The Billboard is Gone: The Message Remains

By Theresa D. McClellan

“Gay Christian? Yes! “

Campaign Coordinator

Our billboard is down.  But our ministry is even stronger!

On Monday, April 30, our visual and very public beacon of hope, the “Gay Christian? Yes!” billboard, came down. It was the end of our 30 day contract.

The billboard, featuring a rainbow angel with outstretched arms to say “Yes!”  was a welcome sign like no other to everyone entering the Grand Rapids city limits on northbound U.S. 131.

I found myself often taking the 28^th Street entrance onto the northbound freeway for no other reason than to see that beautiful symbol of hope that represents the prayers, hard work and diligence of so many individuals, church leaders and volunteers who believe in our dream declared in our mission statement:

“To proclaim the love of Christ for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people and their allies and to affirm their presence and inclusion in the Christian community.”

As the business cycles of life move on, the billboard is also gone for now, replaced by a restaurant ad featuring a delicious meal.

But our billboard provided another kind of sustenance. Beneath the beautiful “Yes!” angel we included our website GayChristianYes.org which continues to delight, enhance, engage and encourage all who visit.

Here is where pastors, theologians and believers shared in the “Easter Keepers” section why their faith compels them to believe that “Yes! you can be Christian and a member of the LGBT community.”

These Easter Keepers continue the teaching of Christ’s message of hope and revival from the chains of despair, which is why that essay series began Easter morning and continues through the 50 days of Easter ending May 26.

We chose to start our billboard campaign during Holy Week, the seven days of deep prayer and contemplation before Easter Sunday. This decision proved to be a God-send as one church, Aldersgate United Methodist Church, 4301 Ambrose Ave. NE, felt so inspired by the billboard, they asked how to be a part of the Campaign on Maundy Thursday and created a petition to join our campaign that was signed three days later by 70 people including church leadership on Easter Sunday morning.

One of my favorite stories of the impact of this billboard came from board member Cara Oosterhouse, whose personal story was carried on the MLive website by the Grand Rapids Press.  Someone in a store she frequents recognized her picture in the media and shared that he, too, was a gay Christian . But he and his long-time partner left the church after being spiritually wounded by an oppressive, condemning sermon message. He had no idea, until visiting our website, that there were multiple churches in this community willing and ready to open their doors to him and his partner.

Before the April 3 Campaign unveiled, we had 25 churches listed on our website. Since the billboard Campaign, we started receiving calls regularly  from church representatives or pastors wanting to know how to get their name on our list of churches opening their doors to all God’s children. We start the process by having them fill out a survey, to-be published soon, explaining what it means for them to be a gay-friendly church. We now have 38 churches listed on our website and expect it to grow.

It is a blessing indeed when a website can be the source of helping to bring the sheep back to the fold of God’s outstretched arms.

We want your stories of how you have been impacted by the “Gay Christian? Yes!” Campaign. Please share them on the  Forums Page.

Every Monday, we will see a video essay by a gay Christian or ally telling their faith journey. Make these your pages and create and share your three-minute, affirming video stories of your faith journey. To submit a video, upload to YouTube and email the link to your video to content@GayChristianYes.org

And every Tuesday, here at Theresa’s Table where all are welcome, I will highlight a program, individual or give you updates on our “Gay Christian? Yes!” Campaign.

We have much to celebrate.

For even though we no longer have that welcome sign like no other for those entering the city limits, Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell makes clear his vision for this region.

You can hear and see that vision 8 p.m. Friday May 4, when the West Michigan Gay Men’s Chorus presents their concert “It’s a New Day When…" at the East Grand Rapids Performing Arts Center, 2211 Lake Drive SE.

Mayor Heartwell created a message of hope for the region with a special declaration that will be unveiled in the video at the concert. I was blessed to be a part of that short video that features community voices telling how “It Gets Better” for even the Christian gay community. Beyond the video, the concert features some powerful and emotional songs with sweet harmonies by the chorus. For the $15 tickets see www.wmgmc.org. 

