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The SBC Helped Plant My Church. Now It May Expel Us.

The SBC Helped Plant My Church. Now It May Expel Us.

Last updated on: July 14, 2026 at 8:01 pm by Pastor Kelly M. Williams

The SBC Helped Plant My Church. Now It May Expel Us. 2026-07-14T20:01:27-06:00 Pastor Kelly M. Williams

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Southern Baptist Churches With Female Teachers

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Many years ago, when our family was young and all our kids were still at home, we decided to assign seats at the dinner table. We decided we didn’t want to argue and fuss and fight over who sat where every time we sat down for dinner. And so, I picked my seat first, Tosha picked hers second, and then we allowed each of our five children, depending on their birth order, to pick their seats.

Maybe you didn’t have order at your table growing up. But we followed leadership order in our family, and each older child was the leader of the younger child, and our youngest oversaw the cats.

We raised all five of our children, our four girls and one boy, to be leaders, to respect order, and to demonstrate submission to those who are in leadership.

I have been the Senior Pastor of Vanguard Church in Colorado Springs, a Southern Baptist Church, for the past almost 29 years. So far, we have seen 3436 people make a public profession of their faith in Jesus and follow Him in believer’s baptism. During those 29 years, we have had female pastors and/or teachers since the church’s inception, which was launched in partnership with the SBC Home Mission Board. I was a church-planter apprentice in 1996 with the Home Mission Board, now called the North American Mission Board.

We have been part of the Colorado Baptist Convention and the Pikes Peak Baptist Association in Colorado Springs throughout our existence, but this may change in June 2027. | Image created for Patheos.

In honor of Vanguard’s 20th anniversary as a church in 2017, we released the book, Friend of Sinners: Taking Risks To Reach The Lost. It tells the story how this SB church took risks with the Home Mission Board to reach the lost for Jesus. In 1997 our first convert, stood on the stage with Adrian Rogers, and shared how God transformed her life from a life of homosexuality to faith and trust in Jesus. We were featured in 2014 as one of the most effective midsize SBC in reaching the lost for Jesus.

But none of that matters anymore in determining who will be allowed a seat at the Southern Baptist Convention Table.

Vanguard has an elaborate document that describes church order in the leadership of our church and why we go about it the way we do with female teachers. You may be familiar with the fact that our denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, passed a resolution in June 2026 to exclude all churches that have female teachers in the weekend service or females with the title “pastor.” We would fall under this exclusion if the final vote in June 2027 passes. My understanding is they would just say publicly, “Vanguard is not in good standing with the SBC, and it is no longer recognized as an SBC Church.”

Vanguard was founded in partnership by the SBC in 1997. They financially supported us for five years. We have been a part of the Colorado Baptist Convention and Pikes Peak Baptist Association in Colorado Springs for the totality of our existence, but this may change in June 2027. And if it does, then so be it.

At Vanguard, we teach the Bible, the full counsel of God.

I am currently on my 108th reading of the Bible.

We finished teaching through every verse of the entire Bible in June of 2026.

We believe the Bible teaches spiritual headship both in the home and in the church. This means there is “order” and “submission” involved.

We believe the Bible teaches that the church is to reflect the spiritual headship of the home. Meaning, the church is to reflect the “Order” and “Submission” involved in the home.

You look to the home; you should look to the church.

What is the order and submission of the home?

Let’s begin in Genesis:

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Genesis 2:21 says, So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made[h]into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Matthew 19:4 He (Jesus) answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Ephesians 5:31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

These verses detail the creation of humanity, the institution of marriage, and the union of Christ and the church. These passages outline the biblical foundation for the marriage covenant and its symbolic representation of the relationship Christ shares with the Church; this is why the church is to reflect the home so that there is clarity on the relationship Christ shares with His Church.

This is God’s design for the home and the church.

Now with that said, how does it all work?

Because of the fall of Adam and Eve, the first marriage and the first “home.” We must go back and reconstruct this design with fallen sinful creatures involved in God’s perfect design. So, I want you to know, what we are talking about is a perfect design home/marriage crafted to reflect God’s image. Yet at the same time, it is marred by imperfect sinful husbands and wives who create sinful kids in the image of God.

Feel the tension?

I do.

We have lived this tension in our home as a married couple for the past 33 years with kids involved in our marriage for the past 29 years.

We have a lot of experience on what I am going to share with you now.

Let’s go back and see at the beginning where all this went wrong…

Genesis 3:16 To the woman he (God) said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for[f] your husband, and he shall rule over you.” 17 And to Adam he (God) said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” 20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

So, sin marred the perfect design and thus the Lord had to step in and recraft the order and submission in the relationships in the home. This was so it could enable the home to function properly despite the fallen nature we all now share. The Lord will do the same for the church.

This passage (Genesis 3:16) describes the consequences of the “Fall”. The “desire” is a newly formed, often unhealthy urge to control or overpower the husband, resulting in a power struggle where the husband responds by dominating or ruling over the wife.

Many scholars and theologians emphasize that this verse is a description of a broken world, not a commandment from God on how relationships ought to function. It explains how sin corrupted the original ideal of equal partnership, replacing it with a relational battle of the sexes.

