Woman preaches at Lakepointe ‘under the fathers of this house’

This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on May 15, 2025.

In a scene reminiscent of a Serena Waterford speech from Margaret Atwood’s dystopian depiction of totalitarian patriarchy in The Handmaid’s Tale, Dallas megachurch pastor Josh Howerton and his fellow elders allowed a woman to preach on Mother’s Day.

If you’re a complementarian, that’s likely where the scandal begins and ends since women are supposedly required to remain silent in church and are not to usurp authority over a man. Unfortunately for the women of Lakepointe Church, it appears to be part of a strategy to dismiss concerns about abuse and consolidate the elders’ power.

Howerton hailed her “The Hispanic Hammer” on a follow-up podcast conversation about her sermon, while bursting into laughter. Pamela Baltazar opened her message by saying, “It is such an honor to come under the fathers of this house — our pastors, our elders — to bring a message especially for the ladies of Lakepointe on this special day.”

Under the fathers of this house?

As Waterford and the women of Atwood’s Gilead would say, “Under his eye.”

It sounds similar to language Howerton himself used recently to describe Carlos Erazo, his podcast co-host, as a “son of the house.”

If this sounds like the language of a cult, perhaps it would help to learn more about who these leaders are.

Unfortunately, the identity of the Lakepointe Church elders is unclear because the leadership page on their website is password protected. What kind of church puts a password protection on their leadership page?

A Google search for Baltazar’s name produces a promising link to a page on Lakepointe’s website, but when you click through you get a 404 error saying that page doesn’t exist. It clearly did exist at one point.

However, Right Now Media gives us a hint on its website that is not password protected: “Born and raised in Mexico, Pamela Baltazar moved to the United States with her husband to work with the Hispanic community in the DFW area. Working full time in ministry since she was 17 years old, she has served in many different areas but has always had a passion to teach and encourage others. As part of the teaching team of Lakepointe Church en Español, she’s had the opportunity to preach in different platforms. She’s a pastor’s wife and a mom of two boys.”

However much Lakepoint tries to obfuscate the identity of its staff, what’s clear is whoever these leaders are, they’re the ones with the authority who are wielding a woman they call “the Hispanic Hammer” on Mother’s Day to get a message about abuse and authority across to the women of Lakepointe.

The timing is worth wondering about.

Church hurt and social media

One might imagine a sermon designed for the women on Mother’s Day in a conservative evangelical church could have something to do with being a “biblical woman,” a Proverbs 31 woman or about motherhood. But instead, this message was about “church hurt.”

Continue reading at Baptist News Global.