’s important to me because I referee high school football as a hobby. I stand, literally and physically, in the center of a football field, practicing “centrism” every Friday night in the fall.

As a referee, I’ve read the book Verbal Judo and made a list of major points. I go over my list every Friday afternoon in the fall in preparation for that evening’s game during which there almost certainly will be some moments of conflict.

Here are three points on my Verbal Judo list that might be helpful to all of us as we talk about taking our licks as centrist Baptists:

• Treat people with dignity and respect.
• Build bridges; don’t burn bridges.
• Take insults with style and disregard your ego. Less ego = more power.

Verbal judo is helpful whether we are standing in the middle of the playing field or in the middle of a spirited ecclesiastical debate.

The sting of rejection

Having talked about being criticized from multiple directions, let’s talk about another way we have to “take our licks.” Sometimes the licks come, not from being attacked, but from seeing people leave.

Years ago, in a previous church, a couple who were members of our church came to my office, sat on a couch and said, “We love this church, and we’re not mad, but this church is pushing women in ministry, and we’re just not comfortable.”

They were polite, and they didn’t make a fuss, but they moved their membership to a more conservative church.

Six weeks later—and I’m not making this up—a couple came to my office, sat on the same couch and said, “Travis, we love this church, and we’re not mad, but this church is too restrictive on the topic of homosexuality.”

They, too, were polite, and they made no fuss, but they went to a more liberal church.

Two families left within six weeks—one through the door to the right, the other through the door to the left.

It’s happened in the church I serve now. I’ve seen good and thoughtful people, some of them personal friends, walk out opposing doors over my expressed convictions.

Even big tents cannot hold everyone. Congregations do, from time to time, have to self-define. Churches that try to be everything to everybody tend not to be anything to anybody. And while I realize it’s sometimes best both for the church and for the individuals when people leave, it’s still not pleasant for the shepherd to see sheep wander away.

We centrists are not victims, and this is not a pity party. This brief article is simply an encouraging reminder that you are going to have to take some licks for standing humbly-but-firmly in the middle. And you are not alone.

Travis Collins is senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Huntsville, Ala. The views expressed are those of the author. This article is 6 of 9 in the Leading from the Center series by three writers.