The pastor of an Atlanta megachurch wh thoands of followers, who was twice married and is a father of four, is speakg out about his recent cisn to publicly clare he is gay.
Contents:
- GEIA MEGACHURCH PASTOR REVEALS HE'S GAY
- CHURCH MEMBERS WALK OUT AS GAY PASTOR SAYS HIS HBAND IS PREGNANT
- ATLANTA GAY PASTOR’S EX-WIFE ON HEALG AFTER HE LEFT HER FOR A MAN
- ATLANTA GAY PASTORS BACK ON LUTHERAN CLERGY ROSTER
- ATLANTA CHURCH FIRST LADY’S HBAND AND SON E OUT AS GAY
- ATLANTA LGBT ADVOTE OUT AS ‘THE GAY PREACHER’S WIFE’
GEIA MEGACHURCH PASTOR REVEALS HE'S GAY
* gay pastor in atlanta georgia *
2, 2010— -- The pastor of a Geia megachurch wh thoands of followers, who was twice married and is a father of four, is speakg out about his recent cisn to publicly clare he is gay. I want to tell you that is not, " Jim Swilley said a vio shot the nonnomatnal megachuch Swilley found 25 years Swilley said g out was a cisn he's stggled wh sce childhood, he ma the announcement last month not for personal reasons -- he said he hop to save 52-year-old founr of Church the Now Conyers, Ga., said he's g out to help stem the recent ti of gay suicis Ameri and won't be swayed by some hateful msag that have been wrten about him onle. ""Hearg about the kids who are mtg suici, the reactn as a gay adult is, 'I wish I uld have jt talked to them for 15 mut or five mut and told them gets better, '" Savage said.
"Officials, Celebri Jo 'It Gets Better'Three weeks later, a cy uncil meetg Fort Worth, Texas, gay cy uncilman Joel Burns was moved to share his own emotnal story about how close he me to killg himself at age 13.
CHURCH MEMBERS WALK OUT AS GAY PASTOR SAYS HIS HBAND IS PREGNANT
By Victor Ochieng, Deadle: It me as a shock when news me out that the pastor of Atlanta’s Ltle Rock Missnary Church Of God was gay. The onle muny me out guns blazg, quotg the scriptur as they rebed the pastor. However, that wasn’t enough to make members of the church walk out or even * gay pastor in atlanta georgia *
ATLANTA (CBS/AP) New pictur have surfaced of Bishop Eddie Long, proment pastor of a 25, 000-member megachurch outsi Atlanta, as a third man has e forward accg the anti-gay advote of ercg him to sex. Long's church was among those named 2007 a Senate mtee's vtigatn to a half-dozen Christian mistri over their has lled for a natnal ban on same-sex marriage and his church unsels gay members to bee straight.
But those lears, he said, were often surround by LGBTQ members who ma the church’s choirs livelier, helped wh llectns and filled the Oliver Cly Allen Weatherspoon for TODAYThose dynamics, bed wh sermons that cried non-heterosexuali as abomatns, are part of the reason Allen se himself as more than a lear of a Black or gay than a preacher, Allen scrib himself as an abolnist whose job is to spread a msage of eedom and acceptance, two elements that he argu are the fundamentals of Christian belief.
“J Christ didn’t say anythg about gay people and said everythg about liberatg people. I didn’t know a way out, bee I hated myself, bee that’s what I was tght, to hate a person who was gay.
ATLANTA GAY PASTOR’S EX-WIFE ON HEALG AFTER HE LEFT HER FOR A MAN
Asadi said his fay ti to the church did not shelter him om stigmas as people began to realize he was gay. ” McKney said that although the majory of church members are LGBTQ, Allen’s sermons have “nothg to do wh whether or not you’re gay or straight. “People n get the love and re that they would normally get om their grandmother or their ntie, ” Allen Allen put , Visn mols a fay dynamic the same way unrground ballroom muni, gay dive bars and gay villag beme surrogate spac for those who were shunned for g out s past.
ATLANTA GAY PASTORS BACK ON LUTHERAN CLERGY ROSTER
What did change is that I’m not aaid of anybody thkg that I’m gay.
It was the first time that I uld buy somethg like that and I wasn’t worried that somebody would see me buyg and thk I was gay. I remember when I was still closeted and I didn’t want to buy any Angela Jolie movi bee I was nvced that people would see that I owned and know that I was gay. A few months ago, I was ved out to lunch by a gay pastor Hoton.
CITN Midtown is not a gay church.
ATLANTA CHURCH FIRST LADY’S HBAND AND SON E OUT AS GAY
It’s gay, straight, black, whe, male, female… ’s the type of diverse church that I’m ed to anyway. The people know I’m gay and they are stg here wh their Bibl open their laps and they’re lovg God and they’re worshippg and the thgs are not mutually exclive.
When people brg up Levic gay passag to me, I say, “Great! When I me out and my pastors were nontg me about my s of beg gay, I explaed to them that havg sex wh my hband (at the time) was very unnatural for me. Gay people should be given the same urty.
ATLANTA LGBT ADVOTE OUT AS ‘THE GAY PREACHER’S WIFE’
Nobody else has any rponsibily before God to prevent me om beg gay. If you thk I’m gog to Hell, then that should take re of .” I really haven’t addrsed the gay Christian watchdog groups that are gog after me bee I’ve been a lot of fodr for them for months now. There’s only an obssn wh homophobia.
J didn’t say a thg about homosexualy but He said a lot about love.
I was watchg the betiful (gay) upl, who have probably never taken munn together, be able to hold hands and love each other and e to the table of the Lord. From HIV ttg to feedg the homels and muny outreach through Black Gay Pri events such as the Pure Heat Communy Ftival, the reach of The Visn Church will not be nfed to Atlanta.