Would you like to write for RMN's blog? Our blog is the community voice of the Reconciling Movement and we welcome new writers on a rotating basis. If you would like write for us, here are the guidelines and instructions for applying. We look forward to adding your voice to ours.
Current Authors
Adrienne Trevathan, Blog Editor
11 years ago, I walked into a United Methodist Church at a friend’s invitation, and I never walked out. As a teenager, I found the UMC to be a welcoming place for me during a time of great pain and struggle for my family. I became involved in youth leadership and went to Lambuth University, where I found a place in the Religious Life Council and Phi Sigma Eta, a Christian women’s service organization. While at Lambuth, I learned to love worship of both heart and mind and decided to pursue a seminary degree.
The last three years in seminary have broadened my understanding of ministry and justice. As a Native American of the Port Gamble S’Klallam tribe, I have struggled with my identity and often feel as though I live in two worlds because many are not aware that I am Native. Consequently, I feel a strong connection between myself and all who fall within the category of “Other.” Although I felt welcome walking into a church, I am still trying to find my place as a Native Methodist, and I realize that not everyone has the privilege of feeling welcome. I believe it is the Church’s responsibility to recognize all of its children and seek to learn from them. I am now a recent graduate of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and plan to do more work in Christian education through writing.
David E. Braden
David E Braden was born, raised, baptized, and confirmed in the United Methodist Church and grew up in Northbrook, IL. When he left home for college, David also left the Church for three years because he did not feel welcome in the Church as an out gay man. However, after a deeply spiritual pilgrimage in Spain in 2003, David felt called by God back to the Church where he found Holy Covenant UMC in Chicago. He has felt welcome there to live fully as a child of God and is convicted by Christ's call to make disciples for the transformation of the world.
In 2007, David was elected as the first out, gay delegate to serve as an Alternate Lay Delegate to Jurisdictional Conference by the Northern Illinois Annual Conference. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago with his Masters in Social Work, lives on the Northside of Chicago, and works in the development office of a local nonprofit.
Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell
The Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell is a retired United Methodist Minister who lives in Asbury Park, N.J. He was active in the Massachusetts unit of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and participated in the civil-rights movement throughout the nation. In 2000, he, with others, organized the RMN Extension ministry United Methodists of Color for a Fully Inclusive Church (UMOC), an organization committed to the full inclusion of LGBT people in every aspect of church and society. His recent book, Something Within: Works by Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell is available from Church Within A Church. Rev. Caldwell was recently featured in Flashnet and addressed the 2008 General Conference on the issues of racisim and heterosexism.
Ann Thompson Cook
Ann Thompson Cook directs Many Voices, which later this year will launch an online, ecumenical clearinghouse of worship and educational resources for the welcoming movement. Her books on sexual orientation and gender diversity—And God Loves Each One, Dios nos ama por iqual, and Made in God’s Image—are distributed by eight national organizations including RMN.
Rev. Peter L. DeGroote
A second career pastor, Peter served in several churches in the Baltimore-Washington Conference. After 16 years, he retired on July 1, 2009. Prior to his ordination, he had spent 16 years as a secondary-school teacher, a university lecturer in Government, and an Associate in a government related professional association. That was followed by another 16 years as the CEO of a national financial institution. (Is there a pattern here?) Peter was involved in Mid-Atlantic Affirmation, served on the National Council of Affirmation, and served on the Board of the Reconciling Congregations Program, the predecessor name for RMN. In addition, he has been involved in local LGBT groups and issues, to include BWARM (Baltimore-Washington Reconciling United Methodists).
Violet Fenn
Violet Fenn is currently a United Methodist in exile due to a lack of reconciling congregations in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she lives and is attending a UCC church. She began her gender transition in 2008 and has been active working against bigotry and intolerance for many years. She is active in MOSAIC and the leader of its TransJustice working group. This fall, she is beginning the next chapter of her journey by attending Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa for a Master's in Divinity. Despite the bigotry and transphobia she has experienced at the hands of a UMC congregation, she believes that the Methodist Church will become open and affirming of everyone in the LGBTQ community.
Joey Heath
Joey Heath is a 26 year old life long United Methodist. He comes from a military family that settled in south Georgia after his father left the service. He went on to college at Valdosta State University and majored in political science. In 2008, Joey attended General Conference and it was there God placed on his heart that he should go to seminary. Joey will be attending Wesley Theological Seminary to fulfill this calling and hopes to be ordained. Once an ordained pastor, Joey hopes he will be able to bring real change to the UMC on the issues of sexuality and gender identity at the broader church level, but also with individuals, so that one day the church will truly be a place that is inclusive of all people.
David Hosey
David Hosey is a life-long United Methodist and will be entering Wesley Theological Seminary in the Fall of 2010. From July 2007-July 2010, he worked as a Mission Intern with Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church, serving with the Sabeel Center in Jerusalem, Israel/Palestine and the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation in Washington, DC, U.S.A. He is an inquiring candidate for ordained ministry in the United Methodist Church and also blogs at http://hoseyblog.blog.com. He attends Dumbarton UMC in Washington, DC, which is where a friend first asked him whether he would become a Reconciling United Methodist. He said yes. Now you're stuck with him.
