December 16, 1996: My Coming Out Day
Here’s the first person I ever came out to, on December 16, 1996. I wish everyone was greeted with the reception I had that day. Love and acceptance that made…
Waiting ’til College
This afternoon I’ll be speaking at my alma mater, in the auditorium where I took my first Bible class, a course in the New Testament, for college credit. Our professor…
Why – And Who – the Nashville Statement Hurts
I’m wondering this morning if the Nashville Statement issued last week has more potential to draw people to Christ, back to a local church, deeper into relationship with God, or…
Please Keep Talking
Today sons and daughters will come out to their parents. For the very first time they’ll tell their moms and dad about feelings they’ve most likely had for a long…
PeacePrints: Building Community for Parents of LGBTQ Children
For the last few months we’ve heard from parents of LGBTQ children and it’s been powerful. Their stories have opened conversations in churches and families that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.…
Fridays With Fathers
Our last post of the summer series with parents comes from my pastor, Pat Bills, from the Highland Oaks Church in Dallas. Pat truly cares for the LGBTQ community…
Mondays with Moms
Every parent who’s shared a portion of his or her journey in this summer series knows that it’s just that – a portion. A very small portion. So many feelings…
Fridays with Fathers
I remember where I was standing the first time I talked to the dad who wrote this week’s post. I loved his heart then, and I love it even more…
Mondays with Moms
Here’s another beautiful story of the humility of a parent, willing to listen and learn from God, and from her daughter. I grew up in the church. My father was…
Fridays with Fathers
The next contribution to our parent series this summer comes from one of my church leaders at the Highland Oaks Church of Christ in Dallas, or as we call them,…
Mondays With Moms
I was unprepared for the emotional whiplash I experienced when my son first told us he was “gay.” I had no idea how scared he was and how much courage it took…
Mondays With Moms
Thankful for the heart of another mom who loves her children fiercely. All of them. Here’s a new post from my friend, Dawn Domasig. Questions swirled in my head. Where…
Fridays With Family
Thank you to my friend, Keith Brenton, for the wonderful idea of “Fridays with Family” as a way of allowing family members to share their experiences with LGBTQ siblings, grandchildren,…
Mondays With Moms
Another beautiful account of the power of a mother’s love, from my friend, Darla. As you read, which thoughts or feelings expressed by this mom stand out to you? Junior…
Mondays with Moms
When we began this summer series with parents, I asked some of the moms and dad who have attended a CenterPeace PeacePrint Retreat for their help. It takes a lot…
Fridays with Fathers
WHY? Why did this happen? How did this happen? Why God? Why us? These were some of the many questions I anguished with when I found out in 2012 that…
Mondays With Moms
Start your week off right, with a reminder of God’s unconditional, unchanging love for us, through this mom’s fierce love for her son. Here’s a word from my friend, Gail…
Fridays with Fathers
The families I’ve encountered over the last eleven years of ministry who have navigated these waters most healthily are the ones who have opened themselves up to learn about something…
Mondays with Moms
Welcome to our summer series on the CenterPeace blog, featuring stories from moms of LGBTQ sons and daughters! Our first contribution from a mom comes from my friend, Liz Moore.…
Fridays With Fathers
Continuing with our guest series from fathers of LGBTQ daughters and sons on Fridays, here’s a post from my friend, Paul Mathis. Sometimes, I say the dumbest things. (According to…
Fridays With Fathers
For the rest of the summer we’ll be posting stories from parents of LGBTQ daughters and sons. On Mondays we’ll hear from moms and on Fridays, from fathers. Perhaps the…
Remembering Orlando
Today marks a year since the massacre at Pulse, a nightclub in Orlando. The first anniversary of the death of someone you love is a milestone. One of those markers…
Loving Parents
I’m having a hard time balancing the need to tell the hard stories – stories of pain still being experienced by my LGBTQ brothers and sisters who are turned away…
Fifth reason to attend “e3”: “Perfect Love Expels Fear”
I remember how scared I was the first time I told someone I was gay. That was almost twenty years ago. If you’d told me then that someday I’d be…
A Schedule Designed to Answer All Your Questions About Faith & Sexuality…(Reasons #7 & #6 to come to the “e3” Conference!)
