In response to the critics of Richard Stearns and World Vision

I used to be one too. I used to be a fundamentalist, right wing conservative Christina. Homosexuality was a definite 'no-no'. Divorce nope. Drinking? No thank you.

Then tragedy hit.

When tragedy hit me, I had a choice to make. Run from God, or, lean into Him. I leaned into Him and in the process found something unexpected. See, my tragedy came in the form of divorce. I was married at 21 to the Pastor's daughter and then divorced by 23. My world was wrecked. Christians don't get divorced. It is a sin. It is against God's will and divorce just doesn't happen.

Well it did. During this time of darkness, I sought to understand who God really was, because up to this point in my life, God was a god of rights and wrongs. Do this, and you get this. Don't do this and you get punished. I came to find this view of God to be extremely distorted, not Biblical and toxic. This view of God is what has caused wars, strife and has torn people apart. I was judged for getting divorced. I did not apply to jobs and graduate schools because they would not accept a Christian divorcee. I was crushed.

Yet, in the midst of it, God gave me peace and intimacy. He revealed Himself to me in a way very few get to experience. He showed me that He is a God of mercy, grace, compassion and love - a love that we can never fully grasp or understand.

Yesterday, I opened up Christianitytoday.com and the first article was concerning Richard Stearns and World Vision's choice to include to employ homosexual couples who were in legal, same-sex marriages. This article was about 5 pages long, but I did not even read the first page. I knew what the article was going to be about and honestly I was extremely excited that a major Christian organization was taking this stance. What I did do however, was skip down to read the multitude of comments written by people, all of which were against Stearns' stance. To say that I was appalled would be an understatement. Some of the statements I read consisted of:


'You better start hiring the atheist to preach devilish sermons & worship in the church you attend. And you better do it fast, because they will be lobbying against your organization; real soon.'

'Another sold out organization. Christina gays is an oxymoron. Lukewarm'

'World Vision is now one of the casualties of the compromise with evil that is occurring in our society. They are no longer a source for truth and are not worthy of any kind of support from Bible-Believing Christians.'

'As there is no Christianity, Not believing in Christ, there is no Christianity. Homosexuality. The Bible is clear!! Prayfully!!'


Is this really what Jesus would say to World Vision? Is this what He would say to millions of homosexuals in America? What about the millions of homosexuals who are professing Christians?

In Matthew 9, Jesus calls Matthew, the tax collector, to be His disciple. Immediately, Matthew obliges and begins to follow Jesus. Jesus, so ecstatic with Matthew's acceptance of His invitation to follow Him, (tax collectors had terrible reputations and there was not a much lower career to have. '...the occupation was traitorous enough even when they did not charge excessive fees to line their own pockets.'), that he invites him to dinner along with some other associates. Eating dinner was anything but insignificant in ancient Israel. Dinner was considered to be an intimate experience as can be seen by the translation, 'usually implied an endorsement of the practices of those with whom one associated.' Here, Jesus is not 'endorsing' Matthew and his career. Jesus does not endorse prostitutes and their line of work; He does not endorse women at the well and her having had multiple husbands. No, what Jesus is doing is endorsing them on the basis of their faith in Him. He is endorsing the relationship He has with them. He is endorsing them on the sole fact that He loves them, created them, and would soon sacrifice Himself for them. He is endorsing them because of who He is and for what He has done for them.

Moving on, the Pharisees question who Jesus is having dinner with. How does Jesus respond? By using the Old Testament against them.  'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' This passage is found in Hosea 6:6, a book that has more theological implications about Christ's love for mankind than just about any other. Hosea is told to consistently, compassionately and lovingly pursue his adulterous wife. This is a complete metaphor for Christ's love us.

In this book, God is saying, 'I could care less about your Torah-piety, about your traditions, and about your animal sacrifices. No, I care about your love for me and your mercy, love and compassion for others.' This passage is, 'the application of a fundamental moral principal of the OT that continues throughout the new age that Jesus is inaugurating.' God desired mercy over sacrifice during the time of Moses when He first initiated the sacrificial, covenant system; so how much more mercy does He require of us in a time where Christ has accomplished the ultimate sacrifice?

What does this mean? Well for one, we must stop seeking to place our Bible-piety over love and mercy. We do it every single day. We must stop criticizing organizations that are seeking to show love, mercy, compassion, inclusion and justice in the name of Jesus just because we believe the people they are protecting are living in sin. We would rather be a Pharisee on the outside, pointing the finger at Jesus, when He would be the one inviting gays to dinner and offering them jobs to serve Him. Really??

Lastly, we MUST get to know the gay community. We fear what we do not know. We condemn what we believe to be Biblically wrong; yet, we don't even take the time to get to know these individuals. Do you think you are bringing more homosexuals to Christ by pointing out their sin? I promise you, all you are doing is making it harder for the rest of the Christian world who has to clean up your mess.

