MOLOKAI, Hawaii (BP)—One Southern Baptist has seen the tragedy of last month’s devastating wildfires in Maui from several angles. Henry “Hanale” Lindo, serves as both pastor of Kaunakakai Baptist Church and assistant chief of operations for the Maui County Fire Department.

Lindo, who has served with the Maui County Fire Department for 28 years, said he and the department never had experienced anything like the recent wildfires on the island.

“As firefighters, and in my whole entire career, we’re so used to winning the fight,” Lindo said.

“I’ve been to numerous fires and emergencies, and we always come out on top. We may have major fires where we might lose a couple of structures here and there … but the fires on Maui stretched us super thin as a department force. Every single resource we had on the island was at one of the three fires.

“After it was said and done, when you look at the devastation and the chaos and all that happened … as firefighters it’s hard to believe what happened. For a firefighter, it’s absolutely heart-wrenching and gut-wrenching, because we did everything we possibly could, and the end result is what we see. We were unable to do what we’re so used to doing … to stop the fire from causing the greatest amount of devastation. My heart hurts for our members.”

Lindo, who became assistant chief of operations in December 2021, said 15 firefighters and four ocean safety officers with the department were among the thousands who lost their homes in the fires.

Relying upon God

Despite this, Lindo said many lives miraculously were saved through the heroic efforts of the force.

And through it all, Lindo has done what he always has—relied on God to help him lead the force.

“Emotionally and mentally, it was just draining for me in the days after the fire,” Lindo said. “It’s easy to get depressed and get caught up in the emotions, but I look back at my walk with God, and that’s where the hope comes from.

“The hope lies in resting in what God has done for mankind in securing a future and a hope for us. Many Christians out there usually go to God when everything is bad, but I spent a lot of years when everything was good. Those are the times I pressed in even more—understanding his word, understanding his promises. That’s where I set my anchor.

“Our department members and our church members, they’re watching my walk. The model that I’ve got to model is Jesus and what he has shown.”

In addition to his role with the fire department, Lindo has been pastor of Kaunakakai Baptist for three years. But in this difficult season, he said it has been his congregation that has been ministering to him.

“It’s absolutely been great. My people love and care for me,” Lindo said.

“Our people in the church were able to step up and cover for me the first week when I wasn’t able to return home. But as soon as I had an opportunity, I told my chief I need to step away from work and get back home to recharge and rejuvenate. As much as I wanted to stay away from people, I knew that’s not what was needed for myself and for our church. I believe in the strength of unity and the unity of faith.”

Kaunakakai Baptist’s building was spared from the fires, as it is located on Molokai, one of the islands making up Maui County which were not affected by the tragedy (the four islands constituting Maui or Maui County are Lanai, Maui, Molokai and the uninhabited Kaho’olawe).

Lindo said the church stands ready to help with the rebuild efforts, and he credited the work of other churches and state convention workers helping meet immediate needs.

As the long recovery continues, Lindo believes ministering amid the tragedy is exactly where God wants him.

“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Lindo said. “I don’t know why I ended up in the position that I’m in. I look at God’s hand and I think, ‘Why am I in this position?’

“I believe in some way, shape or form, it’s to bring hope and to help in the rebuild. God is the God of restoration and reconciliation, and that’s who I trust in, and that’s what our people in our department need right now moving forward.”

NASHVILLE (BP)—Names and background information are being processed for potential inclusion in an online database of individuals related to Southern Baptist churches who have been convicted of a sex crime or found liable for sex abuse in a civil case.

The Southern Baptist Convention’s Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force held an in-person meeting Aug. 28 in Dallas. It marked the group’s first gathering since SBC President Bart Barber announced changes in the task forceand named Joshua Wester as its chair.

“This team of godly and faithful Southern Baptists is committed to doing everything it possibly can to ensure meaningful and lasting abuse reform is implemented across our convention,” said Wester, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C.

“The goal of Ministry Check is to establish a system where churches can help churches prevent abuse by keeping potentially dangerous individuals away from the vulnerable.”

According to a statement released Aug. 31, the task force devoted its recent meeting bringing new members up to speed, reviewing ongoing initiatives and identifying priorities for the upcoming year.

Vetting names based on crimes, civil actions

Chief among them is the vetting of names and background information to be included in a database here.

Names are received primarily through the sexual abuse hotline for survivors. A portal to submit names directly is being developed.

That vetting process is “presently limited,” the statement said, “to determining eligibility … on the basis of prior criminal convictions or civil judgements rendered against accused individuals for sex-based offenses.”

According to the motion SBC messengers adopted in Anaheim last year, the database will be made up of “pastors, denominational workers, ministry employees and volunteers who have at any time been credibly accused of sexual abuse and who have been or are associated with a cooperating Southern Baptist church or entity.”

The first names to appear on the website, the task force anticipated, will be those convicted of sexual abuse in court or who have had a civil judgement rendered against them.

Still working on confessions and ‘credibly accused’ criteria

The other two criteria are those who have confessed the abuse in a nonprivileged setting and those defined as “credibly accused” according to a preponderance of evidence that has been examined by an independent third party.

“Further work is currently underway to develop standards for inclusion on the basis of the remaining two categories,” the statement read.