Well, maybe not…. The truth is, you’ll probably leave the “e3” conference with even more questions! That’s what happens when we begin studying something new – when we really start…
Resources for Parents Who Feel Isolated & Alone – Reason #8 to Come to the CenterPeace “e3” Conference
The “e3” Conference is for parents who love a child who experiences same-sex attraction, to provide resources for equipping, encouraging, and empowering them to love their children unconditionally. Most importantly,…
A Short Course on Faith & Sexuality
Ever wish you could take a short course on Faith & Sexuality? Well, now’s your chance. But it’s better than that. Because this course won’t be taught by just one…
Why You Don’t Want To Miss the “e3” Conference: Reason #10
We’re only ten weeks away from CenterPeace’s “e3” Conference! If you’re still wondering whether or not you should come, here’s the first of the top ten reasons you need to…
A Picture’s Worth…
Here’s another inspiring post from Tyler Sparks, CenterPeace intern for the fall. Tyler is a graduate student in ministry from Abilene Christian University. “How do you picture God?” I can’t…
Welcoming…
This semester we’re privileged to have Tyler Sparks, a graduate ministry student from Abilene Christian University, serving as our CenterPeace intern. Tyler moved to Dallas in August and has been…
Providing Safe Places for Parents
One by one they started opening up to each other. Their stories had similarities. Yet each one was different. As the parents who had gathered in this living room began…
Never Underestimate the Power of One Old White Guy. Nor a Young One.
Jackie Robinson – a name that we instantly recognize as a national icon, symbolizing the beginning of an end to racial discrimination in professional baseball. But he didn’t make it…
“The Danger and the Glory”
A guest post from Jonathan Storment, preaching minister for the Highland Church of Christ in Abilene, TX….. “A person once asked me…if I approved of homosexuality,…
Morning in Thailand
This morning I woke up in a resort just outside of Chaing Mai, Thailand. The last couple of days have been a blur as we traveled from Texas to San…
Planting Seeds of Peace
Seems like we hear too much in the news about how some group of people professing to be Christian has said something hateful about people who are gay. Most recently…
“Walking Away” Guest Post from Brent Bailey
Hope you’ll join us tomorrow for a book signing at Mardel’s in Abilene! Sally will be reading stories from her new memoir, Loves God, Likes Girls, responding to questions from…
Jonathan Storment Reviews “Loves God, Likes Girls”
Here’s a guest post and book review from Jonathan Storment, pulpit minister of the Highland Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas. Check out Jonathan’s blog, Stormented. “Vulnerability…
Scarlet Letters: Removing the Curse of Shame
Two CenterPeace events and another thousand miles on my car later, and I’m finally back to finishing our review of Wesley Hill’s Washed and Waiting! I hope you’ve enjoyed learning…
All the Lonely People
Wesley Hill’s depiction of loneliness in the second part of Washed and Waiting is, to me, the most powerful part of the book. And his call to the church to…
“A Story-Shaped Life”
Thoughts from Part One of Wesley Hill’s Washed & Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality Like all of us who have wrestled with how to resolve questions about homosexuality…
Visiting Graceland
Have you finished reading Wesley Hill’s Washed and Waiting? Haven’t started yet? Uh, don’t even have the book?! Well, there’s still time – our first post reviewing the book will…
“That’s So Gay”
Finding someone who’s safe to open up with usually begins long before you actually need to talk. I’ve made decisions about who to share the most intimate details of my…
The Power of Story
For the past several months, posts on the CenterPeace blog have been sparse. There’s a reason for that…. Besides the fact that sometimes I just don’t do the things I…
The Sound of Belonging
Last week I heard one of the sweetest sounds I’ve heard in a long time. During their daily chapel assembly at a small Christian university in Tennessee, I shared my…
Withered Hands….and Souls
Ever have one of those moments where you read something you’ve read hundreds of times before, and all of a sudden you see something different? That’s how I felt this…
The Power of Presence vs. YouTube
I don’t know Pastor Charles Worley from the Providence Road Baptist Church in North Carolina. And I probably wouldn’t have the opportunity to even know who he is, except that…
Starting Conversations. And Stopping Them.
I’ve ‘listened’ to a lot of the conversations on Facebook, the blogs, the editorials written in response to the North Carolina election last week. And President Obama’s endorsement of marriage…
Hearing Voices
March 26, 2003. A day I won’t ever forget. The day my deepest darkest secrets came to light in a very public way. The day I shared that my family…
Stories That Didn’t Get Told
One of my favorite storytellers was a friend of my parents named Jake. From the outside Jake was a scrawny little guy, not very tall, but wiry with a wrinkled…
Quick to Listen
I’m a talker. They say I said my first words at nine months, saying “Hi!” to strangers in the grocery store. I gave my first speech at the age of…
