Geia church fi Southern Baptist Conventn, accepts gay members

Contents:

• GEIA MEGACHURCH PASTOR REVEALS HE'S GAY
• A GEIA CHURCH, KICKED OUT OF THE SBC FOR ALLOWG GAY MEMBERS, WANTS TO MAKE SURE 'EVERYBODY’S WELE'
• A SUNDAY AT ATLANTA’S SAT MARK, ONE OF LARGT GAY-IENDLY CHURCH NATN
• OPPOSE ENDS OF THE PEW: PASTORS TALK ABOUT GAY MARRIAGE
• GAY GA. MEGA-CHURCH PASTOR REFLECTS ON YEAR OF G OUT
• ATLANTA GAY PASTORS BACK ON LUTHERAN CLERGY ROSTER
• GAY GA. MEGA-CHURCH PASTOR REFLECTS ON YEAR OF G OUT
• A GEIA CHURCH, KICKED OUT OF THE SBC FOR ALLOWG GAY MEMBERS, WANTS TO MAKE SURE 'EVERYBODY’S WELE'
• ATLANTA CHURCH FIRST LADY’S HBAND AND SON E OUT AS GAY

GEIA MEGACHURCH PASTOR REVEALS HE'S GAY

“We believe that all people are wele to fellowship wh God and experience the fullns of the llg of God on their liv, cludg gay, lbian, bisexual, and transgenr dividuals.

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.

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.

A GEIA CHURCH, KICKED OUT OF THE SBC FOR ALLOWG GAY MEMBERS, WANTS TO MAKE SURE 'EVERYBODY’S WELE'

Na ICM posso ser quem sou, sem nenhum tipo másras, posso me clarar gay, cristão, pastor, enfim, um ser humano que vive a plenu da unhão mha sexualida e pirualida. A book and a fay tree unver Haton's ltle-known role gay liberatn December 2020 (Haton - LA - U.

) - In Robert Fieler's book, "Trbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberatn, " Filer reviews the event that was for s the adlit crime agast the LGBTQ+ muny the Uned Stat; and he thoroughly explor the life, ath, and legacy of MCC's Rev. 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.

A SUNDAY AT ATLANTA’S SAT MARK, ONE OF LARGT GAY-IENDLY CHURCH NATN

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.

OPPOSE ENDS OF THE PEW: PASTORS TALK ABOUT GAY MARRIAGE

He didn’t mentn that Brockton Bat and his partner, Skyler, were gay nor that another new member was transgenr. His church knew who they were and had spent the past two years g to terms wh the fact that cln for Towne View had to look different om what was required to rema the SBC, whose bylaws say, “Church which act to affirm, approve, or endorse homosexual behavr would be emed not to be operatn wh the Conventn. For Bat, a lifelong Baptist who as a child was phed toward fah-based nversn therapy to “lerally try to pray the gay away, ” Towne View took a meangful stand.

As a teenager, he had fed his fah a nservative Baptist church Stuart, Florida, when the state Legislature was workg to prohib adoptns for gay parents. He began to reexame the church's teachgs after the shootg 2016 that killed 45 people at Pulse, a gay nightclub Orlando, but he adms he “wrtled wh how someone uld be gay and a believer.

”“Growg up a nservative Baptist church, the msage of homosexualy was that was sful.

GAY GA. MEGA-CHURCH PASTOR REFLECTS ON YEAR OF G OUT

”The fay began attendg, and the fall of 2019, Reynolds and McClanahan beme the first gay members approved by the church body. “When one of our church choos to affirm or endorse homosexual behavr through their fn of regenerate church membership, we have clearly e to a different unrstandg on what we believe is an sential doctre, ” Greear cisn to ot Towne View will not create a stampe of church fleeg the SBC to promote more liberal ials, Freeman said.

Photograph urty of Sat Mark ChurchGrowg up gay and Baptist, Jim Harper and Darrell Card noticed the stark ntrasts Christiany as they marched to the rner of Peachtree and Fifth Streets durg an early 1990s Pri para.

ATLANTA GAY PASTORS BACK ON LUTHERAN CLERGY ROSTER

“On one si of the street, Atlanta police officers on horseback had been hired by the First Baptist Atlanta church to keep gay people off their property, ” rells Harper.

The uple, who met 1980, were officially wed on December 30, a time when the global Methodist Church is still wranglg wh anti-gay doctre wrten to s Book of Disciple, Midtown Atlanta’s Sat Mark UMC may offer a blueprt for the future.

For nearly 30 years, Sat Mark has exemplified progrsn and cln, embracg Atlanta’s LGBTQ+ muny and hirg gay church’s unique civil rights legacy extends back more than 50 years. But the seeds for the church’s groundbreakg learship on gay rights were first planted on Gay Pri Sunday, 1990.

GAY GA. MEGA-CHURCH PASTOR REFLECTS ON YEAR OF G OUT

” In 1990 Atlanta, so was the cy’s gay populatn, as the AIDS epimic spiraled out of ntrol wh few effective treatments. ”By Gay Pri 1991, Cordle and his new ngregatn were ready wh flyers prted wh an vatn to worship and cups of ld water for thirsty para participants.

The gay people Cordle waved to were the next Sunday, two new female ngregants appeared the pews.

The new gay members of the church also ted Cordle, a heterosexual married father, about rrect termology and offered sights to their stggl, pecially surroundg the AIDS crisis. Cordle began visg the sick hospals and speakg at their memorial servic, whether they were held the sanctuary or on the garn pat at Burkhart’s pub, a popular gay bar Midtown. I do not believe beg gay is a s.

A GEIA CHURCH, KICKED OUT OF THE SBC FOR ALLOWG GAY MEMBERS, WANTS TO MAKE SURE 'EVERYBODY’S WELE'

” The nickname Uned Methodist Church remas eply divid over gay rights. My children and grandchildren don’t know how to dislike gay people. Sat Mark now stands as one of the largt gay-iendly church the natn, wh over 1, 800 members — the vast majory of which are LGBT.

ATLANTA CHURCH FIRST LADY’S HBAND AND SON E OUT AS GAY

Stanley was one of the foundg members of Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majory and Pat Robertson’s Christian Coaln — a double-word sre when to the embrace of anti-gay relig teachgs.