Carmen Fowler was 25, a student at Princeton Theological Seminary and admittedly naïve as she prepared to attend her first General Assembly and inject herself into the searing debate over ordination requirements. Although she spent four years at the thoroughly secularized University of Florida, where she majored in business, she says she “never met a radical feminist” until she got to Princeton. That encounter – and a resounding sense of God’s call – helped shape her career.
That career has bought her to the Presbyterian Lay Committee as its president and executive editor. Her trajectory began in 1993, the year the national governing body of the Presbyterian Church (USA) met in Orlando. The gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender (GLBT) lobby was trying again to shake loose from Biblical teaching prohibiting sexual behavior outside marriage. This was in the pre-G-6.0106b, “fidelity/chastity” days, when the Book of Order did not specifically spell out what previous assemblies declared in an authoritative interpretation. The nub of that AI was that homosexual behavior was sinful, disqualifying practitioners from ordination.
‘A Princeton Declaration’
Fowler had her allies. Two other Princeton seminarians went with her to Orlando. They had prepared themselves at the home of Princeton Seminary Professor Ulrich Mauser. They considered how Scripture, sociology, psychology, polity and theology might be used in response to homosexuals and lesbians who demanded the right to be ordained as ministers, elders and deacons. Then Fowler and friends wrote “A Princeton Declaration” opposing the GLBT demands. By saying it was “A” declaration, rather than “The” declaration, the students were trying to be generous in recognizing other viewpoints – but not in accepting them.
Fowler asked Dr. Tom Gillespie, then the seminary’s president, what her group should do with “A Princeton Declaration.” “You wrote it,” he replied. “You’re going to have to be at the General Assembly to speak for it.” Gillespie had to be proud. He was the principal author of the authoritative interpretation that guided the denomination’s ordination standards before G-6.0106b was approved by presbyteries in 1997-98.
But first the statement got a trial run on the Princeton campus. Many students and professors were infuriated, and Gillespie became one of their principal targets. He didn’t back down. When the furor arose, he signed “A Declaration.” Fifteen of his seminary professors signed an opposition paper supporting the ordination of practicing homosexuals. Gillespie challenged them to prove that the Bible supported their position. None did, although many have tried since, and probably believe they succeeded.
In Orlando, Fowler and her friends addressed youth groups and General Assembly committees. They also took it on the chin when angry activists retaliated verbally. Fowler says she had never experienced such an evil response. “It was palpable, in your face,” she said.
The July/August 1993 edition of The Presbyterian Layman includes a photo of Fowler and two of her seminary classmates, Marnie Mullen (now Crumpler) and Tom Edwards. Notwithstanding the turbulence, all three are grinning. Fifteen years later, they’re still in the renewal movement.
“I was so naïve,” Fowler says. “But Parker Williamson and Howard Edington are men of significant stature and they were with us. They spread their massive wings of protection around us.”
Edington. Orlando. Williamson. All would later take on a pivotal role in Fowler’s deepening commitment to the evangelical movement in the PCUSA, a pathway that would lead to her current call with the Presbyterian Lay Committee. She’s the first woman to head the staff and, at 40, the Lay Committee’s youngest chief executive.
She was born in Indiana and moved to Tampa as a child. Her father had worked for a meat brokerage, but he went into business as an independent broker. He was on a sales trip to Jamaica. That’s where he died of a sudden heart attack. Carmen was 15.
He left Carmen, her older sister and their mother ample resources, but he didn’t leave a will. In Florida, the state distributes the estate if there is no will. So the Fowler estate was divvied up among the mother and her daughters, meaning that Carmen and her sister had to learn quickly about handling money. They handled their own college bills.
When her father died, Fowler was a Methodist and active in Young Life, a lively approach to the Christian faith for high school students. She continued working with Young Life groups while she was attending the University of Florida (she’s a die-hard fan). She majored in business – mainly to honor her father because of his business career. She worked for a bank for three months after graduation, but the Young Life experience caused her to veer off to seminary instead of an MBA program.
She loved her time at the University of Florida. She fondly recalls her introduction to New Testament class taught by Methodist scholar Jim Mueller, recalling the “way he approached the teaching of Scripture, academically faithful and so inspirational.” She says, “In that class, I was literally seduced by the Scriptures.”
Not so fondly remembered, she said, were her encounters with feminists and their efforts to recruit her at Princeton Seminary. They argued that she couldn’t expect to be in leadership in the church unless she joined their ranks. “Clearly, my consciousness had to be raised,” she said. But she chose instead to have her consciousness of Christ and the Scriptures raised.
Her first call was as a church associate in Victoria, Texas. It was a tough period that ended in two years. Discouraged, she took the graduate school exam, passed it and prepared to get another degree in business. Then David A. Peterson, pastor of the 4,300-member Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church in Houston, called to recruit her to work a year as interim associate. Peterson was in a panic. The entire staff of ministers had resigned just before he took over as senior minister.
