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SBC Church Ignites Twitter Storm After Ordaining Its First Female Pastor

Buck then later concluded, “Bottom line, pastor/elder/overseer are synonyms, the qualifications are listed in 1 Timothy 3 & Titus 1, and only men are qualified to serve in the office. Those who claim a woman can be a ‘pastor’ as long as she isn’t ‘Senior Pastor’ are wrangling over words. Therefore, I’m done.”

The SBC’s BFM2000 can be confusing, Buck explained. “One source of confusion in the SBC is the change of the word ‘elder’ in the BFM 1925 to the word ‘pastor’ in the BFM1963/2000. If we’re going to use the word ‘pastor’ as synonymous w/ ‘elder,’ we need to stop giving someone the title of pastor who doesn’t hold the office of elder.”

This isn’t the first time this year that the ordination of women in SBC churches has been a controversy. In May, Saddleback, one of the largest churches in the SBC, announced they had ordained three women pastors — a first for the Rick Warren pastored church.

Just last month, SBC’s North American Mission Board (NAMB), released a statement clarifying that only men can preach at their church plants. NAMB was questioned earlier in the year by Buck, after it was discovered that SBC Church plant ECHO.CHURCH had women pastors listed on their staff.

SBC President Ed Litton was asked during his press conference after he was elected if he was in favor of editing the BFM2000 to provide better clarification regarding women leadership within SBC churches. The newly elected president said, “There are calls for that, but I think it’s good where it’s at. I think there needs to be a wideness to this. Complementarianism doesn’t need to be narrowed; it needs to be as wide as it is in the Baptist Faith and Message. And I am good with that.”