Once upon a time, Southern Baptists knew what a pastor was. Not that it was ever complicated. The Bible, clear as a bell, lays it out—a pastor is a man, called by God, qualified by Scripture, and entrusted with the shepherding of the flock. And for a while, the SBC followed suit.

Then came the termites.

Egalitarianism—a doctrine as alien to biblical Christianity as a fish to the Sahara—began its slow creep into the SBC decades ago. It started, as these things always do, with whispers … “Well, she’s not the senior pastor, she just has pastor in her title.” “What if she only preaches sometimes?” “Who are we to say what God is calling her to?”

The same playbook used by every liberalizing denomination that went from “this is a slippery slope fallacy!” to “ordaining drag queens isn’t that bad.” Southern Baptists had watched the Methodists, the Episcopalians, the PCUSA, and the rest of the spineless brigade of mainline Protestantism march this same road. We knew where it led. So, in the year 2000, we slammed the door shut.

The Baptist Faith & Message 2000, while imperfect, did make it official that “the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.” Not just senior pastor, not lead pastor—pastor. Full stop. A simple, biblical truth codified to keep the SBC from being overrun by the same heretical drift that turned other denominations into museums of theological gangrene.

The complementarian stance was reaffirmed, and for a time, the progressive vultures were held at bay. But the termites were patient. They knew that if they couldn’t win by argument, they could win by erosion.

And erode, they did. Slowly but surely, churches started playing games with the language. “Teaching Pastor.” “Co-Pastor.” “Executive Pastor.” “Minister of Preaching.” “Children’s Director.” Before long, some SBC churches had women holding pastoral titles, standing behind the pulpit, delivering Sunday morning sermons—and doing it all under the SBC banner.

The credentials committee, supposedly the doctrinal watchdog of the SBC, was caught flat-footed. What were they to do? Was a “teaching pastor” really a pastor-pastor? Could they really be expected to act decisively when so many important people—JD Greear, Griffin Gulledge, Danny Akin—preferred to look the other way? The Baptist Faith & Message said one thing, but without an enforcement mechanism, what did it matter?

Enter Mike Law.

A small-church pastor with more backbone than the entire Executive Committee combined (yes, there were exceptions), Mike Law saw the writing on the wall and introduced an amendment that should have been the least controversial thing in SBC history.

His proposal?

Simply enshrine in the SBC Constitution what the BFM2000 already said … any church that appoints, employs, or affirms a woman as a pastor of any kind is not in friendly cooperation with the SBC. That’s it. That’s the message. No loopholes. No word games. Just clarity. It sailed through the first vote in 2023 with overwhelming support. But the termites weren’t finished.

The SBC’s progressive faction—yes, they exist despite what the termites say—sprang into action. Suddenly, we were told that defining what a pastor is was somehow a “threat to local church autonomy.”

We were told that enforcing what the SBC already claimed to believe would “harm the mission.” We were told that upholding biblical standards was “narrowing the tent.”

And just like that, after months of well-funded, well-coordinated pressure from the platformed elites of the SBC, the amendment failed its second vote in 2024. It missed the required two-thirds majority by a mere few percentage points. The termites had won.

And wouldn’t you know it, less than a year later, here we are. Newspring Church—a multi-campus SBC megachurch in South Carolina—has a female Teaching Pastor, Meredith Knox. Not a guest speaker. Not a women’s ministry leader. A woman, given a title that literally includes the word “pastor,” entrusted with preaching to the entire congregation.

And as if to mock the entire denomination, she once preached a sermon about how to be a godly man. That’s right. Newspring has a woman pastor teaching men how to be men. You can’t make this up.

And the SBC Credentials Committee? That esteemed body that, in theory, exists to determine which churches are in “friendly cooperation” with the SBC? That group of bureaucrats who had the power, in a single meeting, to uphold the SBC’s biblical doctrine? They did nothing. Actually, it was worse than nothing—they ruled Newspring to be in friendly cooperation.

Yes, according to the committee, a church with a woman pastor “closely identifies with the Convention’s adopted statement of faith and should be considered a cooperating church within the Southern Baptist Convention.”

Clint Pressley, the current SBC President and an initial supporter of the Mike Law amendment, responded in apparent disbelief:

“My understanding is that our Credentials Committee deemed a church in friendly cooperation that has a female teaching pastor. The committee needs to take another look at this one. Our statement of faith is clear about qualifications for a pastor.” Agreed, Clint, it is. But what good is a statement of faith when the people tasked with enforcing it won’t?

Now, to be completely fair to Pressley—he does at least acknowledges the problem. But let’s not forget that when the Law amendment failed, he and many others took the approach of “it’s disappointing, but not the end of the world.” Yet here we are, less than a year later, watching the Credentials Committee do exactly what we warned they would do. Shrug their shoulders, smile politely, and wave a woman pastor through the gates while claiming that nothing is amiss.

This is exactly why the Mike Law amendment was necessary. If it had passed, the Credentials Committee would have had no choice but to remove Newspring from SBC fellowship. The guidelines would have been crystal clear. Instead, the committee was left to “interpret” things for themselves. And what did they decide? That Newspring, female pastor and all, is a-okay. This is the fruit of compromise.

And make no mistake—this will not be the last time. Newspring is just the test case. Now that the SBC has effectively given a green light to this recklessness, other churches will do the same.

Before long, you’ll hear the same tired excuses:

“We’ve already made exceptions before, what’s one more?”

“A woman pastor isn’t a big deal, let’s focus on evangelism!”

“We’re still mostly complementarian!”

And the termites will keep eating, one church at a time, until the foundation collapses.

The SBC had a choice in 2024. Draw a clear line, or let the termites win. They chose the latter. And now, with Newspring standing as a monument to that cowardice, the question must be asked—how much more rot will it take before Southern Baptists wake up and fumigate their house?