Some Southern Baptist churches would ordain a ham sandwich.
One pastor told me that his ordination was a joke.
One ordination council in which I participated would have been a joke if I had not been present. No one seemed to know why they were there.
Ordinations are quickly given but rarely revoked.
Ordinations are not registered with any SBC body that I know of.
Ordinations have no recognized requirements in the SBC.
We Southern Baptists are not sacerdotalists but what are we?
Ordinations require no particular education even though many laypeople think that a seminary ordains a minister after he receives his degree.
I have no doubt that some convicted sex abusers who served in SBC churches are still ordained ministers.
Ordinations cheaply and quickly given are like counterfeit money, they drive down the value of all currency, even legitimate ones.
Ordination is one of the most valued components of local church autonomy. Every church posesses the right to ordain whom they choose.
As it stands, the SBC at no level (association, state, national) has any means by which to evaluate ordinations or ordinands.
Over my time as an SBC pastor, now semi-retired, it seems to me that the trend has been for churches to no longer involve other churches or associations in ordinations but to go it alone.
This is a source of embarrassment.
Ordinations should mean something to both the church and ordinand beyond that it likely qualifies the person to take the housing allowance income exclusion.
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The third segment of the Houston Chronicle series features an incident involving ordination. The matters currently being discussed have many components and parts. Ordination is one part of being Southern Baptist that has received less scrutiny that it should have.
