We Didn’t Start the Fire
Even though this piece for A Public Witness starts as a story about one college, it deals with something many churches, schools, and organizations need to consider: taking steps to address their history.
Saddleback Church Appeals Southern Baptist Convention Ouster Over Woman Pastor
It is one of three churches appealing decisions recently made by the denomination’s Executive Committee to remove eight congregations from official affiliation.
Southern Baptists Lost Nearly Half a Million Members in 2022
The Southern Baptist Convention has lost 3 million members since 2006, about half of that in the last five years.
Georgia Pastor Mike Stone to Challenge SBC President Bart Barber This Summer
For only the second time in more than three decades, a Southern Baptist Convention president will face a challenge for reelection.
SBC Official Brent Leatherwood Urges Tennessee Lawmakers to Pass Red Flag Law
Head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the public policy arm of the SBC, Leatherwood is calling on legislators to pass a law to remove firearms from people who are a danger to themselves and others.
Narrow ‘Religious Freedom’ Gains Traction in Texas
Multigenerational Texan and seminarian Christopher Symms details the religious aspects of the political fight in his state over what Governor Greg Abbott calls the “woke agendas in schools."
Since the 1880s, Southern Baptists Have Argued Over the Role of Women
Since 2000, official Southern Baptist doctrine limits the role of pastor to men. But that doctrine had never been enforced at the national level until recently.
Technical Foul for Biblical Interpretation
This issue of A Public Witness will coach you up about a recent controversy regarding women in ministry at Saddleback Church and then consider how moments like that are connected to the same way of reading the Bible that got the whistle blown at Texas
Saddleback Church Doubles Down on Support for Female Pastors
The woman pastor at the center of the SBC’s decision to oust Saddleback Church — the California megachurch founded by pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren — says she will continue to serve as a ministry leader despite her longstanding ties to the nation’s largest
How Did Saddleback Get Kicked Out of the SBC? It’s Complicated.
The issue of who gets to be a Southern Baptist made international headlines last week after the denomination’s Executive Committee voted to oust one of the nation’s largest and best-known churches for having a woman preaching pastor.