Progressive message revitalizes Baptist church

[davidinalameda]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002146683_church10m.html

The future of a 135-year-old church founded in the home of Seattle pioneers may lie with people like Paul Roby.

Roby is a middle-aged tenor who loves church music and God, lives on Seattle's Capitol Hill and is gay. So in summer of 2003, he first walked into Seattle First Baptist Church.

"I was looking for a church in my neighborhood that was fairly traditional Protestant worship and one that was gay-friendly," Roby said as he took a break from a post-service meal yesterday.

[kcass1954]

1. This happened at my brother's church in Atlanta...

On Gay Pride Parade day 8 years ago or so, a Methodist church with very few remaining members (most of them retired), set up out front of their building along the parade route rather than have a service inside. They had chairs set up in shady areas, ice water, paper towels to dry sweat. Oh, and some extra copies of "The Upper Room" (a daily devotional guide). These sweet old ladies also invited everyone who stopped by to join them sometime. This is now a thriving, vibrant church, filled with all types of people, not just old ladies and gay men, but lots of families and singles, professionals and working folks. The woman who is the music director is also a music professor at one of the local universities (can't remember which one). All this because these women saw the marchers in this parade as God's children.