Six years after performing my same-sex wedding, my dad was defrocked by the United Methodist Church. Testifying at the ecclesiastical trial was excruciating for me. Yet that experience – and the support our family received – also reignited my call to Christian ministry.
When a transwoman served me communion
To be presented the Body of Christ by a transwoman created a role reversal I had not anticipated. As a pastor, I am accustomed to being the one serving the elements. Today, I was the one who received. And in that moment, I was changed yet again.
CBF & LGBTQ Baptists: Thanks for the Illumination
Illumination makes things clearer for those willing to look where the light is shining. And these are a few lessons I’ve learned from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s Illumination Project.
Baptists among nearly 150 groups opposing Johnson Amendment repeal
In advance of Thursday’s National Prayer Breakfast, 145 organizations called on Congress to reject attempts to weaken a rule that bars churches receiving tax-exempt status from engaging in partisan politics.
LGBTQ Cooperative Baptists say the time for inclusion is now
Cooperative Baptists who identify as LGBTQ and their allies said the time is now for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship to drop its policy against hiring staff or missionaries who are openly gay on the eve of the June 28-30 CBF…
Four dozen Baptists side with transgender teen in bathroom battle
Nearly 50 clergy members identifying with the Alliance of Baptists, American Baptist Churches USA or Cooperative Baptist Fellowship joined a legal brief filed March 2 supporting a transgender student’s case before the U.S. Supreme Court. In all more than 1,800…
New AWAB leader brings non-profit management skills
The new executive director of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists — a network of more than 100 congregations that fully include members regardless of sexual orientation — hopes to lead the 23-year-old organization to be “a catalyst for building and strengthening…
New frontiers for LGBTQ-affirming churches
More and more congregations are undertaking intentional, prayerful processes of discernment and action toward becoming inclusive, affirming, and justice-practicing congregations for LGBTQ people (there are about 100 churches now in the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists). While many churches…
Baptist church to counter Westboro protests with ‘witness of inclusion’
By Jeff Brumley What should your church do if Westboro Baptist planned to picket the high school across the street? If you ask Pastor Jill McCrory of Twinbrook Baptist Church, the answer is stream giant rainbow banners from the windows…