Let World AIDS Day Inspire and Inform

Photo Credit: The Guardian (click image to visit)

Today is world AIDS day. It is a day set aside to raise awareness of this terrible pandemic. It isn't simply a day where we remember the deadly toll AIDS has had on our generation.  It is also a day to highlight resources, ministries and efforts to prevent and find a cure. Regardless of whether you identify as one of the letters in GLBTQI, as an "ex-gay" or as a Christian on a post-gay journey, we all have known too many people who have died of AIDS and/or currently have loved ones and friends living with HIV/AIDS. I picked the picture for this post from the Guardian because it speaks … [Read more...]

Inaccuracy Shrouds Kirsten Power’s Article

Click Image to Read Kirsten's Article

The following was submitted to USA Today as a Letter to the Editor last week in response to Kirsten Powers article "Hypocrisy shrouds the gay marriage debate."  The letter has not been published in their paper as of yet. --- Inaccuracy Shrouds Kirsten Power’s Article As the Director of “Day of Truth 2010”, I am disappointed with the inaccurate perspective of Kirsten Power’s article. Voicing disapproval of homosexuality was not the focus of this event but rather exercising the right to present an alternative message and educating individuals about their choices. For these … [Read more...]

“Consider it Pure Joy …” – Letter From Alan Chambers for October 2010

Alan-Chambers

This letter from Alan Chambers appears in both our offline and online newsletters.  To receive this letter along with the full newsletter online via email or offline through the postal service please sign up here. --- Today I was meditating on James 1.  The whole chapter is rich, but several verses leapt out at me, due to my recent attendance at the funerals of two of Exodus International's most valued women leaders.  James 1:2-4, 12: Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. … [Read more...]

Difficulty Can Lead to Clarity of Vision and Inspiration – Letter from Alan Chambers for September 2010

Alan-Chambers

This letter from Alan Chambers appears in both our offline and online newsletters.  To receive this letter along with the full newsletter online via email or offline through the postal service please sign up here. --- Dear Friends, I often forget when seasons of desperation begin how beneficial they can be, when I give them over to God and ask Him to guide me through them. When these seasons start I usually try to employ my own gifts and talents to manage the turbulence. Then if that doesn’t work I begin to panic, spending hours thinking about what else “I” can do to get … [Read more...]

Letter from Brazil – Alan Chambers Ministers and Experiences God’s Amazing Grace

Alan Chambers

This letter from Alan Chambers appears in both our offline and online newsletters.  To receive this letter along with the full newsletter online via email or offline through the postal service please sign up here. (emphasis Alan's.) --- Dear Friends, I am writing to you from Mage', Brazil - a very poor city about 40 miles from Rio de Janeiro. I was invited to be the keynote speaker at an annual institute held at Central Baptist Church. The pastor's wife originally learned about Exodus and me when she saw a pastor on television promoting God's Grace and the Homosexual Next Door, … [Read more...]

Unconditional Surrender by Gwen Gibson – Real Stories for August 2010

young woman -1

This testimony appears in both our offline and online newsletters.  To receive testimonies like this along with the full newsletter online via email or offline through the postal service please sign up here. --- Unconditional Surrender by Gwen Gibson I struggled with same-sex attraction for nearly twenty years. In college I hung around lesbians and developed lesbian friendships. Finally one asked me, “If you aren’t homosexual, why do you hang out with lesbians?” It was like she held a mirror up to my face and said, “Who are you, and why are you here?” In my … [Read more...]

ELCA Split Births New NALC Denomination

Click to Visit Lutheran Core/NALC

The fallout from the denominational split over homosexuality continues.  From New Lutheran Group Likely to Rise from Gay Discord (emphasis mine): ... As of early August, 199 congregations had cleared the hurdles to leave the ELCA for good, while another 136 awaited the second vote needed to make it official. In all there are 10,239 ELCA churches with about 4.5 million members, making it still by far the largest Lutheran denomination in the U.S. And the breakaway members gathering in Ohio will face their own challenges if they vote to start another denomination at a time when attendance at … [Read more...]

Joe Carter on “Gay Gene Eugenics”

molecularmodel

Just when you thought the issue of homosexuality couldn't get any more complicated, Joe Carter writes a Column for On The Square (First Things) title Gay Gene Eugenics. Here are some excerpts (emphasis mine): When it comes to homosexuality, those who support gay rights don't often find themselves agreeing with conservative Christians. Advances in biomedical technology, however, should push the two groups to agree that the biological basis for the homosexual orientation is irrelevant. Although their motivations may differ, each side has reasons for promoting the idea that sexual activity is … [Read more...]

Some Thoughts On Church/Denominational Conflict

pastorhands

This post was inspired by Matt Kaufman over at the Boundless Line.  He wrote, in response to the ELCA decision, a good question (emphasis mine): ... When should you leave a church on principle -- not for personal reasons (which we've talked about elsewhere on this blog), but for reasons of its doctrines or practices? And a follow-up question: Have you ever had to wrestle with this decision? That is definitely a tough question with plenty of potential variables.  In the 18 years I have been a Christian I haven't ever left a church on "principle" (when I have it has been for personal … [Read more...]

“Non-Celibate Gay Ministers” Welcomed In Lutheran Church

gay clergy

From the New York Times NYT (emphasis mine because I find it an interesting description): With a laying on of hands, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on Sunday welcomed into its fold seven openly gay pastors who had until recently been barred from the church’s ministry. The ceremony at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in San Francisco was the first of several planned since the denomination took a watershed vote at its convention last year to allow noncelibate gay ministers in committed relationships to serve the church. “Today the church is speaking with a clear voice,” the … [Read more...]