LEADERS CONTINUE MOVE AWAY FROM HISTORIC ROOTS 

"I cannot have fellowship with those who do not believe the bible is the inerrant word of God, ... who believe in culture over conviction, ... who believe it's all right to murder babies in the womb, ... who believe it's OK to ordain women as ministers and deacons."

Stan Coffee, President of the Southern Baptists of Texas, November 17, 1999 at the SBTC in Dallas

The founder and first president of the Southern Baptist Convention, W.B. Johnson, advocated women deacons in the book "The Gospel Developed Through the Government and Order of the Churches of Jesus Christ," written in 1846. Johnson believed that deaconship should be determined by talents, not gender.

After describing areas of service, he states: "In these two last departments (hospitality and care for the poor), deaconesses would be particularly useful . . . And therefore it is, that the deaconship admits of females into its number. Phoebe was a diaconos, deaconesses, or female servant of the church at Cenchrea." (pp:96-97)

Historically, traditional Southern Baptists have believed that deacon selection is a local church matter and have not used it as a basis for determining fellowship.