The West Michigan Gay Men’s Chorus Board President Joseph Workman said he wants to send a message of hope through the concert that “It Gets Better” and “better starts right now, in this very moment."

“Better starts when we all take a stand in our lives to show others love and acceptance. It is a new day when we stand and say children are precious and beautiful, regardless of the sexuality identity or orientation,” said the chorus board president.

I believe we have started making West Michigan better with the raising up of our sign.

The billboard’s appearance has ended for now. The message proved to be a ray of hope for many rounding that curve on the highway. But keep returning here. Another beacon of hope is just around the corner.

Can a Billboard save a life?

Blessings,

I want to thank you for the prayers and support you have given me in my role as Faith Advocacy Coordinator for Gays In Faith Together (GIFT).

We have some exciting programs planned in the coming months. And as you consider spending your tax refund, I want to share with you how you can help our "Gay Christian? Yes!" Campaign based on just one call to our office. I  want you to know this is long. But the message is important and worth your time, so please, continue reading and know that your help will make a difference.

The young one on the other end of the phone line just wanted another voice, another perspective from a spiritual source.

So she called our GIFT office and left a message for Chaplain Jim Lucas. For some reason, her pastor decided to stand at the pulpit decrying all things homosexual. He got to the point where he said if there were any homosexuals in his congregation they should leave. Now.

The young one sat in her pew. She didn't want to move and be noticed. She didn't want to stay for a spiritual beat down. Her parents knew, but never talked about, their daughter's sexuality. They were enmeshed in their own shame fed by cultural and religious messages. So she stayed and felt alone, unheard, unseen, unwanted.

We have seen the news reports of what happens to youth who feel this way with no where to turn. Chaplain Jim returned the teen's phone call, but her angry father suggested we not call again

Imagine what that Sunday afternoon car ride home from church was like for that family driving past cornfields in silence. Heavy silence. Imagine if while driving they passed a billboard stating "Gay Christian? Yes!" and beneath those words was the web address www.GayChristianYes.org with the tagline "you are not alone."

Imagine if she went to her computer and found the site filled with sermons from local pastors whose faith journey showed them that God says yes to all God's children. What if she found pastors willing to talk to other pastors that have not yet embraced this message of hope? What if she found testimonies from young ones like her who had been in the same circumstances? What if she found others who moved from the depths of despair to the joy that comes from accepting their gayness and Christianity?

What if her mother, who dared not have the courage or know how to address the elephant in the room, went to our website and connected with other parents of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender children? What if she found essays and books and movies and meeting spaces to engage in conversation with others like her?

What if her father, who hung up on the chaplain, decided to watch the videos on the website in his own time? The series of brief, pointed and Spirit-filled videos ask if you really know what the Bible says about homosexuality. Other videos show honest discussions of the struggle and how others came out whole.

 What if he saw and read testimonies from other fathers, mothers, pastors, like him, who are on a journey of discovering how they can honor their faith while loving and affirming their non-conforming child? What if after reviewing the entire site, the father called his pastor and said, we need to talk.

What if you could help make this happen?

YOU CAN!!!!

 We need your financial support to make this billboard campaign a success. We are preparing the website and resources for an early spring release. We are collaborating with others and creating programs and projects under the "Gay Christian? Yes!" campaign that will nurture families, churches and individuals who want to help express the welcome message that there are no mistakes, we ALL are God's children and loved.

We want to have billboards across West Michigan in the spring of 2012 announcing the good news that yes, you can be gay and Christian and directing people, who have been spiritually bullied, to places of comfort.

We don't want another young one to hear from the pulpit that they are going to hell because of who they are attracted to.

We don't want anyone to sit in silence when they hear such a message without having the spiritual and educational resources to challenge such statements.

We believe that you, too, want a world, where everyone who wants a church home, can find one where they are not condemned or ostracized because of who they love.

