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After Sermon Criticizing Wives’ Weight, Pastor Resigns as Moderator of General Baptist Meeting

By Adelle Banks
Pastor Stewart-Allen Clark
Pastor Stewart-Allen Clark of the First General Baptist Church in Malden, Missouri, preaches a sermon telling women that "weight control" is the solution for marital problems. (Source: Video screengrab)

A pastor who preached that “weight control” by wives is the solution for marital problems has resigned as moderator of a meeting of the General Baptist Council of Associations and is being investigated by his denomination.

Stewart-Allen Clark, pastor of the First General Baptist Church in Malden, Missouri, is seen in video clips of a Feb. 21 sermon questioning the appearance of women after they marry their husbands.

“Why is it so many times that women after they get married let themselves go?” he asks, standing on a stage with what appears to be a large open Bible in his left hand. “Why do they do that?”

Links to sermons from the church’s website are no longer available, but the Friendly Atheist blog featured a series of clips from the mid-February sermon.

The General Baptist officials stated in a Monday Facebook post that Clark had been scheduled to be the moderator of the General Association of General Baptists meeting in July 2022.

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“He has resigned from that position,” the post reads.

Clark’s church could not immediately be reached for comment. Its website’s contact form is “currently not available.”

At one point during his sermon, Clark makes a comparison to the former first lady, showing a picture of her in a long, sleeveless blue dress.

“Now look, I’m not saying every woman can be the epic, the epic trophy wife of all time like Melania Trump,” he said. “All I can say is not everybody looks like that, amen? … But you don’t need to look like a butch either.”

Clark, who noted he no longer does marriage counseling, cited a friend who had “a divorce weight on his wife. That’s how important this is.” He also referenced a joke about a boy’s discussion on why females wear makeup and perfume before saying, “You don’t want to be ugly and stink.”

He added another joke that prompted his laughter and others’: “Scientists have discovered, by the way, a food that diminishes a woman’s sex drive. It’s called wedding cake.”

General Baptist Ministries said in its Facebook post it has recommended its Council of Associations and a local presbytery “take appropriate action” about the statements in the sermon.

“The sermon included comments that are not consistent with the positions and values of General Baptists,” it said. “General Baptists believe that every woman was created in the image of God, and they should be valued for that reason. Furthermore, we believe that all individuals regardless of any other factors are so loved by God that Christ died for them.”

UPDATE: According to the 1st General Baptist Church website, Pastor Clark is taking a leave of absence effective March 2 and is “seeking professional counseling.”

Adelle Banks is production editor and a national correspondent at Religion News Service.

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89 Responses

  1. Simultaneously hilariously ironic and depressingly sad excuse of a meat-headed so-called pastor, parading around with an open Bible too. I feel sorry for the congregants that were subjected to his garbage on a regular basis.

      1. @Pastor Bob – I don’t believe the book in his hand was a Bible. He was on the pulpit preaching, not from the Bible.

    1. This is an opinion (justified or not), but has absolutely ZERO grounding in the Word of God, and should therefore not be spoken by a preacher of the Word in a setting of authority in church. My wife and I (who are both fit and in good health) would have stood up and left. How utterly degrading and shameful.

      Preaching is the exposition of the Word of God to the glory of God for the People of God to become more akin to the Image of God for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. Not some kind of low-grade, crude, stand-up comedy show.

      1. Nathan, thank you for writing this. I would like to believe that ALL godly husbands would have the courage to walk out, rather than allow their wives (and daughters) to be demeaned — and their sons to be poisoned — with this garbage.

    2. Can you explain exactly what you mean by this comment, so I’m not wondering about your intended reaction?

    3. G7, seriously?
      There’s all the difference in the WORLD between saying, for instance: “some people (men and women) let themselves go after they get married” and using the secular college boy’s tone and crass, generalistic and disrespectful vocabulary that this man did. If you can’t acknowledge that then…just wow.

      Add to the fact that preachers are not there to talk like a SNL presenter but rather are there to speak on sin, righteousness and judgment as well as share the Gospel, and you can see why HE has taken hinself off for counseling.

