Saddleback Church, a Southern California megachurch expelled from the Southern Baptist Convention in February for installing a woman as a “teaching pastor,” will appeal the move at the denomination’s June business meeting.
The Lake Forest, California, congregation — which had a weekly attendance of 23,494 in 2020 — was the second-largest church in America’s largest Protestant denomination before February’s expulsion. The appeal was expected by church officials.
Two other churches deemed “not to be in cooperation,” as Southern Baptists call denominational affiliation — Fern Creek Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, and Freedom Church in Vero Beach, Florida — will also have their appeals heard at a June 13 session in New Orleans.
The Louisville church has the Rev. Linda Barnes Popham, a woman, as its lead pastor, while the Vero Beach congregation is in a dispute with the SBC over an allegation regarding a sexual abuse case.
According to the denomination’s “Faith & Message” statement, which summarizes SBC beliefs, “while both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”
The Rev. Rick Warren, the best-selling author of “The Purpose Driven Life,” who founded Saddleback in 1980 in his living room and who led the church for its first 42 years, said in a statement to the independent Baptist News Global news service that the congregation is not merely seeking its own return.
“We’re not challenging the Executive Committee ruling for Saddleback’s benefit,” Mr. Warren said. “No one wants to stay where they aren’t wanted.”
Instead, Saddleback is appealing “on behalf of millions of SBC women” whose talents “are being wasted instead of empowered,” he said.
Mr. Warren also cited “over 300 concerned pastors” who have female pastors on their congregation’s staff and have contacted him, fearful about a “new inquisition” that might lead to their removal.
Mr. Warren also told the news service he believes delegates to the business session “must decide if they want the [SBC[ Executive Committee to act like a Catholic magisterium.”
The Rev. David Sons, pastor of Lake Murray Baptist Church in Lexington, South Carolina, and chairman of the SBC’s Executive Committee said Tuesday in a statement that the church’s “bylaws plainly outline the process for churches determined to be not in cooperation with the Convention to appeal their cases before messengers cast their votes. Since this is the first time in SBC history for this particular item of business to come before the Convention, it’s important for everyone coming to New Orleans to be prepared and informed about the process.”
The issue of female pastors in the SBC has triggered controversy in recent years. The Rev. Mike Lee, pastor of the Arlington Baptist Church in Virginia, started a petition to spur the business session to formally decide the issue.
The Rev. Mike Stone, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Blackshear, Georgia, and a candidate for SBC president this year, has said he supports the removal of Saddleback and Fern Creek from the denomination.
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.