Yesterday I chased two would-be thieves out of my back yard. When I showed up they were so afraid of me that they both jumped the fence in a single leap.

Don’t be overly impressed by my intimidating crime prevention. The would-be thieves were a doe and fawn who were about to devour my not-quite ripe tomatoes. Now I know why a number of them have disappeared from the vines. In reality, I didn’t intentionally chase them off–I love deer so much I would have allowed them to savor my salad fixings. But when I opened the back door not knowing they were there, the noise chased them off before I could even tell them they were welcome to stay for supper. However, if they had I would have grumbled about the loss of those carefully cultivated tomatoes at the same time I loved having those four-legged woods creatures in my yard.

Speaking of stealing things–what if banning women from pastoral ministries in church isn’t really the plan of God or the command of Scripture as many assert? What if by misinterpreting the Bible, Jesus’ church has been robbed of the potential participation of 50% of its members at the most significant levels of leadership? That’s a theft which would be far more significant than the loss of few green tomatoes!

For most of my life I looked at those Bible passages commanding women to be silent in church (1 Corinthians 14) and not permitting women to teach or lead men in church (1 Timothy 2) and concluded that whether I understood or liked it or not, the Bible was clear and there was no room for debate. Women could not be pastors. I was shocked when I discovered during about four years of intensive study that the correct interpretation had been “stolen” from me by centuries of tradition and misleading translations of the original language of the New Testament (Greek).

I’m really hoping that many people who love the Bible and who care about Jesus’ church will give my new book an open-minded read. I look forward to hearing peoples’ responses whether positive or negative.