The category of “credibly accused” is “by far the most difficult category to administer, but a crucial one,” said task force member and attorney Melissa Bowen.

“Only about 3 percent of instances of sexual abuse result in criminal convictions,” said Bowen, a member of First Baptist Church in Prattville, Ala. “Without this category, Ministry Check would not be complete.

The task force “is working to set up a network of legal and investigative professionals who have the expertise necessary to evaluate reports of suspected sexual abuse in Southern Baptist churches and entities. These evaluations will determine if the inclusion of these reports on Ministry Check would be legally defensible,” Bowen said.

Developing ministry toolkit

In addition to the database of names, the website also will serve as a hub for its ministry toolkit for churches.

 “Though our focus thus far has mainly been on the database, we are also working to enhance the toolbox which will be a resource to every church within our convention, will help us stamp out this egregious sin [of abuse] and provide a safe place for the vulnerable among us,” said Jon Nelson, task force member and lead pastor of Soma Community Church in Jefferson City, Mo.

Kris Buckman serves as youth and children’s missionary with the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware and before that was director of children’s ministries at Tri-County Baptist Church in Damascus, Md.

As a task force member, she said the ministry toolkit can be an essential resource “to enhance prevention efforts and respond well to victims and survivors.”

“We’re looking at several ways to assist churches with implementation, beyond creating a page of resources. The positive partnership we’ve been building with state conventions and associational mission strategists will help facilitate those implementation efforts,” Buckman said.

Future task force updates will come through sbcabuseprevention.com, the statement said, with previous updates to be moved there as well.

The task force expressed its gratefulness to Barber “for his unwavering support for this cause” as well as the financial support and partnerships with Send Relief, the North American Mission Board and International Mission Board.

Since the final gavel of June’s annual meeting, task force members have consulted with leaders from Lifeway, the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, the SBC Executive Committee, associational mission strategists, state convention leaders and numerous pastors in “a spirit of unity and firm resolve … to see abuse reform advanced at every level of our Southern Baptist family.”

“We will continue working with leaders at every level of the SBC to promote and implement needed reform measures to help make every church safe for the vulnerable and safe from abuse,” Wester said.

Close engagement also continues with the SBC Credentials Committee in addition to entity heads, state conventions and associational leaders and pastors, the statement said.

The task force “is committed to continuing to listen and learn from survivors of sexual abuse,” the statement read. “With our broader convention, we are grieved by the immense pain many have suffered in ministry contexts that should have represented safety and refuge.

“As we enter into a new season of this work, it is our fervent desire to walk in humility and to honor Jesus whose heart was always for the vulnerable and those who are hurting.”

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (BP)—Florida Baptists’ State Board of Missions heard a report from the subcommittee tasked with providing oversight and recommendations regarding the investigation into financial fraud discovered by the Florida Baptist Convention in May.

Subcommittee members—Aaron Burgner, Darren Gaddis, Paul Purvis, Brian Stowe and Angel Turbeville—worked with federal and state investigators, internal and external auditors and cyber forensics experts in their investigation into the more than $700,000 in funds stolen from the convention through cybertargeting.

The investigation revealed no criminal activity on the part of any Florida Baptist Convention staff person but instead concluded that the crime was the result of sophisticated cybertargeting by—at this point—unknown perpetrators.

The subcommittee’s work culminated in the recommendation for strengthened financial protocols and ongoing training for convention staff.

To prevent such a crime from occurring in the future, the convention is exercising heightened awareness when carrying out financial duties, implementing appropriate data security controls, and completing the process to become accredited by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. The convention still is making efforts to recover the stolen funds.

Florida Baptist Convention Executive Director-Treasurer Tommy Green acknowledged this is the first time he has dealt with a crime of this nature in his more than four decades of ministry.

“Everything we do is built on trust,” he said. “I’m sorry. We will move forward. We are better, and we’ll continue to get better.”

He has already seen, he said, that “churches are learning from the convention’s fraudulent experience.”

The convention recommends these best practices to help churches protect their financial assets:

• Provide staff training on recognizing suspicious emails and other sophisticated cyberattacks.
• Enable multifactor authentication logins when available.
• Verbally verify any changes to payment instructions requested by a vendor related to accounts payable or an employee related to payroll.
• Discuss with the church’s insurance agent the programs and levels of coverage available to help the church in the event of a cyberfraud experience.
• Engage a cybersecurity professional to provide analysis of information technology infrastructure and security.

NASHVILLE (BP)—After the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, many people at Woodmont Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn., were upset, Pastor Nathan Parker said.

“They had heard press reports coming out of the convention and asked if we could face it,” Parker told Baptist Press. “Some members were calling for us to withdraw from the SBC.”

So, Parker called a town hall meeting.

Woodmont Baptist Church wasn’t the only one holding such talks after SBC messengers’ approval of the first step toward a constitutional change limiting the office of pastor to men.

But in the case of Woodmont Baptist, the church’s history cannot be ignored as it provides context for that family meeting—as well as why Woodmont is being discussed among Southern Baptists now.

As listed on the church’s website, Parker earned degrees from Beeson Divinity School at Samford University and Lipscomb University. The executive pastor is a graduate of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The other two ministry staff members are women and listed as ministers, holding degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The staff all support the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message, Parker insisted.

