In 2021, the S.B.C. expelled Towne View Baptist Church in Kennesaw, Ga., and St. Matthews Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., for church policies deemed accepting of homosexuality, in violation of the denomination's statement of faith.

Towne View's conversations about becoming an "affirming" congregation, and its decision to accept two gay couples as members in 2019, cost the church at least 30 percent of its membership, Jim Conrad, the pastor, said in February 2021.

The fight is now over purging churches led by female pastors.

Ultraconservatives are moving to enforce the position that women should not lead churches. Before this year's convention in New Orleans, more than 2,000 male pastors and professors signed a letter supporting an amendment that would enforce that position.

Most people in the denomination have long believed that the office of head pastor should be reserved for men, based on their reading of the Bible. Those against the expulsions say their church's interpretation of the Bible had affirmed women's eligibility to lead.

It is not clear exactly how many women are pastors in the denomination; estimates range from dozens to nearly 2,000 when a range of pastoral positions other than senior pastor are included. The role of minister or pastor can have many meanings in different Christian settings; children's ministers, for example, are often women even in theologically conservative churches.

The crackdown comes at a moment when the country is broadly re-examining women's rights, a year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. For Southern Baptists, it also comes as victims' advocates have pressed the denomination to take action after devastating reports of sexual abuse of women and children, and have been met with resistance from some men in the organization.