The Great Smoky Mountain Journal

Staff, Wire Reports

Posted: Sunday, January 21, 2018 07:23 PM

Female Pastor Of First Baptist Church Speaks Out After Being Banned By Southern Baptist Convention

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. (SOURCE: WVLT)-- "The bible is full of examples of women who are filled with the spirit," said Pastor Ellen Di Giosia.

She spread the bible's message her whole life, most recently as the senior pastor at First Baptist Church Jefferson City. She was the first female to take the role.

"She opens [the bible], she reads it, she preaches from God's word as well as any man I've ever heard," Chair of Deacons John McGraw said. "She just happens to be a woman."

But her gender got her and the church banned from the Tennessee Baptist Convention. It was a relationship more than 140 years old.

"We have valued that partnership greatly," Pastor Di Giosia said.

That didn't stop her from spreading a new message, advocating for women of faith.

"This is an opportunity for [the convention] to be clear about who they are, and so we have made it an opportunity for us to be clear about who we are as a congregation," Pastor Di Giosia said.

She came to Jefferson City in August, after nearly a decade of inspiring women in ministry in Texas. She was hired after a year-and-a-half search with dozens of candidates.

"And we just didn't pay much attention to the fact she was a woman," McGraw said.

Southern Baptist churches generally believe the office of pastor should belong to a man, but it's up to each church to make it's own decision.

The vote to ban the church meant the congregation could no longer vote on issues within the convention.

Local 8 News reached out the the Tennessee Baptist Convention but did not receive a response.