Those details are important, as Woodmont is currently part of the broader SBC discussion, particularly online.

Historic role in forming CBF

Bill Sherman, Woodmont’s pastor for 30 years, led the congregation when the church was instrumental in forming the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. CBF broke away from the SBC in the early 1990s in response to what CBF characterized as the fundamentalist takeover of the SBC and what supporters in the SBC call the conservative resurgence.

Sherman’s brother, Cecil, was a key leader—arguably the key leader—among that group that formed CBF while serving as pastor of First Baptist Church in Asheville, N.C.

Fast forward to 2023. On Aug. 17, interim SBC Executive Committee President and CEO Willie McLaurin resigned from that role after acknowledging he falsified information on his resume. He was removed by the president and CEO search committee as the likely candidate to fill the position.

The next day, Executive Committee Vice President for Communications Jonathan Howe was announced by Chairman Philip Robertson as the new interim president and CEO.

In recent days, social media posts and articles reported on Woodmont’s CBF connection while pointing out Howe’s wife, Beth, serves at Woodmont as minister of students and discipleship.

Writers on social media noted the SBC debate over women serving in pastoral roles on church staffs.

“I’ve told my church that I see a lovingly designed, spiritual male headship in Scripture, but it’s not a make-or-break issue,” Parker said. “Originally, we wanted Beth’s position to be for a male pastor.

“But when she emerged as the best candidate, we changed the job description to remove some of the 1 Timothy elder-qualification [language] because she’s not an elder and doesn’t want to be an elder. None of the women on our staff want to be elders or pastors.”

At the town hall meeting, Parker taught for 30 minutes from Genesis 1-2 about the “God-given, lovingly designed, spiritual male headship to be exercised in the church and the home” as he sees it.

Parker said he did not see it as a gospel or salvific issue “as long as we are still submitting ourselves to the authority of Scripture.”

Wounded by the SBC conflict

Parker’s congregation consists of many who remember the division of the Southern Baptist Convention in the 1980s and early 1990s differently than the majority of the SBC today.

“There are folks who were deeply wounded by those on the SBC side,” said Parker, a Nashville native who became Woodmont’s pastor in January 2017. “There’s real trauma there, from both sides. Mud was thrown in both directions.”

According to the 2022 Annual Church Profile, Woodmont designated 1.6 percent of its budget to be given through the Cooperative Program, the highest in eight years.

Members are free to designate the denominational giving portion of their regular budget giving to either the SBC, CBF or both as well as above their regular tithe at Christmas for international missions efforts.

The “vast majority” of those gifts go toward the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, Parker said. Woodmont gave $42,134 to that offering in 2022.

The church also financially supports the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions, the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board’s state offering, the Nashville Baptist Association, Tennessee Baptist Children’s Homes and Tennessee Baptist Adult Homes.

COVID dealt Woodmont, like churches everywhere, a financial hit in 2020. Since then, the church has steadily increased giving to Southern Baptists’ signature missions offerings by 35 percent.

‘We’re better together. But some days it’s hard.’

Accusations over a lack of commitment to Southern Baptist causes can have an impact, Parker admitted.

“I like to believe that we’re better together,” he said. “But some days it’s hard.”

The front steps of Woodmont’s sanctuary are only a few minutes away from the SBC building in downtown Nashville.

“We’re focused on being the healthiest church we can be to the glory of God,” he said. “My job as pastor is to shepherd the flock, to fulfill the Great Commission and the Great Commandment as faithfully as possible. Those denominational power struggles are not necessarily part of that mission.”

At that church town hall meeting this summer, a 92-year-old Bill Sherman approached Parker, thanking him for the leadership displayed at that moment.

The two are friends, Parker said. They see eye to eye on what they deem to be faith essentials. Tertiary issues, not as much, and they believe that’s all right.

“He has been nothing but encouraging and kind to me,” Parker said. “He said we can agree to disagree on this, and we walked out of that meeting as a family of faith. No one was upset. No one cried.

“We disagreed on something, and it was really healthy. It exhibited a lot of Christian maturity and love for one another.”

LAHAINA, Maui (BP)—Lahaina faces an uncertain future following the Aug. 8 wildfire that consumed the town.

As survivors continue reckoning with the series of chaotic events that generated one of the deadliest wildfires in U.S. history, local pastors and residents are asking what it will take to persevere through the tragedy.

The latest official death count reached 114, but with roughly 850 people unaccounted for, the toll may climb to multiple hundreds.

“From our house in Lahaina, we came out in the evening, and normally there’s a sunset,” said Richard Murray, pastor of Kaanapali Beach Ministry in Lahaina. “And I could see this dark, black, what we thought was a cloud just over the town facing the water.”

Murray at first thought there was a major storm brewing before a friend pointed out it was smoke from a fire. Lahaina was burning.

A combination of drought-parched land and gale-force winds turned the wildfire into what Murray described as a gigantic blow torch.

“About 20 minutes later, the police were coming around the corner saying: ‘Evacuate. The fire is headed this way.’ So, we had to grab my wife’s two therapy dogs,” Murray said. “We jumped in the car, and we evacuated.”

