Greater Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church — Church Directory

Quick Facts

Pastor — the shepherd God holds accountable Shonda Reynolds Christian

Founded 1992 (church plant of Faith Baptist Church, Loretto)

Denomination SBC (Lawrence County Association disfellowshipped 2015)

Service Times Sunday School 9:30am, Sunday Worship 10:30am, Wednesday Bible Class 6:45pm

Men's Ministry No

Kids Ministry Yes

Website www.greatertab.com

Pastor Credentials Senior Pastor since June 2015

10-Point Theological Scorecard

Christology

Is Jesus the only way? (John 14:6)

Missionary Baptist orthodox confession

Caution

Scripture

Inerrancy affirmed? Final authority?

Pastor Christian publicly rejected the 2000 BF&M Article VI as a binding scriptural mandate, citing Luke 9:49-50 against sectarianism

WARNING!

Men's Discipleship

Intentional formation for men?

No documented complementarian men's structure

WARNING!

Soteriology

Faith alone? How is salvation presented?

Standard Missionary Baptist evangelical confession

Caution

Gender / Biblical Design

Biblical manhood and womanhood by God's design — patriarchal, complementarian, egalitarian, or affirming gender ideology?

Female senior pastor (Shonda Reynolds Christian, called June 2015) — direct conflict with BF&M 2000 Article VI

Senior Pastor: Rev. Shonda Reynolds Christian (called June 2015, still serving). Lawrence County Association cited BF&M 2000 Article VI as the explicit reason for the 73-4 disfellowship vote.

WARNING!

Leadership Structure

Male elders/pastors? Accountability?

Senior pastor role filled by a woman; congregation chose to keep her over SBC association fellowship

WARNING!

Preaching Style

Expository or topical/therapeutic?

Female senior pastor preaching every Sunday

WARNING!

Mission Clarity

Great Commission central?

Continues independent mission identity outside SBC association structures

Caution

Cultural Alignment

DEI/CRT language? Social justice crowding out gospel?

Pastor publicly framed the disfellowship as 'unchristian'

WARNING!

Accountability Structure

Denominational home, elder plurality, or external network — is the pastor answerable to anyone?

Lawrence County Association of Baptists voted 73-4 on October 12, 2015, to remove Greater Tabernacle from its roster of participating churches, citing BF&M Article VI

WARNING!

Assessment

Greater Tabernacle Missionary Baptist (Lawrenceburg TN) called Rev. Shonda Reynolds Christian as senior pastor in June 2015 and was disfellowshipped by the Lawrence County Association of Baptists by a 73-4 vote on October 12, 2015 — the association explicitly citing the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 Article VI ('the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture'). Pastor Christian, who continues to lead the church a decade later, publicly characterized the disfellowship as 'unchristian' and challenged the binding force of the 2000 BF&M revision. This case set the early modern precedent for SBC state-association action against churches with female senior pastors and remains the longest-running Mid-South case.

#sbc#drift#female-pastor#credentials-committee-referral#disfellowshipped-2015#tn#lawrenceburg#needs-review

MOOP Engagement Tracker

How this church was personally verified by the MOOP directory team:

✓ Researched church website

Sources & Evidence

Enrichment Notes

Earliest modern Mid-South precedent for state-association disfellowship of an SBC-cooperating church over a female senior pastor. Pastor Christian's tenure has now exceeded a decade, making this an enduring drift case rather than a transient one.

These are the URLs consulted to arrive at this church's scoring. Score-note claims are synthesized from homepage content, denominational directories, and public statements of faith at the time of review. Church websites change frequently; we're progressively adding Internet Archive snapshots to prevent link rot.

[1] Live source greatertab.com
[2] Live source greatertab.com/about
[3] Live source baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/tenn-assoc-disfell…
[4] Live source baptistandreflector.org/churchs-decision-to-call-woman-pa…
[5] Live source brnow.org/news/Baptist-association-disfellowships-church-…

Transparency note: MOOP ratings are researcher judgments about publicly available theological and ecclesial evidence. They are not infallible. If a church's public posture has changed since our review, or if we've mis-read evidence, tell us — we publish corrections.