Prodigal Ministries – A Skeptic Discovers Quite a Different Perspective

Excellent blog post by Steve Fuller. I say it is excellent because Mr. Fuller is honest and humble enough to challenge his own preconceived notions to press toward the truth of a heartfelt and difficult situation.

Plus, I think it is excellent because Jerry Armelli, featured in the post, is awesome.  From Social Experiment #5: Prodigal Ministries:

In 2009, I visited 52 churches in 52 weeks in order to reconnect with God and redefine my faith. In 2010, I am stepping outside of the church to connect with people. During the Social Experiment, I will experience 52 random encounters in 52 weeks. Nothing is preplanned, but I trust that God will lead me to the right places and cross my path with the right people. This is reflection 5 of 52.

I am an ignorant fool.

A week ago, I considered leaving my home church because of their affiliation with Prodigal Ministries (an organization that provides holistic counseling to gays and lesbians). Today, I consider Prodigal Ministries (and its founder, Jerry Armelli) a loving voice in the midst of too much polarizing hatred.

I want to publicly apologize for anything I have written in the past about the organization (which I don’t think is much). I settled for ignorance, and that was wrong. Today, I hope to communicate a more complete picture of the heart behind Prodigal Ministries.

Last week, I met with Jerry Armelli to discuss his ministry. The conversation encouraged me that healthy dialogue about meaningful issues is still possible.

We spoke for nearly two hours. I’m not a journalist, so this post won’t be written as an interview. It’s best to simply tell the story of our encounter. So, here we go…

I first heard of Jerry a few years ago when I originally stated on my blog that gay men and women should be permitted to marry. That online conversation became pretty heated, and one acquaintance mentioned I should meet with Jerry to discuss my beliefs.At the time, I considered organizations that ministered to gay people (Exodus International, Prodigal Ministries, etc.) to be of the devil. Okay, maybe not that extreme, but sorta. I had no interest in being lectured by a judgmental stranger, so I didn’t contact Jerry at the time.

Fast forward through almost four years of publicly defending gay rights…

After a year of The Church Experiment, I decided to attend the Springdale Vineyard in early 2010. It seemed like a good choice considering my history there. On my first night back, I was perusing the program when I found a blurb about Prodigal Ministries. They were hosting a series of workshops at the Vineyard to help educate Christians about ministering to the gay population.

I was annoyed. I made a snide remark to a friend and seriously considered leaving the Vineyard (again) because of their affiliation with Prodigal Ministries. In my mind, Prodigal Ministries rounded up gay people from the streets and forced them back to their hideout where Jerry electro-shocked the gay out of them.

Clearly, I was wrong.

Rarely has a conversation inspired such hopeful optimism as my conversation with Jerry did last week. …

Click here to read the rest of Mr. Fuller’s post

As Mr. Fuller demonstrates, even if we are in complete disagreement, being open to talking and hearing other perspectives about controversial issues without dehumanizing the other point of view leads to a more realistic perspective.

I have done (and do) what Mr. Fuller did in meeting with those I may not agree with (in a different context of course) and spent time with those I didn’t understand … at all.  But almost every time I find it beneficial to be reminded that I have a very finite perspective that can easily get swept up in assumptions.  While opinions might or might not change as a result of such meetings, the experience is enriched because it humanizes people instead of leaving them in the murkiness of generalized judgment against a group.

So, kudos to Jerry for being the loving, transparent and honest man I have always known him to be.  And a special kudos to Mr. Fuller for his example of honesty, boldness and humility.  It may end up that we still don’t fully agree on various issues but at least we know that positive, honest and mutually beneficial dialog is still possible.

And that deserves respect.