American Family Outing And More

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American Family Outing Aims To Find Common Ground With Families In Six Of Today's Largest Mega-Churches

Family Research Council Responds with Panic

Recently supporters of the Family Research Council received an envelope stamped with the words "EXPOSED: Radicals' plan to attack churches!" What was the nature of the "plot" that had FRC in such frenzy? Well, in December of 2007, Soulforce, COLAGE, the National Black Justice Coalition, and the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches sent letters to:

• Rev. Joel Osteen and the Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas
• Bishop T.D. Jakes and The Potter's House in Dallas, Texas
• Bishop Harry Jackson, Jr. and Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Maryland
• Bishop Eddie Long and New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia
• Rev. Bill Hybels and Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois
• Dr. Rick Warren and Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California

In these letters we expressed a desire to share a meal with leaders and families in their congregations on a designated weekend between Mother's Day and Father's Day 2008 (see complete schedule at www.soulforce.org/afo). Our goal is simply to traverse any division and try to find common ground, despite our differences on the issues of sexual orientation and gender identity. We seek first to understand, and then to be understood, as we engage these congregations -- all with pastors who have been ranked by Christian organizations as among the 50 most influential Christian leaders in America. These churches have large memberships, some exceeding tens of thousands, and each leader has an enormous influence on American culture through speaking engagements as well as best-selling books, radio and television programs that reach millions of homes each week.

In January of 2008, Jay Bakker, son of Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye Bakker-Messner, followed our initial letter by writing to Bill Hybels, Rick Warren, and Joel Osteen (Jay's letter to Joel Osteen may be read here). Rev. Gil Caldwell, Rev. Phil Lawson, and Rev. Troy Sanders are reaching out to Bishop T.D. Jakes, Bishop Eddie Long, and Bishop Harry Jackson, Jr., in an effort to work out the details of our planned visit. So far, both Bill Hybels and Rick Warren have expressed a desire to demonstrate love and hospitality to our visiting families, and discussions are underway with their church staff to arrange our meal and conversation together. We remain hopefully optimistic that the other churches will also respond positively to our request.

However, Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council, responded with panic to the idea of families getting to know each other. As first reported by The Gay City News on April 3, a March 2008 fundraising letter signed by Perkins asks for $50,000 to create "Church Crisis Response Teams" to react to the couples and children participating in the American Family Outing. The letter begins "As you read this letter, homosexual activists are training for a blitz of protests, intimidation, and deception that will hit churches within weeks."

"The frantic tone of the FRC letter is a testament to the vital need for the American Family Outing. For too long, fear and dehumanization have kept people of faith divided over issues of sexual-orientation and gender-identity," says Jeff Lutes, a father of three who serves as the Executive Director of Soulforce and originated the idea for the project.

"We want those Christian brothers and sisters who have read terrible untruths about us to meet us and to know who we really are. We are those children of God who happen not to be straight and their straight allies who like myself, grieve the fact that those who judge us do not really know us," says Peggy Campolo, Baptist author and editor. "Sadly, it is Tony Perkins who is guilty of engaging in attacks and intimidation, not the beautiful families who are seeking peaceful dialogue," she added. Campolo has also been calling Hybels, Warren, and Osteen on behalf of our families.

Over the next several weeks, Soulforce and our partnering organizations will introduce you to the families leading the church visits with words written directly from their hearts. You'll hear from couples like Della Nagle and Ruth Pinkham who have eight kids and have fostered more than twenty others in Texas; Michelle Freeman and Georgia Chambers -- two African-American women who were both raised in the Baptist faith and have been together 12 years; and Mary Lou and Bob Wallner -- a heterosexual couple in Arkansas whose lesbian daughter committed suicide in 1997 as a result of the misinformation that flows undeterred within American communities of faith.

We invite you and a loved one to join us for one or more of the church visits.

Couples with or without children, single parents, support straight couples and families, and single individuals who want to participate with a member of their extended family can apply online at www.soulforce.org/article/1346. Simply click on the church of your choice and fill out the brief form. We'll contact you after reviewing your application.

If your family can't join us, you can still take part by sponsoring one of the families leading the effort. To read the family profiles and make an online donation, click here. Your tax-deductible contribution will be used toward the significant expenses associated with planning and implementing this effort at nonviolent communication.

Please help us create this much needed conversation within the heart-land of faith in America.

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