Posted on 11/28/2025 7:08:42 AM PST by Cronos
Texas Baptists elected an ordained female clergywoman as convention president this week for the first time ever.
Debbie Potter, children’s pastor at Trinity Baptist Church in San Antonio, was chosen as president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas in a race with Kevin Burrow, pastor of First Baptist Church of Eastland, Texas. The vote was 430 to 320.
The BGCT is the largest and oldest of the two state Baptist conventions in Texas that relate to the Southern Baptist Convention. The other, Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, was formed in 1998 by conservatives who thought the BGCT was not falling in line with the SBC’s so-called “conservative resurgence.”
In the three decades since that split, the role of women in ministry has been a primary dividing line between the two state conventions. The SBTC adamantly declares women are not biblically qualified to serve as pastors — even though two weeks ago messengers to its annual meeting were not allowed to vote on three motions that attempted to disfellowship churches that allow women to serve in pastoral roles.
Those motions targeted Fielder Church in Arlington, which previously used the word “pastor” for men and women serving on staff but now has changed all such staff titles to “shepherd.”
In recent years, the BGCT’s commitment to women in ministry has been shaky, with efforts made — and rejected — that would align the state group more completely with the SBC’s no-women-as-pastors policy.
Both state conventions prohibit ordination of LGBTQ Christians. The BGCT has expelled numerous churches for allowing ordination of gay or lesbian members and for allowing same-sex weddings. This year, some messengers advocated for two motions that would have sanctioned Baylor University as too friendly to the LGBTQ community and would have required all religion and theology faculty at Baptist-supported schools to affirm the BGCT’s G2 statement of faith.
The first motion was defeated and the second ruled out of order.
Two other women previously served as BGCT president. Joy Fenner, a former missionary and longtime executive-director treasurer of Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas, was BGCT president in 2007-2008. Kathy Hillman, director of Baptist collections and library advancement at Baylor University and director of Baylor’s Keston Center for Religion, Politics and Society, was BGCT president in 2014-2015.
According to a new annual report by Baptist Women in Ministry, there are 4,915 churches in the BGCT and only 43 (0.9%) have female pastors or co-pastors. Also according to this report, Texas Baptist churches are known to have ordained only 18 women to ministry from 2022 through 2024.
Potter is a volunteer with Child Protective Services in San Antonio and has ministered to children and families since 1997, serving six years at Parkhills Baptist Church in San Antonio before joining the Trinity Baptist Church staff. She was licensed to the gospel ministry at Parkhills in 1998 and ordained by Trinity in 2005.
After completing her undergraduate degree from Southern Nazarene University and a master’s degree from the School of Education at the University of Texas at San Antonio, she earned a Ph.D. in educational leadership from Andrews University.
She serves as adjunct professor at Baptist University of the Américas, where she has mentored international students and preached in chapel. She is a trustee of Buckner International, and she served the past year as first vice president of the BGCT.
the BGCT affirms teh 1963 BF&M as a standard; churches may use 2000 BF&M or others, whil the CBTC requires affirmation of the 2000 BF&M for all affiliating churches. This is a "confessional fellowship" with doctrinal accountability.
Very interesting
A president of an organization is not a spiritual authority over others. That role is more like a woman serving as a treasurer or communications specialist.
It has no affiliation with the SBC
and the Mark Wingfield that wrote this is a left wing looney
ok. She doesn’t seem too bad
Don’t tell me the Baptists are going off the deep end now??
...yet
Reflective of apparently an "progressive" decline of fundamental view of Scripture, vs liberalism, which overall seems to hav e gone back quite a ways:
Conservatives Break Away From Southern Baptists in Texas Nov 11, 1998Group of strict theological conservatives in Texas vote to break away from 2.7-million-member Baptist General Convention of Texas; split is second in two years within state organization
DALLAS (BP)–First Baptist Church of Dallas, in a historic action certain to reverberate among the 2.7 million Southern Baptists throughout Texas, voted Nov. 17 to loosen its nearly century-long relationship with the Baptist General Convention of Texas and join the new, more theologically conservative Southern Baptists of Texas Convention...The move by First Dallas, which counts evangelist Billy Graham among its members, is significant because of the church’s longstanding ties to the BGCT. The church also is regarded by many as a fountainhead of conservative theology — particularly when it comes to the inerrancy and infallibility of the Bible...
. “Moderates [a term often used by BGCT and CBF leaders to describe themselves] by and large have been those who have embraced some, if not all, of the tenets of ‘higher criticism,’ while conservatives generally reject this methodology.....— The theological views of several scholars adored by the BGCT and the CBF. Among them Kirby Godsey, the president of Mercer University who wrote a book, “When We Talk About God … Let’s Be Honest,” that argues that “Jesus is not God; Jesus did not have to die;” dismisses the virgin birth as unimportant; rejects repentance and accepting Jesus as “the basis for salvation;” and claims that “Doctrinal soundness is arrogant theological nonsense.” ” - https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/first-baptist-dallas-votes-to-loosen-bgct-ties-align-with-conservative/
Trying to redirect from your own “church”?
