Bart Barber has the only report that I have been able to find about what happened at the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC) yesterday with regard to Fielder Church in Arlington, TX. If you are unaware of the situation, you can read my previous post about it here. In short, Fielder is a Southern Baptist Church that employs female pastors. After the SBC removed Saddleback Church in 2023, Fielder’s pastor Jason Paredes addressed his congregation, publicly repudiated the SBC’s decision, and said “We unwaveringly, unequivocally, gratefully have female pastors in this church”—to which the congregation responded with raucous applause (see video below). Paredes also made a twenty-minute YouTube video…
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Charlie Kirk’s Complementarian Legacy
On this episode of the CBMW Podcast, Colin Smothers, Jon Swan, and I discuss Charlie Kirk’s legacy, memorial service, and his widow Erika’s extraordinary complementarian challenge to men and women. You can listen on Apple podcasts or Spotify (linked below) or watch the YouTube version (also linked below).
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Violence in Charlotte and Men Without Chests
On this episode, Jon, Denny, and Colin discuss the senseless murder of a young Ukrainian woman, Iryna Zarutska, on the public transit of Charlotte, NC, and how it points to a cultural need for what C.S. Lewis called “men with chests.”
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Should Women Serve as “Shepherds”? – CBMW Podcast
As I mentioned earlier this week, some churches are appointing female “shepherds” in an effort to get around the biblical prohibition on female “pastors.” On this episode of The CBMW Podcast, we discuss what the Bible says about gender, the office of pastor, and why it matters. [Watch below on YouTube, or listen below on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.]
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Is a Female “Shepherd” Different from a Female “Pastor”?
I have a read a couple reports over the last week or so about a Southern Baptist Church in Texas that has seven female pastors (Fielder Church in Arlington). According to one report, each of these female pastors is listed on the church’s website as a “shepherd.” Indeed, now all the church’s pastors are listed as shepherds, including the senior pastor. These reports have raised eyebrows across the convention because the Baptist Faith & Message says that pastors must be men as qualified by Scripture. According to one report, Fielder Church was referred to the credentials committee of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC), and the committee decided not…
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Why I Do Not Favor the Moniker “Biblical Patriarchy”
Complementarian doctrine doesn’t require adherents to adopt a certain label for their view. It’s far more important for people to accept and affirm the Bible’s teaching on manhood and womanhood than for them to embrace any specific moniker for it. Having said that, there is great value in being precise and clear when thinking about and communicating Christian doctrine. For that reason, I still prefer and recommend the use of the term “complementarianism” to label our position over “biblical patriarchy.” I have made a positive case for “complementarianism” elsewhere. In this essay, I want to respond to some of the critiques in Doug Ponder’s thoughtful essay weighing the relative merits…
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Is Marriage a “Submission Competition”?
Andy Stanley posted on X about what the New Testament requires of husbands and wives. He writes: New Testament Marriage is a submission competition. “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (Eph 5:21) “Walk in the way of love, JUST AS Christ loved us and gave himself up for us…” (Eph. 5:2) The only problem with this argument is that neither this text nor any other in the New Testament tells husbands to submit to their wives. Thus, egalitarians are mistaken to interpret “one another” to require mutual submission. The Greek term for “one another” does not always denote strict reciprocity. Sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn’t.…
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The Reports of Complementarian Demise Are Greatly Exagerrated
Aaron Renn is very insightful when he’s offering cultural and sociological analysis. However, his most recent essay on complementarianism doesn’t engage either theology or history. In this case, his analysis of complementarianism goes awry because he takes his generalizations about Boomers (which are generally correct) and then uses them as axioms to interrogate a biblical doctrine. The result is that he makes some pretty basic theological and the historical mistakes. Beyond Boomerism – Evangelical gender theology and why younger generations have to unshackle themselves from being overly wedded to Boomer thinking https://t.co/l2Kc93eC5v — Aaron M. Renn ?? (@aaron_renn) July 17, 2025 He claims that Piper and Grudem enjoy pope-like status…
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Some Reflections on SBC 2025
Earlier this week I served as a messenger at the 2025 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). I already shared a little bit about what happened with respect to the vote on the Sanchez/Law amendment. Here are some reflections on the rest of the meeting and some further thoughts on the amendment. The President Clint Pressley did a fabulous job as chair. I couldn’t be more grateful for his leadership and the spirit with which he presided over the meeting. I have heard almost universal praise for how he led us. To him, I say well done and congratulations on winning a second term. The Resolutions Andrew Walker…
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A Post-Mortem on the Sanchez/Law Amendment
The annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention wrapped-up last night. A strong majority of SBC messengers voted in favor of the Sanchez/Law amendment (61%), but it fell short of the required supermajority (66%). So that effort is now dead. Some take-aways: 1. It is very clear that majorities of messengers at the last three conventions want this amendment. But it is very difficult to get a supermajority to pass a measure when the platform opposes it. The platform mounted strong opposition the last two years. 2. I thought the amendment had a good chance of reaching a supermajority until the platform warned messengers during the debate that the amendment…
