“Identifying and Holding the Line”

I earned my Master of Divinity degree at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (GCTS); was ordained in the American Baptist Churches USA; pastored churches for nearly twenty years; served as a visiting professor of world religions and spiritual formation at GCTS and was an Assistant Professor of Evangelism and Renewal and Director of the D.Min. in the Renewal of the Church for Mission at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary. I worked to “hold the line” in the mainline via the renewal and reform movement with representatives from all Seven Sisters; authored books, and, and, and…I still identify as a Conservative Evangelical and my most recent book review, for the Africanus Journal, was centered on Roger E. Olson’s book, Against Liberal Theology: Putting the Brakes on Progressive Christianity.

I just posted the foregoing on a Facebook friend’s page in response to his post: “The Southern Baptist Convention is currently meeting, and once again, the issue of women’s ordination has featured prominently in their discussions. With that, the statement continues to be made that somehow women’s ordination is a ‘slippery slope’ into liberal theology. This is not true. In fact, it is exactly the opposite…It was not the mainline, liberal Methodist Church that saw fit to ordain and empower women to preach the Word first. No, the mainline Methodists were late to the party (1954). It was the conservative evangelical Wesleyans in the Holiness and Pentecostal wings who did it first. The United Brethren in Christ, the Assemblies of God, The Wesleyan Church, and…the Church of the Nazarene. They stood on the solid rock of Scripture and held tightly to Holiness. Those who think conservative Methodists are somehow against this haven’t actually studied their own history. Liberal theology had nothing to do with the original movement of Wesleyan, Holiness, and Pentecostal churches ordaining women…None of the women in this gathering [seen in the accompanying photo] could ever have been considered theologically liberal…” H/T Matthew Sichel