Southern Baptists give Saddleback the boot. What are people saying?

Here is the Associated Press:

The Southern Baptist Convention on Tuesday ousted its second-largest congregation — Saddleback Church, the renowned California megachurch founded by pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren — for having a woman pastor.

The vote by the convention’s Executive Committee culminates growing tension between the nation’s largest Protestant denomination — which officially opposes women as pastors — and a congregation whose story has been one of the biggest church-growth successes of modern times.

The committee cited Saddleback’s having “a female teaching pastor functioning in the office of pastor,” an allusion to Stacie Wood, wife of the current lead pastor of Saddleback, Andy Wood.

But the controversy began in 2021, when Warren ordained three women as pastors, prompting discussions within the denomination about possibly expelling the megachurch.

Warren retired last year after more than 42 years at Saddleback. He made an emotional speech in June 2022 at the Southern Baptists’ annual convention in Anaheim, standing by his ordination of women. He told delegates who debated the issue, “We have to decide if we will treat each other as allies or adversaries.”

But the Executive Committee took the vote Tuesday without public discussion after meeting in executive session.

It voted to approve a recommendation from the denomination’s Credentials Committee that Saddleback be deemed “not in friendly cooperation with the Convention” — the terminology used for ousting a church. While Southern Baptists’ statement of faith officially opposes women as pastors, each congregation is self-governing, so the main enforcement mechanism is to oust it from membership.

The Executive Committee’s motion said that Saddleback “has a faith and practice that does not closely identify with the Convention’s adopted statement of faith, as demonstrated by the church having a female teaching pastor functioning in the office of pastor.”

Saddleback has the right to appeal the decision at the Southern Baptists’ next annual meeting, scheduled for New Orleans in June. It did not respond immediately to requests for comment on the Executive Committee decision.

Mike Keahbone, an Executive Committee member and Oklahoma pastor, said an appeal “appears likely.”

Read the rest here.

Responses:

Rick Warren:

https://twitter.com/RickWarren/status/1628178253373657088

This is ONLY a loss to the SBC. Saddleback made the right decision and God will honor this church and her leadership. Thank you @RickWarren and all those who continue to stand for a God who calls women made in his image to lead in his church! https://t.co/xB07JiUqIp
— Dr. Joy Qualls (@madamspeaker) February 21, 2023

SBC ousting saddleback over female pastors but keeping slave names is a great summary of why I left.
— Ben Marsh (@PastorBenMarsh) February 21, 2023

Interesting:

https://twitter.com/janefortruth/status/1628165714031812608

Christianity Today coverage here.

Why would Saddleback appeal? https://t.co/sndaUsCr2d
— Chris Teichler, the Meatball Composer 🐻⬇️ (@composerchris) February 21, 2023

After finally taking time to go through my twitter replies, I saw this important reply from EC member Mike Keahbone on Saddleback: https://t.co/n5soQ1sOaA #SBC
— Liam Adams (@liamsadams) February 21, 2023

Denny Burk is happy:

This is good news. It’s sad that it came to this. I wish that Saddleback were following the Bible’s teaching on this.

Nevertheless, it is good news that the SBC is acting in concert with rather than contrary to its own stated beliefs. https://t.co/fkDljAKEcn
— Denny Burk (@DennyBurk) February 21, 2023

-No minority entity heads hired after many promises-An SBC entity head affirming “Anglo” Christian Nationalism-Disfellowshipping Saddleback lacked integrity & demonstrates a strong devaluation of women & their gifts-Final straw! https://t.co/ejMnO08V6b
— Dwight McKissic (@pastordmack) February 21, 2023

Wait, I thought we didn't know what a pastor was and needed a committee to study that definition. Suddenly, we know what it means?🤔

Great news! It's about time. The only better news would have been if those churches had repented.https://t.co/FvqMZBZd65
— Michelle Lesley (@MichelleDLesley) February 21, 2023

No victory lap yet from Al Mohler, but stay tuned.

UPDATE: Feb. 22. 2023 at 9:00am

The day the BFM2000 was revised:

"We would never presume to tell another church whom they may call as a pastor…" –Al Mohler

"We don’t have the right, the authority or the power to limit anybody… It is a statement of what most of us believe." — Adrian Rogers pic.twitter.com/xVbvp7qWTF
— Josiah Hawthorne (@JosiahHawthorne) February 21, 2023

Dear Southern Baptists, you raised me in the faith to have integrity and to care for others. How is it possible that instead of addressing Saddleback for a pastor w/ years of abuse allegations, you oust them for letting women use their God-given gifts? 🧵 https://t.co/VUXxWpmFvO
— Lori Adams-Brown 🇻🇪🇨🇷🇮🇩🇸🇬 (@loriadbr) February 22, 2023

One of the most ironic parts of SBC kicking saddleback out is that they have just proven that they can reprimand churches that do things they don't like.