ARE WOMEN PASTORS BIBLICAL? No.
I presume the intent of your article is to attack SS, however, that presumes a position on what Scripture is, in integrity and authority, and affirm all historical accounts as literal (unlike much of recent RC scholarship) , and also uphold basic universal moral laws, but which liberals decline from. Thus those who strongly esteemed the Bible as being the sure, supreme, accurate and authoritative word of God (classic "evangelicals") have long attested to being the most conservative unified large religious group (at least in the West) in key basic values and fundamental beliefs and commitment/works. Including being the most conservative significant religious voting block for decades (approx. 74% to 80% from Bush to Trump): RCs can only wish that Catholics overall were as conservative.
Meanwhile, although women can obviously can function in ministry, (Philippians 4:3) yet not as authoritative teachers or heads over men, (1 Co. 11:13; 1 Timothy 2:12-15) - nor treated unkindly by men - yet ministerial position overall are to be predominantly male, as the critical normative role of women is to bear and raise children and support their husbands, (Titus 2:4) aside from special consecration. (1Corinthians 7:8, 32-35).
Yet support women are increasing displacing men in many positions of leadership. In Roman Catholic (though with exclusion from deacon, priest, bishop) this includes chancellors, COOs, CFOs, general counsel, planning directors.. About one‑quarter of all diocesan chancellors in the U.S. are women. (https://spsmw.org/2014/07/16/walking-with-the-people-from-a-position-of-influence-sister-therese-guerin-sullivan/) Women have long served as CCD (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine) teachers in Catholicism (mine was years ago), teaching students of all ages and genders, including boys and men
About 34% of U.S. Catholic universities are led by women presidents. Women consist of 77% of staff, 67% of principals, and 49% of superintendents in Catholic schools (https://www.oursundayvisitor.com/rising-carolyn-woo-on-womens-leadership-in-catholic-ministries/)
Around 31,000 lay ecclesial ministers serve in U.S. parishes, and roughly 80% of them are women (about two‑thirds lay women plus ~16% women religious).(https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/all-things-catholic/lay-ecclesial-ministry-and-feminization-church)
And,
Pope Francis promoted women to unprecedented heights of power in the church Pope Francis appointed more women to leadership roles in the Vatican than any pope before him. A prime example is Sister Raffaella Petrini, who became the first woman to serve as secretary general of the Governorate of Vatican City State – the executive of Vatican City State. This is the highest ranking role ever held by a woman in the Catholic church.
Women in the Vatican: How Female Leadership is Shaping the Church In the Vatican City State the presence of women over the past decade has increased significantly to 1,165 female collaborators. Never before has the number of female employees and their representation within the total staff been so high... Sister Simona Brambilla is the first woman ever to head a dicastery, an entire Vatican department. She was appointed in January as Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life. She is not the only woman religious entrusted with a lot of power in the Vatican. Pope Francis promoted women to unprecedented heights of power in the church - https://www.ewtnvatican.com/articles/women-in-the-vatican-how-female-leadership-is-shaping-the-church-4677
No, period. They have their place but not scriptural. No man wants to be led in physical or spiritual battle by a female
Seems very common from 1 side on this site.. I should make a special pic specifically for them on these threads.
It’s not a church if you ordain women.....it’s a woke attempt to disrespect and ignore Biblical teachings.....
I know some churches with women pastors & they don’t do badly, but generally I think most churches do not authorize this. I belong to an independent Bible Church & we certainly do not have women pastors, but in other offices of the Church they do have their place & seem to fulfill it very well.
You see, my sweet summer child, *this* is why it’s a *good* thing that Protestants split into many different polities. So that if heretics start going against the Word and somehow manage to get in charge, we can just throw them out or separate ourselves in order to remain faithful.
You Catholics meanwhile, for the sake of muh unity, are stuck with the gayest church that ever gayed. If I were to rate Catholicism gayness on a scale of one to ten, I would rate it a Gay Point Gay. An eternal fractal of gayness stretching on into infinity where each gay is the gay on the other gay.
In short, this isn’t the slam dunk you seem to think it is, hypocrite.
Hyperbole for there are those "metropolitan" "churches," but while in letter Catholicism does not sanction homosexuality and its relations, yet besides many clerics evidently being so, and Western RCs being far more supportive of it than evangelicals, Rome even counts proabortion, prohomosexual public figures as members in life and in death (showing the Vatican's understanding of canon law)...
Th RCA response is "That doesn't change doctrine," however, the hearers of teaching typically look for its meaning by how the preachers of doctrine translate it into their own lives and actions. James 2:18.
We are all being watched.
Paul warned Timothy, and by extension, all of us, to have nothing to do with such people who have a form of godliness but deny its power. He also said:
The freedom to leave false teaching churches is actually a GOOD thing.
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