I believe that you want to help with this campaign and you understand that this is a tough sell and requires a lot of work. I am committed to the work and weekly give much more than the 20 hours I am paid. I just ask for your financial help to make this Campaign successful.

  A few people have supported us with major donations of $500 or more, but we also need donations of $10, $25, $50, or $100. Whatever amount you give, we greatly appreciate your partnership and your willingness to share this message with at least 10 other friends.

As an added benefit, if you send your donation before April 15, you will have an easy reminder of your wonderful tax deduction for 2012. (GIFT is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization.)

We welcome your donation by check or online. If you would like to donate with a check, please make it out to GIFT and send it to our office with the Gay Christian? Yes! Campaign in the memo.

GIFT
207 East Fulton
Grand Rapids, MI 49503

If you would like to donate by credit card online, please go to our website www.GaysInFaithTogether.org and click on the Donate Now button which uses the secure Just Give service..

Would you like to learn more about GIFT’s growing ministry? We invite you to read our autumn newsletter by following this link: http://gaysinfaithtogether.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/GIFT-RAP-Autumn-2011.pdf

I think often of the young one who called and I pray that she continues to seek messages of hope regarding her faith and sexuality.  My faith tells me that since she sought us, she will continue seeking. But I worry about all of those who don’t have it in them to make such a call. They are the ones most in need. They are the ones we can reach with your help. We start by sending the message clearly and boldly:  

GAY CHRISTIAN? YES!

In Faith,

Theresa D. McClellan

GIFT's Faith Advocacy Coordinator

Gay Christian? Yes! Campaign

Happy Knee Year!

By Theresa D. McClellan


Faith Advocacy Coordinator

Gays In Faith Together

“It is not I, but the Christ within who does the work.”

These amazing words salved my tears 3 a.m. Sunday morning as I lay crying in my Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital room.

In pain and overwhelmed, I’d paged the nurse desk late Saturday night and asked if she’d go online, find and print the day’s Daily Word message from Unity Magazine.

The Daily Word is one of my favorite sources of spiritual sustenance. Each day a random topic is expressed in an essay inspired by a Scripture verse. I’ve received the magazine in my home for years. And even when I misplace it, it re-appears just when it’s needed with a message so profound, on point and seemingly just for me.

But since my Dec. 30, 2011 total knee replacement surgery, I have been without it. I forgot to renew my subscription.

But God is good and always on time and delivers to us exactly what we need. Often more.

This is the story of how a random message made it clear that God is constantly finding ways to show us we are not in this alone. All we have to do is listen, be open, and look for God’s work to unfold, often at the hands of surprising messengers.

This is also a message of how our “Gay Christian? Yes! Campaign is going to unfold in the spring of 2012 despite the human frailties of its organizers.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. This started in the fall of 2011 when I finally decided to seek help for my painful knees. Seeking just another pain relieving shot, I was informed my pain was caused by agonizing bone on bone knee deterioration. I needed two new knees. My reaction was instant.

“I can’t have surgery now, I’m in the midst of a major campaign starting in 2012!”

My accompanying friend and the nurse viewing my x-rays were aghast at my statement. They convinced me if I didn’t address this now, my future scenarios would be bleak.

So I agreed to a Dec. 7 surgery. Bouts of bronchitis caused surgical delays for me, but once fully healthy I finally snagged the Dec. 30 date.

I made preparations at work and home getting ready for this life-altering surgery, but it soon became clear how un-ready I was for everything coming my way.

As we start this New Year and our “Gay Christian? Yes! Campaign , I know all about being overwhelmed and about the power of God.

I’ve spent the last year with a talented team of Christians leading the way in praying, planning and collaborating to make this “Gay Christian? Yes! Campaign a success. With your continued involvement, some amazing events will begin to unfold this spring.

