“I noticed that your wife wears hats in church. Is that simply her decorum or is that a conviction?” I was asked while sitting behind closed doors of another pastor. After I responded that it was a biblical conviction he shot back, “So do you think your wife is more spiritual than my wife because she wears a hat and mine doesn’t?” Being somewhat taken off guard by the quick turn of emotion, I tried to answer as graciously as I could, “No, it’s simply a conviction about which we feel strongly, but in no way do we use it as a measure of spirituality.” At this time in my life, I was in the process of planting a church in the Atlanta area, so the next sentence from this pastor really rattled me. Lounging back in his seat and looking straight at me across his big desk, he replied, “You are going to have a hard time planting a church with that kind of conviction!” I was stunned and frightened at the same time. “Was he right?” I pondered. “But if the Bible truly teaches that a woman should cover her head in public worship, how could I do otherwise?” I thought to myself…

To read the rest of this article, please download the PDF.