Music, and those Creative Types
Ah the music... Even non-Christians acknowledge that the Church is good at music. It was in my era that Amy Grant released a secular-friendly album that did very well in the mainstream charts and musical excellence from other Christian bands overseas such as DC Talk added to a sence of of global connectedness and also provided confidence for young Christians that culturally, we could hold our heads high too.
Locally, inter-church organisation Youth Alive would hold rallies featuring great live music played by New Zealand and Australian musicians. These rallies were always polished, exciting and uplifing to attend - a true highlight in your Christian calendar. You would see other young people there and be reminded that your church was not the only group of young Christians around. The Youth Alive organisation originated in Australia, and a number of the rallies there were recorded live and released on tape and CD, an example being the CD image you probably clicked on to reach this page. These CDs were listened to over and over and you could get swept up in the atmosphere and emotion of the praise and worship music, as well as the preaching.
So it came as something of a shock for me to read years later, that the founder of the youth rallies, Anthony Venn-Brown, had resigned due to "a cloud of allegations" of homosexual misconduct. This was a man who was so in demand to preach that his calendar was booked out twelve months in advance. A man who would preach to Australia's largest congregations, to Bible colleges, and to huge youth rallies. A Sydney magazine (SX News issue 176, 10 June 2004, p. 8.) reported that he had released a book - A Life of Unlearning, subtitled "Coming Out of the Church: One Man's struggle". The report stated that Anthony had homosexual experiences from the age of 16, and although he tried to suppress the urges, the experiences recurred again and again. He underwent therapy and an exorcism, and even felt cured to the point where he got married and had what started out as a "normal" relationship with his wife. But his covert homosexual activities returned, often followed by "bouts of guilt, self hatred and depression." Anthony describes his book as being about "how I unlearnt the truths I'd been taught about myself, and discovered how to live as the real me".
In the article, he is quoted; "the thing that really hurts me today is that some young guy will go to his Pastor and be told me just needs to pary about it. Then he will go throught all the torment and do everything that has been in my journey. He'll think about killing himself, and possibly even get married, dragging people into more destruction." I would never have thought at the time that the founder could have been going through all this.
But he's not the only one. Roman Catholic leaders concede that those seeking to enter the priesthood have a higher than average disposition toward being homosexual. And there are now numerous examples of non-Catholic ministers and laity who have turned out to be gay, some suiciding. Even a former president of USA's National Association of Evangelicals stood down from his position in 2006 following allegations of gay sex. Although he initially denied the acusations were true, he later admitted to "sexual immorality", stating that there was a part of his life "that is so repulsive and dark that I have been warring against it for all of my adult life". The Rev. Lonnie W. Latham was an executive committee member for the Southern Baptist Convention, and was senior pastor of South Tulsa Baptist Church, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, before he was arrested in 2006 for soliciting sex from an undercover male police officer. Frank Houston, once General Superintendent of the AoG in New Zealand, at some point prior to 1980 also allegedly committed a "sexual offence against a teenage boy". It is Frank's son Brian Houston who founded Hillsong, reputedly the most powerful Christian Church in Australia today.
And not only have there been gay men in ministry, there have also been gay children of men in ministry. I was surprised to read of a son of internationally renowned church leader J D Jakes, engaging in homosexual behaviour. I was also surprised when I met a rather effeminate son of a very prominent New Zealand preacher. How many others are there?
Perhaps because homosexuality seems to be so prevalent these days, there are even now signs of leading conservatives even giving serious consideration to the idea that homosexuality is congenital. Others are saying it's impossible for homosexuals to become true hetrosexuals.
Some people have made movies about the issue. A lot of gay people have recorded stories of their struggles of trying to be Christian yet gay, the therapy, the exorcisms etc and have put them on youtube. Many of these people ended up embracing their homosexuality, eg Barry, Anthony, Ben, John, and a whole bunch of therapists.