My name is David, I'm a gay Christian, and this is my story:
I
was raised in the "perfect" family in rural North Carolina. My parents
always gave me room to grow and explore life through church, community
theater, and time alone to play, read or be quiet with God. My sister
and I were best friends while my family stayed very involved in our
Southern Baptist Church.
One
summer, as a high school sophomore in the NC mountains, I felt a very
real calling to become a missionary. God spoke to me a way that I had
never experienced until that moment. I was ready to run out and tell the
world about this wonderful God that I had grown up with. I waited and
waited for that plane ticket to drop out of the sky, but nothing
happened.
Two
years later, I returned to the same place discouraged because God had
not led me to Africa and beyond. I was headed off to college and had no
idea what God had up His sleeves. During that retreat, I realized that
the mission field isn't necessarily halfway around the world. It could
be halfway around the block! Our own backyard has so many needs and so
much despair.
While
in college, the mission field was the huge university community that I
now called home. I became involved in a Christian campus group which
encouraged us to explore our values and beliefs for ourselves. They
didn't push the answers down our throats, but showed us the importance
of asking questions. I also met a wonderful friend who began to help me
ask real questions about my sexuality. He had abandoned his church and I
had ignored my sexuality so we broke down stereotypes of one another as
we searched for wholeness. I already knew the answers, but had buried
them deep in perfect world in which I had grown up. I couldn't possibly
allow myself to be the person who blemished the family. So I struggled
in silence...
Until
my Dad announced that he was leaving my Mom for another woman. KABLAM!
My world came crashing down, but at the same time, my closet door flew
off its hinges. My dad gave me an incredible gift -permission to be
human, to be real, and to make mistakes.
So,
here I am today, an openly gay Christian, with a not-so-perfect family
(my parents remarried 2 years later). I am out to my family who have
shown me how wonderful unconditional love can be. It's still not perfect
but we're working on it.
Meanwhile,
my mission field has changed from the university setting to the
thousands of gay men and women who live in my backyard. Those who are at
the end of their ropes and have turned to drugs, alcohol and
one-nighters in search of what only God can provide. Hope. Peace. And
Love. My hope and prayer is that someway, somehow, those of us who have
this love and know that God loves us -no matter what- will wake up and
look around at our neighbor who is crying out and reach out and really
care.
With hope and love, David