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Post by keita on Sept 19, 2008 22:33:54 GMT -5
"Gospel Today" Magazine Pulled from Christian Bookstores’ ShelvesFayetteville-based publication features women pastors on coverBy CHRISTOPHER QUINN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, September 18, 2008Smiling women on the cover of a slick magazine. Sold from under the counter. Must request it from store clerk........  Gospel Today, the Fayetteville-published magazine, was pulled off the racks by the bookstores’ owner, the Southern Baptist Convention. The problem? The five smiling women on the cover are women of the cloth — church pastors. Southern Baptist polity says that’s a role reserved for men. Teresa Hairston, owner of Gospel Today, whose glossy pages feature upbeat articles about health, living, music and ministry, said she discovered by e-mail that the September/October issue of the magazine had been demoted to the realm of the risque. “It’s really kind of sad when you have people like [Gov.] Sarah Palin and [Sen.] Hillary Clinton providing encouragement and being role models for women around the world that we have such a divergent opinion about women who are able to be leaders in the church,” Hairston said. “I was pretty shocked.” Chris Turner, a spokesman for Lifeway Resources, which runs the stores for the Southern Baptist Convention, said, “It is contrary to what we believe.” It bases those beliefs on their interpretation of New Testament Scriptures. Southern Baptist representatives at national meetings have adopted statements saying women should not be pastors, but each church is independent. A few churches have selected women, such as Decatur First Baptist, where the Rev. Julie Pennington-Russell preaches each Sunday from the pulpit. Pastor Tamara Bennett of California is one of the featured pastors on the magazine cover and talks in the article about the challenges of breaking through the stained-glass ceiling. “God’s assignment is that no souls are lost and all are saved,” Bennett said. “Gender is not how God sees it. We are about winning souls, period.” Southern Baptists are not the only ones to frown on women preachers. Catholics, the largest Christian denomination in the nation, do not allow women priests. And some conservative evangelical groups, such as the Presbyterian Church in America, do not ordain women. “We weren’t trying to pick a fight,” Hairston said. “We just did a story on an emerging trend in a lot of churches.”
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Post by Poetricia (G.A.P.) on Sept 22, 2008 7:38:51 GMT -5
At least they have the guts to stand up for what they believe in instead of compromise for the sake of being 'politically correct' and 'getting along' and 'filling the pews', even if it is no longer relevant in today's society.
I have read and enjoyed the article. The women looked sharp and the article was well written. I work in Christian radio, and I'm around African American women preachers and pastors almost 24/7.
I am thankful that I can now see women as preachers cause I grew up being taught that women could not preach, or have any kind of authority over the brothers. Even our women Sunday school teachers could only teach youth up to the teen level. Only men (deacons and ministers) were allowed to teach high school boys, and adult classes (cause men and women sat in adult class together).
After I returned from being AWOL from the body of Christ (smile) I learned how to study the word for myself and not just follow what was taught. I learned to ask questions and weigh the answers by the word and the understanding God gave me.
Sometimes I do still have a personal (doctrinal) struggle with a woman being pastor, but, since God hasn't called me to be one, the struggle is only my opinion. LOL.
Oh boy, I'm rambling, sorry y'all. Smile.
Gap is passing the mic.......
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Post by auneeqsol on Sept 23, 2008 10:09:37 GMT -5
I'm with Hairston on this one. The world can showforth great leadership with women, and they can encourage and represent the people on certain issues to make our citeis and states, and even nation better, but when it comes to women Proclaiming (preaching) about the kingdom of God we wanna be prejudice? And pull the plug on the whole magazine? Wow, I still believe I see the ugly head of the devil trying to divide and conquer any way he can.
