The 203^rd Southern Baptist Convention occurred this week in Dallas, Texas. This year was the 100^th anniversary of women being messengers, messengers being church representatives who have approval from their pastors to represent the church at the yearly convention.

But this wasn't a normal convention for my denomination. It started mere weeks after Southern Baptist legend Paige Patterson was fired and stripped of all privileges by a Southern Baptist seminary for not properly reporting a rape at that specific seminary and for not properly reporting a rape as president of another Southern Baptist seminary several years ago. Although the convention had not retracted their invitation that he speak at the convention this year, extended before the controversy started with his uncomfortable endorsement of catcalling a teenage girl and his insistence that he never counsels for divorce (even in cases of abuse), Patterson's friends persuaded him to deny the speaking engagement.

Patterson wasn't the only one the Southern Baptist church and her people have found fault with this year. In January Andy Savage, pastor of megachurch Highpoint Church, resigned because of a previous sexual assault when he had worked at a church in Houston. Larry Cotton was the pastor the assault had originally been reported to and he also resigned from his position at another church because he did not report the assault.

The convention was specifically touched by the tragedy of inappropriate relationships when Frank Page, Executive Committee president, stepped down for that exact reason.

Nevertheless, the SBC continued. Steve Gaines gave his leadership to J.D Greer, who won presidency of the SBC for the next year by almost 70%. At 45 years of age, he's the youngest SBC president in almost 40 years, and is expected to help give my denomination a clean shot into the future.

Women are included in that future, which is why I'm so excited. Although Southern Baptist's are complementarian, meaning the belief that men and women had distinctly different roles in both the home and the church, Greer is seeking to encourage female leadership in Southern Baptist churches. While according to their Scriptural interpretations, Southern Baptists do not believe that women should be senior pastors and preach over men, there are many roles in the church that women can fill beyond the places they've previously been confined to.

This confinement, according to Greer, has not always been purposeful. It's more like accidental oversight. The church just doesn't think about hiring women for positions outside of women's and children's ministry, even though not every role requires an ordained man. Now, though, he is hoping to encourage women and Southern Baptist churches to use their gifts for everyone's benefit.

This is where my feminist heart soars. I'm a feminist because I believe that men and women are equal in all spheres, a Biblical belief (just look at how Jesus treated women). Although I'm still learning how to balance that with my Southern Baptist beliefs, I am nevertheless excited to see the new SBC president encouraging women and churches to branch out in their ministries.

The future is bright.