Gay Pentecostal Christian? Can these descriptors all fit together? After years of searching, Samuel Autman found the answer to this question and tells his story.
—
A guy whose haircut was a mixture of dreadlocks and a Mohawk caught my eye at the Indianapolis Pride celebration on a muggy Saturday in June under a tent a few years ago. He had a warm look in his eyes and radiant countenance on his face that I associated with a certain kind of Christianity. The clincher was his t-shirt that read “Apostolic.”
His pastor, Kevin, nodded at him which was the signal he should shake my hand while I was speaking to a woman parishioner at True Love Apostolic Church.
So you guys are Apostolic? Doesn’t that mean Pentecostal?
Yes, we’re Pentecostals.
Gay Pentecostals?
My big question is if I come in is it the kind of a church that makes visitors stand up and say their names?
Yes, but since I’ll remember you I’ll make sure we don’t do that.
She placed a colorful card with the church’s name and address written on it. I had heard of a least one gay Pentecostal church in Indianapolis. It was on Market and College Street downtown in a building called the Buchanan Center, on the edge of downtown. Services started at 3:30 p.m. The woman told me that services don’t actually get going until 4 p.m. I’ve been trying to follow my intuition which gave me the green light. I spent the night in a Motel 6 on the west end of town, and went hunting for True Love Apostolic Church. To make sure I didn’t have to stand up and say my name, I pulled into the church at 4 p.m.
Sure enough, the church met in a place called the Buchanan Center – the Flanner and Buchanan Cremation Center, a funeral home. I almost didn’t go inside. I saw about 15-to-20 cars parked in the lot. My internal light was green.
The services were well under way. Pastor Kevin – a robust man with an easy smile, a round face and dark hair, was up doing what I thought was preaching. He spoke extemporaneously about a scripture on the overhead projector from Corinthians about love being patient, kind. He fit the look and speaking style of every Pentecostal preacher I had heard since the days of my youth.
They ran, jumped, leapt with the same vigor as their heterosexual counterparts.
|
The congregration was one of the more multicultural ones I’d ever attended, mostly white but a high number of blacks and Latinos all mingling among one another without separation.
In minutes Pastor Kevin handed the stage over to the praise and worship team. The thunder of the organ, drums and tambourines took over. The sanctified train was about to pull off.
They ran, jumped, leapt with the same vigor as their heterosexual counterparts. Their rendition of “Satan, We’re Gonna Tear Your Kingdom Down,” stood out the most.
At one point, a baby-faced handsome young guy wearing a lavender shirt and had been on the worship team got the Spirit. He danced like the women in the Pentecostal churches of my youth, except he seemed more possessed by the spirit than any man I had ever seen. He flopped and flailed so uncontrollably until he collapsed at the front of the church. The service moved on and the congregation forgot about him. He lay there for about the first 5 minutes of the visiting preacher’s hour-long sermon.
A woman who stood up and identified herself as a lesbian had also been lured by the pride festivities. She said wanted to go higher and higher in the Lord. A man with longish dreadlocks got so happy in his rejoicing he bounced around until he disappeared into a hallway out of view.
Another musician testified that amidst a horrific rainstorm while for his commute to or from Terre Haute, a voice whispered and told him to pull his vehicle over, causing him to miss a horrific traffic accident with a deer.
◊♦◊
I had heard of LGBT Pentecostalism but had never attended. As a child, I left what I considered a dry Baptist congregation in exchange for a Pentecostal church a few blocks away. I love their explosive celebratory worship style. Discovering that I was gay made me seesaw into and out of churches and a Christianized reparative therapy for years seeking to pray-the-gay-away. Mainline Pentecostals have a less than compassionate view on LGBT people. Seeing these dancing and singing gay Pentecostals healed something in me.
During the week I discovered a gay Pentecostal church I bought a pink New King James Bible at Barnes & Noble for $6.99. That Thomas Nelson Publishers edition had been accidentally marked for $29.99. I could have paid the full price but right next to it was identical versions in black and blue. When I pointed this out, a manager sold it to me for the lower rate, a reminder that things that have a fixed appearance are permeable. Like my ideas about who has the right to be a Pentecostal.
Photo:flickr/katy
“pink bible” appears to be stereotyping gays as feminine.
Most churches in the Pentecostal Movement view homosexuality as a sin. They tend to oppose same-sex marriages, and they do not allow homosexual pastors. Some pentecostal churches also deny membership to homosexuals. They take the perspective that the homosexual can be delivered from their homosexuality. As the largest Pentecostal denomination in the U.S., the Assemblies of God also adhere to the belief that homosexuality is a sin, and that it goes against scripture and the God’s created order for human relationships. They believe that homosexuals will not inherent the Kingdom of God, but that homosexuals can be reconciled to God.… Read more »