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Post by Nikkol on Sept 23, 2008 14:10:00 GMT -5
I'm with Hairston on this one. The world can showforth great leadership with women, and they can encourage and represent the people on certain issues to make our citeis and states, and even nation better, but when it comes to women Proclaiming (preaching) about the kingdom of God we wanna be prejudice? And pull the plug on the whole magazine? Wow, I still believe I see the ugly head of the devil trying to divide and conquer any way he can. HEY YOU!!! I need to talk to you. email me (electladynb@aol.com) or PM me so I can give you my cell and new home number. I don't know if there issue is perse that women can proclaim the gospel but rather what their status in the church is.... which honestly could be two separate things..... |
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Post by Poetricia (G.A.P.) on Sept 23, 2008 15:06:36 GMT -5
yes, nikkol, that's what i struggle with, the office of pastor, not the act of preaching
i agree they're two separate issues
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Post by keita on Sept 24, 2008 13:12:56 GMT -5
Give Lifeway Stores Hell for Pulling Gospel Today
Author: Roland Martin
Source: CNN.com
In the 19 years that Teresa Hairston has published her magazine, GospelToday, she has never faced a major situation with Christian bookstores across the country that carry the publication.
She's tackled any number of issues over the years,and has featured a number of celebrities and ministers, ranging from Yolanda Adams to Bishop T.D. Jakes to Kirk Franklin.
But when the Atlanta, Georgia, entrepreneur decided to feature five female pastors on her cover this month, she says, Lifeway Christian Stores treated her like she had converted her Christian publication to something akin to the tastes of porn purveyor Larry Flynt.
Apparently, the owner of Lifeway, the Southern Baptist Convention, wasn't too happy with Hairston telling the story of female pastors, because the women go against their 2000 decree that only men can serve in the role of reverend or pastor.
According to Hairston, the Christian company didn't even give her the courtesy of a heads-up.
"We got an anonymous tip," she told me Tuesday on The Tom Joyner Morning Show, and after checking it out, she discovered that the magazine had been removed from the shelves in all of Lifeway's 100-plus stores nationwide and had been placed behind the counter.
"They have never called me," Hairston said. "Never sent an e-mail. Nothing. I had to go see my distributor to verify what they had done."
The actions of Lifeway didn't stun me. I had seen this movie before.
A few years ago, my wife was a longtime Lifeway teacher. She had taught at the company's teaching centers for years, but then one day, she was notified that she would have to take down her Web site and comply with their rules against female pastors or be dropped as a teacher. Her crime? Calling herself the Rev. Jacquie Hood Martin.
It wasn't that she did so for the heck of it. She graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; was the first female staff pastor at Houston's Brookhollow Baptist Church/the Church Without Walls, a Southern Baptist Convention church; and has been leading folks to the Lord all over the country for 20 years.
She was angered by Lifeway's decision but made it clear that she didn't serve the bookstore or even the Southern Baptist Convention. She made a commitment to serving Jesus Christ and was not about to back away from her call to ministry because a male-dominated organization decided that its interpretation of the Bible calls for a woman not to be in the pulpit.
So she cut them off and kept on calling herself the Rev. Jacquie Hood Martin.
Religious folks will quickly say that Scripture is clear that women can't be pastors and lead men, yet Hairston says that when she featured Pastor Paula White on her cover two years ago, Lifeway didn't take any action against the magazine.
Anyone who has served in a church or been a member of any faith knows that there are those who have strict interpretations of their faith's writings, while others have a different interpretation.
I've heard Brookhollow's pastor, the Rev. Dr. Ralph Douglas West Sr., preach several sermons stating that what Paul wrote in 2 Timothy with regards to only men preaching was specific to that church and not a blanket ban. Second, there were instances where Paul wrote that his views were his own and not mandates from God.
That is a doctrinal fight that any of us can have any time (and I love it how these same Bible thumpers ignore the biblical story of Deborah, who was a judge in the Old Testament -- and was over men).
But what is a greater issue is that Lifeway clearly has no respect for freedom of the press. Here is arguably the top Christian bookstore in the country making a decision based on their teachings and applying it to a magazine. A spokesman for Lifeway Resources, which runs the stores, was quoted in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week as saying of female pastors, "It is contrary to what we believe."
So does Lifeway and, by extension, the Southern Baptist Convention, fight vigorously for freedom of religion, but it doesn't give a hoot about the other freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution?
I now wonder whether Lifeway makes it its business to cull through any number of magazines and search for stories that go against its doctrine and pull them from the shelves.
This is the kind of nonsense that drives more people away from religion. I suppose it's fitting that this story would come out the same time as Bill Maher releases his religious documentary, "Religulous," which skewers all the major religions for their dogma. I'm sure he feasted on positions of the Southern Baptist Convention.
