Note that ‘trans’ in the title is in scare quotes. As for
Mr. Saunders goes by the name “Erica,” and everyone who doesn’t love him as much as Jesus does, calls him that. He is being ordained by Wake Forest Baptist Church. That church was founded in 1835.
The church is so-named because its original campus was in Wake Forest and many of its congregants belonged to Wake Forest College, which shared facilities with Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary since it was established in 1951 (the church is on the SEBTS campus enclosure). When Wake Forest College moved to its current location at Winston-Salem in 1956, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary spread out over the campus and took ownership of it entirely.
During the Conservative Resurgence of the 1980s, the increasingly liberal church grew distant from the Southern Baptist Convention. And now, the ‘paternal’ church (as their website calls it) of SEBTS is now ordaining someone who thinks they are transsexual.
Mr. Saunders is a ministry intern at Wake Forest Baptist Church and began to cross-dress, acting like a woman during his first semester at seminary.
As Baptist News Global reports,Saunders saying on Twitter, “Trans folks exist. God created us just the way we are, and God calls us good. Unfortunately, being trans means I’m not welcome in most churches as a vistor, let alone a leader. But we are Christians. We are called.”
Although SEBTS seminary and Wake Forest Baptist Church went on different paths during the Conservative Resurgence, it does appear that in another decade or so, their paths may again realign if SEBTS ‘woke’ trajectory is any indication. Some things come full circle.
