It’s a dangerous book, a deadly message and you should know about it. It is Gay Awareness, the new book by Landon Schott. Kathy Baldock, a dear friend and the author of Walking the Bridgeless Canyon, did an absolutely superb job with this Amazon review and I wanted to share it with you. Here you go… Texas-based, traveling evangelist Landon Schott is certainly not unique in his strongly anti-gay theological and ideological beliefs. His lack of academic integrity and immature... Read more
The American Idol Finale. For fifteen years we have watched as this show has turned out countless megastars. On the final show, Trent became the last Idol to become a household name, the last of the big winners, the last American Idol. Okay, what about the rest of us? What about you, slogging away, doing your own work day after day, and no one knows your name? What about you who are barely making it to the next day, barely... Read more
People have always been bigoted—in any number of ways. Jesus’ enormous challenge to “love your neighbor” and the accompanying, “everyone’s your neighbor” is part of the challenge to overcome our bigotry, to love in spite of our inclination to turn away and say, “No.” If it were easy, everyone would do it. But there are not two sides to this. This is crystal clear if you just think it through. Take out the word “gays” and insert the word “blacks.”... Read more
I write today to Christian parents of LGBTQ children who are worried about their kids. Struggling with this whole thing. From a Mom’s heart to yours. Easter is the day Christians celebrate new life in a risen Savior. It’s a day to think about crucifixion and resurrection. What God is calling us to do versus what we want. It’s a day of new beginnings. My favorite memories of Easter as a child are the Easter baskets (of course!), the matching... Read more
We recently announced my new book with Westminster John Knox Press, and launched our new FreedHearts website. As we make these changes – and there is more exciting news to come! – I want to share my heart, my vision and my hope. From my heart to yours. 🙂 If you are in the evangelical church, or if you are in the LGBTQ community, you know that the church today is fractured. Parents love their children to the ends of... Read more
I have five adult children I love with all my heart. Two of them identify as queer. Wild horses would not cause me to reject any one of them. Ever. These are my precious children. My MAIN JOB is to love them. Nurture them. Protect them. Have their back. Educate them. Correct them when they are young. Direct them when they are adolescents. Let them go when they are older teens. Give them my best wisdom when they seek it.... Read more
Let me give a new twist to an old story. Mitchell had fought back the growing awareness that deep down, despite all outward appearances, he was really a she. His family—well, everyone—had always called him “he,” had always called him Mitchell… but deep down, where no one could see, “he” was a “she.” And she was Marisa. But he had no idea how he would tell his father. No idea… No help. Mitchell wrote a note: “Dear Dad, I cannot live this... Read more
Prodigal. It has come to mean “someone who was wayward but has now straightened up and back in God’s good graces.” Some parents hang onto this idea like a sweet promise: trust God while your child makes some poor choices, possibly self-harms, until they come back to their senses. Other parents hang it over their kids’ heads as a kind of judgment. You come back and then you get full relationship again. And the kids feel it, the condition in... Read more
I am so sorry. And I am so thankful. First, please let me say that it is an honor and a privilege to be your parent. I could not have asked for a better child. I am so sorry for what I did and said that made you wonder if I love you, and I am sorry for what I failed to do and say to let you know how much I love you. I am also sorry for the... Read more
No matter what you have heard: God is not mad at you. God is not disappointed in you. Not a single little tiny bit! And I do not mean this “in spite of” your orientation or identity. After all, God created you the way you are. I mean that God harbors no ill will or anger or even disappointment at you—because that is not how God works. That’s just not how any of this works. There is a commercial about... Read more
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