The Murrays thought this would be like similar wildfire evacuations they’ve experienced in their 30 years of living on the island. They expected eventually to get the “all clear” signal and return safely to their home.

Instead, the fire reduced their home to ash.

Ministry in the midst of loss

Barry Campbell is serving as the transitional pastor of Lahaina Baptist Church. Campbell and his wife, Marci, had moved out of an apartment complex in Lahaina Town just a few months earlier. That entire complex was destroyed.

“All but two of our families (in their church) have lost their homes and everything they had,” Marci said. “So, we’re just working with our families, trying to meet immediate needs and trying to get them places to stay.”

The Campbells cooked and provided meals for their neighbors after the fire went out. They tracked down their church members and helped them find missing loved ones, and they opened their home for some who had been displaced by the fire.

Erik Naylor, a Send Network church planter, arrived on Maui last December to be sent out from Lahaina Baptist Church to help a core group grow into a new congregation. He and his family were renting a home in Lahaina, and their dwelling and most of their belongings were lost.

“In the early afternoon, our cell phone service went out. The wi-fi went out, so we didn’t have any communication,” Naylor said. “Probably around 2 or 3, all of Front Street is burning down, but we didn’t know it. We were walking distance from Front Street. We just didn’t realize it was that bad.”

Right before they left, they walked across a field toward Lahaina Baptist Church and saw the massive cloud of smoke. His neighbor and fellow church member, Todd, went over and prayed for the church building, which miraculously survived the fire.

The Naylors said God has provided them temporary housing through a believer on the island opening their home for the next few weeks. Now, as they help their own family of seven get back on its feet and into school, Naylor and his wife Danni have continued ministering to their community by engaging others and sharing the gospel.

“We have seen God show up through churches (from the mainland) and agencies like Send Relief just showing up to be there for us, support us, encourage us, pray for us,” Campbell said. “People praying for us has just been huge. We’re so thankful for the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention and local churches contacting us.”

Long road to recovery

Several churches that were outside the burn zone have been meeting needs and supporting the survivors who had been displaced by the fire. Send Relief has helped to undergird some of those efforts financially in cooperation with the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention.

Texas Baptist Men has provided support to Waiehu Church, a congregation planted by Kahului Baptist Church five years ago. The church met immediate needs by providing generators, water, food and other necessities. Members opened their homes to families who were displaced by the fire, with one family hosting 28 guests.

Send Relief sent a shipment of fire recovery supplies to Maui to assist Southern Baptist disaster relief teams as they serve families who have lost everything. This shipment left Send Relief’s warehouse in Ashland, Ky., and was packed with protective gear including Tyvek suits, N-95 masks, goggles and more.

“Traveling around the island this past weekend speaking with pastors and residents in Maui, you can’t help but grieve with them over the tremendous loss of life,” said Bryant Wright, president of Send Relief, following a visit to the island.

“There is a long road of recovery ahead, and we at Send Relief want to help connect churches from the mainland to the needs in Hawaii.”

WAILUKU, Hawaii—The danger from fires and the challenge of ministry in a disaster zone have not passed on the island of Maui.

 Pastor Rocky Komatsu of Waiehu Community Church told Texas Baptist Men Aug. 16 the fires are still burning and not fully contained.

TBM is partnering with Waiehu Church—a congregation planted by Kahului Baptist Church five years ago—to meet the influx of needs by passing along tens of thousands of dollars given by TBM supporters in recent days, said Rand Jenkins, senior director of advancement.

Jenkins spoke to Komatsu Wednesday afternoon to determine the best way to help.

“The church has been addressing immediate needs by providing generators, water, fuel and other necessities,” Jenkins said.

“Now they are shifting their focus, with church members housing those who lost their homes. One family is hosting 28 additional people. Think what that does to your water, electricity, food and other bills.”

The church has even reached out to some of their friends who are nonbelievers to host people in their homes on behalf of the church.

“What we need now are funds,” Komatsu said. “Yesterday, I became nervous about having to penny pinch, because items are so expensive, and the need is so great.”

TBM committed to send more funds to meet the crisis, Jenkins said. He noted TBM stays in ongoing contact with funded entities to track how funds are used.

“It’s important that we provide general oversight on all funds that TBM disburses,” he said.

Years of rebuilding ahead

The process of removing ash from the burned-out houses has not yet begun, Komatsu said. It’s not safe now for people to come in and help.

“We are going to need years of support for rebuilding,” the pastor said. “We need funding now. But in months ahead, we will need years of rebuilding assistance.”

Komatsu noted the situation is not just a matter of destroyed homes. Many other homes have suffered severe wind damage to roofs, windows and walls.

After speaking with the pastor Jenkins said simply: “It’s big. It’s not over.”

John Hall, TBM director of communications, said: “The response from the TBM family already has been incredible. We are already making an impact in Hawaii, and we’re just at the start of this.

“We are still very early in the relief process. Lahaina is the city we’re all seeing most often on the news, but the devastation is much broader.”

By communicating closely with partners on the ground in Maui, TBM is in a position to support residents in the best way possible and provide service connected with a Christian witness, Hall said.

Fire recovery and rebuilding efforts will not begin for weeks. TBM leaders are optimistic TBM volunteers will be serving in Maui during that process.

