July 07, 2022
Dearest Calvary,
On June 25 & 26, Calvary had a booth at PRIDEFest, downtown at Civic Center Park. There were not too many churches there that I saw, just a booth of the Ecumenical Catholics (who ordain gay and women priests).
Since we were one of the only churches there, I think our presence had a big impact. Some things I heard as people passed by our booth:
"A church is here at PRIDE. I love that so much."
"A church! Oh my gosh."
"Oh my gosh it's a church. That is so great."
I also had several conversations with folx who came up to talk to me. Some were wanting to start attending church again, but didn't know of any affirming churches in the area. One was heading to seminary in the fall, and was encouraged to see us at PRIDE. Many, if not all, were very surprised to see a Baptist church that affirmed LGTQIA persons with female pastors.
What came to my spirit throughout these conversations was 'this is our mission field, this is outreach.' People need to know that there are churches out there that affirm and accept you as lesbian, gay, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual. People need to know that just because you are LGBTQ doesn't mean you are excluded from church. People need to know that Baptist doesn't equal homophobia. People need to know that there are people out there who will accept, affirm and love them for exactly who they are. People need that hope.
Later that night, we had our Praise & Ritual service with the theme: God Is Proud of You. And it was my great joy to craft a whole service around the idea that God is indeed proud of us when we dwell in God and live out the gospel. It's a message I think Christianity has avoided or recoiled from out of fear. If you'd like me to elaborate, I invite you to watch my sermon from that night, recently posted on our YouTube channel.
I am grateful to the following individuals for representing Calvary at our booth:
Matt Nelson
Caitlin Sturgis
Shay Ayres
Nyabuath & Tuom Tuom
Brenda & Taylor Goodman
David Farwig & Greg Austin (double shift!)
Kent Shira
Deanna Geldens
Anne Comstock
Topher Palmisano
I'd also like to thank First Baptist Denver and Brian Henderson for giving us a place to store our table, chairs, and materials overnight!
Thank you for helping to spread the Gospel of belovedness,
Pastor Alice (the Unicorn Pastor)
