Associational eNewsletter

From the Executive Director:

Dear Sisters & Brothers in Christ,

Excited? You bet we’re excited! AWAB is claiming its identity as “The national voice for LGBT Baptists.” From now on, you’ll read this identity statement on everything: publications, website, business cards, media releases – Everything!

And it’s not simply a catchy phrase that we hope will bring AWAB to mind as quickly as “your kind of place” brings MacDonald’s to mind. More importantly, it motivates our mission of advocating for the full inclusion of LGBT Christians in Baptist congregations throughout the United States. We expect that when something happens in our nation that is of major concern or importance for LGBT-Allied people, the media will call us first. And we expect that every Baptist church (in the entire nation) that is responding to God’s call for radical inclusion of all people will want to link with us.

It’s a new day for AWAB, a day for claiming our identity and sounding our voice, a day for modeling radical new ways of being the Church! And the movement that begins with AWAB will liberate all who are oppressed.

Who are we?!!! We are The national voice for LGBT Baptists!

Lovingly,
Ken Pennings

mail@wabaptists.org

AWAB Council Members Reflect on National Gathering

Heather Rittenhouse: As co-chair of the recent AWAB National Gathering Planning Team, I come away from the weekend's events with two thoughts in mind -- "I'm so glad it's over!" and "I wish we could do it again!" Nearly 200 of us from the AWAB family gathered in Washington D.C. for worship, connection, food, and lots of fun. Although I am starting to count myself as a grizzled veteran of these events, I always come away refreshed, energized, and empowered from this encounter with so many of you. Judging by the comments I heard from those in attendance, many others feel exactly the same way. Thanks to each of you who came to D.C. to be with us in a powerful witness that we are indeed God's beloved. Thanks be to God for each one of you! And for those of you who missed this gathering, don't worry...we WILL be doing this again. Stay tuned!

Jim Singletary: It seems odd to draw inspiration from an event so prosaic as a "Business Meeting,” but I was heartened to see such a strong turnout on June 30. To me, 65% representation from member congregations, along with a sizable number of individual members, is quite impressive when one considers the geographical dispersion of AWAB churches, the multiplicity of conflicting Biennial events, and the fact that more and more of our congregations are not part of the ABC. It was reassuring to me, as a member of the AWAB Council, that there is such a hunger for real participation in this organization.

Dave Parnell: I appreciate the affirmative approach AWAB took during its meetings and services. We truly focused on the positives within ourselves and within ABC-USA. The highlight for me was the Rainbow choir singing in the Convention Center. It represented a way of witnessing that all Baptists can identify.

Burton Bagby and Ron Grose: What a surprise blessing the American Baptist Biennial Meeting was for us. Peace and justice issues seemed to be on everyone’s lips, but in loving and supportive ways. What a strange departure from our experiences at Southern Baptist and Cooperative Baptists gatherings.
We listened to a Baptist seminary president proudly accept membership in the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists. We heard a marvelous statement of concern about the importance of peace and justice issues particularly as they pertain to the Iraq War. We heard about impressive efforts to combat poverty in the United States. We listened to many stories of missionaries doing wonderful social justice ministries across the world. We heard about the important comprehensive redesign of the curriculum of America’s oldest seminary and graduate school: Andover Newton Theological School, a welcoming and affirming Baptist institution. We saw hundreds of rainbow stoles being worn throughout the Biennial by gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender people and our allies as signs of solidarity. We saw the recognition of almost 50 American Baptist congregations at the roll call of member congregations during the annual meeting. Only 5,750 American Baptist congregations to go! Attending this, our first Biennial, hearing Baptists speaking prophetically about social justice and the importance of following Christ's example of ministry to all, was a marvelous experience.

Anita Bradshaw Helping Baptist Congregations Engage in Welcoming & Affirming Discernment

By AWAB Director Ken Pennings

At a recent focus group facilitated by AWAB’s newly-hired field organizer, Rev. Dr. Anita Bradshaw, Anita drew our attention to young Samuel who with Eli’s help discerned the call of God and responded, “Speak, for your servant is listening” (I Samuel 3:10). Anita explained, “Our challenge is to help Baptist congregations discern the call of God and to authentically open their arms to all people.” Anita continued, “Naively, some congregations may think they are welcoming and affirming of LGBT people, but in fact they are not. For example, a deacon once challenged me ‘Why do we have to become a welcoming and affirming congregation? We already let those people in here!’ This attitude is precisely the reason a church needs to respond to God’s call to engage in a welcoming & affirming discernment process.”

As Anita designs trainings for AWAB’s constituents, she is listening for the reasons our churches thought it was important to join AWAB, the processes they used, and the key elements they think should be included in the trainings. She is collecting stories of how becoming a welcoming and affirming congregation (and joining AWAB) contributed to the congregation’s growth, health, and stability. It’s thrilling to envision how AWAB’s field organizing project, under Anita’s capable leadership, will help Baptists throughout the U.S. embrace radical new ways of being the Church, and participate in the new thing God is bringing about.

Contact Anita at nfo@welcomingresources.org

An Editor’s Vision and Passion for The InSpiriter
By AWAB Director Ken Pennings

Peaking the interest of readers – According to Editor JoAnne Juett, this is her challenge in creating AWAB’s journal The InSpiriter. Rev. Dr. JoAnne Juett explains, “Our readers will be looking for variety, movement, attractiveness, and emotional depth in The InSpiriter. Culture has conditioned us to look for more and different things on the printed page, and our eyes are trained for fast movement. And because of our interest in spirituality, our articles should be more like sermons and less like academic dissertations. Technology now affords us the opportunity to move The InSpiriter beyond paper. When we read The InSpiriter online, we can, with the click of the mouse, hyper-link to other messages including music, sermons, power-point presentations, etc. I’m eager to hear from our readers,” says Dr. Juett, who teaches Technological Communications at University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, “and to build on The InSpiriter’s reputation for excellence.”