The conduct of Lifeway and the Southern Baptist Convention is shameful, and they owe Hairston an apology for their actions. Yet she's taken it in stride, saying that instead of giving the company hell, she'll "give them heaven."
I say, give them a lot of hell for this, because they deserve it for actions.
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Post by Poetricia (G.A.P.) on Sept 24, 2008 13:38:53 GMT -5
Give Lifeway Stores Hell for Pulling Gospel TodayAuthor: Roland Martin
Source: CNN.comHairston says that when she featured Pastor Paula White on her cover two years ago, Lifeway didn't take any action against the magazine. Is Paula White a Pastor ? I don't think I've ever heard her referred to as Pastor, only Preacher/Teacher? |
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Post by keita on Sept 24, 2008 13:59:11 GMT -5
Well, sis GAP. I don't know if Paula White actually "is" or even refers to herself as "a pastor" or "Pastor", but others certainly have and do. Especially when she was still married to Randy White and both were at Church Without Walls.
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Post by anointedteacher on Sept 24, 2008 14:01:43 GMT -5
Give Lifeway Stores Hell for Pulling Gospel TodayAuthor: Roland Martin
Source: CNN.comHairston says that when she featured Pastor Paula White on her cover two years ago, Lifeway didn't take any action against the magazine. Is Paula White a Pastor ? I don't think I've ever heard her referred to as Pastor, only Preacher/Teacher? Yes... she is a Pastor... She have not remove her title as a Pastor... She was Co-Pastor of the Church Without Walls for years... There nothing in the Bible that say women can't be Pastor... Apostle Paul didn't even use the term pastor in the in the scripture, except in Ehpesians 4.... and sex was not signed to it |
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Post by Poetricia (G.A.P.) on Sept 24, 2008 14:41:33 GMT -5
thanks guys for answering, i checked a biography online, which i know may or may not be reliable and it referred to her as senior pastor of church without walls  ?? |
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Post by anointedteacher on Sept 24, 2008 14:54:44 GMT -5
thanks guys for answering, i checked a biography online, which i know may or may not be reliable and it referred to her as senior pastor of church without walls ?? There are many female pastors.... the men are becoming Apostles and Bishops... they making their spouses senator pastors... |
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Post by keita on Sept 24, 2008 15:15:24 GMT -5
thanks guys for answering, i checked a biography online, which i know may or may not be reliable and it referred to her as senior pastor of church without walls ?? I think you could find quite a lot of references like that, sis GAP. Conferences that feature her quite frequently refer to the sister as "Pastor Paula White". But again, that certainly doesn't make Paula White a pastor (which I don't know), and I don't know that she refers to herself that way. Anywho... when I read Teresa Hairston's statement that: my first thought was that perhaps Lifeway/Southern Baptist Convention simply finds our "sister" easier to tolerate than our "sistas", even with our "sister" Sheryl Brady sitting among them.  But then, like John McCain, with his party's nomination of Sarah Palin, I also believe that in much, if not most, of America, in a face-off, racism will still trump sexism every time. |
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Post by keita on Sept 24, 2008 15:36:23 GMT -5
There are many female pastors.... Very true.....PRAISE GOD!!! ;D  So they say. Matter of fact I've recently heard of some "superapostles" and was invited to and attended the installation (read: coronation) of "The Bishop of bishops". Is that supposed to be "senior" pastors? I'm asking in all seriousness because in this currently title-crazed church, you never can tell what the latest is. |
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Post by krazeeboi on Oct 1, 2008 19:49:10 GMT -5
To me, this isn't so much about the doctrinal position of a denomination (which isn't news) as it is their decision to do what they did. I respect it and have no problem with it. Honestly, I'm actually surprised that SBC bookstores carry "Gospel Today" in the first place.
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Post by Rachel2 on Oct 3, 2008 13:07:51 GMT -5
Honestly, I'm actually surprised that SBC bookstores carry "Gospel Today" in the first place. Exactly... I'm surprised as well that SBC bookstores carry Gospel Today. This in my opinion shows that they are open to a "little light". I just pray that the crack gets bigger so that more light can shine in. |
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So they say. Matter of fact I've recently heard of some "superapostles" and was invited to and attended the installation (read: coronation) of "The Bishop of bishops".