So when the mail got dropped off at The Marin Foundation’s office today there were 3 huge boxes. The sender was Zondervan. I thought… Here it is! The DVD Curriculums are here! So give me some grace and view the excitement with me of opening the very first copies of our new Love Is an Orientation DVD and Participant Guide.

It officially releases on December 13th.

You can pre-order the DVD and Participant Guide combo pack here.

You can pre-order the DVD by itself here.

You can pre-order additional Participant Guides by themselves here.

I’m popping it in my DVD player right now… Can’t wait to watch it myself as I haven’t seen the final version yet. Awesome!

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org 

So exciting! It’s almost release day for our new Love Is an Orientation DVD Curriculum which is set to release on December 13th (for those of you not in North America it will release January 1 through your respective Amazon sites and the Zondervan website).

This new resource will be for any church, university, non-profit, organization, clinic, community center, small group of friends or individuals interested in what it means to not only elevate the conversation between the LGBT community and the conservative world, but also culturally engage each community through our Living in the Tension (LITT) gatherings—as there will be an entire session devoted to building and sustaining your own LITT group. We are so, so pumped about this new resource and pray it has a huge impact in continuing to spread this bridge building movement! The six sessions will include:

1) Love is an Orientation

2) Building Bridges between Conservatives and the LGBT Community

3) Theology of Bridge Builders

4) Answering the Tough Questions

5) Teens and Sexuality

6) Living in the Tension Gatherings

We also interviewed six LGBT people from around the country, coming from all different theological, social, and political perspectives, so you can get to know them and where they’re coming from by hearing their stories from their perspectives.

We filmed in a dozen locations around Boystown and the city of Chicago, and we’re just really proud of how everything is turning out.

You can pre-order from Amazon here (DVD), here (Participant Guides) and here (Combo Pack).

Here are a few pics from our time filming. I’ll be posting many more from all of our different locations and our different interviews soon…

Looking forward for you to all have a chance to engage with it. Please feel free to post this anywhere you want to start spreading the word!

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

A few days ago the BBC World News featured the work of The Marin Foundation in written and audio form! Above is a screenshot I took of the BBC’s home page on their website… And that’s us as the feature story! It’s been crazy since it went live. We have gotten tons of folks reaching out from all over the world. This impact of our story is being felt! It’s such a humbling thing to have happen, and it’s definitely surreal to know that our bridge building message is getting spread across the globe through the most internationally trusted media company in existence. Just unreal.

You can read the full article here

You can listen to the 30 minutes segment the BBC ran on us here (and you have about 30 days to download it to keep it if you want)

Yesterday I got an email from the BBC and they gave me the following, crazy, update about our stories since they went live:

—Our radio segment (which has also been featured throughout America on NPR) is the most listened to segment of any from the BBC World Service

—Our radio segment is the most downloaded segment of any from the BBC World Service

—Our article is the 2nd most shared article of any story on any of the BBC websites

—Our article is the 3rd most read article on any of the BBC websites

I have to thank Christopher Landau so very much. He was the producer of the segment, as well as the writer of the article. Christopher was the one who fought for this story to be done! Even after some higher-ups said no to his initial proposal, he kept at it over almost 1 full year (!!!!) before they finally said yes. And now look what is happening! Brenda and I first met Christopher while I was speaking in London earlier this year. He had read my book when it first released in 2009 and as he said, “kept it in the back of my head to do a story on it for just this time.”

I’m not the most trusting person when it comes to media folks… They never seem to quite tell the truth in how they are going to present or edit something. But Christopher did exactly what he said he was going to do. A stand up man. A balanced journalist. And now a person ever so dear to not only my heart, but the millions his work has reached around the world.

Just absolutely amazing what the Lord is doing with this.

No matter the outcome, faithfulness always wins out.

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

The response we have gotten from this ‘I’m Sorry from the Church’ Campaign 2010 has been unreal! We have some huge plans in the works right now for the upcoming national ‘I’m Sorry from the Church’ Campaign 2011. But in the meantime, Kevin, Nathan and I have been getting TONS of emails and Facebook messages asking where people can buy the I’m Sorry shirts. So…here’s the answer in 2 easy steps:

1. Send an email to kevin@themarinfoundation.org requesting the unisex size shirt you would like to have (S-XXXL) and also include your shipping address

2. Purchase the shirt for $20 by clicking the secure PayPal donation button on the left side-bar of this blog (and no, you will not have to pay shipping).

