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By Robert Marus
NASHVILLE (ABP) -- A Tennessee church that
raised controversy after calling an openly gay woman to be an associate
pastor has now elevated her to co-pastor -- and called another woman
from Georgia to complete the pastoral team.
Nashville's Glendale Baptist Church has called April Baker and Amy Mears
to be its co-pastors. Mears, previously a Cooperative Baptist
Fellowship-endorsed chaplain at University Hospital in Augusta, Ga.,
will begin preaching responsibilities Nov. 28.
Baker has been the church's associate pastor since 2002. News about her
and her sexuality raised controversy in the Nashville Baptist
Association and Tennessee Baptist Convention. In 2003, the state
convention cut ties with Glendale over the issue.
Baker has served in the church's main
pastoral role on an interim basis since March 2003, when longtime pastor
Mark Caldwell retired. Her partner, Deborah Lynn, is also a Glendale
member.
A South Carolina native, Baker holds an undergraduate degree from Furman
University and a master's degree from Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary in Louisville, Ky. She has been a leader in both the Baptist
Peace Fellowship of North America and the Alliance of Baptists. She
helped lead a retreat that formed the basis for a resource guide
co-published by both organizations that is designed to help churches
talk about sexual-orientation issues.
Mears, herself a South Carolina native and graduate of Furman and
Southern Seminary, has served as a chaplain, pastor, associate pastor
and teacher. She has been a member of the CBF Coordinating Council and
on the board of directors of Baptist Women in Ministry. She and her
husband, David Webb, have four young children.
Glendale is affiliated with CBF, the Alliance and the gay-friendly
Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists. With the addition of
Mears to the staff, Glendale will have an all-female ministerial team.
Its other staff pastors -- ministers of music and youth -- are women. |
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