      There was CLEARLY too some unhealthy PROJECTION going on here, considering he is overweight himself. Folk aren’t in churches or conferences as an “audience” to bounce your insecurities off, as comedians do.
      They are sheep that are meant to be FED with the Word of Life

  2. So a so-called pastor who can’t see his toes over his belly is telling women they need to lose weight so their husbands will be attracted to them. And where is that in the Bible he is holding?

  3. Well one thing we do know. Looking like Melania isn’t the secret to making your husband faithful. Just ask her

  4. Are there any men left who would stand up in the middle of a talk like that and just tell him to shut up?

    1. I think I would. It wouldn’t be the first time I disagreed with my pastor. And with something this disgusting, I might stand up and call him out on the spot. Reading this post makes me angry. I can’t imagine how furious I would be if I was listening to it in person.

  5. Oh my.
    When someone says something that ridiculous, it makes me wonder what mental health condition they might have. Some people say mean-spirited things because they are simply mean-spirited people; others because they are unable to comprehend other people’s feelings (this can happen with autism spectrum conditions, for example); and others because they have a condition where their brains don’t work correctly in other capacities (e.g. some of the more severe mental illnesses). The church isn’t always good at recognizing organic brain disease, but we would do well to consider the possibility when people act completely out of line

    1. K, you forgot something at the beginning of your comment…………. it’s

      OH MY LARD !!

    2. christian culture is bad enough – seems to me having power in christian culture is more than enough to screw up a person’s judgement and induce a variety of neuroses.

    3. K I prefer to quote what JESUS says rather than take the route of worldly “wisdom” (see what the Bible says about that: 1 Corinthians 1:17-2:16).
      As Christians, our first thoughts shouldn’t go to “mental health”. Primarily because most people with (what the world calls) “mental health issues” are actually suffering spiritual oppression and have never offended anyone in their lives (ESPECIALLY not in a church with a Bible in their hands).
      Usually they are extremely sensitive and not crassly insensitive.

      And no, I don’t think he has “autism” because that is diagnosed in the early years. It would have been obvious by now.

      As I said, JESUS describes it perfectly:

      “Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.
      A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
      But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
      For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matthew 12:33, 35; 15:18-19)

      The Christian life equates to a NEW heart and spirit (2 Corinthians 5:17 and prophesied in Ezekiel 36:25-27)
      We MUST be born of the Spirit, as Jesus says (John 3:3-8) to be Christian (John 1:12-13) because if not, we will think and speak and perceive everything CARNALLY, as this man does.

      “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
      For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
      Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
      So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
      But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Romans 8:5-8)

  6. Talk about the pot calling the skillet black? That dude should take a look in the mirror.

    No wonder the world mocks Western Christianity

    1. I’ve noticed many people who attend church have a weight problem. But I’ve found out why: gluttony. As men get older the big challenge is to keep up the exercise and cut back on the food intake. Not hard. I’ve noticed the laden plates at buffets carried by fellows who what a stab at me for having a glass of wine with my non-laden plate!

    2. His mirror must only show him from the neck up. He is fat, out of shape, and clueless. He has a pretty big log to pull out of his eye. People who speak this way to and about women, as if we don’t have value and worth unless we are a husbands sex toy, make me sick. He seems to have issues with women. God doesn’t. He loves women and sees us as beloved, valuable, and worthy. There are scriptures about how husbands are to treat their wives. These so called pastors apparently don’t believe that God intends for His daughters to be treated with love and honor, because they seem to believe that men are more important and valuable to God. It disgusts me.

  7. He talked about wives “letting themselves go”, if I were married to him, I’d go too and keep on going.

  8. Straighten up Fat Boy; lose your weight; wear decent clothes when you come before God and start looking for another job. You are fired for criticising our sisters and lying about the Word of God.

  9. If this isn’t a clear case of the pot calling the kettle black…

    How much would anyone like to bet that he’s “entitled to his opinion”, has apologized to God and is a forgiven sinner, and therefore needs to take no meaningful steps towards improving his opinion of women and his treatment of them?

    Empty the pews.

    1. Exactly right Monica. Why is it that men who make these ridiculous statements, holding women to a superficial (and often unattainable) standard like this, INVARIABLY are nowhere near the vision of health or fitness themselves?

      Worse than that though, many women struggle from a debilitating struggle with body image issues that the secular world lays on them … the LAST place they need to hear it is in the church or from a (so-called) church leader.

