Joel Miller

Servant of Christ, Husband, Father, Lead Pastor of Redeemer Church, Alumni (MDiv) @SBTS, Reformed Baptist, Fisher of Men, Fisher of Fish

[Denny Burk @DennyBurk]

A strong majority of SBC messengers voted in favor of the Sanchez/Law amendment (61%), but it fell short of the required supermajority (66%). So that effort is now dead. Some take-aways:

1. It is very clear that majorities of messengers at the last three conventions want this amendment. But it is very difficult to get a supermajority to pass a measure when the platform opposes it. The platform mounted strong opposition the last two years.

2. I thought the amendment had a good chance of reaching a supermajority until the platform warned messengers during the debate that the amendment would put the SBC in legal jeopardy. At that point, it seemed clear to me that we would likely get a majority again but that enough messengers would be scared away to keep the effort from a supermajority. I was right.

3. I am very concerned about the platform’s argument against the amendment. The platform argued that if our constitution clarifies that the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture, then we would be at risk of being sued for defamation. And yet, our constitution already says that cooperating churches must closely identify with our beliefs about pastors. Why would we be in more jeopardy for making it clearer? Our constitution also says that churches that endorse homosexuality, racism, and abuse are not in friendly cooperation. Should we remove prohibitions on homosexuality, racism, and abuse from the constitution because of legal risk? If not, then why would clarity about a prohibition on female pastors be a problem? If we can’t defend the boundaries of our cooperation on this point, then how can we defend them on any point?

4. I hope that the Credentials Committee has gotten the message from the last three conventions that strong majorities of messengers want something like the amendment. I hope that will help them to hold the line on our confession of faith. If they don’t, then I suspect we will have to adjudicate more membership challenges on the floor of the convention. That is a very inefficient and a poor use of the short time we have to meet every year, but that will likely be the result. We missed an opportunity to avoid that today.

The bottom line is that a near supermajority of messengers don’t want to cooperate with churches that have female pastors. I suspect the messengers will have their way on this one way or the other. This isn’t over.

[Joel Miller @dbeardedbaptist]

@TomBuck @Lifeway The right people in the room are those whom God has appointed to shepherd His church, the pastors/elders. Women are gifted and have wonderful contributions to make, but this sort of slippery argument subverts the Word and props man's "modern sensibilities" over His design.

[Midwestern Seminary @MBTS]

✨ GIVEAWAY!
To celebrate the addition of Dr. Matt Boswell to our faculty, we're giving away:

🖼️ Custom Print of "His Mercy is More"
🧢 "Almost Home" Hat
📚 Matt Boswell books!

FOLLOW US, LIKE this post, and RT this post to enter to win!

[Joel Miller @dbeardedbaptist]

Wow, what a great giveaway! Would love to dive deeper in church history through this awesome set!

[Midwestern Seminary @MBTS]

📚 GIVEAWAY 📚

FOLLOW US + LIKE this post and RT to win this Popular Patristics book set, and follow along for this year's 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways beginning TOMORROW!

[Midwestern Seminary @MBTS]

📚 GIVEAWAY 📚 To celebrate the release of "A Wondrous Mystery: Daily Advent Devotionals from" from Charles H. Spurgeon, edited by Dr. @geoffchang, we're giving away a FREE copy!

FOLLOW US + LIKE + RT this post to enter!

[Midwestern Seminary @MBTS]

📚 GIVEAWAY 📚 To celebrate #PastorAppreciationMonth we are giving away one free Preaching the Word New Testament Set!

FOLLOW US + LIKE + RT to enter!

[Midwestern Seminary @MBTS]

📚 GIVEAWAY 📚 To celebrate the release of "Christian History Volume 2: From the Reformation to the Present" from Dr. @ThomasSKidd we're giving away a FREE copy!

FOLLOW US + LIKE + RT to enter!

[Alex DiPrima @Alex_DiPrima]

🚨GIVEAWAY🚨 “Spurgeon: A Life” from @RHB_Books is now on Amazon. To celebrate, I’m giving away two free copies (w/ free shipping to anywhere in the US). To qualify you have to “like” AND “repost” this post. I’ll select two people at random by the end of the day on Friday!

[Midwestern Seminary @MBTS]

📚GIVEAWAY📚

It is the final day of #MBTSBooks! Today we are giving away Preaching and The Great Commission by Dr. @jasonkeithallen, published by @BHpub.

FOLLOW + LIKE + RT to enter. | Visit https://t.co/4E4fxXwM0q for a chance to win the entire Puritan Paperbacks series!

