The First Woman Mega-Church Pastor of an SBC Church?
- Posted by: Todd
- Posted on: Thu, May 31, 2007
- Viewed 78
- (62) comments so far
According to a Decatur church member familiar with the process, the congregation reacted to the announcement with “solid approval.” Pennington-Russell, 46, is scheduled to preach June 17 in anticipation of election the same day.
First Baptist of Decatur—a 141-year-old church in the Atlanta suburb of Decatur—will immediately become a centerpiece in the effort to elevate and celebrate women in pastoral roles. But the congregation is not seeking that notoriety, said one church leader.
“Calling Julie was definitely not about ‘making a statement,’” the longtime member said. “Our committee and the deacon council really felt the leadership of the Holy Spirit as we navigated this decision-making process. And to have our entire congregation—minus five or six folks who are not happy about this—stand at the close of the service yesterday and applaud our committee was overwhelming to us.”
Calvary Baptist in Waco was the first church in the Baptist General Convention of Texas to call a woman as senior pastor. At the time, it also reportedly was the largest congregation of Southern Baptist heritage to be shepherded by a woman.
First Baptist of Decatur is affiliated with the moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship but also maintains ties with the Southern Baptist Convention.
In the past 30 years, the Southern Baptist Convention has taken an increasingly hard line on women in leadership. That move—which happened as part of an overall rightward shift in the denomination—culminated in 2000, when the denomination added a clause to its official confession of faith that said the Bible restricts the office of pastor to males.
However, the confession is not binding on local churches, and many congregations affiliated with the SBC have ordained women as ministers and deacons for years.
Nonetheless, several local associations and a handful of state conventions have dismissed churches that have called a woman as a pastor in recent years.
The Decatur congregation would be the third that Pennington-Russell has led. Prior to her tenure at Calvary, she served for five years as pastor of Nineteenth Avenue Baptist Church in San Francisco. She also served that church previously as an associate pastor.
During her time in San Francisco, fundamentalists in the California Southern Baptist Convention tried three times, unsuccessfully, to get the convention to withdraw fellowship from the Nineteenth Avenue congregation.
Pennington-Russell also faced protesters when she went to Waco. However, Calvary has—according to multiple accounts—experienced a significant renaissance under her leadership. What had been an aging, shrinking congregation in a troubled neighborhood has grown numerically and attracted many young adults, as well as faculty and students from nearby Baylor University and Truett Theological Seminary.
While records on Baptist women in ministry are hard to track, experts in the field said May 29 that the Decatur congregation would likely be by far the largest church of Southern Baptist heritage ever led by a woman.
You can read more here at the Associated Baptist Press website.
Any reactions?
A female pastor who broke the "stained-glass ceiling" in Texas Baptist life is expected to move to a historic church near Atlanta, making it by far the largest Southern Baptist church led by a woman. A search committee of the 2,696-member First Baptist Church of Decatur, Ga., presented Julie Pennington-Russell's name May 27 as its recommendation to fill the open office of pastor. Since 1998 Pennington-Russell has been pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, Texas.
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Kevin Bussey on Thu, May 31, 2007
Todd,
Although I’m not be comfortable with this decision, I don’t understand why Christians would protest each other. If someone has a problem with it, then just don’t attend. We have too many unbelievers dying and going to hell then to worry about what other churches are doing.
reGeN on Thu, May 31, 2007
wow…so long as God directed the process, good for them…the SBC can do what they choose…pennington-russell has been a solid pastor from what i’ve heard over the years and she’s one tough chick…she weathered picket signs and slanderous comments from “christians” in the SBC but didnt respond to them…she just needs to focus on doing what Christ has called her to do and let detractors be detractors…they didnt die for her sins, lol
The Faceless Saint on Thu, May 31, 2007
I found this comment from Ms. Pennington-Russell on her new church’s site. I find her pastoral agenda quite frightening:
“the heart of a healthy congregation beats for people they haven’t met yet.” She adds, “We must be relentlessly creative and intentional about taking our faith outside of the church walls. And when unchurched people do find their way into a church, it is vital that their experience be chiefly about God rather than the church’s institutional framework.”
nora on Thu, May 31, 2007
I’m not a member of the SBC, but if the search committee followed the direction of the Holy Spirit, as they said, then I certainly applaud their obedience. And rather than finding her pasoral agenda frightening, I think it is an extremely healthy vision to have.
