Female Convention Presidents and the BGCT

It is being heralded as a historical event and the Dallas Morning News has called the election 30 days before the convention. No one seems to be asking a question that may deserve attention in light of falling budget numbers in the State convention coffers, "what will be the fall out?" "Will there be any fallout?" My years of experience in church life scream, there is always fallout!

The actions of the paid and elected leadership of the BGCT in recent years have created the falling budget and diminishing numbers of churches. The most costly action was to reduce funding to the SBC seminaries and place a cap on those funds in 2001. The biggest gainer was the SBTC who gained heavily in church numbers and have increased steadily in budget since that year. Will the election of Joy Fenner as BGCT president be one more of those actions? Will the election of a female president cause another drop in giving to the unified budget of the BGCT? I have more questions than answers and am not suggesting right or wrong to her election. I am simply raising a question that some may feel like is an elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about.

I, like many other Baptists, viewed the little Baptist church of my raising to be a mainstream Baptist church. We had a lady who lead music and a male pastor. All the deacons were and are to this day male and likely will be for any foreseeable time in the future. Ladies did not teach men beyond the age of about 12 and I was taught that no Baptist ever believed in predestination. My first week in an SBC seminary in the mid 90's destroyed any assumption that all Baptist churches believed the way of the church of my raising. Had I returned to them as a pastor preaching women's ordination as many of the seminary professors in that day taught, I would have quickly been removed as a pastor (and likely would be today). I am not sure many Texas Baptist are really ready for a female president of either the USA or the BGCT yet they may have to live with both.

Due to lack of posting in the last few months, my hits have dwindled significantly so this may be read only by the author, but I am curious to know if anyone believes electing a female president of the BGCT will further diminish giving to the unified budget. I am also curious to know if anyone also believes that a Fenner presidency will be another building block for the SBTC. It is possible that the egalitarian crowd would object to my questions and comments. I am not seeking here to deal with such an issue, only the reality of how Texas Baptist will respond.

Some have suggested to me that the most effective way to entice churches to leave the BGCT to join the SBTC is simply to let the moderate leadership continue to drive the BGCT ship. Is this one more example of the fulfillment of that prophecy?