Saddleback Church Ousted From Southern Baptist Convention Over Woman Pastor

Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., on March 20, 2014. Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images for Word Entertainment

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has ousted Saddleback Church, its second-largest congregation, for having a woman pastor.

The SBC Executive Committee on Tuesday voted to remove the Lake Forest, California megachurch after deeming it to be “not in friendly cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention,” Baptist Press reported. The meeting was held in Nashville, Tennessee.

Saddleback’s founding pastor Rick Warren retired last year after more than 40 years at the helm. He was succeeded by pastor Andy Wood and his wife, Stacie Wood, whose title is teaching pastor.

“As stated in the Baptist Faith and Message Article VI, the SBC holds to the belief that the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by scripture,” the Executive Committee wrote in a statement.

Stacie Wood was not mentioned in the committee’s decision. However, the SBC Credential Committee cited her role in its recommendation for removing the congregation.

The Executive Committee’s motion said that Saddleback “has a faith and practice that does not closely identify with the Convention’s adopted statement of faith, as demonstrated by the church having a female teaching pastor functioning in the office of pastor.”

Late on Tuesday, Saddleback elders responded to the decision.

“We love and have always valued our relationship with the SBC and its faithful churches,” Saddleback elders wrote in a statement. “We will engage and respond through the proper channels at the appropriate time in hopes to serve other like-minded Bible believing SBC churches. Meanwhile we remain focused on following God’s leadership to love and serve our church family and the communities around our campus.”

Controversy

The controversy surrounding Saddleback began in 2021 when Warren ordained three women as pastors, Baptist Standard reported at the time. The move led to discussions within the denomination about the possible removal of the church from the SBC.

“Are we going to keep bickering over secondary issues?” Warren asked in his final address to the convention last June following the announcement of his retirement.

Warren, who became a household name with his bestselling 2002 book “The Purpose Driven Life,” started Saddleback in 1980 after graduating from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.

“In June 1979, while I was a student at Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, I had a Damascus Road experience,” Warren wrote on the Saddleback website last June when he announced that Andy and Stacie Wood would be taking over leadership.

He said he was poring over census charts that summer afternoon when his eyes fixed on a word he'd never seen before: Saddleback.

“At that moment, God whispered, ‘That’s where I want you to invest your life growing a new church.’ I started sobbing. That was my calling to serve you,” he continued. “From that moment on, for the next 43 years, every day of my life would be dominated by that word, Saddleback.”

Other Churches Ousted

Four other churches were also removed for having women pastors, according to Baptist Press. Those churches were New Faith Mission Ministry in Griffin, Georgia; St. Timothy’s Christian Church in Baltimore; Calvary Baptist Church in Jackson, Mississippi; and Fern Creek Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky.

“These churches have been valued, cooperating churches for many years, and this decision was not made lightly. However, we remain committed to upholding the theological convictions of the SBC and maintaining unity among its cooperating churches,” the Executive Committee wrote in a statement.

In addition, Freedom Church in Vero Beach, Florida, was deemed to be “not in friendly cooperation for failure to cooperate” in resolving concerns regarding an abuse allegation. It denied the charge to the Baptist Press, citing that the matter had been resolved by the Anglican Church of North America.

All six churches can appeal the decision at the SBC’s Annual Meeting in New Orleans in June.

It is not immediately clear whether Saddleback will appeal the decision.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.