Bart Barber Appoints Minister to Cooperation Group Whose Church Has SEVEN Women Pastors
In response to the approval of a last-minute motion by a cabal of SBC insiders led by James Merritt, SBC president Bart Barber appointed a twenty-member task force, known as the Cooperation Group, to study and define the limits of “friendly cooperation.” In other words, how much could a member church’s doctrine and practice deviate from the plain meaning of the Baptist Faith and Message (BFM2000) (particularly regarding the hot-button issue of woman “pastors”) and still be considered in “friendly cooperation?”
Barber explained that the makeup of the scheme was to include “people broadly representative of the various points of view that comprise the family of churches that is the Southern Baptist Convention,” which includes “people and churches who do not affirm the entirety of The Baptist Faith & Message…”
Put another way, he’s appointed people to help define the BFM2000 who have a history of being openly hostile to it.
Rather than choose folks who have demonstrated a faithful adherence to the BFM2000, Barber has stacked the group with a veritable cantina bar-worthy cast of progressive egalitarians. We covered one of these members last week, Rev, Jerome Coleman, whose church has more women pastors than male ones.
Now, we have another.
Jason Paredes is the the Lead Pastor of Fielder Church and a Cooperation Group member appointed by Bart Barber. Barber has called a Paredes a ‘complementarian,’despite Fielder having seven ‘women pastors’ on staff. These include:
College pastor Nichole Sostre
Girl’s pastor Caroline Culver
Mobilization Associate Pastor Angela K
Foster Care and Adoption Pastor Erin Benton
Children’s pastor Yadira Molina
Children’s pastor Nadia Jennett
Children’s pastor Tiffany Rupp
Having this many pastrixes is something Jason Paredes is proud of and has repeatedly defended. Unsurprisingly, he also voted against the motions to remove Saddleback and Fern Creek (whose only pastor is a woman) from the SBC.
Bart Barber claims he doesn’t support churches with female pastors/elders/overseers remaining in the SBC, yet has given several egalitarians the authority to decide if they do. With friends like these….