Now you may wonder, is God trying to say here that He approves of a competitive domineer relationship one direction or the other in the home? No, He does not. Everyone in the home is equally important to God. Everyone is designed with the same amount of value. But the Fall required order to be established to protect value. Order is never intended to diminish worth or value. However, the world often uses order to devalue those who are under the authority of the other. This is NOT GOD’S DESIGN FOR AUTHORITY, AND CERTAINLY NOT IN THE HOME. Certainly not in the home or the church!

So, let’s fast forward to Ephesians to see what God wants the home to look like now:

Ephesians 5:21: submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

God expects an attitude of mutual submission in the home between the wife and husband out of reverence for Christ. Each must do for the other what God wants them to do for the other, not what they want to do or don’t want to do.

The home and the church are to function with mutual submission for Christ’s sake!

The Apostle Paul continues… 22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

The home and the church are to function with wives submitting to their husbands as the spiritual leaders.

Biblical submission does not mean a wife is subservient, without a voice, or required to follow sinful directives; it describes a partnership where the husband bears the primary responsibility for the spiritual and directional well-being of the family.

The Apostle Paul continues by describing what the husband is do for the wife…25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.[a] 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

The home and the church are to function with the husband loving the wife like Christ does the church.

The husband is to lead with sacrificial love, seeking the betterment of his wife first at his own selfish expense.

Now what about the kids and the parents?

The Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”

The home and the church are to function with children obeying their parents in the Lord.

When you become an adult, you are not a child anymore. Obedience become honor. Action becomes attitude.

Parents, it is your job to lead and your children’s job to follow.

This is how God has established it.

Now, parents, don’t misuse your authority, and when you do, apologize.

How does this translate to the church?

The Apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:11 Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.

The Greek word for woman, gunē (γυνή) and can be translated “wife or woman” depending on context. So, let’s assume it is woman and read it as it is. Now let’s assume it is wife and read it as it is.

The Greek word for man is andros (ἀνδρός), which can be translated as husband or man.

What determines translation for woman and man? Context determines translation. The context is the first husband and first wife. That is where this discussion started. This passage is used by the SBC to say a woman cannot exercise her gift of teaching in the weekend service because she is to be quiet and in full submission to men.

A few years ago, I had someone get crossways with me. They said, “I don’t agree with your translation of these verses.” I said, okay, then let’s take your translation. Your translation requires your wife to be in submission to every man when it comes to the things of God and the teachings of God’s Word, so the next time your wife has a problem with my teaching, don’t try to help her; bring her to me, and I will help her. Of course, this made him mad as I thought it would, and he said to me, “Who do you think you are trying to take authority over my wife when you are not her husband?” I looked at him and said, “Exactly, couldn’t agree more!” 

1 Corinthians 11 gives instructions on how a woman is to prophesy or teach in a worship service where both men and women are present.

Because of this passage, Vanguard believes the Bible teaches that men and women can teach under the ordered authority of the church. What is the ordered authority?

Paul speaks of this in 1 Timothy as well…

1 Timothy 3:1 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer (can be translated elder or bishop), he desires a noble task. 2 Therefore an overseer[a] must be above reproach, the husband of one wife,[b] sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.

I am not aware of any female overseers, elders, or bishops in the New Testament to rebut what I am getting ready to say.

Elder, overseer, or bishop is reserved for male headship so that the church can reflect the male spiritual headship of the home. This is so the church can give an example to the home on how to function. If I can’t govern my own home/house, I am not allowed as an elder to govern God’s house as a spiritual leader.

This is not about worth or value but simply order.

We believe the BIBLE teaches teaching is a gift.

We believe the Bible teaches being a teacher is a gift not an office.

We believe elder is an office, not a gift.

Because teaching is a gift, Vanguard believes anyone can exercise this gift under the spiritual authority of the office of Eldership.

As the Senior Pastor, I am a Teaching Elder, and the Elder Board has given me full authority to execute the gift of teaching and to recognize those who have the gift. We have females and males who have the gift. And they are invited under the elder’s authority entrusted to me as the teaching elder to give them permission and opportunity to exercise their gift of teaching.

The home and the church are to function with church order and submission. The church is to reflect the order and submission of the home.

No home or church is perfect, and all will err one direction or another and will have to seek to balance it out. Dr. Howard Hendricks always said to us students when I was in seminary at Dallas Theological Seminary, “Balance is that short period of time from going from one extreme to the other.” May the Lord give each of us the courage and wisdom to find a little more balance in the home and the church, and may the Southern Baptist Convention step back and consider this as a legitimate interpretation of female teachers in the church.

I hope so for the sake of the Gospel, which is only found through Jesus Christ!

May the Southern Baptist Convention say to churches like Vanguard…

“Find your seat, it’s time to eat! Taste and see, the Lord is good!”

Blessings

Pastor Kelly

General Christian

Southern Baptist Churches and Women Teachers

Colorado Springs

Female Teachers

North American Mission Board

Southern Baptist

Vanguard Church

About Pastor Kelly M. Williams

Pastor Kelly is the founding and Senior Pastor of Vanguard Church in Colorado Springs, where he has served for over 24 years. A Kentucky native and graduate of Liberty University and Dallas Theological Seminary (Th.M., cum laude), Kelly has led Vanguard to become the largest Southern Baptist Church in Colorado, with over 3,300 baptisms and 44 church plants. He is the author of Friend of Sinners and Real Marriage, and has spoken nationally for organizations like the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. A passionate Bible reader and leadership mentor, Kelly lives with his wife Tosha and their five children on a small beef farm in Colorado. You can read more about the author here.

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