There are roughly 500 Southern Baptist churches in the Pacific Northwest, accounting for more than 44,000 members. At its annual meeting last month, the Southern Baptist Convention considered an amendment to ban women from being pastors. It ultimately didn’t meet the two-thirds majority it needed to pass, but it still had support from more than 60% of delegates. At the same meeting, delegates passed a resolution opposing the use of in vitro fertilization.

Susan Shaw is an ordained Southern Baptist pastor and a professor of women, gender and sexuality studies at Oregon State University. She joins us to talk more about these changes and the role of women in the church.