Reports From the American Family Outing Visit to Georgia

Here is an excerpt from the Southern Voice's report on the recent American Family Outing visit to Bishop Eddie Long's church, the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, which is the largest church in Georgia:

After weeks of negotiation and anticipation, the gay Christian activist group Soulforce peacefully met June 1 with Bishop Eddie Long, the leader of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, the largest church in Georgia.

Long, who returned to the U.S. that morning after a weeklong trip to Dubai, met with Soulforce members after 17 hours of travel followed by an emotional sermon. Long made national headlines in 2004 when he led thousands of people through downtown Atlanta in a march protesting several issues, including gay marriage.

Soulforce met with Long for roughly 30 mintues after the 10:30 a.m. worship service. The meeting was closed to the press, but both New Birth and Soulforce representatives said it was a productive, civil and sometimes emotional conversation.

“From the respect of New Birth, I can tell you that they thought it was productive. They were happy to have them worship with them,” New Birth Spokesperson Dan Renee said.

Soulforce member Dr. Dionne Bates, an Atlanta area psychologist, attended the meeting with her partner Dr. Kathi Martin, a pastor at the First Metropolitan Community Church in Atlanta.

“Not only was [Long] open with regards to talks about homosexuality, he was able to say that there are some things that he does not know, and some things that he has to learn,” Bates said.

“One of the things that he expressed is that his name has really been bashed in the media as far as the gay and lesbian community,” Bates said. “What I would like to walk out of this meeting with is that people’s consciences are changed. We don’t want to go back, but we want to go forward.”

Click here to read the rest of the article.

Here is the official release from Soulforce regarding the visit.