SBC Female Pastor Crisis Exposed: 11 Churches Violating Baptist Faith & Message

Bethany Church in Ellicott City, Maryland, is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention. Bethany Church employs

Rev. Dr. Sherry McKay as their Pastor of Worship and Arts, despite the Southern Baptist Convention's stance against female pastors.

I'm Sherry McKay. I'm the Associate Pastor of Music and Worship Arts at Bethany Church in Ellicott City, and I want to invite you this

Sunday to our Mother's Day service. So ladies, I'm going to be preaching from the Book of Ruth.

Rev. McKay got her Master's at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and her Doctor of Ministry at Nazarene Theological Seminary, where she wrote her dissertation,

Multicultural Worship Arts Ministry, Transitioning from Monocultural Worship to a

Multiethnic Worshipping Community. In it, she argues against the colorblind mindset, tokenism, and cultural appropriation, and for a truer multicultural worship in light of new challenges for white leadership at Bethany Church because of racial tensions from police shootings, redlining, and racism.

Rev. McKay preaches during Sunday morning services at Bethany Church. Looking at injustice, racism, and discrimination can be overwhelming.

It can be hard work. It can consume us with feelings of guilt. We're starting a new sermon series called

Hope and Family Matters. Senior Pastor Kip Smith supports Rev. McKay by arguing in his book,

A Fresh Look at Women in Ministry, that the traditional complementarian view of the role of women in the church is wrong.

Scripture teaches no women pastors. The Baptist faith and message teaches no women pastors. But Bethany Church says no.

There are certain parts of our denomination that don't ordain women, but we do. Lord, give her wisdom and words that would encourage soldiers, men and women, who put their lives on the line every day.

We don't want to take one minute away from the sermon that Paulette Phillips has for us this morning. Would you please welcome

Pastor Paulette Phillips to the pulpit today? Amen.

I submit to them as my pastor. Dr. Ron and Paulette Phillips are my apostle and have been for 25 years.

We are privileged to have the master teacher herself, our own

Pastor Paulette Phillips. Would you give honor to whom honors do right now? Thank you,

Ken. Thank you. I appreciate that. I love you too. Thank you. Thank you.

I'm thrilled to be with you today. The Bible says no women pastors. The Baptist faith and message says no women pastors.

But some SBC churches say no. The SBC lists Abingdon Baptist Church on their website as a member of the

Southern Baptist Convention. Abingdon Baptist Church also says they cooperate with the SBC on their website.

Yet, they do not follow Southern Baptist doctrine on the subject of female pastors. In 2017,

Abingdon Baptist Church advertised they were looking to fill a pastor position on the Baptist Women in Ministry website.

Lisa Wolfe became a minister there in 2022. She is listed in ABC's bulletin as a reverend and was first ordained at Main Street Baptist Church in Emporia, Virginia, which according to the

SBC website, is also a member of the Southern Baptist Convention. Lisa preaches periodically to a mixed audience during the

Sunday morning service. We are reminded that we stand in a long line of believers who have followed

God's call to love others, to show mercy and compassion, and work for justice in the world.

A long line that includes Moses, Amos, Micah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Francis of Assisi, Martin Luther, Harriet Tubman, William Wilberforce, Sojourner Truth, Horry Ten Boom, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr.,

Oscar Romero, Desmond Tutu, and Mother Teresa. She is also not the only female to preach during this time at ABC.

In his book, God Has a Dream, Desmond Tutu wrote, I have a dream, God says.

Please help me realize it. It is a dream of a world whose ugliness, squalor, and poverty, its war and hostility, its greed and harsh competitiveness, its alienation and disharmony are changed into their glorious counterparts, when there will be more laughter, joy, peace.

Before beginning an intimate meal with his disciples, Jesus taught them a lesson about humility. Normally, slaves performed the act of washing the feet of dinner guests.

Here Jesus, the guest of honor, dressed himself like a slave and insisted on washing the feet of his disciples.

