National Christian magazine 'Gospel Today' is facing its first major controversy over featuring female pastors on its latest cover story, 'Female Pastors: Breaking the Glass Ceiling.'
The September/October cover of 'Gospel Today' showcases five female pastors including Pastor Sheryl Brady of The River in Durham, N.C.; Bishop Millicent Hunter of The Baptist Worship Center in Philadelphia, Pa.; Pastor Claudette Copeland of New Creation Christian Fellowship in San Antonio, Texas; Pastor Tamara Bennett of This Is Pentecost Ministries in Sacramento, Calif.; and Pastor Kimberly Ray of Church on the Rock in Matteson, Ill.
News broke last week that the Fayetteville, Ga.-published glossy had been removed from its regular position on magazine shelves at more than 100 Lifeway Christian Bookstores in the United States and "placed behind the counter like it was pornography," according to the magazine's owner Teresa Hairston.
Since its inception in 1989, this is the only time that the publication that has featured the likes of Star Jones, Bishop T.D. Jakes, Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child, Denzel Washington and Rev. Run on its covers has ever received such recoil, Hairston told me.
"It's the first time," she explained. "It's really kind of sad when you have people like Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton providing encouragement and being role models for women around the world that we have such a divergent opinion about wom 
en who are able to be leaders in the church. I was pretty shocked!"
Lifeway Christian Bookstores are owned by the Southern Baptist Convention, who openly endorses the Republican party.
Hairston believes that the organization contradicts itself in approving a political party that is promoting a woman for the vice presidency, while condemning a publication for endorsing women in ministry.
"I think that if a conservative republican organization like Southern Baptist Convention can endorse the republican ticket, they are going to be hard-pressed to try to put a woman in the White House and keep her out of the church house," she offered.
Chris Turner, a spokesman for Lifeway Resources, which runs the stores for the Southern Baptist Convention told the 'Atlanta Journal Constitution' that the magazine's cover subject goes against their doctrine.
"It is contrary to what we believe," Turner told the paper.
Southern Baptist Convention bases those beliefs on their interpretation of New Testament Scriptures in the Bible.
Southern Baptist representatives at national meetings have adopted statements saying women should not be pastors, but each church is independent.
Southern B 
aptists are not the only ones to reject the idea of women preachers.
The Catholic faith does not believe in women priests and the Presbyterian Church in America does not ordain women.
Hairston remains in disbelief that her cover story on a growing trend in ministry received such a pushback from the organization.
When asked whether she thought the topic would be this controversial, she replied: "Absolutely not!"
"We weren't trying to pick a fight," Hairston reminded. "We just did a story on an emerging trend in a lot of churches."
The magazine mogul, who also founded The Gospel Heritage Foundation, appeared during CNN correspondent Roland Martin's debut segment on the nationally syndicated 'Tom Joyner Morning Show' today to address the matter.
When Martin challenged the 10 million radio listeners in Joyner's 120 markets to "give Lifeway Christian Bookstores hell" over the matter, Hairston countered with: "I'd rather give them heaven!"
Gender discrimination on behalf of Southern Baptist Convention and Lifeway Christian Bookstores struck a person chord for Martin, whose wife, Reverend Jackie Martin was once a Lifeway teacher.
Rev. Martin, as the political pundit put it, "was given her papers" after they discovered on her website that she had become an ordained minister.
Comments: (303)
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By: Lady P on 9/23/2008 1:32PM
Teresa wake up read your scriptures. God did not call women to pastor churches. The scripture has said women are not to have authority over man, and the majority of these women have husbands. This is an a obvious contradiction to the word of God.
I know you feel you have published one of the top Gospel Magazines in the industry but not everyone christian sees your point of view. Stay in your place and read your scripture and be led of the Lord instead of emotions and feelings.
Keep Prayin
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By: Melissa on 9/23/2008 9:11PM
This is a sad double standard that has always been going on in the churches especially in black churches from my experience. As women we do so much for the church and where would our churches be if it weren't for women taking an active role. You want us to give our money, sweat and tears but as long as we are standing behind a man, I think not. As for Lady P I will keep you in my prayers! If a woman is not suppose to have authority over man I think we should take it all the way. We should not educate ourselves and me managers, supervisors, doctors, lawyers, world leaders, and President. This all sounds pretty silly doesn't it!
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By: Joann on 9/23/2008 9:20PM
LadyP you are so right! If they read their Bible and followed the scriptures, they would know that. Also, there is only one church you can read about in the bible and it's not baptist, methodist, penticosatal, catholic or any of the other man made religions/churches. The Church of Christ is the only church you read about in the bible.
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By: keisha on 9/23/2008 9:41PM
Lady P you are absolutely right, the Bible does call for women to be silent in the church. It's not degrading especially if women play their part right. People look at that verse and say the church is sexist, but it's not there are lots of things women can do actively in the church. God just wants men in the pulpit.
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By: keisha on 9/23/2008 9:41PM
Joann! My sister in Christ, so good to see members of the one true church speak out about things like this.
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By: TDR on 9/23/2008 10:33PM
Lady P,
I agree with you. Women have their place in church, but it is not in a position of authority over men according to the scriptures. If any of you have a problem with that, take it up with the Lord because the scriptures are right and it says "What if some don't believe?" They can be missionaries teaching other sisters. It's like your nose. It may work where your ear is, but it out of place. When Jesus chose the 12 disciples, how many were women? If God wanted women to preach now, there would have been women preaching back then. The scripture says "Jesus Christ, the same, yesterday, and today and forever. Don't try to change the scriptures to fit your wrongdoing. Yes, it is true that there are not a lot of men in some churches and women have taken the lead positions, but they are wrong. Read Isaiah 3:12.
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By: Tami on 9/23/2008 10:40PM
Read Judges 4:4, Joel 2:28 and Matt 28:5-7 and tell me God does not call women to preach. In his letter Paul was writing to churches dealing with their specific issues concerning women in their particular churches, he was not declaring doctrine. If God did not want women to preach why did Jesus appear to the women FIRST and tell them to tell His disciples he had risen, that is preaching the Gospel!
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By: Wes on 9/24/2008 4:17PM
This is a rather amusing article because it fails to take into account the historical Christian traditions and teachings on this matter AND this article is being hosted on a site that goes by the name "black voices". Do we really want to go down the road of religious progressisivism?
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By: Edress Jenkins on 9/25/2008 8:56AM
I have one question, why are the churches full of women?
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By: Edress Jenkins on 9/25/2008 9:25AM
Church get right...Jesus is on his way back! It's a spiritual relationship it does not matter if the pastor is male or female. Jesus is the head of the church not the Pastor. The Pastor is to feed, protect and guide a man or a woman can do that.
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