Tennessee Southern Baptist church put on notice after hiring woman pastor. https://t.co/w8YyyHRKns

— Holly Meyer (@HollyAMeyer) November 8, 2017

JEFFERSON CITY — First Baptist Church of Jefferson City hired a woman as its lead pastor this fall and now may lose voting rights at next week’s Tennessee Baptist Convention.

A TBC committee last month deemed First Baptist — which traces its start to the 1830s — is “not a cooperating church” because the Rev. Ellen Di Giosia is its senior pastor.

Though the committee action speaks to a single church, it also goes to the heart of Southern Baptists’ affirmation that only men can pastor a congregation. It also points to the Baptist belief that each church is autonomous and can make decisions without a hierarchy of denominational authority.

*spit*