Role models
Friday Roundup for June 19, 2026
One of my favorite scenes from this week’s Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly happened this morning. Skye Perryman of Democracy Forward was the keynote speaker for our BNG breakfast co-sponsored with Good Faith Media and Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists. She was brilliant, as always.
As people were leaving, many stopped by to meet Skye and take photos with her. That’s when I captured the photo below which shows Ryon Price, pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, with his college-age daughter, Gabby. Ryon didn’t want to be in the photo; he wanted a photo of his daughter with a female role model.
And my, oh my, is Skye Perryman a role model! She and her team in Washington, D.C., are leading the charge against the injustices and cruelty of the Trump administration. They’ve filed hundreds of lawsuits against the administration and have won far more than they’ve lost.
Today being Juneteenth, Skye also honored one of her female heroes — Opal Lee of Fort Worth. She’s the inspiring 99-year-old who advocated for Juneteenth to be a federal holiday and is creating a Juneteenth museum. She wanted to make sure future generations heard the story of Juneteenth and carried the light.
It is especially important for young women today to see other female role models. That’s why, for example, it is urgent for your church to hear from female preachers in the Sunday morning pulpit. Your daughters need to see role models who inspire them to understand all God might call them to be.
Especially given the Southern Baptist Convention’s retreat into the 17th century, the rest of us need to keep giving women platforms to be seen and heard — to the glory of God. As Martin Thielen wrote for us this week, it’s way past time for people seeking role models to leave the SBC.
As a member and former staff member at a Baptist church that has ordained women since 1991, I can tell you the life-changing difference it makes for girls and women to see someone like them in leadership. When you see it, you can dream it.
“The SBC doesn’t want your daughters to know they can prophesy. So the rest of us have to keep saying it louder.”
The SBC doesn’t want your daughters to know they can prophesy. So the rest of us have to keep saying it louder.
On Wednesday this week, BNG sponsored an op-ed writing workshop exclusively for women. Twenty-three female writers spent the day learning from female coaches why their voices matter and how to be heard. This, too, was about role models. And the workshop was made possible by funding from another female role model, Ella Prichard. As a tribute to her, the Prichard Family Foundation underwrote the workshop.
For the past six years, one of my key goals as BNG executive director has been to publish more women’s writing, especially as opinion and analysis pieces. We’ve made some progress, had some setbacks and then made more progress again.
Many years ago, Amanda Hiley (before she was married to Todd Heifner) was the young pastor of a Baptist church in Kentucky. I was the young managing editor of the state Baptist newspaper, and I’ve never forgotten one thing Amanda told me then.
I naively asked how a female pastor would respond to some situation compared to a male pastor. She quickly let me know that it’s possible a female pastor might not have gotten in the same situation as a male pastor and my question was therefore impossible to answer. Lesson learned.
Her point was that women may fill the same roles traditionally held by men but may approach them with different mindsets. And that’s a good thing.
Which is one more reason women need great female role models as well as great male role models.
There’s an old joke going around in CBF circles about the daughter of a female pastor who is shocked one Sunday when a male is the guest preacher: “Mommy, I didn’t know men could be preachers!”
Do not let anyone tell your daughters or sons they can’t be anything God might call them to be. Al Mohler is wrong. The SBC is wrong. The Catholic Church is wrong. Doug Wilson is wrong. God still speaks — to boys and girls and women and men alike.
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In other news this week:
Christians who vilify the poor, LGBTQ people and women practice a version of the faith that is heavy on the Bible but light on words of Jesus, said Howard-John Wesley, senior pastor of the historic Alfred Street Baptist Church.
Opposing American authoritarianism will require dedicated action and avoiding the temptation to fall into “grim despair” over its advances, said Bacardi Jackson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.
The Washington, D.C.-area offices of nonprofit groups that provide legal services to unaccompanied immigrant children were recently visited by federal agents in what some of the organizations described as a campaign of intimidation.