We just did not expect how this would spread like wildfire, and therefore we don’t have any extra shirts currently available. However we’re ordering them asap and your shirt will be shipped to you as soon as we recieve them. Thanks everyone.

Keep apologizing. Reconciliation will happen when we take the first step…

PS – Just so we’re being upfront with everyone: The shirts cost $10.50 per shirt, the shipping is $5 and PayPal takes 2% (which is .40). So that is $15.90, thus, The Marin Foundation will make $4.10 per shirt. And 100% of the shirt profits go directly to our work.

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

This is literally what Christian Outreach to the LGBT Community looks like:

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org  (Picture Credit goes to Michelle from Maladjusted Media)

Oh how I wish you all could have been in Miami on Friday when Brenda brought the house down. For those of you who aren’t on Twitter (I am @LovesMeSomeYou), here are some of the comments I tweeted from her talk about living distinctly within the realms of feminism, the church and culture:

“This (homosexuality/bridge building) might be Andrew’s calling, but it has become our ministry.”

“Women should never be a ‘yes’ person. We’re not just a help-mate, we’re more. We’re equal partners & have to start reclaiming that outlook.”

“All the women in the Bible used their knowledge, power and influence (whether big or small) to get their Kingdom jobs finished. That’s a model for me.”

“Feminist isn’t a bad word. But it’s become one in the Church so men could stay in power. I’m a feminist with traditional values and that scares people.”

“I’m in the first female generation that the feminist movement fought for, and we’re still empty and searching to find ourselves…”

“Thank you Lord for blessing woman with such uniqueness. Who cares if the church or culture gets it or not.”

“Christians call me an Alpha-Female. I prefer to say I’m a ‘hard-lined compassionate’. The incredible part about knowing yourself in Christ is that it makes you strong!”

“I told myself I wasn’t going to be defined by what was traditionally expected of me….”

“I was going to do and be whatever I wanted to be and accomplish all of my goals no matter the cultural or Church disgust. And I STILL love the Lord! Many feel that combination of things is impossible.”

“There’s a vision for the future to combine femininity and traditional beliefs. Until we woman believe that it’s never going to happen.”

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

The following is written by Joel Diaz (host of the podcast Youth Hacks and here is his personal website). When he told me his story based on hearing me speak and reading my book, my heart was taken back. This is so exciting! Go on with you bad self Joel! Much love brother.

“This journey began a few years ago when I was part of a college study group with two other students.  There was Mary, a devout Catholic woman, Jennifer, an out and proud lesbian, and me, a youth pastor as a conservative mainline mega-church in Atlanta.  Up until this group, I had never hung out, spoken to, worked with, or worshiped with an openly gay individual.

My church and family were very clear of what they thought of the GLBT community.  Honestly I had never given it much thought.  I just agreed that “they” didn’t belong in the church until they dealt with their “issue.”  It seemed like a simple way to deal with the issue.

I had my stereotypes of the GLBT community.  Gay men speak with a lisp, and lesbians are mostly butch.  And don’t forget, GLBT people have a lot of anonymous sex with various partners.  I truly believed these stereotypes among many others.  That’s until I began to hang out with my study group. 

Mary was upfront about her convictions about the GLBT community, but was very gracious about it.  I was too afraid to really speak my mind, and was intimidated by Jennifer.  What I learned during the year I spent in my study group has transformed me as a human being, and more importantly as a Christian.

Enter Andrew Marin of The Marin Foundation.  It was the 2008 National Youth Workers’ Convention in Nashville, TN, and Andrew would be speaking at one of the general sessions.  No one that was with me knew who this guy was, but we trusted that Youth Specialties would challenge us and they did.  I remember Andrew introducing himself as the “biggest Bible banging homo-phobe.”  I laughed and then thought, “wait, that’s me too.”

He continued his presentation, and then shared a Billy Graham quote that has transformed the way I minister to everyone.  Andrew tells the story of Billy Graham leaving the white house during the Clinton scandal and being asked whether the President had sinned.  Billy Graham’s answer was, “it’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, it’s God’s job to judge, and it’s my job to love.” Wow!  Andrew presented a lot of great information during my time in Nashville, but that one quote defined the convention for me.

