- If a church has multiple pastors, who is the pastor and how does the congregation express this?
- Is the fresh-faced nineteen year old summer student pastor the same as his ultimate supervisor?
- The SBC spent decades with a pastor/deacon model. Those decades were the greatest in our growth. Why is that model so easily discarded?
- How much of our ecclesiology can be traced to American affluence and liberty?
- If churches didn’t have buildings and budgets would church governance look different?
- Is it fair to say that Southern Baptists, once megachurches and their celebrity pastors moved to the multi-site model, changed their ecclesiology to accommodate that?
- Concomitantly, why do we always avoid the title “bishop” when referring to the pastor who has charge of multiple churches?
- If any kind of woman pastor is constitutionally prohibited, don’t we have to get into the business of functional job duties?
- If we delve into job duties are we not then forced to decide on the age of males at which females are prohibited from teaching, supervising, and directing?
- Is there any ecclesiastical component other than women as pastors that would receive the level of scrutiny that we are now giving to churches?
- Is the focus on women motivated in large part by the ease at which men can distinguish between a woman and a man?
- Is there any other qualification of pastor that is likely to receive such scrutiny? Why not?
- If a church has an executive pastor, why can that position not be filled by a woman?
- What does a worship pastor pastor?
- What other major statement of faith, creed, or confession utilizes forward slash phrases?
- How much sense does it make to declare that your church can cooperate with other churches that have female directors or ministers but not cooperate with those who have female pastors?
- One of our few success stories of this century is the increasing proportion of African American and other ethnic churches who identify as SBC. Does it concern anyone that we may totally undermine these successes?
- If a mixed adult group has man/woman team teacher and the main teacher is the woman, is this a problem?
- How long has it been since your church prohibited women from speaking in a church conference?
- If our constitution says a woman may not be “any kind of pastor” is it acceptable to have other titles, e.g., minister, director, assistant?
- What is a co-pastor?
- If a church has pastors, elders, and deacons should they be excluded?
- If deacons have administrative authority, and in most SBC churches this is the case, how is this unbiblical?
- Is a church legitimately congregational if only perfunctory votes are taken?
- Should all women who have affixed to their church position the term “pastor” be considered carnal Christians, ipso facto disobedient, and out of fellowship with God?
- How has our American system of itinerant ministry shaped our ecclesiology?
- Is ordination a consideration in any discussion of women pastors or ministers?
- What determines whether or not speaking is preaching? Is it the furniture involved or the gender of the speaker?
- How long before Lottie, Annie, and Bertha lose their high standing in today’s SBC?
- Do you think folks in the pews care about all this?
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Take heart, brethren and sistren, only 329 days until Indy.
