Serving as the senior pastor of several different churches, along with a few associate roles, I have had my fair share of deacons, and congregational leaders question my decisions and leadership.

I fondly remember having a chair of the deacons berate me in front of a Fellowship Hall of members on a Wednesday night because I dared to take my sweet tea out of the room when the church had a clear policy against drinks and beverages outside of the Fellowship Hall. The conclusion of this story was the joy on my face when this same deacon spilled an entire tray of communion juice on the new sanctuary carpet.

Now take my experience and juxtapose it against the 59% of the women surveyed in the
“State of Women in Baptist Life” report indicated their judgment was questioned in their areas of expertise.

We sat down with Rev. Dr. Meredith Stone, the executive coordinator for Baptist Women in Ministry, at Dallas’ General Assembly to discuss the glaring findings from the report and how they relate to CBF at large.

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Andy Hale is the creator and host of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Podcast. Hale is the Associate Executive Coordinator of CBF North Carolina. He’s also served as CBF’s Church Start Specialist, the founding pastor of Mosaic Church of Clayton, and the senior pastor of University Baptist Church of Baton Rouge. Follow on Twitter @haleandy.