Posted on 05/13/2008 4:32:53 PM PDT by Between the Lines
As my regular readers know, I have blogged in the past two weeks about my visit to Lakewood Church. I issued an open letter to Joel Osteen asking him to embrace the gay community by responding to Soulforce's request for Lakewood Church to participate in the American Family Outing. I also blogged about the press conference that Soulforce held last week. You can read these previous entries on this blog.
Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the picnic on Saturday because of other family and church obligations, but Soulforce issued the following press release just moments ago. Jay Bakker and Joel Osteen MET THIS WEEKEND!
********************************************************** Soulforce Press Release, May 12 2008:
AMERICAN FAMILY OUTING BEGINS DIALOG WITH LAKEWOOD Research Shows the Impact When Houstonians Know Gays and Lesbians
(Houston, TX) On Mother's Day, Jay Bakker, son of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, brought a group of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) families to worship at Lakewood Church--the largest mega-church in the U.S. After the service, Bakker met privately with Lakewood's pastor, Joel Osteen, to talk about faith, family, and LGBT people.
The visit is part of a nationwide fellowship effort called The American Family Outing, which aims to create dialogue between LGBT families and families at six American mega-churches. Several prominent mega-churches, including Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois, and Hope Christian Church in Maryland, have agreed to meet lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender families.
Earlier in the week, Lakewood officials had expressed an unwillingness to meet with Bakker and The American Family Outing. A tip from a Lakewood Church member led Bakker to seek out Osteen after the Saturday evening service, during the time when the pastor greets new visitors to Lakewood. The two exchanged remembrances of Bakker's late mother, Tammy Faye Bakker Messner, and arranged to meet privately the next day.
Bakker's conversation with Osteen came just a day after The American Family Outing hosted a picnic in a Houston park for families from Lakewood Church. A handful of Lakewood members attended the picnic and expressed their appreciation for the effort to start an open conversation about the status of LGBT people at Lakewood.
Opportunities to connect one-on-one and family-to-family are the goal of the American Family Outing, which was created in the belief that it is possible for families to have meaningful conversations in spite of perceived differences.
In Houston, Rice University Professor Stephen L. Klineberg's data can confirm the impact of simply getting to know someone who is gay or lesbian:
"One of the most powerful predictors of area residents' attitudes toward gay rights, as powerful among religious fundamentalists as it is for the more secular respondents, is the simple question, 'Do you have a personal friend who is gay or lesbian?'
"It seems clear that the opportunity to get to know someone who is homosexual helps to break through the stereotypes and fears, and to reinforce the sense of common humanity," says Klineberg, who is a Professor of Sociology and the founding-director of the Houston Area Survey (1982-2008), which has tracked Houston's demographics and public attitudes for the past 27 years.
"Support for gay rights (e.g., allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military, or to teach in the public schools, or to be legally permitted to adopt children) has continued to increase steadily and consistently among Harris County residents over the past two decades," Klineberg continued.
AND THIS IS A STATEMENT BY JAY BAKKER ISSUED IN A SOULFORCE PRESS RELEASE ON TUESDAY MAY 13:
SOULFORCE RELEASES STATEMENT FROM JAY BAKKER ON MEETING WITH OSTEEN
(Houston, TX) On Mother's Day, Jay Bakker, son of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, brought a group of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) families to worship at Lakewood Church--the largest mega-church in the U.S. After the service, Bakker met privately with Lakewood's pastor, Joel Osteen, and two senior Lakewood staff members.
After the meeting, Bakker released the following statement:
"Joel Osteen and his family were very kind and courteous. They reserved special seats for our group of families, and they spoke compassionately to me on the first Mother's Day since my mom's death. But our conversation indicated that they do not share our convictions and that Lakewood Church is not yet ready for an open dialogue with LGBT families.
"I believe it's important for the church to have these conversations, because we are all one body. Open dialogue can dispel the fearful misperceptions that keep us apart. In the end, it's about communion and loving one another in spite of our differences.
"I have hope for the future that LGBT families will be able to meet with Lakewood Church eventually."
*******************************************
Blessings,
Rev. Matt
Odd that some want to celebrate sin. No one is saying look down on sinners. But they want to proclaim that Biblical teachings are “wrong” and that Sodom and Gomorrah was an accident. Subversion.
“If we met to talk, would this group be satisfied if we agreed to disagree?” he posed before the private meeting was held.
Good for Joel Osteen.
Houston PING
From the comments:
“And so, how would you feel if society told you that you couldn’t fall in love with your soulmate?” - Rev. Matt
Such is the also the case when someone is already married, or (one or both persons are) too young, or related.
The sex positive agenda seeks to end all moral judgements over ALL sexual pairings.
Maybe it’s their guilty conscience.
The idea that getting to know gays as friends will change the fact that homosexuality is unnatural and wrong is ludicrous. Sin is sin and cannot be condoned no matter how much we like any gay person individually. We must hate the sin even as we love the sinner.
I don’t agree with Joel Osteen’s ministry for the most part, but I am impressed at Lakewood’s “they do not share our convictions” stand! Good for them, not promoting something that God says is NOT to be celebrated, but sinful, regardless of how ‘loving’ the sinful behavior is presented.
If Daddy Claude Osteen was still running things there wouldn’t even be a question as to whether Lakewood would embrace such things.
Osteen played this the right way. Welcoming any sinner is a good idea, and refusing to endorse their sin is even better.
OK, let's test that out. The idea that getting to know gluttons as friends will change the fact that obesity is unnatural and wrong is ludicrous. Sin is sin and cannot be condoned no matter how much we like any obese person individually. We must hate the sin even as we love the sinner.
So...does that mean you won't have fat friends, and that fat people should not be welcome at your church?
I do have fat friends. Fat people are welcome at my church. I do have gay friends. Gay people are welcome at my church. What I object to is them getting up and saying that being morbidly obese or gluttonous is GOOD and a source of PRIDE or that engaging in gay behavior is GOOD or a source of PRIDE. We all have sins we are trying to overcome.
Sorry, I thought you were criticizing Osteen, not Bakker.
>>> “...lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) families...”
There is no such thing as “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) families” unless one perverts everything our culture was build upon the way these people have perverted and corrupted themselves. It is no wonder God calls sodomites “an abomination.” Is there anything they do not pervert?
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