[Center for Classical Theology @CenterClassical]

🚨Giveaway🚨

📷Like, retweet, and follow to enter to win
the @crossway Creeds and Confessions ESV Bible, featuring historic creeds and confessions after the text.

And register for @MichaelHorton_ CCT Lecture this November in San Diego! https://t.co/xPqjOzbOGP

[Midwestern Seminary @MBTS]

📚GIVEAWAY📚

For Day 26 of #MBTSBooks, we are giving away None Greater by Dr. @geoffchang, published by @BHpub.

FOLLOW + LIKE + RT to enter. | Visit https://t.co/4E4fxXwM0q for a chance to win the entire Puritan Paperbacks series!

[Midwestern Seminary @MBTS]

📚GIVEAWAY📚

For Day 23 of #MBTSBooks, we are giving away Spurgeon's Lectures to My Students by Dr. @jasonkeithallen, published by @BHpub.

FOLLOW + LIKE + RT to enter. | Visit https://t.co/4E4fxXwM0q for a chance to win the entire Puritan Paperbacks series!

[Midwestern Seminary @MBTS]

For Day 21 of #MBTSBooks, we are giving away The Transfiguration of Christ by Dr. @pj_schreiner, published by @BakerAcademic.

FOLLOW + LIKE + RT to enter. | Visit https://t.co/4E4fxXwM0q for a chance to win the entire Puritan Paperbacks series!

[Midwestern Seminary @MBTS]

📚GIVEAWAY📚

For Day 17 of #MBTSBooks, we are giving away Delighting in the Old Testament by Dr. @jasonderouchie, published by @crossway.

FOLLOW + LIKE + RT to enter. | Visit https://t.co/4E4fxXwM0q for a chance to win the entire Puritan Paperbacks series!

[Midwestern Seminary @MBTS]

📚GIVEAWAY📚

For Day 11 of #MBTSBooks, we are giving away Divine Christology of the Apostle Paul by Dr. John Lee, published by @ivpacademic.

FOLLOW + LIKE + RT to enter. | Visit https://t.co/4E4fxXwM0q for a chance to win the entire Puritan Paperbacks series!

[Midwestern Seminary @MBTS]

📚GIVEAWAY📚

Happy 4th of July! For Day 4 of #MBTSBooks, we are giving away American History, Volumes I & II, by Dr. @ThomasSKidd, published by @BHAcademic.

FOLLOW + LIKE + RT to enter. | Visit https://t.co/4E4fxXwM0q for a chance to win the entire Puritan Paperbacks series!

[Joel Miller @dbeardedbaptist]

@nakedpastor Except that is the opposite of what Jesus said.

"Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone wants to follow after me, let him DENY HIMSELF, take up his cross, and follow me.'" Matthew 16:24

[Denny Burk @DennyBurk]

It’s very important for messengers to understand that Credentials Committee did not recommend removal of FBC Alexandria because of the church’s actual female pastors but because of the church’s answers on a questionnaire.

Anyone telling you that we don’t need the Law Amendment because of the 91% vote to remove FBC Alexandria does not understand the precedent that was just set.

#SBC24

[Denny Burk @DennyBurk]

One more note about the vote to unseat FBC Alexandria’s messengers, and this is important for all messengers to understand as they consider the need for the Law Amendment.

The Credentials Committee made it clear that they were removing FBC Alexandria not because of the female pastors they have employed but because of the church’s stated views on senior pastors.

Apparently, the committee still believes that the BF&M’s teaching on the office of pastor/elder/overseer only applies to the senior position (which is what caused the year-long delay on Saddleback in Anaheim). The committee’s rationale would still allow for a variety of female pastors serving in associate pastor/elder/overseer positions.

This shows that the committee STILL needs the clarity that the Law Amendment provides. Their recommendation gives us no evidence that they believe the female pastors at FBC Alexandria were at odds with the BF&M.

Opponents of the Law Amendment are going to try to convince messengers that the vote on FBC Alexandria shows that we don’t need the amendment. But the Credentials Committee’s stated rationale shows that we do.

The Credentials Committee needs to know that friendly cooperation requires that churches only call qualified men as ANY kind of pastor. We can give them that clarity with the Law Amendment.

I encourage you to vote for it tomorrow morning.

#SBC24

[Joel Miller @dbeardedbaptist]

@IMB_SBC Sending Celebrating is ALWAYS my favorite part of the annual meeting. Many prayers for our new missionaries as they embark on the #GreatPursuit of making Christ’s Name known among the Nations! #SBC24