Preparing for and having that surgery led to the discovery of other health issues. After four days in Saint Mary’s Hospital, and ten at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, learning how to walk again in an amazingly supportive environment whose motto is “restoring hope and freedom,” I saw and felt God’s hand in my life.

It was never more apparent the Sunday morning of January 8 when God’s blessings unceasingly continued to bubble forth.

My asthma was out of control, my blood pressure numbers were consistently rising to stroke levels and the pain in my new surgical knee was unbearable. To keep all this at bay, a team of doctors had three computerized pages of drugs they were giving me daily and I would have to do the same once home.

I was scared and overwhelmed and paged the nurse asking her for more pain meds, a print out of my drugs list and a computer print out of the Daily Word. Saturday turned to Sunday morning and she brought me the message. I was not the only one feeling overwhelmed, she leaned against the wall and read it silently. I asked her to read it to me aloud.

The anonymous scribe was writing about feeling overwhelmed and used the New Testament Scriptures from Colossians 3:11 for inspiration.

This was the opening line of the essay. “It is not I, but the Christ within who does the work”

My nurse looked at me as I lay in bed crying while she read to me softly. She cried and held my hand. “May I give you a hug,” she asked?

“Yes, please?” I responded.

I requested the Daily Word message and a printout of my drugs on Saturday, but she was finally able to complete the task around 3 am Sunday morning leaving me a message that was right on time.

I used that message throughout the rest of the day to buoy me when my physical therapists sent me back to my hospital room because my blood pressure was out of control; later still in the day when a friend, who was going to bring my mother to visit me ,called to say sickness changed his plans and could I find someone else to bring my mother.

I saw God’s handiwork when out of the blue an old reporter friend ,hearing I was in the hospital, called to check on me and offered to bring my mother to see me upon hearing my dilemma.

I saw God’s handiwork again when my 85-year-old mother finally arrived, but after a short visit, became ill herself in my rehab hospital room with flu-like symptoms. Another friend arrived to take her to the nearby hospital emergency room, while I lay helpless in my hospital bed.

And once my mother was released from emergency, hours later to spend the night with one of my friends, I saw God’s handiwork as I sat on my bed and wept, releasing tears of pain and fear and relief.

And I heard the prayerful words of my roommate, an elderly stroke victim who thought she had lost her words.

“Lord, I don’t know what I’m saying or how to say it,” she prayed, “but be with my friend her and her mother. Let her know you are in control”.

I grew calm and an incredible sense of peace filled me. I felt it again that night when my sister Vanessa called me from Houston and prayed the Our Father to me with me repeating after her. As I heard myself pray, I was reminded of how my stroke-addled father would end each night repeating the Our Father as my sister Connie prayed it to him. My father Frank and my sister Connie are in heaven now and surrounding me with love.

As Vanessa prayed to me that Sunday night and I thought of all the God moments in just one Sunday, I knew at that moment that nothing, no thing could separate me from God and no thing could separate us from doing God’s will of spreading the “Gay Christian? Yes! message.

Just before midnight, the nurses came in to check my blood pressure. All had heard about my day and expected the numbers to be horrific. But I was floating in God juice and the numbers could not touch me.

On the first reading I was 180, then 190. I told the nurse I felt fine and asked her to read me my Daily Word printout while I focused on deep breathing. Their brows grew increasingly furrowed as my top numbers climbed past 200 and my bottom number reached 101.

“I don’t care what that computer says,” I told her while smiling at the computerized blood pressure monitor. “God’s got this” I said waving my hand from the soles of my feet to the top of my head.

“Well I care,” the nurse stated while consulting with a second nurse. I lay back and breathed and the nurses watched in amazement as the numbers decreased to 143 over 87.

I was physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausted, but I knew at that point that even though my flesh was weak and I was not where I wanted to be in the campaign, even though I had not yet met personally with every pastor that expressed interest and even though illness had not allowed me to raise all the monies for the billboard campaign, I realized God was telling me that I did not and would not go this alone.