In March of last year, Andrew Marin’s book Love Is an Orientation was published.  I was looking forward to reading the book so that I could refresh myself on his talking points.  Andrew’s thing is to “elevate” the conversation, and to rebuild the bridge between the GLBT community and the church.  Now don’t make the assumption that you have to shift your theological stance in order to implement the principles he presents.

In the book, Andrew gives a history of the GLBT community, challenges the reader on how they perceive the GLBT community, looks at how the church has addressed the gay issue, and gives practical advice on how to answer the tough questions that will most certainly be asked.  Andrew writes, “Christians look at a gay or lesbian person and see a potential behavioral change instead of a person longing to know the same Christ we seek.”  This one sentence moved me from contemplation to action.

I decided to come out of my Christian closet.  I began attending my local PFLAG (Parents, Families, & Friends of Lesbians and Gays) chapter in Albany, Georgia.  Albany is a city of about 80,000 in rural southwest Georgia.  Most GLBT individuals do not broadcast their identity for oblivious reasons, but I had been made aware of a few youth in our community.

One youth was a member of the ministry that I currently serve.  They came out right before I came on staff, and the situation was handled as one would expect.  This student was incredibly gifted in music, and played the keyboard in the youth worship band.  They were called in, along with their mom and informed they would not be allowed to participate in the worship band until they dealt with the “issue.”  The complicating factor was that the church organist was openly gay.  Obliviously there was a double standard, and that crushed the student and the mother.  They left our church after the meeting and have never returned.

Back to PFLAG.  Before I attended my first meeting I left a message with the local chapter president to inform them of my intentions.  I will never forget the call back.  It was a woman on the other end, and I could physically feel the joy in her voice through the phone.  Long story short, it turns out that the woman who organized the local PFLAG chapter is the mother of the youth that was formally in our youth group.  It was an incredible moment of ministry.

I attended my first PFLAG meeting later that same month.  The experience was overwhelming.  It was one filled with joy but much sorrow as each person shared their story.  The stories all sounded the same that night.  Every single student in attendance shared how he or she was involved in church, and as soon as they even just questioned their sexual orientation they were asked to leave.  Some shared the stories of parents and pastors telling them that they were going to hell because they had chosen to be gay. It was very tough, but no other story broke my heart as much as Grace’s story.

Grace was a girl who was very active in her youth group.  She was a committed Christian, but she realized in her early teens that she was attracted to girls.  She felt as if she was in a community she could trust, and had a good relationship with the leadership.  Grace finally decided to reveal her secret to one of the leaders.  You can probably guess the rest of the story.  She wept from the depths of her soul as she looked at me and said, “I just want to go to church, sing worship songs, and hear a lesson.”  How ironic that a person by the name of Grace was shown no grace by those who call themselves Christians.

I have continued to attend the PFLAG meetings.  Why? Because this is a group of people who have been broken by the church.  In their deepest time of need they were turned away.  These are our brothers and sisters “longing to know the same Christ we seek.”

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

This morning I got to speak at Wheaton College for Mosaic Initiative’s World AIDS Day breakfast. Here are a few thoughts I brought up:

Within broader culture there needs to be both micro and macro pushes by the Christian community to make a culturally relevant impact on individual people as well as larger people groups.  When we are willing to step out and do something different, miracles happen.  But just how far are we willing to step?  In today’s church culture one of the hottest topics gaining a lot of momentum is AIDS in Africa.  A good friend of mine, Dr. Becky Kuhn who is an HIV/AIDS physician and President of Global Life Works, always says

“Churches can’t handle the AIDS issue unless they are willing to breach the topic of gay sexuality first.”

This has never been more applicable for the church because in our nation’s capital, Washington DC, the per capita rate of AIDS (5%, or 1 out of every 20 people) is higher than or comparable to 27 African countries including Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, Ghana, Ethiopia, Tanzania – and is not far off from the 6.1% estimated rate for all of the Sub-Saharan region of Africa! 

