The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) rejected appeals on Wednesday from churches that were ousted from the nation’s largest protestant religious organization for accepting women as pastors.
The SBC’s 2023 annual meeting in New Orleans included impassioned pleas from best-selling author Rick Warren, who asked for his Saddleback Church in Southern California to be readmitted. It was kicked out in February for having women in prominent or senior pastor roles.
Warren’s church was one of four seeking to come back into the fold. Another was Fern Creek Baptist in Louisville, Kentucky, led by pastor Linda Barnes.
SBC leaders said 88% of the 12,000 messengers in attendance voted against Saddleback, and 92% voted against Fern Creek.
In 2000, the SBC changed its doctrine to say, “the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”
Barnes asked the church “why now?” in reference to its decision to expel Fern Creek Baptist two decades after the updated doctrine.
Warren founded Saddleback, formerly one of the largest Baptist churches in the world.
“If you think every Baptist thinks like you, you’re mistaken,” Warren said Tuesday. “Saddleback disagrees with one word (of the Baptist Faith & Message 2000). That’s 99.99999% in agreement. Isn’t that close enough?”