[The following material is from O Timothy magazine, Volume 12, Issue 7, 1995. David W. Cloud, Editor. All rights are reserved. O Timothy is a monthly magazine. Annual subscription is US$20 FOR THE UNITED STATES. Send to Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org. FOR CANADA the subscription is $20 Canadian. Send to Bethel Baptist Church, P.O. Box 9075, London, Ontario N6E 1V0.]

SOUTHERN BAPTIST PASTOR SAYS SHE DISAGREES WITH THE APOSTLE PAUL

Amy Mears is Assoc. Pastor at Buechel Park Baptist Church in Louisville and a Ph.D. candidate in Preaching at Southern Seminary (SBC). The American Baptist Churches' 4/95 WATCHword (quoting from a So. Baptist Women in Ministry newsletter) quotes Mears thusly: "[The apostle Paul] displays so many different shades of personality in his writings in the New Testament that sometimes it's difficult to reconcile one with the other. I usually find it hard to get along with Paul. There seem to be many folks around who like to read to me from Ephesians 5 and I Cor. 14 and point out for me `my place' in the church and at home based on Paul's words..." She adds: "God called me...The church 'authorities' support of my preaching and my ministry has got to be irrelevant..." Christian News (10/11/93) says there are about 900 Southern Baptist women clergy, compared with 75 in 1978 (Calvary Contender, May 1, 1995).

See "When Was the Southern Baptist Convention Delivered from Liberalism?"