“Our many volunteers are always ready to help,” Hall said. “Right now, we simply have to wait to see exactly what the needs are and how we might be able to work with local officials, churches and residents.

“This will be a long recovery process for Maui.”

OXFORD, Miss. (BP)—A U.S. District Court in Northern Mississippi dismissed Will McRaney’s lawsuit against the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board.

Senior U.S. District Judge Glen H. Davidson granted a summary judgment for NAMB Aug. 15.

McRaney, former state executive of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware, charged NAMB leaders with making defaming statements that influenced his 2015 termination from the convention.

“Considering all the facts in the record, the Court finds that it cannot adjudicate the Plaintiff’s claims in this case without impermissibly delving into church matters in violation of the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine,” Davidson’s memorandum read.

The U.S. District Court in Northern Mississippi’s dismissal hinged on the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine, which is “rooted in the First Amendment’s free exercise clause” and basically states that courts cannot get involved if a claim revolves around ecclesiastical questions.

“Adjudication of the Plaintiff’s claims in this lawsuit will clearly require the Court to inquire into religious matters and decision-making to a degree that is simply impermissible under the Constitution and the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine,” the summary judgment report stated.

Also, the court stated it “agrees with NAMB that Mississippi state courts also clearly lack subject matter jurisdiction to adjudicate this dispute.”

In a statement released early evening Aug. 15, NAMB officials said: “Since the outset, NAMB has consistently held that the accusations against our ministry are unfounded. We have also argued that, as Christian ministries, NAMB and others involved in this case should be protected by the First Amendment and should not be forced to endure scrutiny and intrusive examination from the courts.

“Our goal throughout this process has been to practice restraint in our public comments and to honor Christ in our actions. We continue to pray the best for the plaintiff and his ministry.”

In written comments to Baptist Press, McRaney said, “It is my view that the judge’s ruling is built around the erroneous concept of “THE” Baptist Church as a denomination like the Catholic or Methodist Church, however, the First Amendment clearly declares that the government cannot create or establish a religion.  Unless this court’s ruling is challenged, the SBC, Baptist ministers, along with Baptist autonomy, cooperation, financial health, and missionaries will be under threat of loss and a form of hierarchy created.”

McRaney’s six claims against NAMB included two claims for interference with contract and economic relations, two claims for defamation and two claims for infliction of emotional distress.

The suit, originally filed in 2017, was dismissed in April 2019 when Davidson ruled the court could not consider McRaney’s claims because of the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine, which prevents the government from interfering in church or religious matters.

The dismissal was reversed in July 2020 by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. NAMB fought the reversal all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the high court sent the case back to Davidson’s court.

Davidson said the strategic agreement partnership between NAMB and the BCMD weighed heavily in his decision. Saying the agreement is “steeped in religious doctrine,” the memorandum called McRaney’s role with BCMD “a position which by its very terms invokes the Church’s religious mission.”

It said McRaney “clearly served in a ministerial role and in which he had a primary role in conveying the Baptist Church’s message and carrying out its religious mission.”

Any ruling into the reasons for the BCMD to terminate McRaney, it continued, “would be a clear violation of the First Amendment and the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine.”

The court furthermore ruled the case should be dismissed rather than remanded to the state court, once again citing the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine as the reason the court would also be compelled to dismiss.

Compiled from reports by Scott Barkley of Baptist Press and Jennifer Rash of The Baptist Paper.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The year of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reversal was corrected from 2023 to 2020. The story, originally posted on Aug. 16, also was edited the next morning to include a response from Will McRaney after it was made available.

NASHVILLE (BP)—Hispanic Southern Baptists agree the issue of female pastors is complex for Spanish-speaking congregations. They differ on whether amending the SBC Constitution is the way to bring unity and clarity.

California Southern Baptist Convention Executive Director Pete Ramirez highlighted the issue on the SBC’s Spanish podcast “Vida SBC.”

In a July 17 episode, he asked Southern Baptists to consider the unintended consequences for Spanish-language churches of a proposed SBC constitutional amendment stating that cooperating churches must affirm, appoint or employ “only men as any kind of pastor.”

“What worries me is that we make decisions without thinking about the consequences for ethnic churches,” Ramirez said in Spanish. “There are many ethnic churches that, for translation reasons, use the title of pastor for a person. But it’s a matter of translation. It’s not that the person is ordained. It’s not that the person has a [ministry] license.

“And now we are, as a convention, putting ourselves in the business of churches” and saying, “If you don’t change this, you can’t be part of us,” Ramirez said. This “is a radical change as Southern Baptists that I think we could regret long-term as we fulfill the Great Commission.”

Ramirez was referring to an amendment to the SBC Constitution proposed in 2022 and given the first of two required affirmations by SBC messengers in New Orleans this year. If affirmed again at the 2024 SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis, it would become part of the convention’s constitution.

Wives of pastors

Ramirez explained in an interview he agrees with the theology of the amendment but fears some Southern Baptists may not understand a common usage of the Spanish word pastora—the feminine version of the word “pastor.”

Often, pastora is used of the pastor’s wife in a Hispanic church, much like the pastor’s wife may be referred to as the “first lady” in an African American church. It’s the word “pastor,” but it is not used to signify the role synonymous with elder and bishop.