An average of 25 children age 3 or younger are in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody daily while no fewer than 500 infants and toddlers have been detained since President Donald Trump took office last year.
More than 30 years ago, when Terrence Minor was incarcerated, a young man began speaking to him about Jesus. Minor cannot recall the man’s full name but does remember the influence he had.
Religious freedom is a radical invention that allows all Americans to believe or not believe as they choose, but on the condition that others are not harmed, said Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
A federal court granted a preliminary injunction preventing the Trump administration from establishing a nearly $1.8 billion slush fund for the president’s political allies as a lawsuit against the account moves ahead.
A group of Baptist pastors announced formation of The Baptist Network to foster collaboration and encouragement between minsters and congregations in a time of intense social and political conflict in the American church.
“Something that gets lost in the process is we don’t often get to hear the voices of the very communities that are experiencing the most hardship in the midst of the situation,” Jonathan Calvillo told Baptist scholars, historians and ministry leaders.
“Immigrants are not numbers, not statistics,” Pablo Juarez told Baptist scholars, historians and ministry educators gathered in Stone Mountain, Ga. “They are human beings that are running for their life.”
“All we do is just believe the Bible,” Marcus Jerkins said, recalling a familiar claim from his childhood church. “And I came to find out that is a Baptist way of thinking. We just believe the Bible.” He was one speaker exploring how Baptists have read, interpreted and argued over Scripture across four centuries.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to overrule two lower courts that prohibited Alabama from executing a prisoner using nitrogen gas. The state was set to execute Jeffrey Lee June 11.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says James Talarico will “go to hell” for his beliefs about the Bible. Talarico is an ordained Presbyterian minister and seminarian who is the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Texas.
The COVID-19 outbreak helped unite the nation’s anti-vax movement, with evangelical Christians convinced that vaccine mandates, masking requirements and social distancing violated religious freedoms, religion scholar Kira Ganga Kieffer said.
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In other analysis this week:
Al Mohler cozies up to Doug Wilson
Social media was abuzz this week with reaction to Southern Baptist Convention leader Al Mohler appearing on a podcast with Christian nationalist Doug Wilson. The mere fact of them being in conversation is the most notable thing, I explain.
Eric Metaxas has a new book, Revolution: The Birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World. He is not a historian, and while there have been any number of good books written by non-historians, Revolution is not one of them, says Rodney Kennedy.
Elon Musk has become the world’s first trillionaire, attaining a net worth of $1,100,000,000,000, according to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list. The tipping point was the release of SpaceX’s initial public offering at $135 per share. Josh Olds explains why this is a problem.
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In other opinion this week:
From the South Side to the South Lawn and back again — Edmond Davis
Democracy as a moral practice, not just a system —Jason Edwards
Why are we still calling ourselves ‘moderate’ Baptists? — Braxton Wade
A chance encounter, a life transformed — Henry Peabody
The stories we tell define us — Greg Garrett
Whatever happened to heaven? — Brian Zahnd
Y’all means all — Brian Henderson
The CBF witness is more important now than ever — Jackson Campbell-Walker
Consider the cost of staying in the SBC — Martin Thielen
The SBC is afraid of women who come to the tomb — Mallory Challis
Democracy and religious freedom — Carol McEntyre
I grieve for SBC women — Chuck Strong
How a ‘good kid’ makes a catastrophic choice — Joe Marlow
We also need a reckoning with racist words that cut like a knife — Mark Wingfield
A final word
Next week, we’ll have a lot more coverage from the CBF General Assembly. Be on the lookout for that. There’s also a lot more news and opinion and analysis in the hopper ready to inspire you. Lots to come.
If you’ve not yet discovered our Christianity and Democracy 250 series, please check it out. I’m thankful to Carol McEntyre for curating this insightful series that is suitable for use in small groups. So if you’re looking for some free and faithful way to consider the nation’s birthday, this could be for you.
Happy summer, and please keep reading and sharing wherever you may find yourself in this season.
Mark Wingfield
Executive Director and Publisher
Baptist News Global