And finally, you know how I knew I was on the right track with the Gay Christian? Yes message, I want back to Colossians where the message is “Christ is in all”

Sounds like Yes! to me.

Now it is February and after a month of intense physical therarpy and after ingesting medically necessary serious pain pills, I am home looking forward to outpatient therapy.  My brain fog has cleared and I am moving toward returning to the campaign.  This is my first column. I hope it sounds like yes to you.

Special GRITS gathering Wednesday Nov. 30 You're invited!

"Ahh the holidays. Time for family, friends, the food. Sometimes Thanksgiving can be stressful. Were you and your relationship served up as the main course? Relax. Breath. Come to the next GRITS meeting 7 p.m. Nov. 30 where we'll all unwind, share holiday stories, laugh, pray, eat, support one another AND bring your dreams as we make plans for the 2012 future GRITS sessions and create a team to make it happen.

Things we're considering:
-Growing GRITS to twice a month meetings with speakers from area churches.

- GRITS outings: dinner anyone

-GRITS church visits: hey we are gay Christians, some of us don't have a church and are kinda shy about finding one. Go as a group.

-GRITS study sessions: what keeps you strong in the storm, how have others before you?
We'll be reading,learning and discussing the works of strong gay Christians including Rev. Melanie Morrison, Rev Candace
Chellew Hodge and your choices . . .

-GRITS action:
The idea of GRITS (God Rocks In The Stream) is creating and nurturing vocal, visible, strong LGBT Christians and allies. Standing strong in heavy currents. Being the one that stays and changing the course of the difficult conversations. Are there community projects we want to tackle/support as gay Christians in 2012?

Who we are:
We are in our 20s to 80s. We are churched and unchurched. We are struggling and solid. We are part of GIFTs "Gay Christian? Yes!" Campaign.

We provide unconditional love and support to one another through prayer, study, fellowship, fun, connections and collaborations. We are preparing ourselves for the reactions that will come in April 2012 as the "Gay Christian? Yes!" billboards are unveiled and we are letting the world know that yes, you can be gay and Christian. Yes, you can be an ally. Yes, you can be person of faith and LGBT.

Join us, see how much better we can be together!

GRITS meetings are held in The Vine, enter the rear southwest door of the First Place Bldg, 207 E Fulton Street, beneath the GIFT offices.
For more information call Theresa at 774-0446.

Why we hold the Transgender Day of Remembrance and Hope

By Theresa D. McClellan
Faith Advocacy Coordinator
Gays In Faith Together


Less than 200 miles from Grand Rapids, a mother is grieving the loss of her 19-year-old child who was born male and self identified as a beautiful woman named "Treasure."

She was mutilated, burned and left on the ground like a piece of trash.

The publicized reactions by some, who read of this horrendous murder in Detroit last month focused on whether the victim, was male or female. Really?

The mother had to identify the torso of her loved one. The details are horrific. But because the one who was violated, is a member of the transgender community, one of the marginalized ones, there has been little outrage.

This is why we hold the Transgender Day of Remembrance. For all the non-conforming treasures out there who are cast aside. For all the mothers who are not allowed to fully grieve, their loss clouded by inane, insensitive, inappropriate questions, speculations and comments. For all those whose lives have been lost around the world to violence because they did not conform to the sexual roles expected of them.

We hold the Day of Remembrance for those who have been slain. We hold this day of Remembrance and Hope for those non-conforming transgendered friends who have come through the journey and found solid footing.

We also hold the Day of Remembrance for the allies who are willing to stand up and say "Enough" to those who see bullying, violence and murder as sport.

By the end of the Transgender Day of Remembrance and Hope service on Sunday November 20, 2011, participants will have celebrated all the ways that we are while recognizing the toll of violence being who you are has on the Gender variant community.

It is on that tightrope of remembrance and hope that allies and gender variant people will reveal how we can make a difference and change the course of bias, said organizers.

