Women Cannot Be Senior Pastors: Robert Jeffress P/11

                                                                                Read Part One HERE

In this post I will continue to focus on Dr Robert Jeffress, Pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas who told his daughter when she was 11-years old that she could not be "head" or senior pastor just as he could not have babies...

My  Comment

I would like to introduce one final female Biblical character to Pastor Robert Jeffress, using Miriam as the one to introduce her... "Hello everyone... I have so enjoyed meeting with you these last few weeks.... Before I forget, I am Miriam.... And I have been introducing various friends to our pastor friend... Sad to say, this will be the last time I will be doing so for it has been a real privilege to have been given the opportunity to introduce some of my special women friends from the Book we all love so much.... The Bible... As for this time, I would like for him to meet  my special friend Junia.... I will let her do the talking."... "Hello pastor, good to meet you.... I have heard much about you from my friends such as Deborah, Mary Magdalene, Persis and Chloe.... Excuse me for being rude... My name is Junia.... I worked as an Apostle together with Andronicus... And we had a very close relationship with the Apostle Paul... In fact, we are his relatives... I believe there has been some confusion about my name in some of your Bible translations... But let me assure you that my name is Junia which is a female name... I believe, futhermore, that at least in one of your translations, the ESV, Andronicus and I are known "to the apostles" rather than "noted among the apostles."... I wonder if that is because I am a woman... However, the Apostle Paul had no problems recognising me as an Apostle because he saw me do the work of an Apostle.... A work that even caused me to be put in prison at a certain time in my life... I would like to invite you to study a correct translation of Romans 16:7 where you can read all about me."....

P.S. I hope you have enjoyed these stories of the pastor's meetings with some female Biblical characters to help him understand that women have served at every level in the Church...

Women Cannot Be Senior Pastors: Robert Jeffress P/10

 

                                                                               Read Part One HERE

In this post I will continue to focus on Dr Robert Jeffress, Pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas who told his daughter when she was 11-years old that she could not be "head" pastor just as he could not have babies....

 

My Comment

It is time for two more women to be introduced to the pastor we have all gotten to know so well... I will let Miriam take over from here... "Hello, pastor, good to meet you... Miriam here... I hope you very much enjoyed meeting Deacon Phoebe.. I am sure you agree with me that she was a remarkable woman having travelled all the way from her town Cenchreae to Rome to deliver the Apostle Paul's letter to the church in Rome....Today I would like for you to meet two female overseers.... I will ask them to introduce themselves to you.".... "Hello pastor.... It is good to meet you.... My name is Chloe.... I was the overseer of a house church in Corinth....You can read about me in 1 Corinthians 1:11.... At that time we had some challenging issues to deal with.... Thankfully, the Apostle Paul wrote to us via a letter you will know as his first letter to the Corinthians....His solutions to the issues helped us deal with these challenges....You may like to know that I was not the only overseer of a house church at that time.".... "That's right pastor.... Oh, my apologies, for not introducing myself.... My name is Nympha...I was the overseer of a house church near Colosse.... You can read about me in Colossians 4:16... I believe that in some of your Bible translations my name has been incorrectly translated as Nymphas and the church was supposed to have met "at his house."... Let me assure you that my name is Nympha and consequently the church met "at her house.".... I have heard too that you believe women cannot be "head" or senior pastors based on your view of 1 Timothy 3:2 "Now the overseer must be....., the husband of but one wife".... However, pastor, you can know from the original text of 1 Timothy 3:1 that Paul writes "everyone who desires to be an overseer desires a good thing" refers here to males as well as females since he used the Greek term "tis" for "everyone"which is a generic term. My dear frend Chloe and I are, therefore,  proof that the Apostle Paul supported female "head" or senior overseers or pastors since we both functioned as such... Perhaps, one day you may like to introduce us to your congregation."....

Read Part Eleven HERE

Women Cannot Be Senior Pastors: Robert Jeffress P/9

                                                                                Read Part One HERE

In this post I will continue to focus on Dr Robert Jeffress, Pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas who told his daughter when she was 11-years old that she could not be "head" or senior pastor just as he could not have babies....

 

My Comment 

Today I would like to introduce another woman from the Bible to Pastor Robert Jeffress, using once again Miriam as the one to introduce her..."Hello everyone, it is me again, Miriam....The other day I introduced some of Paul's female co-workers to the pastor who does not believe women can be "head" pastors....Talking about this pastor, I just learned that he bases his view on one line in 1Timothy 3:2 "Now the overseer must be....., the husband of but one wife."... Very interesting... I think I will mention it to some of the female overseers and will ask them to comment on it... For now I will ask my friend Phoebe to introduce herself to the pastor.... "Hello Pastor... As Miriam mentioned, my name is Phoebe... It is good to meet you... I lived in Cenchreae..... Perhaps you have heard of it.... We had a thriving church in that town... And I was a "diakonos" of that church....Moreover, I was a "prostatis" to many believers.... My understanding is that the term "diakonos" has been translated as "servant" in many of your Bible translations.... A better translation would be "deacon" or "minister" since I functioned as such in our church.... Moreover, the term "prostatis" has been translated as "help" in these same Bible translations... Hoever, this term in verb form has been used for church leaders to indicate these elders were guiding the congregation as  you will know from 1 Timothy 5:17.... Likewise, part of my functon in Cenchreae was to guide the church.... I am a little puzzled as to why the terms for my function are somewhat diministed in your Bible translations.... Especially, in light of the fact that the Apostle Paul entrusted his letter to the church in Rome to me because he had absolute confidence in me that I would represent him well before the church in Rome.... Perhaps you could introduce me one day to your congregation, pastor, as the Deacon from Cenchreae who guided her church just as you guide your church today."....

Read Part Ten HERE

Women Cannot Be Senior Pastors: Robert Jeffress P/8

Read Part One HERE

In this post I will continue to focus on Dr Robert Jeffress, Pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas who told his daughter when she was 11-years old that she could not be "head" or senior pastor just as he could not have babies....

 

My Comment

This time I would like to introduce a small group of women from the Bible to Pastor Robert Jeffress, using Miriam as the one to introduce her... "Hello everyone, good to meet all of you... As you may guess, I am Miriam...I thought that today I would introduce some of my friends who have served as co-workers of the Apostle Paul to the pastor we have all gotten to know.".... "Hello Pastor, I trust you have appreciated getting to know the women I, Miriam, have presented to you... Today I would like for you to meet four women... I will leave the introduction to them.".... "Hello Pastor, good to meet you... Our names are Mary, Tryphena, Tryphosa and Persis.... Perhaps you are not familiar with us.... But you can find us mentioned in Romans 16:6 and Romans 16:12... We worked with the Apostle Paul.. And he greatly appreciated our ministry as  his co-workers... It is true that Paul did not describe our ministry in details but it did involve Kingdom Ministry.... And through our minstry lives were touched and changed... It was done at great cost to ourselves...But we can assure you that it was worth it... We were so grateful to be able to serve alongside the Apostle Paul... Of course, we did not do so in our own strength... No, we did so because we were called and equipped for our task by the Lord... I trust our example will encourage you to allow women in your church to function in their particular calling be it as co-workers so that many lives may be touched and changed by their ministry as well."....

Read Part Nine HERE