Radio Appearance Tomorrow

I'll be making my first appearance on a GLBT-oriented radio program Sunday at 1PM Eastern time when I will be guesting on the program Lambda Weekly on 89.3 KNON-FM in Dallas, TX. We'll be discussing the raid of a gay bar in the Ft. Worth, TX area and hopefully a little about what we're doing with the Straight, Not Narrow ministry.

You can listen to the program through the station's live Internet feed here.

You can read about the program on their website here.

Saturday Mini-Concert 7/4/09--God Bless America!

Encouraging Words 7/3/09-"Control Issues"

Pastor Jerrell Walls of Christ Chapel of the Valley in North Hollywood, CA preaches from Romans 8:1, 8-17 on the topic of "Control Issues"

http://web.mac.com/kevrev/Sermons/Library/Entries/2009/6/7_Control_Issues.html

Encouraging Music 7/3/09-"The Freedom We Know"

Local News Coverage of an Affirming Church in GA

Pastors Colley Williams and Danny Davenport of New Life in Messiah Fellowship in Columbus, GA sent word out that their church was featured in a news story on local television a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to Apostle Dale Jarrett from Believers Covenant Fellowship for forwarding the link. We've linked to their church on our list of Independent Affirming Churches and are happy to share the video with you. We hope that God will use this exposure to lead people in that area that need what their ministry is offering to visit them for worship.

Click here for the video from WTVM television.

Encouraging Words-" Praying Without Ceasing"

Brenda talks about what it means to pray without ceasing from I Thessalonians 5:17.

Encouraging Music 7/2/09-"He Is Exalted"

Did The Peanuts Comic Strip Have a Lesbian Couple?

An article on AfterEllen.com offers support for answering YES to that question. I always wondered about Pepperfmint Patty, but I hadn't viewed her and Marcie as a couple before. Now, well, I wonder.....

Here's evidence from the movie "Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown," a story about the Peanuts gang away as summer camp:

1) As soon as the Peanuts gang arrives at camp, they're ushered into a big tent and forced to fill out questionnaires. What follows is this conversation between Peppermint Patty and Marcie:

Peppermint Patty: I'm going to put down a lot about baseball; they'll probably make me captain of the team.

Marcie: How come they don't have trips where you just stay home?

Peppermint Patty: If you want a better way of life, Marcie, you always have to cross an ocean, or a desert, or a mountain. Sometimes, however, your whole life can be changed by crossing a crowded room.

Marcie: That's a romantic thought, sir.

Talk about your number one lesbian couple argument! One person wants to go out for an adventure — or, you know, drinks — while the other person just wants to cuddle on the couch. The adventurer feels pinned down, and starts off on a tirade about pirates, which eventually just turns into a lengthy circumlocution on love.

There's more evidence in the article. Click here to read it and have some fun thinking about Peppermint Patty and Marci snuggled up together talking about motorcycles and their next home improvement project.

Encouraging Words 7/1/09-"Finding God Right Here"

Rev. Patrick Stout from Community Church of Hope in Phoenix, AZ preaches on "Finding God Right Here"

http://www.communitychurchofhope.com/Sermons/5_3_9_Finding_God_Right_Here.mp3

Encouraging Music 7/1/09-"Everlasting God"

A Spiritual Profile of Homosexual Adults

If you want analysis of spiritual trends in the United States, it's hard to find a better source than the Barna Group led by pollster and author George Barna, an evangelical Christian himself. Barna recently published a report profiling trends among spiritual gays. Here's an excerpt (thanks to Ex-Gay Watch for the link):

George Barna, whose company conducted the research, pointed out that some popular stereotypes about the spiritual life of gays and lesbians are simply wrong.

“People who portray gay adults as godless, hedonistic, Christian bashers are not working with the facts,” declared the best-selling author of numerous books about faith and culture. “A substantial majority of gays cite their faith as a central facet of their life, consider themselves to be Christian, and claim to have some type of meaningful personal commitment to Jesus Christ active in their life today.

“The data indicate that millions of gay people are interested in faith but not in the local church and do not appear to be focused on the traditional tools and traditions that represent the comfort zone of most churched Christians. Gay adults clearly have a different way of interpreting the Bible on a number of central theological matters, such as perspectives about God. Homosexuals appreciate their faith but they do not prioritize it, and they tend to consider faith to be individual and private rather than communal.

“It is interesting to see that most homosexuals, who have some history within the Christian Church, have rejected orthodox biblical teachings and principles – but, in many cases, to nearly the same degree that the heterosexual Christian population has rejected those same teachings and principles. Although there are clearly some substantial differences in the religious beliefs and practices of the straight and gay populations, there may be less of a spiritual gap between straights and gays than many Americans would assume.”

Not hard to figure out why so many GLBT folks have rejected orthodox biblical teachings--those teachings have usually rejected them.

Click here to review the statisitcal analysis of Barna's report.

Brenda's Story

How does a straight woman got involved in a LGBT ministry? Brenda shares her story with you.