These messages of remembrance and hope will be interwoven into a service featuring a thought-provoking message from nationally known activist and educator the Rev. Dr. Julie Nemecek, soul-stirring music and presentations from the gender variant community.

The service will be held 6:00 p.m. Sunday November 20th at Plymouth United Church of Christ, 4010 Kalamazoo Avenue SE, Grand Rapids, MI. The service is being planned by the Transgender Education Collaboration, Transpectrum, Plymouth United Church of Christ and GIFT (Gays In Faith Together).

"So often transgender and gender variant people go through their lives unnoticed by others. But there are exceptions where bias prejudices and even violence makes life impossible and all too often cut short for people that do not follow the societies’ ideas of gender,” said transgender educator and activist Jena Lewis.

“We hope that by both taking the time to remember, but more importantly to celebrate gender variant people, we can help open eyes in the community, and maybe even open doors for gender variant people." said Lewis.

Through the sharing of stories, reading of names and visual presentations, the service will create a space where all are free to be. There is hope that the service will serve as a springboard of action for others wanting to make Michigan and the rest of the world a safer and more informed place for the transgender and gender variant communities. Following the service, organizations such as the Transgender Education Collaboration (TEC) will have information and make connections during a reception for all present, said event co-organizer M Kelley.

A planning team, led by Lewis, Kelley and VanDoren have been working to create a space where there is space for hope and remembrance. The service will have secular and spiritual overtones as recognition that some in the transgender community have been shunned by religious traditions and would not feel comfortable in a church setting.

My faith tells me God rejects no one. So when anyone is rejected by the church, or church followers it is our role to make sure that everyone knows the outstretched arms of God embrace all, even if you've been told God does not live in or believe in you.


Please join us:

What is the future for Gay Christians in West Michigan?

By Theresa D. McClellan
Faith Advocacy Coordinator
Gays In Faith Together


On Thursday night, crowds will pour into the Loosemoore Auditorium on the downtown campus at GVSU to watch the free premier screening of the People's History of the LGBTQ community in Grand Rapids.

From the trailers and descriptions posted on the Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy, (GRIID)website, we will hear interviews, see archived Grand Rapids Press news clippings, and television news broadcasts about the struggle for justice and equality by the LGBTQ population in Grand Rapids.

We will see familiar faces from Grand Rapids' past and hear stories that make us cringe in pain over the blatant discrimination, dismissal and demonization of who we are. We will rise up in our seats in recognition of those who paved the way before us. And if we are really listening and not just socializing, we will ask ourselves what is my role, what can I do?

The faith community is an important piece and continues to be an important piece of that struggle. We will see how people of faith wielded their religion to restrict, and we will also see how people of faith stepped up and reclaimed a vision of a God of love and hope.

As we watch our history, as revealed on this screen, consider where you fit in and consider how you represented your faith? Also consider, how do you want to be seen in the future? And before and after the movie, stop by our Gays In Faith Together (GIFT) table and see where you can fit in in making West Michigan a beacon of hope for all with our "Gay Christian? Yes!" Campaign that will launch publicly in 2012.

Our mission is to "proclaim the love of Christ for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender (LGBT) people and their allies and to affirm their presence and inclusion in the Christian community."

For some, that mission is pretty radical. As followers of Christ, we see it no other way. Which is why we are launching a bold, exciting, blessed and Spirit-filled Campaign that will launch publicly during the 50 days of the Easter season 2012 and continue at least through 2013.

We are forming a collaboration of churches, other organizations and individuals to lay the groundwork for this exciting campaign. There is a lot of movement in Grand Rapids and West Michigan on LGBT concerns that will affect the history and future of who we are and how we are in this community and beyond.

So make sure you also visit the tables of others such as Holland is Ready and TEAM as well as the gay-friendly churches present. And after the movie, some of you will consider joining the fundraiser at the neighborhood pub The Meanwhile Bar where the Until Love is Equal group has gathered.

Let us create a groundswell of hope and support and action.

