Jill McCrory is a Baptist Preacher and LGBTQ Advocate
Be the Bridge: Connecting the LGBTQIA+ Community and People of Faith
Release Date: 12/06/2017
BEST OF BE THE BRIDGE: Nick Manchester
Be the Bridge: Connecting the LGBTQIA+ Community and People of Faith
Nick Manchester is an intersex chimera who's transgender, non-binary, gay and asexual. Doctors forced his parents to decide to raise him as a girl, but he never felt comfortable in that assigned gender. After a couple of failed suicide attempts, Nick realized that he needed to live as a man. He's been banned from churches and called a "child of demons," but Nick has finally found a faith community who support him and love him and accept him.
info_outline
Southern Baptist Preacher Scott McQueen Talks About His Son's First Date with a Boy
Be the Bridge: Connecting the LGBTQIA+ Community and People of Faith
For thirty-one years Scott McQueen was a Southern Baptist preacher. But on April 8, 2014, when his youngest son came out to him as gay, Scott's life and his spiritual journey changed forever.
info_outline
Daniel Helmeniak Explains the Biblical Terms Abomination and Unnatural
Be the Bridge: Connecting the LGBTQIA+ Community and People of Faith
Homosexuality may be an "abomination" and "unnatural", but those terms don't mean what you think they do.
info_outline
Susan Cottrell on Why You Can't Both Love the Sinner and Hate the Sin
Be the Bridge: Connecting the LGBTQIA+ Community and People of Faith
Susan Cottrell is a prominent voice for faith parents of LGBTQIA+ kids. We chat about our least favorite expression: Love the sinner. Hate the sin.
info_outline
Why the Bible is NOT inerrant with Robert Cottrell
Be the Bridge: Connecting the LGBTQIA+ Community and People of Faith
The Bible contains inconsistencies so why do some people claim the Bible is inerrant? I speak with Robert Cottrell about the flawed concept of "Biblical inerrancy." No one takes the Bible literally. Some people just cherry pick verses they want to believe, exclude the rest and call their individualized faith an "inerrant view of the Bible." We talk about the Bible is used as a sword to attack the LGBTQIA+ community and how the Bible can be used as a shield against such attacks.
info_outline
Mikah Meyer on Breaking a World Record and Changing Lives
Be the Bridge: Connecting the LGBTQIA+ Community and People of Faith
Mikah Meyer just finished visiting his 308th park on his world-record trip to be the youngest person to visit all 417 U.S. National Parks. As a kid, Mikah prayed to be ordinary (straight) but after he embraced his sexuality, he realized that he could become extraordinary. THE BIG SURPRISE - Christians around the country are supporting his mission.
info_outline
Dr. Paula Trimble-Familetti Questions Teachings about Biblical Women:
Be the Bridge: Connecting the LGBTQIA+ Community and People of Faith
Dr. Paula Trimble-Familetti is a passionate advocate for women's rights, inclusive language and biblical literacy. She holds a B.A. in Religion from Chapman University, an M.A. in Religion from Liberty University and a Dr. of Ministry in International Feminist Theology from San Francisco Theological Seminary.
info_outline
Ibrahim Kamara on Reconciling His Queer and Muslim Identities
Be the Bridge: Connecting the LGBTQIA+ Community and People of Faith
Ibrahim Kumara was born in Kuwait but moved to Tennessee as a kid. He was raised Muslim. At the age of 13, he\ tried to pray away the gay, even bargaining with Allah. Ibrahim wanted to spend Paradise in his own Versailles-like palace. Eventually, he realized that he had to live an authentic life. He has a passion for helping others understand that we are all intersectional beings, and those diverse aspects make us who we are.
info_outline
Chelsey Glassco Discusses Her Abusive Relationship with Christianity
Be the Bridge: Connecting the LGBTQIA+ Community and People of Faith
Chelsey Glassco is a teacher and therapeutic foster parent. As a kid, she attended "Jesus Camp" and was taught that homosexuality was the worst sin. When she came out to her parents at 16, she was forced into conversion therapy. But armed with her Xena journal, Chelsey was able to survive. Her tale of the mental and emotional abuse she suffered at the hands of so-called "Christians" should be a wakeup call for the faithful. This podcast serves as a story of do's and don'ts for today's church.
info_outline
Mais Al-Nima on Queer Muslim identity
Be the Bridge: Connecting the LGBTQIA+ Community and People of Faith
Mais Al-Nima was born in Baghdad, Iraq and spent her childhood there. Then she lived in Syria and Kuwait before coming to the United States for school. She grew up as a practicing Muslim, but when she came out as queer, she put aside her faith.
info_outlineOn this 11th episode, I speak with Jill McCrory, the first Baptist female preacher I’ve ever met. And I love her for that and for the wisdom and insight of our chat.
Jill McCrory is a straight woman whom God has called to be a Baptist voice to the LGBTQ community. I talk with her about her theological questioning as a teenager and why she left the church for twenty years. We discuss the moment when she discovered that there was more to the Bible than what she’d been taught in Sunday School, and her decision to attend seminary. She admits that she never expected to be a minister. But that all changed when she was told that she couldn’t preach the truth because people couldn’t handle the truth.
Jill discusses the importance of the four freedoms to Baptists and how her stubbornness keeps her loyal to the Baptist brand. She talks about her work spear-heading the development of an LGBTQ community center in her Maryland county of Montgomery.
She is the epitome of someone who practices what she preaches. Her insight and wisdom on Scripture and the teachings of Christ are inspiring. We talk about the church’s history of “othering” and its abuse of the political process.
For information on the MoCo Pride center in Montgomery County, MD, please see https://www.mocopridecenter.org. For information on centers in your area, please see www.centerlink.org.