Texas Baptists Get (Further) Off the Reservation

The Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT), the largest state organization of Baptists in the country, has elected a woman as its president, a first in Southern Baptist history. The BGCT has long been at some odds with the Southern Baptist Convention (headquartered in Nashville), which adopted the doctrinal position that women should not serve in pastoral roles and should "graciously submit to their husbands." The Southern Baptist Convention's statement of faith says that the pastorate is reserved for men.

In defiance, Texas is among the top three states with the highest number of women pastors and co-pastors. Surprised?

I've told this before: I grew up in Texas with woman preachers, though I was not a Baptist at that time. I went to a Texas Baptist college, and well, you know, peer pressure!

For its heresy, the BGCT has seen defections of some congregations into a new convention calling itself Southern Baptists of Texas, which considers the BGCT a bunch of flaming liberals. For more on that, check out the third comment on this Christianity Today thread.