“I pastored for 17 years in California,” Ramirez said of his bilingual pastorates. “People would always try to say that my wife was a pastora, which is the female way of saying pastor. They would use this title for her, even though she is not ordained, she’s not licensed, she has not once preached from any pulpit.”

Ramirez’s wife would correct those who misused the term pastor, “but in many of our Southern Baptist Hispanic churches, that’s not clarified,” he said, estimating 3 percent to 4 percent of the SBC’s 3,400 Hispanic congregations use pastora in referring to the pastor’s wife.

He’s not opposed to the constitutional amendment but wants clarification and instruction for churches rather than merely policies and the disfellowshipping of congregations.

“It’s great that we have a couple years before we actually make this a mandate for our convention,” Ramirez said, “and that we can have the conversations between this year and next year and try to figure out how it works best for our whole family.”

Austin pastor favors amendment

Juan Sanchez agrees that clarification is needed. But he thinks the amendment is a good step toward clarity for Hispanic churches.

Sanchez has preached in Spanish across Latin America, taught Spanish courses at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and helped Spanish-speaking churches grapple with the issue of female pastors.

At this year’s SBC annual meeting, he offered an amendment to the constitutional change that established its final language.

“I don’t foresee this amendment being used to go after churches,” said Sanchez, pastor of High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin. “My intention is to clarify what we say we actually believe. It’s somewhat surprising to me that the amendment just rearticulated the Baptist Faith and Message and somehow that’s a real problem” for some Southern Baptists.

Pentecostal and charismatic influence

Linguistic confusion may be present among Hispanic Baptists, Sanchez said, but there also seems to be theological confusion. Pentecostalism’s heavy influence among the Hispanic community has led some Hispanic Baptists to carry over Pentecostalism’s affirmation of female pastors.

In Medellin, Colombia, several years ago, Sanchez worked with a group of churches transitioning away from Pentecostalism.

“One of the issues they had to face was what the Scriptures actually taught because in one of the churches there was a husband-and-wife pastor” team, he said.

A “challenge” for that association of churches was “working through” the issue of female pastors in a biblical and compassionate way.

Southern Baptists must be understanding toward believers of diverse cultural backgrounds, Sanchez said. But diversity cannot come at the expense of orthodoxy.

“We want multiethnic churches,” Sanchez said. “Is the solution to say, ‘Let’s just get a diverse group of pastors … We’ll find Hispanic pastors, African American pastors, pastors from India and then just forget about qualifications so long as we have diversity.’ I don’t think anyone wants to do that.”

Southern Baptists need to determine “what we are cooperating for,” he said.

Ramirez and Sanchez are both right, said Eloy Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Baptist Network. Hispanic churches do tend to use the word pastora without assigning it the same theological meaning as pastor, and Pentecostal and charismatic influences can lead Hispanic evangelicals to embrace female pastors.

However, nearly all Hispanic Southern Baptists affirm complementary roles for men and women in the church and home, Rodriguez said. They also want to cooperate to advance the Great Commission.

“We just need to concentrate on the main thing: the gospel,” said Rodriguez, pastor of the Spanish campus of Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, Fla. “This amendment has to be well written to be careful that it does not divide us.”

NASHVILLE (BP)—In an April phone call with James Merritt, Bryant Wright got right to the heart of the matter.

He was concerned over the current state of the Southern Baptist Convention, particularly the discourse over women’s roles in ministry.

Merritt, with similar concerns, already had talked about it with other Southern Baptist leaders.

There was a need for “clarity” and “consistency,” Merritt said—two words he would use later on the floor of the SBC annual meeting in New Orleans.

Calling himself “complementarian to the core” and “fully committed to every jot and tittle of the Baptist Faith and Message,” Merritt called for a task force to examine what it means for a church to be deemed in “friendly cooperation” with the SBC.

He was joined at the microphone by former SBC presidents Steve Gaines, J.D. Greear, Ed Litton and Wright.

The motion, approved by messengers, asks that a broadly based task force be named by SBC President Bart Barber for that purpose.

In developing the motion, Merritt and his friends discussed what should be viewed as the directional documents for the convention.

What was the standard, and who will determine how that standard is used?

“The first thing I brought up was, is there any word from the Lord on this?” Merritt said.

He landed on the growth of the early church in Acts 15. That growth brought new believers who were different from the established church. Issues such as circumcision were becoming elevated to the point of asking whether these new believers were really in something akin to friendly cooperation.

Merritt saw a similar discussion breaking out among Southern Baptists over women in ministry.

Online debate—where the loudest portion, at least, of denominational discussions seem to take place—has a history of bringing few peaceful resolutions.

Call for level-headed analysis of the situation

“Before this train got too far down the tracks, I thought we needed some level-headed, solid Southern Baptists … to analyze the situation,” he said. “Let’s make it … about what we want to do, why we want to do it and the way we want to do it.”

He sought input from other past presidents, who expressed their agreement over the phone and in New Orleans.

“Every one of them said this was exactly what we need,” Merritt told BP.

A motion to amend the SBC Constitution and clarify the office of pastor as limited to men received a two-thirds vote of approval by New Orleans messengers. It will need another two-thirds vote next year in Indianapolis.

