Last September, I started writing to church pastors and christian counselors about my own experiences in coming out of the "gay lifestyle" and I included information on ministries in their area (like the Courage Apostolate or Exodus International affiliate) as well as other resources in their area (like JiM weekends, Courage Sports Camp, and Adventure in Manhood)
I started out writing them all by hand, but then started printing them so I could get them out faster. I still hand-address all of them though. Some of the called me to tell me they didn't know of anyone in their church who struggled with homosexuality, but that they would keep the information handy for the future. (I told them they should just start asking people. j/k ;)
So
far, I've sent about 620 letters and I still feel like I should keep writing, but I have a lot of doubts
and fears about how these are being received and IF I'm even doing any
good or just wasting a lot of money and time. I have a lot of doubts about
whether this was the right thing to do or if I was just freaking people out by
writing them about THIS issue and even telling them my testimony (3-sentence high-level
summary). I didn't specifically ask anyone to respond to me so it's ok that
I haven't heard from most of them, but I have a hard time not telling myself
stories about what they must be thinking.
I
got a few negative responses last week and another one today. One pastor in
Rhode Island seemed really angry with me and emailed me to say:
"You need to get a life! Don't ever contact me again!"
A few weeks ago, I met a guy through a friend in my bible study group who had just recently decided to turn his life over to Christ and leave the gay lifestyle. It was 3 days after our Texas Journey into Manhood weekend in Houston and the program won't be offered here again for another year. I knew it would be one of the best ways for him to get started on the journey and I was praying for a way for him to go. I discovered I had just enough airline miles to get a plane ticket for him to go to the JiM weekend in Florida. I dropped him off at the airport Friday
morning and had been praying for him all weekend.
I texted him just now to ask how his weekend went. I got this text back a few seconds later:
When I was High School and College, a magazine called "XY" was extremely appealing to me. The magazine was filled with "eye-candy." It was basically soft-core porn, but it also portrayed gay "couples" my age in very romanticized ways that seemed at the time to speak to my deepest wounds and longings. I used to seek out the magazine every time I went to Barnes and Noble and browse it in awe.
In retrospect, my experience was similar to that of Madam Bovary in Flaubert's novel who bought into to the FALSE "love" of romanticism. A narcissistic self-serving endless cycle of increasing desperation. The images and articles glorified the concept of "gay relationships" and the idealization of this homoerotic attraction as a form of "love." (See my other blog post from 1/7/13: "What is Love?") It also included plenty of propaganda articles about the "Christian
Right" and others (like Pope John Paul II) who allegedly were "filled
with hate" for "people like us" because they wanted more for people with the homosexual condition than simply these shallow "relationships."
 |
| Michael Glatze, left |
One of the main writers for XY at the time was Michael Glatze (pictured on the Left in this picture with Ben his "boyfriend" at the time). It has been a long time now since I've looked for that magazine. I found out recently though, that Michael turned his life over to Christ and left the gay lifestyle. Here is the story of his conversion published by Worldnet Daily on 7/3/2007: 'Gay'-rights leader quits homosexuality and a more detailed account: http://www.wnd.com/2007/07/42385/
Dr. Joseph Nicolosi has followed up with Michael several times and they recently published this interviews: 2007 interview: http://narth.com/docs/glatze.pdf
Michael Glatze: Two Year Follow-up (2009)