Encouraging Music 6/30/09-"Beautiful Savior"

"Transgender People Are Everywhere"

That's the title of an essay by someone who should know, Donna Rose, who is an advocate for transgender issues. She wrote this essay for CNN after Chaz Bono went public as a transsexual. Here's an excerpt:

Transgender people -- that is, people who may not experience or express their gender in ways that are necessarily typical for the physical sex of their body -- have been part of the fabric of cultures for as long as history has been recorded.

We're a cross-section of society -- pilots, engineers, doctors, factory
workers, artisans and pretty much anything else you can imagine. It was only a
matter of time before we came to Hollywood. Make no mistake -- Chaz isn't the first and certainly won't be the last.

Despite what others choose to believe, transsexual people are no longer relegated to hiding in safe little shadows for fear that society will detect them and punish them. We are far more than traditional stereotypes of transpeople as hookers, drug-users, porn stars or social misfits relegated to the fringes of society.

In a very real sense, transgender people are no one thing. We are everyone,
everywhere. Whether you realize it or not, we go to your school, we are active in your communities of faith, we are your neighbors, your co-workers, your family members.

A transgender person could be your neighbor, could be your teller at the bank, perhaps even sitting in the cubicle next to you at work. Most importantly, unlike what right-wign rhetoric would like to have you believe, the very fabric of society has NOT been destroyed as a result.

Click here to read the rest of Donna Rose's essay on CNN.com.

Encouraging Words 6/29/09-"The 23rd Psalm"

Pastor Susan George from Living Water Fellowship in Kenmore, WA preaches on the 23rd Psalm.

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1657868

Encouraging Music 6/29/09-"Always"

Coverage of the "Homosexual Exorcism"

Many of you have probably seen the disturbing video of a teenage boy having the "homosexual spirit" driven from him in a church in Connecticut. We've got two video links below to shed more light on this story. First, an interview on CNN with the pastor of the church. We thought the interviewer did a great job of staying focused on the facts and allowing the pastor to express herself. She spouted teachings we've never heard of to justify her actions--you can evaluate it for yourself. Warning--part of the "casting out" video is included here.



Leave it to Stephen Colbert to put things into perspective--now he's worried about a "gay demon" running loose. Ridiculous? Of course, that's the point.

Sunday Worship 6/28/09

If you don't have a welcoming church near you, or you just can't make yourself step into one, we're bringing worship to you. Here are links to some worship music and services from open and affirming ministries (all times eastern). I hope you are blessed and take time out of your busy schedule to enter into the Lord's day.

Don't forget to click on the tab on the upper right of this blog and leave your prayer requests in the comment section so we can petition the Lord for your needs.

If you know of a service we should add to our list, please send an e-mail and share it with us.

Worship Music--sing along and make a joyful noise unto the Lord!









Live Sunday Services (all times Eastern)
VIDEO
AL-Covenant Community Church, Birmingham, 11:45 AM
FL-Potters House International Fellowship, Tampa, 11:00 AM
VA-Believers Covenant Fellowship, Vienna, 11:00 AM
NC-Church of the Holy Spirit Fellowship, Winston-Salem, 12:00 PM
OK-Diversity Christian Fellowship International, Tulsa, 1:00 PM
CA-Glory Tabernacle Christian Center, Long Beach, 1:00 PM
WA-Living Water Fellowship, Kenmore, 1:30 PM

AUDIO
Canada, Vancouver-Christ Alive Community Church, 10:15 PM
FL-Beacon of Hope Ministries, Dunedin (Living the Good Life radio program) 4:30 PM

Video Archive
AL-Covenant Community Church, Birmingham
CA-Glory Tabernacle Christian Center, Long Beach
FL-Church of the Holy SpiritSong, Ft. Lauderdale
FL-Potters House International Fellowship, Tampa
GA-Gentle Spirit Christian Church, Atlanta
MI-Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
NC-Church of the Holy Spirit Fellowship, Winston-Salem
OK-Expressions Community Fellowship, Oklahoma City
OK-Diversity Christian Fellowship International, Tulsa
TX-The One Church, Garland, TX
WA-Living Water Fellowship, Kenmore

Audio Archive
AZ-Community Church of Hope, Phoenix
AK-Open Door Community Church, Sherwood
CA-Christ Chapel of Long Beach
CA-Christ Chapel of the Valley, North Hollywood
FL-Beacon of Hope Ministries, Dunedin (Living the Good Life radio program)
FL-New Hope Christian Center, Pensecola
GA-New Covenant Church of Atlanta
MD-Kittamaqundi Community, Columbia
NC-Revolution Charlotte
OH-Emmanuel Fellowship Church, Akron
OH-All Saints Community Church, Cortland
TN-Covenant of the Cross-Madison
TX-New Hope Fellowship Church-Dallas
TX-White Rock Community Church-Dallas
TX-Community Gospel Church-Houston
TX-Through Him Fellowship-Houston
South Africa-Deo Gloria Family Church