Indiana Jim on Thu, May 31, 2007
What about the Bible’s institutional framework? Good lord here I just posted in defense of Chuck Swindoll and now I’m getting all conservative about woman pastors? Needless to say First Baptist Decatur probably won’t be in the SBC for much longer.
Camey on Thu, May 31, 2007
Any thoughts? Yep.
Leonard on Thu, May 31, 2007
Faceless, can you elaborate here? I don’t want my only exercise today to be jumping to conclusions. Thanks.
DanielR (a different Daniel) on Thu, May 31, 2007
• “the heart of a healthy congregation beats for people they haven’t met yet.” She adds, “We must be relentlessly creative and intentional about taking our faith outside of the church walls. And when unchurched people do find their way into a church, it is vital that their experience be chiefly about God rather than the church’s institutional framework.”
I agree with Leonard, can you elaborate?
I’m not sure what one would find frightening about this statement.
Peter Hamm on Thu, May 31, 2007
I think this is awesome!
The Faceless Saint on Thu, May 31, 2007
DanielR stated:
“I’m not sure what one would find frightening about this statement.”
<b>Exactly.<>
Wendi on Thu, May 31, 2007
Faceless,
Your response to Leonard and DanielR (“exactly”), leaves me more confused than ever. What exactly is your point?
Personally, I’d be lining up to follow any Christian leader (pastor or other . . . regardless of gender) who espouses that the heartbeat of a healthy congregation beats for those who are yet outside the community of faith.
That an SBC church, whose search committee chose a female pastor, with unity in their leading from the Holy Spirit, is (IMO), a great affirmation of a movement of the HS in our larger context.
And to those who might disagree, I’d say “can’t we all follow Kevin’s advice and focus on the ministry we’re assigned and the mission field we’re called to reach?”
Wendi
Jeff on Fri, June 01, 2007
I’ll take a crack at what Faceless Saint means, and s/he can jump in here to correct me if I’m mistaken.
The quote was to show that Pennington-Russel’s agenda isn’t about feminist infiltration or emasculating men or undermining people or throwing the Bible in the trash or whatever other accusations are typically thrown toward female pastors, but instead an agenda that looks outside the church walls and is more concerned with God’s mission than an institutional mission.
Thus, her agenda isn’t frightening. It’s faithful.
layne on Fri, June 01, 2007
I think the comment from faceless reflects the fact that it is friday
Jeff on Fri, June 01, 2007
This entry was posted on Thursday, as were Faceless’ comments.
DanielR (a different Daniel) on Fri, June 01, 2007
Faceless Saint,
I wish you luck, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, in finding the faith you seem to have lost. I peeked at your blog, it looks like you have an anonymous blog so you can yell at God, and hope to have an audience while you do. I hate to be the one to break it to you but your blog is not anonymous from God, He knows who are and He knows your heart.
As for this blog, most of the readers here are busy doing Kingdom work or at least busy trying to be better servants of the Lord, too busy to be wasting time engaging in fruitless arguments with you or listening to your petty tirades because you’re mad at God. We can read your blog for that.
If you want to rant at God, shouldn’t you do that in prayer? Why do you feel the need to voice your anger at God on a public forum for all to see but do it anonymously? Shouldn’t a disciple of Christ be willing to say what he has to say openly? Faceless Saint, huh? I think you give yourself too much credit. I, for one, humbly hope to be a good husband, a good father, and a good servant of the Lord and will refrain from claiming sainthood.
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