Both she and ABC senior pastor Bill Bryan signed Baptist Women in Ministry's statement claiming

Jesus did not place any limits on women's roles and that females have the right to be seen as made in God's image, not as a secondary afterthought

God designed to always be under the authority of men. The Bible says no women pastors. The Baptist faith and message says no women pastors.

But some SBC churches say no. First Baptist Church of Albemarle, North Carolina is a member of the

Southern Baptist Convention. Yet for the past few years, they have employed Rebecca Stepniak as their associate pastor of family ministries.

She regularly preaches during the Lord's Day services. By my second year in seminary,

I began to posture myself better to receive this wonderful gift of Sabbath.

She signed Baptist Women in Ministry's statement claiming that Jesus did not place any limits on women's roles, as did

FBC's other pastors, Kendall Cameron and Aza Hudson. The Bible says no women pastors.

The Baptist faith and message says no women pastors. But First Baptist Church of Albemarle says no.

Burnett Avenue Baptist Church is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Kentucky Baptist Convention.

To describe them as a woke church would likely be a compliment, since they have emphasized multiple times from their own church's

Facebook page the importance of being woke. Their senior pastor, Corey Shull, was endorsed by the

Pro -LGBT Committee for Fairness and Individual Rights when he ran for Jefferson County Public School Board in 2018.

In 2020, he called the Southern Baptist Convention a patriarchal white supremacist institution.

Yet the church still remains in the denomination, according to the SBC website, and they disregard the

Baptist faith and message when it forbids women pastors. I'm standing in place of Reverend Shull.

Instead, Burnett Avenue Baptist Church has female reverends on staff and regularly allows females to teach adult

Bible studies to males, as well as preach on Sunday morning. I thank God for him for this opportunity to be behind the sacred desk.

I am your professor, Mrs., well not Mrs., Dr. Professor Sabrina Champong for today, and this class is called

Bible Study Adults 101. The Bible says no female pastors.

The Baptist faith and message says no female pastors. But Burnett Avenue Baptist Church says no.

Calvary Christian Church is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention. Robert J. Fontel Jr.

is the senior pastor. He also serves as a member of the Southern Baptist Convention's Committee on Committee.

Calvary Christian Church has three female ministers that serve on staff at the church and regularly allows females to preach during the

Sunday morning service. But when you have to prepare to give the word, we have to do it in excellence.

Our sermon scripture is going to come out of the book of Luke. Let's get ready for the word.

Amen. We are going to learn about being theologically sound. And sometimes as a preacher,

I wrestle with pulling up the whole chapter.

The Bible says no women pastors. The Baptist faith and message says no women pastors. But Calvary Christian Church says no.

Devil East, the Lifehouse Church, is a Southern Baptist church in Willingboro, New Jersey, planted by the

North American Mission Board's Send Network. They employ a female minister and a female reverend who preach during Sunday morning service.

Come on, would you put your hands together and help me celebrate the messenger and the message that we received today,

Dr. April. So grateful for her labor, for her ministry to us.

Preach your word. Use me as a vessel. Use me as your mouthpiece. So the title of my sermon is we're going with the theme lock in.

I pray heavily, Father, that you touch these lips of clay, that you speak through me, Lord.

Let me decrease and you increase, God, that you can get all the glory on today.

I study, but I indeed need your strength. I prepare to the best I know how, but I need your power.

Minister Gabe Green clearly endorsed the idea of women pastors from the pulpit.

When I wrote that sentence right there, I couldn't but think about Pastor Margaret Green.

Listen, in a church with more females than males, she is the one female pastor representative in six.

You know how many women are looking? What a privilege it is, Mother, that women can look for what an anchor life in Christ looks like in you, and God trusts you to live the life in front of so many.

We have women reverends. We have women ministers, and they also look at her as a mother and a big sister.

God trusts her to live the life for so many souls to watch and look for strength from her walk.

The church also endorses this idea, as demonstrated during their Women's History Month video they played last year during the service.

Today, in honor of Women's History Month, we celebrate the remarkable life of Amy Semple McPherson, a pioneering evangelist, preacher, and founder of the

Four Square Church. The Bible says no women pastors. I got a special invitation today and tasked to bring the word.

