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 to recommend the removal of the church.

The SBTC Constitution says that “the Convention will only allow a church to affiliate if the church… affirms the office of pastor to be limited to men.” In 2022, the SBTC passed a measure clarifying that this Constitutional prohibition on female pastors applies “not only to the titles of senior pastor or lead pastor, but to any role designated by the noun, ‘pastor.’”

I suppose that on a narrow reading of the 2022 clarification, one could conclude that Fielder Church’s  change from “pastor” to “shepherd” means that there are no female pastors at this church. I understand the reasoning, but I still think such a conclusion is really flawed. Here’s why:

1. Pastor = Shepherd

The relevant Greek term is poimēn, and it refers to someone who tends sheep. Sometimes it refers to those who tend literal sheep (e.g., Lk 2:8), and other times it refers to those who care for God’s sheep—the church (e.g., Eph 4:11). In English, we have two terms that are faithful renderings of poimēn—pastor and shepherd. The English word pastor derives from Latin, and shepherd from German; but both terms are renderings of the same biblical word. Thus in English, a pastor is a shepherd, and a shepherd is a pastor.

If I ask a waiter where the bathroom is, it would make no sense for him to respond, “We don’t have a bathroom, but we do have a restroom.” Bathroom and restroom are two different ways of referring to the same thing. Likewise, when the SBTC tells this church that the BF&M disallows female pastors, it makes no sense for the church to respond, “We don’t have female pastors, but we do have female shepherds.” It’s incoherent, and that incoherence must be held to account. Pastor and shepherd are two ways of referring to the same thing.

If the church contends that pastor is different from shepherd, then why did they change the male pastoral titles to shepherd? The fact that they changed both men’s and women’s titles reveals that they know the terms to be interchangeable as well.

2. The Denial of the Office of Pastor

The SBTC has a stricter requirement for cooperation than the national convention. The SBTC constitution requires churches to “affirm” the BF&M, to “work within the framework” of the BF&M, and to “affirm that the office of pastor to be limited to men.” And yet the pastor of the church in question has publicly explained the church’s stance in a way that defies the BF&M.

In 2023 after the SBC removed Saddleback Church from friendly cooperation, the pastor of Fielder (Jason Paredes) stood before his church and revealed that he had voted against Saddleback’s removal. Why? Because Fielder Church has the same view as Saddleback concerning female pastors.  Paredes explained, “We unwaveringly, unequivocally, gratefully have female pastors in this church”—to which the congregation responded with raucous applause (see video below).

Here is a video of the pastor telling his church that he opposed the removal of Saddleback in 2023. And then he declares:

“We unwaveringly, unequivocally, gratefully have female pastors in this church.”pic.twitter.com/5ZmdtEGotW

— Denny Burk (@DennyBurk) August 15, 2025

A subsequent video addressed to the congregation reveals that there is a more fundamental problem. Paredes spends about 20 minutes explaining from the Bible why he believes that the New Testament does not present “pastor” as an office (see below). Relying on the same interpretation as Saddleback, he views the reference to “pastor” in Eph. 4:11 not as an office but as a gift. Because “pastor” is a gift not an office, women can be pastors/shepherds.

The BF&M says that the term “pastor” refers to an office in the church. Yet Paredes directly denies that “pastor” is an office. The more fundamental issue here is not about gender but about ecclesiology. Paredes just flat out denies one of our key Southern Baptist distinctives—that a New Testament church has two offices and that one of them is called “pastor.” Thus, the gender error is a consequence of the ecclesiological one. The church’s denial that “pastor” is an office puts this church squarely at odds with the BF&M and thus at odds with cooperation in the SBTC.

Conclusion

If you’ve read this far, you are probably a Southern Baptist and thus have a personal stake in how a case like this is decided. But for readers who may be asking why this matters, let me try to explain. This is not a question of whether this pastor or the congregation are Bible-believing Christians. No one is disputing that. The question is whether their church’s faith and practice align enough with Texas Baptists in order to remain in cooperation with them.

I would argue that any church publicly defending the employment of female pastors has gone too far to remain in cooperation. For that reason, I am hoping and praying for the Credentials Committee to take another look at this. I know that there are good and godly folks on that committee, and I am cheering for them in this difficult work. If they aren’t able to take another look, I am certain that it will come up on the floor of the SBTC in October. Indeed, it may very well come up on the floor of the SBC next June as well.