In February 2008 Matt Foreman, the outgoing executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said at the National Conference on Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender Equality that HIV is “a gay disease” in the United States as “men who have sex with men account for nearly three quarters of men living with HIV.”  Although scientific data can quantify numbers, it can’t quantify how shame, stigma, isolation and political agendas each perpetuate the exploding growth of this spreading disease in our own country.

As wild as this may sound, I strongly believe that when it comes to HIV/AIDS in the GLBT community, Christians can stop the spread of this pandemic.  Faith can stop the spread of HIV/AIDS by helping make a new culture by positively influencing the GLBT-religious relationship. 

If religious shame is replaced by Christians who know how to productively bridge the GLBT community, and cultural stigma is replaced with a loving Church that provides eternal hope wherever the person is at, I am convinced that high risk sexual behaviors will also die alongside the isolation and pain felt by gay men and lesbian women who can only feel the negativity and clash of the pervasive cultural issues that dominate and overwhelm their entire existence.  

The problem is that the Churches’ exodus to Africa to treat a disease that devastatingly affects the one community that already feels ostracized by the church has left many in the GLBT community wondering why Christians continue to go across the world and ignore what’s at home. 

They feel the only answer is that it is easier to deal with people who are helpless rather than work hard enough to reach and understand the “enemy.”  Is that true?  The direct connectivity from HIV/AIDS to the GLBT community in America once again advances the cultural stigma that they already feel because Christians have cast off their disease as abhorrent, and Africa’s as worthwhile for the sole reason that the #1 infector is not through gay men.  I am not saying that churches should stop doing great things in Africa.  But as Brad Oglvie, a colleague of mine and a gay man living with HIV as the executive director of an HIV prevention organization called the Mosaic Initiative says,

“AIDS work doesn’t have to mean either/or, but rather an and.” 

The issue is that churches have made it an either/or; except the “or” never seems to include tangibly learning how to productively build bridges with GLBT community for Christ.  Now is the time for Christians to begin to lessen the stigma, and change GLBT culture by making culture.

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

I had a bad interview. Then I had a good one.

I got hated on by a gay organization. Then I got hated on by a Christian one.

I received a couple offensive emails calling me names. Then I received a couple encouraging emails giving me hope.

I had a moving Living in the Tension gathering. Then I went home and cried.

I got hated on once again by the same gay organization and the same Christian organization.

I talked to some people who I trust my life with (Brenda, Dad, Richard and Wendy). Then I felt better.

I woke up this morning with a double ear infection. And also woke up to a few more hateful emails.

And then a few more encouraging ones.

Here’s one from someone I don’t know who just finished reading my book:

“You do not do this in vain. Know when the times get tough you have touched lives.”

Then I had a great talk with an editor at a magazine doing an article on my book, and then I prayed.

And I feel comforted in the FACT that I’m doing exactly what I am supposed to be doing.

No matter what haters try to lie, cheat, complain or tear me down.

No matter what friends are too “worn out” by this difficult bridge building work and want to give up—because “it’s too hard” and now think “it can never happen” because it hasn’t happened quick enough for their satisfaction.

Give up then.

Because I won’t. And neither will God.

Because I’m trying to learn how to live and love in real time.

Not perfect.

Don’t have answers for everything.

And the sad part is that too many “intelligent” people from both ends won’t ever admit that as truth.

I am loved. I am me.

I am satisfied with who I represent and how I daily strive to represent Him.

The rest of them can keep on trying to dissect every word I say and use it against me.

But it doesn’t matter anymore.

Because He was a Jewish carpenter and therefore I build bridges. Period.

I don’t care who in this world is satisfied with that answer or not; as there is One who is.

So keep on hatin’ me haters.

Because thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.

And you all can’t dictate not even one ounce of that, no matter what you think you own.

Cause I’ll keep on lovin’ anyway.

Much love.
Andrew

http://www.themarinfoundation.org/

Here is the conclusion to a book I just finished. I thought it was relevant and profound. He said:

““Early in my career I went around telling everyone of my lofty goals—that I’d be the best ever in my field. People laughed at me.

You’re crazy man.
Can’t be done.
Yeah right! No one in history has done the things you’re talking about.
You’re dreaming.

