Free Republic

The Southern Baptist Convention announced Wednesday it has voted overwhelmingly to finalize the expulsion of two churches from the nation's largest Protestant denomination for having female pastors. And the vote wasn't even close, according to the SBC's tally. Spurred on by arch-conservatives in the SBC, the 12,000 or so "messengers" who had gathered at their annual meeting in New Orleans voted by a 9-to-1 margin to seal the exit of California's Saddleback Church and a smaller congregation in Kentucky. That vote, which was conducted Tuesday, set the stage for another vote Wednesday to amend the SBC's constitution to specify that...

Two Kentucky churches once belonging to a local chapter of the Southern Baptist Convention have ended their ties over having female pastors. Trinity Baptist Church of Bloomfield was officially removed from the Nelson Baptist Association while Union Band Baptist Church of Howardstown voluntarily withdrew its membership. Lisa Zahalka, pastor at Trinity Baptist Church, explained to The Christian Post that she was first contacted back in August about pastoring Trinity and also Big Spring Bloomfield Presbyterian. "Upon confirmation The Nelson Baptist Association asked us to remove our church, voluntarily from the association," said Zahalka. "We chose to do nothing. We were...