'God calls women to pastor': Billboard challenges SBC ahead of Annual Meeting
As thousands of Southern Baptists prepare to gather in Orlando for the Southern Baptist Convention's Annual Meeting, a Baptist advocacy group is making its position on women in ministry impossible to miss.
Baptist Women in Ministry has erected a billboard near the meeting site declaring, "God calls women to pastor, preach and minister," a public response to a proposed constitutional amendment that would strengthen the SBC's ban on women serving in pastoral roles.
The Waco, Texas-based organization, whose members come from multiple Baptist denominations, including some Southern Baptists, said the billboard will remain on display through June 14.
Alongside its message, the billboard cites Matthew 28:8, which recounts women sharing news of Christ's resurrection with the disciples, and Acts 2:17-18, where the Holy Spirit is poured out on both men and women who prophesy.
In a statement shared with The Christian Post, Baptist Women in Ministry said the display was intended to support women who feel called to ministry as Southern Baptists consider a measure that critics say would further restrict women's leadership opportunities in SBC churches.
The Rev. Meredith Stone, executive director of BWIM, said in the press release shared with CP that there were many women “committed to their SBC churches” who are “navigating what the passage of this amendment would mean for them.”
“As proposed, the amendment goes further in limiting women than anything proposed before,” said Stone. “Its provisions would mean if a woman preaches, teaches, ministers or leads in any role that is interpreted as a ‘pastoral function,’ her congregation could be disfellowshipped.”
"Even beyond the SBC, when women everywhere learn Southern Baptists are once again arguing about women's value to God and the church, they also feel the pain caused by harmful theology and rising threats to women's rights.”
Stone went on to say her organization was "speaking out so that they too will clearly hear the message that women are equally valued” and that she wants “all women to know that their callings, gifts and worth are determined by God and not by any denomination."
The billboard comes weeks after Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler announced plans to introduce a constitutional amendment at this year's Annual Meeting.
The proposed amendment would add a sixth requirement for cooperating churches, stating that a church must not "affirm, appoint, or endorse a woman serving in the office or function of a pastor/elder/overseer, such as preaching to the assembled congregation."
“I move the suspension of standing rule 6 so that the Committee on the Order of Business may schedule this motion for debate and consideration at this 2026 annual session,” concluded the proposed motion.
South Carolina Pastor Josh Powell and Florida Pastor Willy Rice, the two confirmed nominees for SBC president, have both expressed their support for the proposed amendment.
Supporters of the measure argue that they are not opposed to women holding other leadership roles in churches, such as deacons or directors of certain ministries. Rather, they want to adhere to biblical standards for ministry, pointing to verses like 1 Timothy 2:11-12, which reads, in part, “A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.”
When asked about how they respond to such a passage, a BWIM spokesperson directed CP to a publication titled “A Baptist Reflection on the Bible and Women in Ministry & Leadership.”
The publication argues in part that the Timothy passage was more of a “contextual setting” meant to focus on possible specific incidents of “inappropriate power” rather than a rule meant to apply to all churches for all time.
A similar amendment was defeated at the Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas, last year. Although the motion received 60.74% of the ballots cast, it needed to get at least a two-thirds majority.
Proposed by Juan Sanchez of High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin, Texas, the 2025 motion sought to add a sixth item to Article 3, Paragraph 1 that would require churches to have "only men as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by Scripture."
Pastor James Goforth of First Baptist Church of Ferguson, Missouri, spoke against the motion last year, noting that the Southern Baptists "believe in the autonomy of local churches," thus "allowing us to have some differences of practice while still cooperating together for the Great Commission."
While Goforth said he did not support female senior pastors, he warned that the 2025 motion would force the SBC "to headhunt a bridge too far" and distract them from fighting "the real enemy."
