MINNEAPOLIS — One of Southern Baptists’ most outspoken pastors has been recognized for his defense of women — although he does not believe women should serve as pastors.
Wade Burleson, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church, Enid, Okla., and former president of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, recently received the Priscilla and Aquila Award from Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE).
The award honors people who, like early church leaders Priscilla and Aquila, face persecution for the sake of the gospel, according to CBE.
With the award, CBE honors those who have “risked their necks for the sake of biblical equality,” the CBE Web site says.
The nonprofit organization, which promotes gift-based — rather than gender-based — Christian service for men and women, lauded Burleson for using his Internet blog to alert Baptists to the termination of the contract of Hebrew professor Sheri Klouda.
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Paige Patterson fired Klouda in December 2006 for holding a “position reserved for a man.”
Klouda, a graduate of Criswell College, Dallas, and Southwestern, said school administrators had previously told her she would not be fired when Patterson came to the post in 2003.
After the dismissal, Southwestern trustee chair Van McClain described her earlier hiring to the position as “a momentary lax of the parameters.”
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