      I don’t think I would have stood up and walked out … I would have stood up and walked UP. To confront this cowardly frat-boy, and any REAL men would have been right there too in support of our wives, sisters, mothers, and daughters.

      The world doesn’t need this, and much less the church.

  10. Poor Melania hardly deserved to feature in that sermon, shown in one of her pre-First Lady magazine article poses.

    Anyway, thanks for the laugh, Julie and Adelle!

    To watch this fat man with a big mouth grotesquely lecturing women about weight control – and then reading people’s comments – has made me smile this afternoon.

    Good job, ladies!

    PS: Note to Stewart-Allen Clark:

    “When words are many, sin is not absent,
    but he who holds his tongue is wise.” (Proverbs 10:19)

    “The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom,
    but a perverse tongue will be cut out.” (Prov 10:31)

  11. The website for the First General Baptist Church where this “Pastor” preaches has this statement:
    “As of March 2, 2021, Pastor Stewart-Allen Clark has taken a leave of absence and is seeking professional counseling”

    Curious what the professional counseling is for? Misogyny? How about just firing the guy?

  12. Good thing this guy is no longer doing marriage counseling, he is obviously not qualified. The pastors at our church have never said anything that dumb in a sermon.

  13. This Pastor is an embarrassment to all who preach. I’ve been a pastor for over 40 years and he knows nothing of what it means to be a preacher – Shame on him and I pity his poor wife.

  14. His wife ate because he is a jerk and there was nothing she could do about it. Since he is in ministry she couldn’t overspend…

  15. I don’t think anything he said was particularly innovative. Before he was arrested Jack Schaap would preach that a woman was duty-bound to remain the same shape as she was on her wedding day – whether that be size 00 or morbidly obese. Mark Driscoll famously shamed his wife for getting a “mom haircut” in preparation for the birth of their child. Even J. Vernon Mcgee made statements about “if the barn needs painting, paint it.” This guy just dressed it up with some stand-up comic antics. The line about the guy who put a “divorce weight” on his wife was a new low, though. I can’t imagine any Bible-believing pastor agreeing with that, much less using it as a sermon illustration to let wives know how very critical it is that they stay thin.

  16. Wow .. he holds his Bible and looks at it like what he’s spewing is in there. He needs to step down from ministry. He’s dangerous and abusive. He stands up there and insults women, mocking and accusing them of being responsible for men’s lust issues. Someone please stop this abuser …. and to top it off ,
    This abusive, obnoxious, person is overweight himself … unbelievable.

  17. I maybe wrong but calling someone an epic trophy wife isn’t that alluding too someone, without her hot body she’s nothing of any use? Or being a soft porn model then humping on some old guy to marry well, is that the vision he sees in a good Christian woman? We have too many pompous fools assuming an importance at the pulpit vs good teachers. I don’t pay attention anymore to the evangelical entertainers who act like they have impulse control and anger management issues on Sunday’s. Only the actual teachers of the word.

    1. I read a report a few years ago that rings true; Many pastors are nothing more than frustrated actors who failed to earn a living on stage or TV but found a way to make a living standing in front of people for applause and admiration. Ask pastors if they were ever in theatre and most say, “Yes!” with enthusiasm.

  18. This man apparently cannot see himself. That gut iiiiis…very unattractive, let us say. I guess it isn’t a beer gut, him being a Baptist and all. Why did the congregation not stand to their feet and walk out, every last one of them?

  19. And yet the question “Why is it so many times that women after they get married let themselves go?” remains unanswered . . .

    1. Same for men! Both sexes relax and no longer have to make superficial impressions for the benefit of a moronic evil society full of people who think only about one thing (no, not sex, themselves).

    2. Bert, If you are a Christian I will say what God says to the man. Husband love your wife as Christ loves the church and gave , I repeat gave himself for it!!!!! I’ll bet you that man doesn’t care about his wife’s appearance!!! And I’ll bet she takes good care of him and herself! Also from personal experience, most men who are unfaithful will be unfaithful no matter who their wife is or how she looks. For instance Donald Trump as we all know has been unfaithful to his beautiful wife and every beautiful woman he has been with. Men that put that much importance on looks are shallow!! And don’t love anyone!!!!

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