The Baptist faith and message says no women pastors. I need my Bible to preach, but the Lifehouse Church says no.

Eastlake Community Church in Irmo, South Carolina is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention and the South Carolina Baptist Convention.

They practice what they call the Big Tent, which allows Christians to disagree about many beliefs. Interestingly, being an intentional multicultural community, which is part of their motto, is not one of those things.

Senior Pastor Ray Washington says he uses books on racial reconciliation to help majority culture members understand alleged racially motivated incidents, like the shooting of Michael Brown.

Eastlake Community Church even has a class on racism, which they are still running. Based on your commitments and based on your completion of racism, we declare you are now

Ministers of Reconciliation of Eastlake Community Church. And here's what that means.

You will choose understanding before opinion. You will pursue diversity with intention, not with comfort, and you will reject division and practice unity.

Apparently, the Big Tent also allows for female pastors. Good morning, Eastlake. I'm Pastor Michelle, and I am the adult discipleship pastor.

Eastlake Community Church has female elders and pastors, including Michelle Robinson, who preaches during Sunday morning services.

I want you to think about those things as our worship team plays and as our ushers and greeters pass the elements of communion.

Heavenly Father, I pray that what I have received as a pastor to these people, that I will have passed it on to them.

Pastor Michelle, why does the Bible not tell us more about Jesus growing up years?

Heavenly Father, we come to this text this morning with open minds and open hearts. You might say,

Pastor Michelle, I'm tired of hearing about these three things that we should be doing in our groups.

But I went to seminary. I invested time and money and resources, and I believe

I'm a better pastor for it. The Bible says no female pastors. The Baptist faith and message says no female pastors.

But Eastlake Community Church says no. Elizabethtown Baptist Church, located in Elizabethtown, North Carolina, is a member of the

Southern Baptist Convention and the Bladen Baptist Association. Their associate pastor,

Brenda Flowers, preaches regularly during Sunday services. Now, I'm not

Pastor Rudy, and I have no way of knowing the thoughts that were in his head, so I'm sure my thoughts may be a little bit different from his.

That's okay. We'll just trust that they are also inspired by God. Then I'm also preaching from that study on Sunday mornings.

The Bible says no female pastors. The Baptist faith and message says no female pastors.

But Elizabethtown Baptist Church says no. Northwood Church in Keller, Texas, is affiliated with the

Southern Baptist Convention. The church appears to lean further left politically than many Southern Baptist churches, expressing support for aspects of the

Black Lives Matter narrative on racism and partnering with World Relief in refugee resettlement efforts.

Pastor Scott Venable has stated that racism is everywhere in the fabric of our country and described confronting it as a gospel issue.

But why is justice and fighting against racism a gospel issue?

He also criticized Christians, who he says are screaming about the wrong things on immigration instead of helping asylum seekers live in America.

Unsurprisingly, Northwood Church employs multiple female pastors and supports women preaching during Sunday worship services.

I remember the very first time I had the opportunity to speak here at Northwood, to preach here at Northwood.

I remember when I started to feel the stir of the Lord on me to go back to seminary.

The Bible says no female pastors. The Baptist faith and message says no female pastors. But Northwood Church says no.

Copperfield Church in Houston, Texas, is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Union Baptist Association.

Their lead pastor, John Glass, is a graduate of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Copperfield Church employs two female pastors,

Ann Aguilar and Pam Palmer. Pam Palmer serves as discipleship pastor and loves to work with leaders and teach the

Word of God. Well, good morning. Pastor Casey is in Louisiana, and he's asked me this morning to bring the final message in our series on marriage and appropriately, we're going to look at 1

Corinthians 13, which she does regularly during Sunday morning service. Well, happy Mother's Day again.

I am Pam Palmer. I am discipleship pastor here at Copperfield, and I have been given the incredible privilege of bringing a message to you this

Mother's Day. The Bible says no women pastors. The Baptist faith and message says no women pastors.