Maybe I was dreaming, but it was an attainable dream. I knew it all of those things could be done, just as I know I was going to be the guy to do them. I never once doubted myself, and that’s the attitude that gets me through everything.

Nobody is gong to tell me I can’t do something. Nobody. And when the world tries to beat you down, you don’t let it. It’s that simple. You stay positive. Focused. Keep your eyes on the prize. Put on blinders. Don’t look left, don’t look right. The goal is right there in front of you, and that’s where you need to be looking.

I was single-minded about becoming who I am today, and it paid off. And like I said, maybe that’s what it takes to succeed—that drive and that desire and that intensity. But if you want something badly enough, you’ll work for it. And when you get there, you’ll realize that everything you did to get there was worth it.

My daughter, Josie, will be a teenager soon. I’ve tried to be a good father, and I think I’ve succeeded more often than not, though I’m sure I come up short from time to time. Still, in one area I believe I’m actually qualified to give advice, and that concerns this business I’ve been talking about—this business about setting goals.

Josie, if you’re reading this, please pay attention: You can do anything you want in life. Anything. All you have to do is figure out what you want, and who you want to be, and stay on track. It will not happen overnight, but if you believe in yourself, and you stay focused, and if every step you make is a step in the direction of that goal, even a tiny step, you will make it. You will reach your goal.

Along the way, people will tell you that it can’t be done. That you’re dreaming. That you should lower your sights and expectations. Don’t listen to them. They don’t know what they’re talking about, and they have already been defeated by life. And never, ever, lose faith in yourself [or God]. Keep dreaming.””

These words were written by Jose Canseco in his second book, Vindicated. That’s right—the same steroid Jose Canseco that blew the lid off of the hidden secrets of Major League Baseball. But he does have a point, he does know something about achieving goals. He promised to his dying Mom that he would become the best baseball player on the face of the earth, and he did—in record fashion. He was the first player in baseball history to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in a single year. He won the American League MVP award. He won 2 World Series rings. And he signed the highest paid contract in Major League history (to that point), 5 years for $23.5 million.

In the end, he accomplished his goals, and so I think we should listen to his wise words. What about the steroids—didn’t those give him an unfair advantage? For what it’s worth, I actually believe him that about 80% of all Major Leaguers were doing the stuff. So no, they didn’t give him an unfair advantage against the majority of people he was playing against. None the less, re-read his words, and they’re encouraging and applicable to all of us chasing a dream others don’t think can happen—whether that is breaking baseball records or wanting to build a bridge between the GLBT and religious communities.

Much love.
http://www.themarinfoundation.org/

This is a picture of the famous American author and philosopher Henry D. Thoreau. Ok, so he’s not a good looking dude … but none the less he had some really challenging and thought provoking things to say throughout his life. I have a magnet on my refrigerator with a quote of his:

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined.”

What an inspiring word for all of us. I was given that magnet by my mom during my rehab after my baseball career was ended by a sixth concussion that resulted in serious brain damage (I’ll eventually expand on this in another post). My left frontal lobe didn’t work. There were no synapses firing, I had no short term memory, no word retrieval skills, no speech fluency and the right side of my body was disabled. The neurologists said that I was legally mentally retarded with the brain capacity of a 9 year-old at 20. The doctors told my family that I would stay that way because the likely-hood of a full recovery was very slim.

Miracles happen. God is the I am. And I hoped for hope that one day I would again see the Lord’s will completed in my life because all of my dreams were shattered in one moment during a practice on my home university’s baseball field May 1, 2001. I hung onto Romans 5: 3-5 throughout the seven months of intensive brain rehab and physical therapy, working so hard to reclaim a normal way of life that I no longer knew – and didn’t know if I could ever regain:

Not only so, but we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.

And besides that passage, I frequently looked at Thoreau’s words because I knew the Lord longed for me to live the life I’ve imagined, because my dreams were only His dreams for me. I thought those dreams were baseball, as I was one small step away from playing in the pros. And among everything that happened after my accident, I daily, and faithfully busted my hump and went confidently in the direction I felt the Lord was leading me. The Bible is the ultimate story of redemption – something the Lord longs for all of us.

We all have the ability and the power through our Father to live the life we’ve imagined in God. Go confidently, go faithfully, dream big and go get it!

Much love.
www.themarinfoundation.org