I'm a third generation SBC pastor. I've only ever been a member of cooperating North Carolina Baptist churches. I was saved and baptized in the Southern Baptist church my dad pastored when I was young and grew up listening to my dad talk about the SBC annual meetings of the mid-80s, the ones that have been acclaimed as the turning points for the Conservative Resurgence. When I answered the call to ministry, I began my education journey that would take me through four Southern Baptist institutions. I have benefited more than I can calculate from the sound, biblical, theological leadership at SBTS and SEBTS where I earned my M.Div. and Ed.D., respectively. I have served on staff at one cooperating Southern Baptist church, and I currently pastor another.
The church I serve now has consistently seen record Lottie Moon Christmas Offering giving, and we are in the process of planting the first church in my tenure through SendNC and NAMB. I currently serve as the Vice President of our North Carolina Baptist Board of Directors, and I have been active in our local SBC associational leadership.
I share that biography just to underscore how much I love the SBC, and just how much skin in the game I have had through the years. Indeed, I am the product of what I believe to be the best of what the SBC does.
Now, allow me to put my cards on the table: I intend to vote no on the Law Amendment next month. I do not intend to vote no for theological reasons. I am a complementarian. We have no women serving in pastoral positions on our staff, and the most recent woman who joined our team in worship ministry echoed—even before the questions came up—her affirmation of her husband's leadership in their home and her respect for the pastoral offices at our church. I’m a complementarian pastoring a church that’s complementarian in a convention that I believe is also complementarian. And we didn’t get here by accident.
I believe we would all do well to remember and appreciate the historical trajectory of the SBC on key matters of biblical faithfulness and theology across the greater part of the past 50 years. As a product of the conservative turnover in our seminaries, I am grateful to celebrate the impact of biblical and theological depth that's taken root throughout the churches in our convention. Nearly every time I speak with pastors in my area, at a conference, or in our NC Baptist meetings, or when I observe many of the sharp minds in our convention through their ministry reach or social media feeds, I am reminded to be grateful that we've come a long way from the Southern Baptist resolutions of the 1970s affirming abortion rights.
I also find it important to acknowledge that the current discussion around the office of pastor is a byproduct of the conservative turnaround in our convention. As others have documented, when the BFM 2000 was updated, even stalwarts of conservatism appeared to have had a softer or different take on the language surrounding the office of pastor and women serving in various capacities with that title. We have moved the needle toward a greater biblical clarity, and I believe credit is due to the turnaround in the SBC, particularly in our seminaries.
We are having these very conversations and taking clear steps with Saddleback and other churches through the current Credentials Committee process precisely because of the theologically conservative shifts over the past four decades. Our current governing documents, the Credentials Committee, the Executive Committee, and the messenger body did exactly what they have been empowered to do in those cases brought before them culminating at the SBC Annual Meeting in 2023. I voted that these churches no longer be considered in friendly cooperation with the SBC. The messengers did as well, overwhelmingly.
Which brings me back to the Law Amendment, which will come before the messengers in Indianapolis in a few weeks. For me, I intend to vote against the Law Amendment for polity reasons. In this current debate, we are following our Baptist process to codify our interpretations of Scripture and theology and apply it to our Baptist polity. What we have before us now in the Law Amendment is "a" way forward to do just that. For some, it's viewed as the best way. But I would argue—and I know I’m not alone—that the Law Amendment is not the only way forward to be both fully Baptist and biblically faithful regarding how we define the office of pastor. In terms of practice, based on the 2023 Annual Meeting, our current credentials process already works.
Our polity process affords the opportunity for the Law Amendment to be considered or rejected. The messengers passed it in 2023, and in 2024 the messengers will determine whether it's adopted into our constitution. I have a great deal of respect for Mike's forthrightness to bring this step before the SBC. I am sympathetic to many of my fellow SBC messengers who believe that the amendment is the way forward. I have friends here in North Carolina that support the Law Amendment, some vociferously, and I applaud their right to do so. I just happen to be resistant to its enshrinement in our constitution. I'm of the opinion that the current Credentials Committee process works well. We've applied a scalpel, and it worked. I don’t believe we need an axe.
While I’ll vote against the Law Amendment, I value the SBC because of our theology and polity, and especially because of our cooperation. If the messengers affirm the Law Amendment in 2024, I’ll respect it. And, I’ll continue to cooperate and lead our church to do so.
What’s consistently been true for me, and the great majority of SBC pastors I know, is that we really are better together. Mission, theology, education—all happen because we chose to do them together. As NC Baptists, we say it this way: “We are a movement of churches on mission together.” I’m proud of that. That’s what I believe we should be.
May God strengthen our cooperation, empower our mission, and deepen our commitment to the authority of His Word. May he multiply the tribe of all who long for His return and strive to be faithful to the task before us. If you are for that, even if we disagree in a place or two along the way, I’m for you. And I hope you’d be for that too.
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Robert Hefner
Robert Hefner is the pastor of Pleasant Garden Baptist Church. Raised in the home of a Southern Baptist pastor and saved at a young age, he has a Bachelor's degree from Fruitland Baptist Bible College, an M.Div. from Southern Seminary, and an Ed.D. from Southeastern Seminary. Through God's guidance, Robert has been given a deep love for teaching, preaching, pastoring, leading and guiding his people. He is married to his wife Diana, and together they have one son, Joseph.