You are here: Home / Archives for Pastors

2011 = Simplify, Amplify and Intensify – Letter from Alan Chambers for November 2010

November 17, 2010 By Alan Chambers
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 Partners, Did you notice that you have been promoted?  Those of you who are involved in Exodus, which is the majority of you reading this letter, are more than just our friends.  You are our dear partners in ministry.  As partners you are vital to the mission of Exodus: mobilizing the Body of Christ to minister grace and truth to a world impacted by … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bi-sexuality, Church, Culture, Equip, Exodus Blog, Gay, God, Homosexuality, Jesus Christ, Lesbian, Marriage, Parents, Post-gay, Spouses, Youth & Young Adults Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Love Won Out Rockford Illinois this Weekend

September 20, 2010 By Randy Thomas
Click to Visit Love Won Out Website

Love Won Out is this weekend! <-- The exclamation point denotes genuine excitement.  I have been to many of LWO's and am blessed at every one.  Here are a couple of examples of why: One parent, who recently attended a Love Won Out event, said, “God spoke to me about my need to show more love and acceptance towards our son who is gay and to trust Him to use this in my own life to grow me to be all He wants me to be.” After attending the event, one man wrote, “I came to the conference ready to give up, walk out of my marriage and pursue a gay lifestyle. The conference gave me hope … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Church, Conferences, Culture, Equip, Exodus Blog, Gay, God, Jesus Christ, Lesbian, Love Won Out, Parents, Post-gay, Religious Liberty, Sexuality, Websites, Youth & Young Adults Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

ELCA Split Births New NALC Denomination

August 26, 2010 By Randy Thomas
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...]

Filed Under: Church, Educate, Exodus Blog, Gay, Lutherans, Post-gay Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Some Thoughts On Church/Denominational Conflict

July 28, 2010 By Randy Thomas
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...]

Filed Under: Church, Culture, Equip, Exodus Blog, Exodus Church Association, Gay, Holy Spirit, Identity, Jesus Christ, Lesbian, Lutherans, Post-gay, Religious Liberty, Sexuality, The Father Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

“Non-Celibate Gay Ministers” Welcomed In Lutheran Church

July 26, 2010 By Randy Thomas
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...]

Filed Under: Church, Culture, Educate, Exodus Blog, Gay, God, Holy Spirit, Identity, Jesus Christ, Lesbian, Lutherans, Post-gay, Religious Liberty, Sexuality, The Father Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

One By One Report on Presbyterian Church U.S.A. General Assembly 2010

July 15, 2010 By Kristin Tremba
OneByOne at Presbyterian Church USA General Assembly 2010

It is a “sign of the times” when the message of Christ’s healing and redemptive power in regards to human sexuality is rejected by his Church. This past week the governing bodies of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. voted to approve gay ordination as it did in 2008. Again, this legislation will go before the Presbyteries in the coming months for a final vote. Hopefully, it will be turned down, as it was in '08, and yet year after year more Presbyteries endorse homosexuality as a gift from God to be blessed and celebrated. Team members of OneByOne were present at this year’s PCUSA … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Church, Culture, Educate, Exodus Blog, Gay, Jesus Christ, Lesbian, Post-gay, Presbyterian, Youth & Young Adults Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Nancy Brown of Life+Guard Ministries in Hospital (Video Update)

May 13, 2010 By Randy Thomas
get well soon

If you have been wondering why the blog has been so quiet the past couple of days it's because Alan is in Costa Rica for the Exodus Latin America conference. Jeff Buchanan is in Southern California with Love Won Out (LWO) Director Karen Eaglin and Joe Dallas facilitating a Pastors Training event in advance of our next LWO conference. I also made an emergency trip to Austin to visit with the Brown family after a very difficult weekend for Nancy. Nancy asked if I would make a video for her to thank everyone for praying and to give an update. Nancy can barely speak but I included sub titles … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Church, Encourage, Exodus Blog, God, Post-gay, Video Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

From The Club To The Church

April 12, 2010 By Randy Thomas
XXX Church.com

The provocatively named XXX Church (love it!) website features the testimony of a Christian man, Adam Balkcom, who is on a post-gay journey.  Adam's story is a compelling witness to God's love and mercy.  He covers a lot of ground in his testimony but here is the section that really stood out as an example of the Church operating in grace: My second night out in the club scene in Atlanta I met Jordan, he seemed to be 'the guy of my dreams'.   He had everything I thought I ever wanted.  I was extremely attracted to him and he was a Christian who had spent the majority of his life … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Church, Encourage, Exodus Blog, Gay, Jesus Christ, Post-gay, Testimonies, Youth & Young Adults Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

PBS Interview on Churches and Gay Youth

March 16, 2010 By Jeff Buchanan
Perdue

In a recent PBS Religion & Ethics segment on "Churches & Gay Youth," Pastor Bob Perdue of Old Dominion Baptist Church, an Exodus Church Association church in Bristow, VA, was interviewed by PBS correspondent Lucky Severson.  While the segment is generally unbalanced and one-sided in its perspective, Bob responds with a gracious and truthful point of view.  In preparing to post this article, I asked Bob to share a little of his personal story: I grew up in church and I grew up struggling with same sex attraction.  While the problem was not spoken about specifically, the concept of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Educate, Exodus Blog, Gay, Homosexuality, Sexuality, Southern Baptist, Television, Video, Websites, Youth & Young Adults Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Prayer Request for Love Won Out San Diego

March 3, 2010 By Randy Thomas

Conference organizers amaze me.  All the details, logistics, care, hard work, preparation, crunch time, running the event itself... astounding.  How blessed are we that God has created wonderful souls who can do this type of ministry?  My respect for David Fountain, Leslie Chambers and Karen Eaglin is already deep but to watch them in action is a beautiful thing. This Saturday is our Love Won Out (LWO) event in San Diego so it is crunch time in "pulling it all together."  During our daily morning prayer time we spent extra time lifting up every aspect of Love Won Out to the Lord.  We … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bi-sexuality, Church, Educate, Exodus Blog, Gay, Lesbian, Love Won Out, Marriage, Media Mentions, Parents, Post-gay, Spouses, Testimonies, Youth & Young Adults Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Next Page »