Neither the amendment nor the subject are named in Merritt’s motion, though the connections are clear. That said, Merritt isn’t out to cast aspersions on anyone’s position.

“I don’t want to judge motives,” he said. “Whatever happens, at the end of the day Christian brothers and sisters are to love each other.”

SBC at a crossroads

But, he added, the SBC is at a crossroads he hasn’t seen since 1979, when Adrian Rogers’ election as president began what supporters call the “Conservative Resurgence.”

That debate centered on the inerrancy of Scripture. Southern Baptists haven’t wavered on that stance, Merritt said, but the current discussion is more about interpretation and application.

Southern Baptists took a clear stance on the position of women serving as a lead pastor or elder in New Orleans, as shown with overwhelming votes to uphold the recommendations to disfellowship Saddleback Church and Fern Creek Baptist Church.

Concerns exist, however, that churches will be reported to the Credentials Committee—the group tasked with considering churches’ “friendly cooperation”—for reasons on which there is less cohesion.

Greear addressed this in an interview with Baptist Press, saying danger lies in “constitutionally policing the borders.”

“We could become an entirely different convention where every year it’s about narrowing the parameters, [where] who is in and who is out is all that we think about, and we no longer think about mission and evangelism,” he said.

“You can’t predict what other discussions will come up,” said Merritt, who added that one state director told him 40 churches had been reported to the state convention for suspicion of being out of fellowship for various reasons.

“We need some kind of matrix, a set of railroad tracks that keep us heading in the right direction,” Merritt said.

ST. LOUIS (RNS)—Leaders of the Progressive National Baptist Convention announced plans at their annual session in St. Louis to work on enhancing voting rights and criminal justice reform through partnerships with like-minded organizations.

Members of the social justice team of the historically Black denomination also traveled to nearby Ferguson Aug. 9, the last day of their meeting, to mark the ninth anniversary of the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed Black teenager whose fatal shooting by a white officer prompted protests that energized the Black Lives Matter movement.

In an interview, Convention President David R. Peoples said supporting the Brown family and the Ferguson community is one example of how the denomination is pursuing justice issues.

“We want to make sure that wherever injustice takes place, wherever our people are oppressed and don’t have a fair shake, we’re going to speak out, we’re going to speak truth to power,” he said. “We’re not going anywhere until those things happen and positive change occurs.”

In his remarks the previous day at a news conference, Peoples said the organization would continue to follow in the footsteps of Martin Luther King Jr., who considered the Progressive National Baptist Convention his denominational home.

“We won’t stop until what Dr. King said, until justice runs down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream,” he said.

Alternative to white Christian nationalism

Progressive National Baptist Convention leaders differentiated members of their denomination from Christian nationalists.

“What a tragedy it is that so much of what it means to be a Christian has been co-opted by white nationalists,” said Willie D. Francois III, the co-chair of the convention’s social justice arm.

“But there’s something about the rebellious imagination of folk like us, the Progressive National Baptist Convention, that says we have political priorities that aren’t limited to policing who people sleep with and policing what women do with their bodies. The Progressive National Baptist Convention is actually pro-life, because we care about bodies before they are born all the way through the tomb.”

During the meeting, the convention adopted a resolution saying the denomination “strongly denounces any … who refuse to support the results of the 2020 presidential election” and anyone who supports the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Reduce gun violence

Darryl Gray, the convention’s director general of social justice, said the denomination will work with Amnesty International USA to provide training and other resources on gun violence intervention to the denomination’s churches.

The Progressive National Baptists approved a resolution that said the two groups will “work to reduce gun violence in communities across the country, while advocating for the passage of federal legislation titled the Break the Cycle of Violence Act, which will provide federal funding for community organizations conducting gun violence prevention work.”

Francois said the broader gun violence concerns of the denomination include greater accountability by police departments.

“We went today to Ferguson to stand in solidarity with this family to practice the presence of God to practice the ministry of presence because we are tired of blue privilege, blue terror and blue violence,” he said. “It is not enough for us to talk about gun violence in our communities without also talking about gun violence that we’ve normalized, and that’s police gun violence.”

Gun violence in general should be viewed as an American issue, not a Black issue, Francois added. He said the problem needs to be solved with improved access to jobs and better schools rather than larger police forces.

The denomination also plans to partner with the Faith Leaders of Color Coalition, which is seeking state and federal action to end the death penalty. Progressive National Baptists passed a resolution with the same aim.

“I stand here arm-in-arm with the Brown family, clergy and people of faith who are intentional about being participatory in our policy efforts,” said Joia Erin Thornton, national director of the coalition.

“We want to bring forth results that promote equity and opportunity for those who are historically disenfranchised in their communities and who are over-policed and often selectively policed.”

Voting rights, a longtime agenda item of the denomination, continued to be addressed, including with a resolution calling for passage of a 28th amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would make voting “a permanent right for adult US citizens and residents.”

In an interview, Peoples condemned “strange tactics that are used to make sure that people are denied or deterred from voting,” including people of color.

“We need to find a way to make sure that voting is easier and not harder,” he said.

