![]() Wood has said Saddleback does maintain male authority with an all-men board of elders but that they can equip women for ministry - most recently in May when Katie Edwards, one of the three women ordained in 2021, was named campus pastor of the flagship Lake Forest campus. The denomination’s statement of faith, the Baptist Faith and Message, says that while “men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.” Those actions prompted some to call for Saddleback’s ouster. In 2022, Warren retired and was succeeded by pastor Andy Wood, whose wife, Stacie Wood, was named teaching pastor at Saddleback. In 2021, Saddleback ordained its first three women pastors. Launched in 1980 by Rick and Kay Warren, Saddleback has grown over four decades to 14 locations in Southern California, with an average weekly attendance of 30,000. Warren’s expected appearance on Tuesday will amount to a titanic faceoff - the nation’s largest Protestant denomination receiving a challenge from someone long touted as one of its biggest success stories. Three other churches ousted over the same issue are not appealing.Īll Baptist churches are independent, so the convention can’t tell them what to do, but it can decide which churches are “not in friendly cooperation,” the official verbiage for an expulsion. On Tuesday, the messengers will hear from Saddleback and another church, Fern Creek Baptist of Louisville, Kentucky, which are appealing their expulsion in February by the SBC’s Executive Committee for having women pastors. The meeting will also feature a rare contested election between an incumbent SBC president, Texas pastor Bart Barber, and Georgia pastor Mike Stone, who is part of a group of Southern Baptists seeking to take the already staunchly conservative denomination further to the right. The messengers will vote on how and whether to continue reforms in the wake of a sexual-abuse scandal that was the subject of a withering outside report in 2022 and has drawn a U.S. The issue is just one of the controversies facing the more than 9,000 SBC messengers, or church representatives, who had registered as of Monday in advance of their two-day annual meeting at the Ernest N. “Christian women, will you please forgive me?” “I wish I could do it all over,” said Warren, who is expected to speak on behalf of Saddleback on Tuesday at the opening of the SBC’s annual meeting here in New Orleans. With animated social media posts complete with all-capitalized words, Warren has even issued a statement, “My Apology to Christian Women,” repenting of blocking women’s full use of their gifts and leadership skills until a recent change of views after a half-century in ministry. ![]() He is trying to get the Southern Baptist Convention to reverse its ouster of the California megachurch he founded, Saddleback Church, for having women pastors. ![]() T.D.NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Retired pastor Rick Warren, author of the publishing phenomenon, “The Purpose Driven Life,” has been intensifying a media blitz in what he acknowledges may be a lost cause. Allow God’s rest to renew you, His mercy to move you, and His love to lead you! Bishop and Mrs. ![]() In this house, you are seen as a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. We are humbled by your continued prayers and support, and honored to serve you with messages of revelation. As His children, we are promised an abundant life: in our relationships, ministries, missions, and throughout our pilgrimage. ![]() Our prayer is that your home brightly reflects God’s joy, peace, and goodness. My wife and I speak blessings over your family. And as He empowers you to persevere through life’s struggles, may you confidently communicate God’s vibrant hope to others - shining His eternal light on the lost. It’s our prayer that His Spirit will fully illuminate you on this heaven-bound journey, through every trial and victory. Our vision at The Potter’s House (TPH) is for God to mold you into a purpose-filled vessel, pointing all grace and glory back to Him. ![]()
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