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I grew up as a Southern Baptist, and the recent decision by the SBC is personal to me. In 1980, I was ordained to the ministry by a Southern Baptist Church in Richmond, VA, where I grew up. At the time, that was not an easy accomplishment because the head of the Richmond Baptist Association was determined that I would not be ordained.

It’s quite a story, and I won’t share all the details here, but my church did ordain me, and it was truly one of the high moments and greatest experiences of my life. I was blessed to serve in a pastoral capacity for three years, and from there I pursued other ministry opportunities.

Fast forward 46 years, and it feels like I am back in that room as a young woman in my 20’s, where people are debating whether I should be ordained simply because I am a woman. After all these years, I find it astonishing that we are still having the same discussion. With all the important things going on in the world, why this issue? Laying aside spiritual debate for a moment, and from a strictly logical perspective, if you were trying to win the world for Christ, wouldn’t you want all hands on deck, and how might that be accomplished by restricting the roles of a large part of our population?

In the year 2026, aren’t there more important things that we need to be mindful of, pay attention to, or even debate, rather than whether women can preach or not? Even as I have pondered it today, I am reminded of the words of Jesus to the religious leaders of his day in Matthew 23:24: “Blind guides! You strain your water, so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel! The reminder for all of us is to keep the weightier matters in view and to guard losing perspective.

Whatever conclusions we may reach on this issue, my prayer is that we who claim to be Christ followers would not only be known for what we stand for but how well we model Jesus to a broken and hurting world.