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 has been a United Methodist for 5 years and was a Southern
Baptist before then. She lives in Tulsa, OK. She currently is attending
a UCC congregation because there are no Reconciling UMC congregations
in Tulsa. She is a senior at Northeastern State University in Broken
Arrow, OK and is majoring in English with a minor in Psychology. She
plans on going to seminary in the future.
She began her gender transition last year and became involved with RMN in April when she attended a Call to Witness training. She is now part of the leadership of MOSAIC and the leader of its TransJustice working group. She has been fighting against bigotry and intolerance for many years and even more so once she experienced it personally. She is active in the Gender Outreach group that is part of Oklahomans for Equality, Tulsa’s LGBT community center. She continue to do the work that she was called to do, be the woman God created her to be and work for justice and equality.
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 speech communication
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..
Dr. Darrell Spurlock
Dr. Darrell Spurlock, Jr. teaches psychology and nursing in Columbus,
OH. Dr. Spurlock is an advocate for social justice and for
the inclusion of all people in Christ’s church. He
conducts research on social justice issues and is interested in
prejudice, discrimination, and health disparities, including
disparities affecting the LGBT community. He is the parish
nurse/health minister at the UM Church for All People in inner city
Columbus. Dr. Spurlock also blogs about health policy and
civil and human rights at Care2.
Rev. David Weekley
I
received a B.A. in Psychology from Cleveland State University and
worked as a counselor before and after my ordination. After two years
working in a small psychiatric hospital, my belief that many problems
are spiritual led me to graduate school. This, in turn, led me first to
graduate school in Phenomenology of Religion, and then to seminary at
Boston University School of Theology, from which I graduated from in
1982 with a Master of Divinity degree. Thinking the Church was the
place God called me, and a healing place, I was ordained in 1982. From
the beginning, I combined my local church responsibilities with justice
issues. From the beginning, I learned it was unsafe to be a
transgendered clergyperson in the church. I have served as Chairperson
of our Annual Conference's Division of Social Concerns, and Board of
Church and Society. I have been involved with "Affirmation" and now
"RUMS" at both my conference and local church level. Wherever I serve,
I do my best to create a diverse, welcoming congregation where "All
Means All" is real. I am currently working on the first revision of my
book and continuing to serve as a United Methodist elder in a local
congregation. For your interest, it means a lot to me that my current
congregation is about 95% Japanese-American, and many of them lived
through the internment policies of World War II.
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.
