PHOTO: Feminist Pastor April Baker greets churchgoers after service at Glendale Baptist Church.
When
the Rev. April Baker became a Southern Baptist minister more than a decade
ago, she knew she would have trouble in the job market.
She'd graduated from one of her denomination's top schools, Southeastern Baptist Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C. But she was a woman. About a year later, though, Baker confronted something about herself she'd largely ignored — her sexual orientation. That brought a crisis of faith.
''I grew up in a very conservative Christian environment,'' she said. ''Homosexuality wasn't even discussed, but you knew it was wrong.''
For years, she prayed to change, but that didn't happen. Gradually, she came to believe that God loved her just as she was. But that didn't make it any easier for Baker, 39, to find a job with a church.
Her search ended at Glendale Baptist Church, a congregation in Green Hills, where she started working in May as associate pastor. Glendale was founded as a Southern Baptist church in 1951 but has been viewed more recently as a renegade congregation of sorts for its ordinations of female pastors, its views on God and the Bible and its affirming attitude toward homosexuals. It stands at a crossroads now as its senior pastor prepares to retire in March.
Baker, who was hired specifically to minister to children and families at the 200-member congregation, won't replace Caldwell as senior pastor, but the church isn't completely sure what the future holds. It's in the midst of ''a visioning process,'' said Stewart Clifton, a member and a former Metro Council member. ''We have a lot to decide.''
Sometime soon, the church probably will be disfellowshipped from the Southern Baptist Convention, which has taken similar action against about a dozen other churches since 1988 that acted to ''approve, affirm or endorse'' homosexual behavior.
Generally, the churches either performed weddinglike services for gay people or hired gay clergy. Southern Baptist spokesman Bill Merrell said he was not aware of Glendale's action. When the convention meets in the summer, Glendale might be disfellowshipped, he said.
''If the convention knows that it does, in fact, affirm, approve or endorse homosexual behavior, then I would say the relationship is tenuous at best,'' Merrell said.
Glendale's drift from the Southern Baptist Convention can be traced to the conservative resurgence that started in 1979 and focused on biblical inerrancy. The church also is affiliated with the more moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Alliance of Baptists.
A few years back, the church considered dropping the word Baptist from its name because of the convention's conservative shift.
The congregation uses hymnals published by a different denomination, partly because they have more gender-neutral references to God than the Baptist songbooks.
So while the church sends a portion of its budget to the Southern Baptist Convention, Baker said, being sanctioned would not be a crushing blow to the congregation.
''It's not that we don't care,'' she said. ''It's just that we're facing reality.''
The congregation includes several former missionaries and seminary graduates, such as Vanderbilt Divinity School alumnus and Metro Councilman Chris Ferrell. He is one of the main sponsors of a bill that would prohibit discrimination against homosexuals in hiring or housing in Davidson County. The bill has received strong opposition from local religious groups who say it would infringe on their freedom of religion.
In American religious life, ordination of gays and lesbians is an extremely contentious issue and has been the cause of vigorous debates in denominations more liberal than the Southern Baptists, such as the United Methodists, Episcopalians and Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Glendale wasn't trying to make a statement by hiring Baker but instead wanted to find the best person for its congregation, said Annette Sisson, who was on the church's search committee.
''It may say something about us as a church,'' she said. ''Some of the more traditional Baptist pastor candidates would not be a good fit.''
All of the finalists for the position were women
and two told the church that they were lesbians.
When the congregation learned that, about a dozen members left, said Sisson, an English professor at Belmont University.
Those who have stayed say they are happy with Baker's performance and think she'll be a stabilizing force as they prepare to replace the senior pastor.
''This church is extremely pleased that April is here,'' Clifton said. ''It makes it a more secure time for us.''
For Baker, she's happy that she finally has a chance to serve God in a church and insists that her sexual orientation is a small part of her identity.
''I am merely one of the ministers of the church,'' she said. ''Not the woman minister. Not the lesbian minister.
Just one of the ministers who tries every day to follow as closely as I can to the teachings of Jesus.''
"I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah." —Jeremiah 23:14