That's going to play out very interestingly in the numerous lawsuits by sex abuse survivors against the SBC.
— Ben Marsh (@PastorBenMarsh) February 22, 2023

No one I know rejoices in this. Most everyone I know sees the necessity of it. https://t.co/AAbY0FTYYi
— Clint Pressley (@pastorclint) February 22, 2023

The #SouthernBaptistConvention is within its 1st Amendment right to forbade women from being ordained. Just as l am in my right to openly state that on matters of faith the #Taliban and the #SBC are kindred spirits theologically. https://t.co/uXJfZ3Mruv
— Randal Maurice Jelks (@drjelks) February 22, 2023

The Southern Baptist’s take a HUGE STEP away from Jesus and the Bible.

The Exec Comm, moving to remove 5 churches over violations of women in leadership and ONE over lack of cooperation in sexual abuse allegations.

Unbelievable…. but also, not at all.https://t.co/aUwhDp0WZX
— Dr. Kevin M. Young (@kevinmyoung) February 21, 2023

https://twitter.com/TomBuck/status/1628391391591006208

UPDATE: 9:25pm:

For at least four years, I've been told by a variety of SBC entity heads that the BFM2000 lacked clarity about the issue of women holding the title of pastor.

Can someone explain why there is all of a sudden clarity?
— Tom Buck (Five Point Buck) (@TomBuck) February 22, 2023

Truly, there are THOUSANDS of Southern Baptist churches with female associate pastors … who are called "directors" performing the EXACT same function as Saddleback's female pastors. Good luck with that, @SBCExecComm.
— Nic Gold (@NicolasGold1) February 23, 2023

https://twitter.com/kathsstewart/status/1628380008891777026

Saddleback Church, Women Pastors, and Baptist Polity
"I think it’s sad that the SBC executive committee has shown Saddleback the door, while SBC churches and entities continue to throw out the welcome mat to Christian nationalists like William Wolfe." https://t.co/rfy8D7CY95
— Michael F. Bird (@mbird12) February 22, 2023

*saddleback church ordains a woman

Cons evangelicals: YOU ARE OUT!

*John MacArthur protects a child molester on his staff

Cons evangelicals: THIS IS A HIT PIECE! JOHN IS A FAITHFUL GOSPEL PREACHER.
— The New Evangelicals (@newvangelicals) February 22, 2023

It only took 7 mths for the SBC EC to take action to remove Saddleback Church, but they still have not acted to remove congregations that refuse to address violations of clergy abuse. Tell us what is really important. @baptist_news https://t.co/0MmYzxPzYa
— Curtis Freeman (@DrCurtisFreeman) February 22, 2023

https://twitter.com/igneoussage/status/1628418000314597376

Former president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary:

While my amendment narrowly failed (in my view, b/c some messengers didn't understand what I was trying to do or mistakenly believed I was advocating for women pastors), it did not mean the question of what "closely identifies with" was either a settled issue or unimportant. 2/
— Adam W. Greenway (@AdamGreenway) February 22, 2023

An easy retort is, "The SBC has spoken! The BFM is against women pastors!" Despite what others may claim, the issue is not that simple. The SBC has NEVER required any church to affirm positively the BFM in toto in order to be deemed "in friendly cooperation" w/the Convention. 4/
— Adam W. Greenway (@AdamGreenway) February 22, 2023

I realize that my claims here are subject to the retort, "That's just your interpretation." Perhaps so. But the contrary is also true that the opposing view is itself an interpretation. And that's exactly my point. By taking action, the SBCEC imposed their interpretation here. 6/
— Adam W. Greenway (@AdamGreenway) February 22, 2023

These three disqualifying conditions provide an objective basis for determining SBC church cooperation. Anything beyond these three moves are simply subjective judgment calls. By taking the action they did, the SBCEC became a magisterium, authoritatively interpreting the BFM. 8/
— Adam W. Greenway (@AdamGreenway) February 22, 2023

Again, lest I be misunderstood, I'm not an egalitarian, nor for that matter am I in favor of open communion, Arminian theology, dispensationalism, or other matters that I am quite confident all run afoul of the BFM in one form or fashion. I have and still do affirm the BFM. 10/
— Adam W. Greenway (@AdamGreenway) February 22, 2023

There seems to be a sentiment in today's SBC that wants to purify the Convention, and sees "women pastors" as a huge threat to biblical authority and a slippery slope toward liberalism and drift. A few years ago it was Calvinism. Perhaps it will be something else later on. 12/
— Adam W. Greenway (@AdamGreenway) February 22, 2023

Until then, I hope Southern Baptists will work to expend less energy and effort trying to kick out more churches who want to be in friendly cooperation with us. Let's give our best to being the kind of SBC churches want to affiliate with, not the kind they want to leave. 14/end
— Adam W. Greenway (@AdamGreenway) February 22, 2023

They ousted five congregations (including Saddleback) for having women as pastors and just one for allegations of sexual abuse, which tells you a lot. https://t.co/44b1IHixQJ
— Jess (@jessicaesquire) February 22, 2023

https://twitter.com/ChadEstep/status/1628403707539869696

https://twitter.com/CameronLBishop/status/1628479785365110784

I understand people's love for Saddleback, but they chose to give the women the title "pastor." That title has to mean something. They could have chosen another title, but they didn't. The SBC didn't pick the fight. Saddleback did.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) February 22, 2023