In creating this work, GRIID creator Jeff Smith explained it this way.

"There is an underside to every age about which history does not often speak,

because history is written from records left by the privileged.

We learn about politics from the political leaders, about economics from the entrepreneurs,
...
about slavery from the plantation owners, about the thinking of an age from its intellectual elite."

Howard Zinn

Following the model of radical historian Howard Zinn, this project involves the documentation of the history of the LGBTQ movement in West Michigan.

By doing interviews and collecting archival material, this project has produced a documentary film and an online archive of material about the struggle for equality and justice by the LGBTQ community in West Michigan. The screenings of “A People's History of the LGBTQ Community in Grand Rapids” will allow for continuing dialogue about the LGBTQ movement and provide a forum for current and future organizing.

This is a project of the Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy. The LGBT Resource Center is proud to be a co-sponsor along with GVSU’s Kutsche Office of Local History.

Come join us Thursday 6:30 p.m. Nov. 17 at the Loosemoore Auditorum in downtown Grand Rapids on the GVSU campus.

We will be there. I hope you will also. Because our vision for West Michigan is "that every LGBT person may walk freely in the love of Christ."

That has not been our history. May it be our future.

Bless tonight's 7 p.m. National Coming Out Day Service

By Theresa D. McClellan
Faith Advocacy Coordinator
"Gay Christian? Yes!" Campaign

There is an excitement in the air as we ready for tonight's National Coming Out Day service at St. John's United Church of Christ, 1934 Bridge St. NW.

The hard work of the programming committee of the "Gay Christian? Yes!" Campaign is evident. The songs, the message, the creation of a sense of togetherness, purpose, family, solidarity and love is not by chance.

On this day we ask everyone to COME OUT! Show who you are. Embrace all that God has made you, be that lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, ally.

One friend wrote on his Facebook page that he is coming out as a heterosexual who strongly supports the LGBT community.
I like that. That takes guts.

Others are considering coming out as Christian members of the LGBT community. This is another action that takes guts for there are those who say you cannot be a person of faith and LGBT. Some of those voices come from within the LGBT community, from people who have been so bullied from the pulpit they say why embrace your oppressor?

Others are pondering is it safe? Can I tell my sister, my mother, my father, my pastor, my Christian college counselor. I'm tired of walking on eggshells and telling so many lies to fit in. I, too, want to celebrate the love of someone who looks like me.

My heart goes out to those on that journey. Those first steps are excruciating. But the joy, the freedom, the reality that God makes no mistakes and the reality that there are places of worship that will embrace you, walk with you and who will ask you to walk with them as they learn their way. That is truly a blessing.

That is one of the joys of this "Gay Christian? Yes!" Campaign as more churches and individuals come on board to see how they can help,learn and walk with their congregation.

Come to tonight's service and you will hear stories from those coming out, you will hear music from the West Michigan Gay Men's Chorus that will make your heart soar. You will hear a gospel song that comes from my story. "I Want You to Know My God" a song I wrote more than a decade ago in response to a well-meaning pastor who informed me that my love of another woman was "not of God."

But my relationship with God told me a different story and as I came out to my pastor and shared my story, my faith and continued mutual dialogs, I saw the power of God as my pastor eventually held up the Bible and told the congregation, "this is a book of love, do not use it to beat up people."

We all have stories. Feel the poignancy, the power and the blessing of National Coming Out Day as celebrated in a church setting and stay afterwards for fellowship and learn more about our host church St. John's UCC led by the Rev. Bill Lyons, learn about out other gay-friendly churches and learn about the "Gay Christian? Yes!" Campaign.

The song I will sing with the Plymouth Chorus is also the kickoff of a song contest, a search for songs expressing the faith journey of LGBT Christians in all the ways that we are: Blues, Christian, Folk,Gospel,Indie, Jazz, Rock. The songwriter's contest will culminate in a concert in 2012.

Come Out and be blessed.