I am a schoolteacher, so the summer is my time to catch up on the news and binge-watch documentaries.
Last week, I did both, reading a news article and watching a docuseries that dovetailed in unexpected ways.
Rick Warren wrote an open letter to the Southern Baptist Convention, asking the executive committee to reconsider its decision to disfellowship Saddleback Church.
Full disclosure: I was once a Southern Baptist, but I no longer have a dog in that fight. Having said that, when Rick Warren writes an open letter, you read it.
Saddleback Church in California was removed from the SBC because they have ordained women. Warren used the Great Commission as the center of his argument, asserting that the call to save the world was more important than minor theological disagreements.
He made a point that rang true with me. If this was not reversed, it was basically telling Black churches, who have ordained women for many years, that they were no longer welcome in the SBC. Even if racism was not the motivation for removing Saddleback, that was an unintended consequence of the action.
On Amazon Prime Video, “Shine Happy People” is a new docuseries focused on the Duggar family and the Institute of Basic Life Principles movement led by Bill Gothard.
The basic tenet of that movement was the idea of umbrellas of authority. This system is a rigid understanding that women are submissive and subservient to men. There is no room for ordained women in church, because that puts them in “authority” over men, according to Gothard and his institute.
I was a student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, in the 1980s. It was during the most intense period of the Southern Baptist takeover. There were claims of a seminary where liberalism had run rampant. I sat in classes with men like David Garland, Curtis Vaughn and Bill Tolar, and I can assure you that these men were not liberals.
As I reflect back on the times, one of the flashpoints was the role of women in ministry. Conservatives influenced by Gothard were asking, “Why would women be at seminary if that would put them in ministry positions where they were in authority over men?”
The Amazon documentary has many striking scenes. One was how “white” the crowds were at the Gothard gatherings, which reveals how the statement by Rick Warren rings true.
If female ordination is banned in the SBC, then the domino effect will be a much more “white denomination.” Black churches have solid biblical support for ordaining women and will not reverse that decision because their membership in the SBC is threatened.
I worked for three years in a Black church. I met many of their female leaders. I attended their ordination services. I listened to them preach. My belief is simple: Either our sons and daughters will prophesy in the last days, or they won’t.
The documentary made a substantial connection between Gothard’s movement and the SBC.
My first thought after watching it was: “The SBC takeover that I was an unwilling part of, was a part of a larger movement. The SBC was a huge part of the Gothard/Moral Majority/Religious Right movement to take over the United States of America by engaging and winning the culture wars that they saw and understood.”
I am no prophet or son of a prophet, but I will make a prediction. There is no way the SBC will reinstate Saddleback Church. An authoritarian model of ministry and life is more important to the SBC’s leadership than Rick Warren, Saddleback Church or the myriad of Black churches that ordain women.
In rebuffing Warren’s motion to reinstate Saddleback, the SBC will become more autocratic and monochromatic. “Bold Mission Thrust” and commitment to the “Great Commission” will be moved into the ancient history file.
I admire Warren’s optimism, but as a wise friend once told me: “If the horse is dead, dismount.”
A public school teacher and ordained Baptist minister who lives in Cypress, Texas.
