In a strict nuclear family model, parents are left without support from outside adults. They are left to work and raise children in isolation, depending only upon their partner for support. Now let me just ask you, what kind of relationship can any of us have without outside relational support? Even in my relationship with my best friend, I receive support from other friends. If I couldn’t talk to other friends about conflicts he and I encounter, I would probably say vastly m

In other words, where many conservative Christian leaders denounce LGBTQ identity, many are unwilling to do the relational work of walking alongside same-sex-attracted Christians as they attempt a very difficult thing: lifelong celibacy. The Nashville Statement offered a strong “no” to gay identity and behavior, but didn’t offer a positive vision and vocation, a “yes,” to those Christians beyond the avoidance of certain behavior and labels. In this way, Revoice puts flesh and

You never realise how lonely you are until it is just you, your thoughts, and time. I spend most of my time escaping from reality so that I can avoid my thoughts and feelings. Whether it is gaming, reading, watching films, listening to music or getting immersed in the world of imagination. But every once in a while, I just sit here, thinking about how alone I am. I tend to have a lot on my mind, but no one to talk to about any of it. In everyone else’s eyes I am happy, carefr

Here’s the crux of what I’m getting at: we’ve got to realize that gay people are no different than anybody else. If straight people are coping with the loss of community, then so are gay people. If straight people are searching for love in a disintegrating social atmosphere and only finding it only through romance, then so are gay people. It’s not rocket science, and the LGBT+ community has been more than forthcoming about it. It’s written all over the signs at Pride events,

On the other hand it was also super convicting and confronting. I can wallow at times that making friends as an adult who just moved back to the country is a lot more difficult than I expected, but at the same time I have almost completely given up in making an effort locally and it was something I was just beginning to think about not long before the conference. It also woke me up to the reasons why. On the one hand my online community is a good one and they have been there

At one point in her keynote, Eve Tushnet commented that the Revoice community is “united largely by its sacrifices.” Reading between the lines, I heard a quiet, deft refutation of one of the criticisms of Revoice — that we shouldn’t let something “broken” about us mark and define our community. Eve pointed out that we are choosing not to be united by some fallen aspect of our hearts but by how we choose to respond to that fallenness. I appreciated Eve’s point because, really,

But unlike its more progressive counterparts—from Q Christian Fellowship to The Reformation Project to any number of mainline Protestant activist organizations, such as More Light (PCUSA) or Integrity USA (TEC)—the Revoice conference billed itself as an effort to fortify “LGBT people who adhere to the historic, Christian sexual ethic.” All of the keynote speakers and workshop leaders professed their adherence to the Scriptural teaching that sexual intimacy belongs within male

At most Christian conferences I’ve been to, the musical worship often seems like a feel-good warm-up routine to get people feeling spiritual. At Revoice, the songs (a refreshingly seamless mix of classic and contemporary) took on new depth and meaning. Lines like “And as he stands in victory, sin’s curse has lost its grip on me,” and “My sin, not in part, but the whole is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,” and the entire song, “Nearer, My God, to Thee” — which I wil

I was recently asked by a young SSA dude about how I knew God wanted me to "come out" and give my testimony publicly, and about what consequences this has had for me. This is the letter I wrote back to him: "Well, I can’t tell you much about the consequences yet, as it has only just happened, but new opportunities for ministry seem to be opening up since then, though not primarily with LGBT, more in connection with the teaching and prophetic ministries I have had. However, mo

I asked a lot of people what had been the highlight of the conference for them, and everybody gave the same two answers. Most people mentioned the worship services first. I totally agree. I don’t cry, y’all–even the first ten minutes of Up just make me misty–but I was wiping away tears during the final worship service. To see all these people who had worshiped and praised our God for years, for decades, in churches where they didn’t know any other gay people who were trying t