Rev. Katy Krumbach
Having left the Episcopal church in her mid-teens, she walked into the local UM church as a young mother, indifferent to her own relationship to Christ, but wanting her children to be raised in the church. She later realized it as "a homecoming, and God was running to greet me as I walked in. I did not even know I had gone to the far country." Katy was called to be an Elder in the UMC (N. Georgia Conference) where she has served as 'pastor' for 8 years. In 2010, she hopes to complete her D. Min. in Leadership and Spiritual Formation at George Fox Evangelical Seminary (Portland, OR).
Dr. Pamela R. Lightsey
Dr. Lightsey is an accomplished and dynamic scholar, speaker, professor and preacher! She currently serves as Dean of Students at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.
Prior to going to GETS, she served as senior pastor of a thriving church on the south side of Chicago. Her work in the areas of children and youth ministry, leadership development and church growth earned her the coveted Denman Evangelism Award from the United Methodist Church.
Dr. Lightsey is a highly sought public speaker. She has presented before not only the church and academy but also before such platforms as social justice agencies, networking organizations and U.S. military functions.
Rev. John Makokha
The Rev. John Makokha is senior pastor of Riruta UMC in Nairobi, Kenya. He earned his B.Ed. Degree at the University of Nairobi and served as graduate teacher at Maji Mazuri High School. There, he taught Kiswahili and history and communications skills. In addition, he was a counselor, mentor, drama patron and chaired the school’s HIV/AIDS association.
He was ordained as a minister in the Triumphant Pentecostal Church and served as a pastor in a Free Methodist Church. After earning an M.A. degree in Missions at Nairobi Evangelical School of Theology, he started Riruta United Methodist Church, the only Reconciling Ministry in Africa.
He also served as Communications Director in the Kenyan United Methodist Church.
He has written articles, spoken on TV and radio programs, and led workshops on human rights for homosexuals in Kenya. In many ways John challenges United Methodist clergy and laity in the East Africa Annual Conference to be witnesses of God’s inclusive love to LGBT persons and their families. In the past year, he has become the volunteer Coordinator for Other Sheep Kenya.
Leland G. Spencer IV
Leland G. Spencer IV, a lifelong United Methodist, is a PhD student in the department of communication studies at the University of Georgia, where he researches religious rhetoric as it intersects with gender and sexuality. Leland holds an M.A. in Communication from the University of Cincinnati (2009). While in Cincinnati, Leland served as the worship intern at the Wesley Foundation. Leland is a 2007 graduate of Mount Union College, a United Methodist-related school in Alliance, Ohio. Leland served as a part-time local pastor at Mapleton United Methodist Church in the East Ohio Conference from 2005 until 2007 when Leland withdrew from the candidacy process because of the United Methodist Church's exclusive position about the ordination of LGBT persons..
Rev. David Weekley received a B.A. in Psychology from Cleveland State University and worked as a counselor before and after his ordination. After two years working in a small psychiatric hospital, his belief that many problems are spiritual led me to graduate school. This led him first to graduate school in Phenomenology of Religion, and then to seminary at Boston University School of Theology, from which he graduated from in 1982 with a Master of Divinity degree. Rev. Weekley was ordained in 1982. From the beginning, he combined his local church responsibilities with justice issues. From the beginning, he learned it was unsafe to be a transgendered clergyperson in the church. He has served as Chairperson of our Annual Conference's Division of Social Concerns, and Board of Church and Society. He has been involved with "Affirmation" and now "RMN" at both the conference and local church level. Rev. David Weekley is currently serving the Sellwood-Capitol Hill United Methodist Churches in Portland, Oregon. Since sharing his story last year he has had several opportunities to participate in educational events focusing on transgender issues. Despite lack of support from The United Methodist Church he continues his work of education and advocacy on college campuses and congregations of other denominations. His forthcoming book: "In From the Wilderness: Sherman, She-R-Man" is expected to be published early in 2011.
Dave Goss
This is Dave Goss's bio. Sorta kinda. But rather than bore you with details about how he got his Master's degree at Michigan State and how he's lived and worked in Chicago for the past ten years as an actor, writer, and editor, Dave Goss has decided to shake things up. . . by listing a bunch of random facts, mostly about himself, in no particular order. Here he goes.
1)Dave Goss has broken his nose four times. 2)Dave Goss is married and has two daughters, three cats, and a dog. 3)Dave Goss can grow a beard in a week and a half. 4)Dave Goss can drive a stick shift. 5)Dave Goss is five feet, nine inches tall. 6)Dave Goss has quite a few tattoos. 7)Dave Goss is your friend, no matter who you are. 8)Dave Goss thinks the world would be a much happier place if more people traveled by zipline. 9)Dave Goss does a mean Johnny Cash impression. 10)Dave Goss's full name is David Leonard Goss. 11)Dave Goss's father's name is Leonard. 12)Dave Goss lives on the north side of Chicago and is a devoted member of Berry UMC. 12)Dave Goss is a bleeding-heart liberal. 13)Dave Goss couldn't care less whether you're gay or straight, and he doesn't understand why anyone would. 14)Dave Goss is your ally, no matter who you are. 15)Dave Goss makes clocks out of logs and will gladly sell you one if you want to buy one. 16)The number 16 comes after the number 15. 17)Dave Goss is you.
Reconciling Ministries Network mobilizes United Methodists of all sexual orientations and gender identities to transform our Church and world into the full expression of Christ’s inclusive love.