Support voting rights

At the news conference, several Progressive National Baptist leaders agreed on the need to further address voting rights.

“We’ve come here 58 years after the voting rights bill was passed to say we’re going to revive it,” said Frederick D. Haynes III, the new leader of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas.

Peoples cited the continuing partnership with the AFL-CIO on voter mobilization.

“We won’t stop until the AFL-CIO and PNBC continue to push back voting suppression, till everybody gets a chance to vote,” he said at the news conference. “Even those who have paid their time, they have a right to vote. We won’t stop until everyone can realize the dream to vote, understand all of us are God’s children.”

Francois added that the voter registration work with the AFL-CIO will be organized around their organizations’ policy priorities.

“We are tired of politicians asking us, and benefiting and pimping our robes and pimping our collars, for their agenda,” he said. “If they want our votes, they need to sign on to our agenda.”

At last year’s annual session, the denomination joined forces in a renewed partnership with the prominent union, decades after the two groups worked together to lobby for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which outlawed discriminatory practices in hiring and voting, respectively.

The denomination also reiterated criticism it first expressed in June when the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in admissions by American universities. It said the ruling will be a motivator in get-out-the-vote efforts for the 2024 election.

“We believe this is not the final word on race-specific affirmative action, and our advocacy will mirror that conviction,” the convention said in a resolution. Progressive National Baptists will continue to partner with historically Black Christian universities and churches “to ensure the growth of the Black middle class.”

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Bob Stine, former president of the Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention, will be required to answer questions in court after police in Madison, Wisc., recommended he be charged with sexual assault.

The Dane County district attorney’s office said the case involving Stine, pastor of Midvale Baptist Church in Madison, is under review. No charges have been filed.

“The DA’s Office has received the referral from Madison Police Dept,” the DA’s office said in an email about Stine. “He is scheduled to appear for an Initial Appearance on 9/7/23 at 8:30 AM.”

Police have investigated allegations Stine inappropriately touched children during a group visit to a state park in 2021, according to television station WISC in Madison. That investigation led the state’s Department of Children and Families to revoke the license for Kid’s Best Child Care, a day care run by Midvale Baptist, in late June.

“The Department has received credible information that licensee Robert Stine is the subject of an investigation, which has resulted in referral to the Dane County District Attorney’s office for criminal charges of sexual abuse of a child,” said a letter from the Department of Children and Families to the church, posted online by WICS.

“The Department has concluded that these findings substantially relate to the care of children and have created a condition that directly threatens the health, safety, and welfare of children in care.”

The church’s day care facility reportedly was shut down in April. Neither Stine nor his attorney responded to a request for comment.

According to his bio on Midvale’s website, Stine is a graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and has been pastor since 2007. He is also a former leader of the Baptist Student Union at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. The church is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

Despite the investigation, Stine’s bio remains on the church website, and the television station reported that he has continued to preach at the church, though videos of recent services were recently reportedly removed from the church’s YouTube page.

Stine had been president of the Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention until May, when he resigned because of the police investigation, said Leo Endel, the convention’s executive director.

Endel said the convention is cooperating with the investigative process and had been waiting to see if Stine would be charged with a crime. Now that the investigation is public, Engel said that the convention’s board is being notified.

Endel said that he’d also notified a consultant who is helping the convention address sexual abuse in church as well as the Southern Baptist Convention’s credentials committee.

“Our practice has been that as soon as charges are filed or there is public news, we get the word out among our people to try to prevent any other future incidents,” he said.

State conventions affiliated with the SBC are working to upgrade their process to address abuse, Endel said. The SBC passed a series of reforms in 2022 aimed at addressing the issue of sexual abuse, including setting up a “Ministry Check” website that will track abuse by pastors and creating a toolkit of resources for preventing abuse. The SBC has also expelled churches that have mishandled abuse allegations.

A 2019 investigation by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News found hundreds of abuse cases in SBC churches over several decades. A 2022 report from Guidepost Solutions found SBC leaders had spent years trying to downplay the scope of abuse in the 13 million-member convention and had mistreated abuse survivors for years.

At their 2023 annual meeting, Southern Baptists reauthorized a task force that is implementing the abuse reforms.

NASHVILLE (BP)—The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee search team said they have resumed conversations with Interim President and CEO Willie McLaurin about his candidacy for the permanent position.

The information was emailed to Executive Committee members July 17 and shared with Baptist Press.

“Considering the many endorsements from pastors, state convention leaders, and national entity heads, and considering an overwhelming sense in our hearts that we are being obedient to the Holy Spirit, your present search team decided that we should continue where the former search team left off by doing our own due diligence and interviews with Dr. Willie McLaurin, Interim President/CEO of the SBC Executive Committee,” Neal Hughes, committee chair wrote in the email.

Hughes said since the group’s meeting in New Orleans during the SBC annual meeting, they have been busy with “face-to-face gatherings, zoom meetings, numerous email discussions, and much research.”

He thanked his fellow Executive Committee members for their encouragement and prayer support.

McLaurin has been the agency’s interim leader since February 2022 following the October 2021 resignation of Ronnie Floyd.

In May, the Executive Committee declined the recommendation of Jared Wellman, pastor of Tate Springs Baptist Church in Arlington, by the original search team.