When I graduate college my first job was at an inner-city charter school in the northeast side of Denver. I had never really befriended any gay individuals before and so while I toted my Biblical rhetoric around, I still had not really conversed with anyone who identified as homosexual. Yet, as God would have it, about the same time as "my darkness' was occurring, I found myself working alongside many homosexual co-workers. What was I to do? Bang the Bible over their heads? Recommend them to a Christian conversion camp? Be an intolerable co-worker because I fundamentally did not agree with their lifestyle?

Instead, I chose to love. Now I am not saying this to place myself on a pedestal; but more because as I have said, God was simultaneously working on my own heart and revealing His true identity to me. I saw God's grace and mercy like I never had before, and I saw it extend to the lowest in our society, both physically as well as spiritually. I chose to love these co-workers. I got to know them and hear their stories. I heard their horror stories of how the church had rejected and condemned them. My heart broke for them and I genuinely wanted them to know God's undying love for them, whether they were straight, gay bi-sexual, transgender, whatever. I wanted them to know that God's love extended past what anyone said or did.

One of my co-workers who was gay had a dad who was a pastor. I could not believe it. I was shocked and obviously my first question was "How does your dad feel?" My co-worker shared that at first, her father was confused, unforgiving and hateful. As time passed however, hew grew to continue to love and encourage his daughter as Christ would. He encouraged her to continue to seek Christ in the midst of her sexuality, and wherever He took her, well that was between them.

I have worked at two schools now, both inner-city, both working with extremely difficult students who come from difficult situations. Many of our students come from gang infested neighborhoods and homes. It matters where you live, the colors your wear and what hood you 'rep'. On the other hand, some come from struggling Christian families that are as devout as they come. Regardless of many of these students or their backgrounds, I have been able to witness some incredible things taking place. I have been able to see students who are so hard on the exterior, extend a hand of love and compassion to homosexual teachers and students. I have seen hardened gang members grow even more protective of their family member who is a homosexual man. I have seen devout, African-American Christian students show nothing but love and mercy to their gay peers and educators. Why is it that the church seeks to shoot the wounded more than any other organization or institution in the world?? Why can't the church adopt this model of love and compassion that these students have exhibited?

As I write this, I am almost trembling for a couple of different reasons. One, I am afraid. I am afraid of how many Christian peers will react. I am afraid of how people I look up to, who have mentored me, who have guided me, will perceive this. I am afraid how the overall Christian community will slander this, cite scripture after scripture and will pass over Jesus' most important words of 'Do not judge,' 'Love the Lord and your neighbor as yourself.

Secondly, I am trembling out of anger. I am fuming. I am so angry because I must apologize to some family members and close friends who are homosexual because they have to deal with the daily and constant barrage of hate, bigotry and slander from Christian Americans. I am angry because we have become a church that has created a hierarchical establishment of sin. We view homosexuality, abortion, premarital sex, debauchery, adultery, murder and many other sins as much worse than our lies, lusts, greed, envies and most of all our JUDGEMENT.

I get sad when I look into a kid's eyes in the juvenile detention center where I am Associate Chaplain and know they don't believe that God can forgive them for all the wrong they have done. I get sad when homosexuals believe that God truly hates them for who they believe they are. This is a product of the "God" we have created. A 'blessings' and 'cursing' type of God. This is wrong. Once again, this is not Biblical.

Honestly, after all of these words I have written, I don't know where I stand on the issue of homosexuality. I have heard profound theological arguments on both sides from people much smarter than me. I just don't know. I know that Jesus does not talk about homosexuality once, but He sure does talk about loving Him and everyone around us quite a bit. I even asked my wife last night, 'Do we have it wrong? Are we viewing this issue of homosexuality wrong?' She responded with, 'I choose to believe that God is a god of love. He loves people where they are at and anything that proposes something different is not from God.' Thus, I am choosing to respond as she has. As Philip Yancey has said regarding his long time friend that is homosexual, 'Even if I conclude that all homosexual behavior is wrong, as many conservative Christians do, I am still compelled to respond with love.' And as Pope Francis has said, 'Who am I to judge?' I am asking all of your who read this to do the same.

My hope in all of this is for the Christian to not just be 'accepting'. As any individual, we don't just want to be accepted, we want to feel loved and welcomed. Same goes for homosexuals. It is not enough to just accept them, but to love them as they are in the midst of everything. My hope is that the Christian community will cease in taking up arms against this debate over same-sex marriage, over who to employ and who not to employ, who should be in our churches and should not; and rather take up arms about much graver issues like helping the poor, the disenfranchised, the imprisoned, the widowed, the orphaned, the outcast. I want to see the Christian community get passionate about these issues.... One day, I hope we get there.

Preston