A constitutional amendment that would have mandated men as solely qualified for senior pastor positions in the Southern Baptist Convention failed to receive the necessary votes Wednesday.

Known as the “Law Amendment,” the measure failed to gain a two-thirds majority in voting at the annual meeting in Indianapolis.

The amendment received 61% of the votes, while 38% rejected it. It passed handily on first reading last year but requires two votes to pass.

The denomination’s Baptist Faith & Message, a statement of common beliefs adopted in 2000, allows only men as pastors.

According to the SBC, there are currently more than 1,000 SBC churches with female pastors.

Supporters of the Law Amendment say the amendment was necessary as denominations that allow female pastors eventually hire homosexual pastors.

The amendment states that a church is in “friendly cooperation” with the convention when it “affirms, appoints, or employs only men as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by Scripture.”

Ryan Fullerton, of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., said the amendment was not about preventing women from serving on staffs or churches.

“The Law Amendment affirms what the Bible affirms,” Fullerton said. “It’s not aimed at preventing women from serving in a church or being on staff. All of us support women flourishing in the ministries that God calls them to.”

Spence Shelton, pastor of Mercy Church in Charlotte, N.C., said the amendment was not necessary, as the convention has removed churches with female pastors. On Tuesday, representatives, or messengers, voted 6,759 to 563 to oust First Baptist Church of Alexandria, a historic Virginia congregation that affirms women can serve in any pastoral role, including as senior pastor.

Mike Law from Arlington Baptist Church, for whom the amendment was named, said there were 18 female pastors in the convention in 1987.

“Last year, we learned there were over 1,800. This is a problem,” Law said.

Last year two congregations, including a well-known California megachurch, were ejected from the convention. Ninety-two percent of messengers approved the ouster.

“We have shown the mechanisms we currently have are sufficient to deal with this question,” Shelton said.

The convention also elected Clint Pressley, a former pastor at Mobile’s Dauphin Way Baptist Church, as its new president.