Texas Baptists elected their first female president in a narrow vote on Monday.
Retired missionary Joy Fenner was elected by a 900 to 840 vote during the annual meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT) – the largest state Baptist convention in the country. She defeated second-generation candidate David Lowrie by one of the smallest margins in BGCT history.
This year's vote follows previous historic elections in which Texas Baptists placed into leadership their first Hispanic and first black presidents in 2004 and 2005, respectively.
Although Texas is among the top three states with the highest number of women pastors and co-pastors, according to the latest Baptist Women in Ministry report, less than 1 percent of the state convention's pastors are female, as reported by The Associated Press....