Southern Baptists Officially Expel Two Churches Over Woman Pastors

Following a back-and-forth war between the Southern Baptist Convention and two churches with female pastors, the convention officially voted Wednesday to expel the congregations, which included a California high-profile megachurch that was the second-largest in the denomination. Saddleback Church and the Fern Creek Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, were ousted by the convention in February but attempted to appeal the decision at its annual meeting in New Orleans. More than 10,000 delegates voted against the church’s appeals, with upwards of 90 percent in favor of pushing out Fern Creek and nearly as many for Saddleback. “No one is asking any Southern Baptist to change their theology,” Rick Warren, Saddleback’s founder, said in his appeal. “I am not asking you to agree with our church. I am asking you to act like Southern Baptists who have historically ‘agreed to disagree’ on dozens of doctrines in order to share a common mission.” The convention is expected to vote later in the day about potentially cracking down on its ban of women in leadership roles.