Hyde Park Union Church Joins AWAB

The congregation of Hyde Park Union Church of Chicago, Illinois, an American Baptist and United Church of Christ, recently voted to join both AWAB and O&A. The Rev. Susan B.W. Johnson says, “We had a lovely and non-controversial time introducing and discussing it as a congregation . . .” Excitement at the church is running high since they are also in the process of renovating their 101-year-old sanctuary. Congratulations to Hyde Park Union Church.

Thoughts on Atlanta Gay Pride

I had the great pleasure of celebrating with my GLBT friends at the Atlanta Gay Pride Celebration. I must say that I feel proud to help represent my church community in this celebration. Oakhurst Baptist is one of only 5 or 6 churches represented in this parade. And, of course, the only Baptist Church! The energy of celebration definitely was great. And I was only humbled when the parade onlookers looked at our float with disbelief, celebration, and Thankfulness.

Jo Ellen Holmes

The following is a link to the pictures of this great day.
http://indecaturga.smugmug.com/gallery/3051898#166151268

Fight for Gay Rights Fits into Long History of Progressive Struggles
Published Wednesday, June 27, 2007, in The Baltimore Sun
by Thomas Schaller

Three years ago my wife and I attended our first - but, I suspect, not last - gay wedding.

Two of our women friends exchanged vows in a most ironic location: a church directly behind the U.S. Supreme Court building. When I consider that Justice Antonin Scalia might have been working that Saturday - his car in the court’s underground garage closer to the chapel than the curbside spot three blocks away where we parked - I relax, knowing that gay marriage in some form is here to stay.

The movement for sexual orientation-based equality is part of a proud, progressive tradition that includes abolition, women’s suffrage, the ending of child labor, racial integration of the armed forces, the civil rights movement and anti-miscegenation reforms.

Three patterns hallmark this long tradition: a defiant insistence by conservative doom-and-gloomers that the proposed reforms will undermine the fabric of American life; the inevitable rally by progressive and altruistic-minded Americans to the cause of expanding to others the protections they already enjoy; and, finally, widespread agreement a generation or so thereafter that conservative hysteria was not only misplaced, but America was stronger for having ignored their pinched, wrongheaded warnings.

Sure enough, conservatives who bemoan the “radical homosexual agenda” again find themselves losing the debate - not because the homosexual share of the population is growing but because straight Americans are rallying to their defense in the same way whites pushed for abolition and men marched with suffragettes.

According to The Gallup Poll, in 1982 only 32 percent of Americans felt that “homosexuality should be considered an acceptable alternative lifestyle.” Last month, the figure was 57 percent - an all-time high. It’s effectively a gay-straight movement now.

Is this so surprising? After all, heterosexuals not only live near, work alongside, socialize with, and are related to gays and lesbians, they are increasingly aware that they live, work, socialize and are related to gay people.

“Kids grow up today with gay friends, gay parents, gay parents of friends and gay friends of parents,” wrote Time columnist Michael Kinsley earlier this month. “If only blacks and whites were as thoroughly mixed together in society as gays and straights are.”

Previous generations were not blind, of course. But they were either more oblivious or chose to avoid the reality that some of their neighbors, co-workers, bowling team members and relatives were gay. By outing themselves, gays and lesbians forced the rest of us out of our closet of collective obliviousness.

Last year, in Arizona, for the first time a referendum to ban same-sex marriage narrowly failed. To be fair, many Arizonans who voted against the measure told pollsters that they were upset about the referendum’s restrictive provisions for straight, unmarried couples.

But a win is a win. And if heterosexual couples who are unmarried by choice are finding common ground with gay couples who are unmarried by prohibition, well, all the better.

And what, exactly, is required of heterosexual couples wanting to marry? As journalist Jonathan Rauch notes in his new book, Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America, not much.

So long as two people are adults, not close blood relatives, consenting and not already married, almost any man and woman can marry. If they are infertile, just met the night before at a Las Vegas strip club, or have had a dozen previous failed marriages between them, they can wed. Even convicted felons “on their way to the chair” can marry, scoffs Mr. Rauch.

“Within those rules, a marriage is whatever spouses agree it is,” writes Mr. Rauch. “So the laws say almost nothing about what marriage is for: just who can be married.”

Herein lies an absurd double-standard: Noncohabitating spouses who neither love nor remain faithful to each other, and who may not want children, enjoy greater status than two men who truly love each other and hope to spend their lives together raising adopted children who otherwise might be orphaned.

The only thing more ridiculous would be the U.S. military deciding it was less important in this post-Sept. 11 era to have sufficient Arabic translators in our military than to banish them because they’re gay. Oh, wait …

Thomas F. Schaller’s column appears Wednesdays in The Sun. His e-mail is schaller67@hotmail.com.

Career Opportunities

Details on career opportunities can be found on AWAB's Job Connection: http://www.wabaptists.org/jobconnection.htm

Director of Christian Education: First Baptist Church of Granville, OH

Director of the Interfaith Chapel and M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence

Director of Pride in Action, New York City

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