“She was just exactly right,” Peterson said. “I brought her on as staff in educational ministry. She did a great job. She has a lot of energy and she is theologically evangelical. She wore her convictions well.”
“That year was an absolute gift,” she said. “I never worked as hard. The Lord used me that year to remind me what I was capable of.”
A small church in the mountains of Georgia began courting her even before the call to Memorial Drive. But there was a problem. Only about 40 members were active and they were paying off a mortgage. They could not afford to pay Fowler. “I told them, ‘Pay off your mortgage and then call me.’”
A year later, one of the elders sent her a handwritten letter. The mortgage had been paid off and they wanted to extend a call. She accepted. She still has a big heart for the tiny church. “It’s a beautiful place. It wasn’t a call I resisted. It was a glorious five and one-half years. We grew numerically and spiritually.”
Peterson helped blend her back into the ministry; Rabun Gap put the fire back in her heart.
While at Rabun Gap, Fowler became active in the Presbyterian Coalition, one of the evangelical renewal ministries. She was elected to the board and in 2002 she became the coalition’s executive director. The renewal work led her to the 5,000-member First Presbyterian Church in Orlando. She would wear two hats, adjunct minister to senior minister Howard Edington, one of the renewal leaders, and executive of the Coalition.
But the Presbytery of Central Florida, which had a long-running disagreement with Edington, ruled on Sept. 5, 2002, that because of her work with the Coalition Fowler had “intentionally abandoned the exercise of ministry.”
Ironically, the Presbyterian Coalition was organized to work within the Presbyterian Church (USA) to uphold the denomination’s constitution, particularly its ordination standards. Two people – Williamson and Edington – were in the vanguard of supporting Carmen during a time when she feared that she would be stripped of her ordination.
In addition, the Presbyterian Lay Committee issued a public declaration challenging the presbytery. “Believing that the ministry of the Presbyterian Coalition conforms in every respect to the criteria for validated ministry as specified in the Book of Order G-11.0403, and cognizant of the fact that the [presbytery’s] Committee on Ministry has cited no evidence in support of its judgment to the contrary, the Presbyterian Lay Committee declares its full faith and confidence in the Presbyterian Coalition and its executive director. … We … encourage church sessions to demand that the presbytery overturn the decision of its Committee on Ministry, and that the presbytery conduct a thorough investigation into the methodology and criteria that are employed by this committee when validating ministries within the presbytery.”
Edington later resigned from the Orlando church and accepted a call to serve as senior minister at Providence Presbyterian Church on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. Fowler followed as his associate. She also moved into another renewal arena – the New Wineskins Association of Churches. She has served for five years as co-moderator of the association with Gerrit Dawson, senior pastor of First Presbyterian Evangelical Church in Baton Rouge.
Some of the New Wineskins congregations have left the PCUSA to affiliate with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Others remain in the PCUSA, as has Fowler.
The denominational separation has not detracted from the two sectors of New Wineskins. They meet together, share mission commitments, and, most important, recognize Scripture as authoritative.
Fowler was once asked if she was concerned that the Evangelical Presbyterian Church accepted the ordination of women as ministers, elders and deacons but had few in those leadership ranks. “I feel confident in saying that the brothers involved are not going to let the sisters involved fall by the wayside, because frankly they know how much work we do,” she said.
Officially, Fowler became president of the Presbyterian Lay Committee and executive editor of its publications on March 1. She said her farewells at Providence Presbyterian Church on Feb. 1. The sanctuary was overflowing. “Slide over,” Dr. Martin Lifer, senior minister, said repeatedly.
Using Luke 4:14-30 as her text, Fowler preached a sermon titled “Inaugural Speeches and Closing Comments.” Yes, she mentioned the inauguration of Barack Obama. But her focus was on the inaugural speech of Jesus in Luke. There were those who muttered against Jesus. Some rose against Him and drove Him out of their town. But Jesus was authoritative. He fulfilled the messianic promise of Isaiah. Everything became different after He gave his inaugural address.
Because everything is different, she concluded:
One. “You are not your own. You believe in God and you are agents of His grace. Remember, you can do all things through Christ. You can do nothing apart from Him. I plead with you. I beg you. If you don’t know Jesus Christ, give your life to Him today.”
Two. “You are not alone. By the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is with you.” And there is skin, she added. “The Christian life is meant to be lived in community. You are members of the body of Christ. Without your contribution, the body here will atrophy. God has equipped you with particular spiritual gifts. I expect you to invest yourself as a disciple. You have everything that you need for the accomplishing of God’s will.”
Three. “You have not been given a spirit of timidity or fear. Do not be afraid. You have been given a spirit of love and power.”
Following that sermon, the congregation packed a large fellowship room, queuing up for tears and hugs and honors for Carmen.
One of the presents was In His Name, a collection of prayers compiled by members. They are her prayers, beginning:
Holy God, hear now the prayers of the faithful offered to You.
We know of nowhere else to turn,
We know of no one else who can redeem.
We know of no other way to deal with the realities and burdens of life.
O Lord our God, hear our prayers.