Texas Baptists to Elect First Female or Second-Generation Head
The largest state Baptist convention is set to make history with the election of its first female or first second-generation president.
Months ahead of the Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT)'s Annual Meeting in October, Joy Fenner and David Lowrie announced their candidacy for the convention's highest office.
In recent years, the BGCT elected its first Hispanic and African American presidents and Fenner believes her election would send a message "that there's a place for all Texas Baptists in leadership."
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Fenner is currently the convention's first vice president and executive director emeritus of Woman's Missionary Union of Texas, which she led from 1981 to 2001. She is running on the platform of increasing Texas Baptist mission work.
"I would like to see every church – no matter how large or how small – become involved in a significant way to touch its community and to touch the world," she told the Baptist Standard newspaper.
Fenner's candidacy comes as Baptist churches affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention or whose roots trace back to the denomination are experiencing an increase in the number of women serving in ministry and leadership positions. Female pastors, co-pastors and church planters rose from 102 in 2005 to 117 in 2006, according to the latest Baptist Women in Ministry report. Texas was among the top three states with the highest numbers of women pastors and co-pastors.
Most recently, Julie Pennington-Russell was confirmed to become senior pastor of First Baptist Church Decatur in Georgia, reportedly the largest church of Southern Baptist heritage ever to be led by a woman. Prior to that, in 1998, Pennington-Russell became the first female senior pastor of a Baptist church in Texas – Calvary Baptist Church in Waco.
While the BGCT has been served by a lineup of presidents who represent the diversity in the convention, Steve Wells, pastor of South Main Baptist Church in Houston, said, "We have neglected more than 50 percent of our state (women)," according to the Associated Baptist Press.
Meanwhile, Lowrie, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Canyon, wants the convention's leadership to better represent its affiliated congregations.
According to Lowrie, about 70 percent of BGCT-affiliated congregations support the SBC, but many of the convention's officers and leaders support the more moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, which split from the SBC. He believes that the Texas convention should work with the SBC where it can acknowledge disagreements without animosity.
"Primarily, we would like to see the BGCT come back to the center," Lowrie told the Baptist Standard. "We want the BGCT to be more in touch with where we see the rank-and-file churches are – with a vision for the future, commitment to missions and involvement with groups outside Texas."
Conservative Baptists in Texas had split off from the BGCT in 1998 over conservative-moderate dissension to form the Southern Baptists of Texas. Supporters of the separate body contended that they will be more loyal to the SBC, criticizing the Texas convention for distancing itself from the more conservative SBC. The BGCT resolved to operate autonomously, not committing itself exclusively to any national Baptist body.
Lowrie is the son of former First Baptist Church in Lubbock pastor and BGCT president D.L. Lowrie. If elected, he would be the first second-generation BGCT president and also the first in more than 20 years not endorsed by Texas Baptists Committed, a grassroots moderate group that was formed to protect the BGCT from the conservative resurgence that took over the SBC.
Texas Baptists Committed is backing Fenner.
Lowrie clarified that his candidacy is not about opposing female leadership.
"I can assure you this has nothing to do with Joy Fenner," Lowrie said in the Standard. "We're not running against a woman president. She's a wonderful lady and has done wonderful things for our convention. This is not a reflection of our concerns about her."
The BGCT claims more than 5,600 congregations with a total membership of 2.3 million people. Its annual meeting is scheduled for Oct. 29-30.
