God Has a Better Way Receives Protest, Praise From GLBT Community
Filed under News, Revolution & Justice on July 27th, 2009 by Marcus French
Over 500 followers of Jesus participated in an event known as God Has a Better Way in downtown Charlotte on July 25th, 2009. The event began at noon at First Baptist Church in Charlotte, where Dr. Michael Brown, director of the Coalition of Conscience, shared the goals and terms of involvement for the rally, described as a “Spirit-birthed response to Charlotte’s annual gay pride event.” After being required to sign their names to the terms of involvement before receiving red “God Has a Better Way” t-shirts, the group marched to the corner of Cedar St. and Trade St. for a time of worship, prayer, and preaching across the street from Pride Charlotte.
Among the news outlets covering the event was News14, which released a story that included an interview with a lesbian woman named Monica Simpson. Their article states:
One Pride Festival participant turned the tables.
“Each year, we have groups come to our pride celebrations trying to demonstrate their message of love, saying there’s a better way or we need to change who we are, and so this year I thought, what if we go to them? I think it’s time to flip the script, so to speak,” Monica Simpson said.
In the midst of the sea of red shirts stood Simpson, a yearly pride participant.
“It allowed me to see how much work still needs to be done on this earth as we really talk about the dream that god has for us to live as one and realize we are all connected as one,” she said.
What’s not recorded in the News14 story however, is that she gave this account prior to the event as the God Has a Better Way participants were on their way to their designated meeting place. Dr. Brown had this to say about what happened with Monica after the interview with News14:
She and about four of her group then came to the front of our crowd, right near the musicians, and began to worship with us. We even gave one of the ladies a jimbe to play to join in with our folks. After about an hour of prayer and worship, Monica came over to talk with me.
She explained to me that she didn’t even want to come over to our group because she had her defenses up, but what we were doing was “wonderful” and “radical love” and she “really felt God’s presence.” And she was thrilled with my expressed desire to sit down and dialogue. I have already emailed her with the hope that she and some of her church leaders will sit down together and talk.
Following a time of worship and prayer, Lou Engle of The Call led the group in a prayer of repentance for the sexual sin that has gripped the church in America, and Dr. Brown led a prayer asking for forgiveness on behalf of those in the church who have brought condemnation instead of love and hope to the homosexual community, asking God that their hearts would be filled with love and compassion instead. The rally participants gathered into small groups to intercede on behalf of friends and family who struggle with homosexual desires, and then many stayed to continue to worship and pray while others made themselves available for conversation with Pride participants by walking around the Pride event in groups of two. In addition to the main event, several small worship teams were located in other areas around Pride Charlotte, with God Has a Better Way leadership asking participants not to gather in groups larger than ten in these places to avoid disrupting the Pride event.
During the rally, a small group was gathered across the street in protest. Some of their signs included “There Is No ‘Better Way’ Than Being Human,” “Focus on Your Own Family,” and “God Is a Militant Transgender Feminist.” In an interview with the leader of this protest, the protester said that the last sign was written to:
Poke fun at the concept that there could be any better way than what is just the human way. We’re all people, and so to say that one way is any better than any other way is foolish, to say that there’s someone whose job it is to determine what that way is, is foolish.
The protest leader was confused however by the peaceful, loving event he was witnessing across the street, expecting something quite different after reading what had been said about Brown, Engle, and the people involved with God Has a Better Way in the weeks prior to the event (see the World Net Daily article Opposing rally has ‘pridefest’ fans enraged for some examples), saying:
If you compare their rhetoric to their presence … reading the publications they release, they come with a message of hate and intolerance, and the manifestation of that is clearly not violent, not aggressive.
Not knowing what publications he could have been referring to, we probed further:
VOR: Can you quickly talk about what you read that you thought was violent or
hateful?Protester: From accounts of “God Has a Better Way” demonstrations in the past,
where red-shirted individuals would scream hateful things at people or their
children, specifically about how they’re an abomination, or that they’re
less than human, or not human, [and also] the writings of several people that are part
of the organization.
One can completely understand the need to protest an organization that is doing these sorts of things year-in, year-out. But are these allegations true? Dr. Brown responds:
Everything the protester said is completely fictional. The only other time we had red-shirted individuals in the midst of a gay pride event was 2005, and they were required to conduct themselves in accordance with the same terms of involvement as the ones we handed out yesterday. Throughout the event, their conduct and speech were exemplary. In fact, their instructions were to make it their goal to be invited to someone’s house to hang out after the event as a friend.
Unfortunately, there were some quotes in the Charlotte Observer’s coverage of the event from Charlotte Pride participants (not the Observer reporter) that spoke of red-shirted protesters hitting people over the head with the Bible and telling them they were going to hell. The reality is that the story was so one-sided that the Observer invited me to write an editorial giving the other side of the story. My editorial was entitled, “Pushing the Hate Button Again,” and I pointed out how people accuse us of speaking hatefully rather than interact honestly with the things we say in a gracious spirit. (Click here to read the editorial.)
More unfortunate are the recent quotes in a wildly misleading article that appeared on the gay blog Interstate Q, where an anonymous source claims that we told the children of GLBT participants at Charlotte Pride in 2005 that their parents were going to hell, and it was this bogus report – note that it is anonymous and surfaces for the first time more than four years after the event! – that was repeated in stories on other websites, like Box Turtle Bulletin and 365Gay. Thankfully, these last two websites had the integrity to print my responses to these charges, despite our obvious differences, and Interstate Q allowed me to print comments refuting the false accusations. (Click here for the BTB article that includes my response, and here for the 365Gay article with my response).
As for the notion that the writings of several people that are part of God Has a Better Way leadership were hateful and violent, that is also 100% false and, sadly, fueled by some of the reports that were published on some of the aforementioned websites. The good news is that they are verifiably false, as opposed to the accusations and denials regarding the demeanor and speech of our participants in Charlotte Pride 2005. There’s not a syllable in anything I have ever written concerning LGBT issues that is either hateful or violent. (Of course, I am consistently branded as “hateful” for saying that, according to the Bible, homosexual practice is sinful and that I differ with many of the goals of gay activism, but by no rational definition can that be considered hateful). As for advocating violence, that is as mythical as me (or Lou Engle, another leader who participated in GBW) advocating that lambs go to battle and tear up lions with their teeth! (Just to be clear, I’m not calling GLBT’s “lions”; I’m simply exposing the absurdity of the “violent” charge.) Again, some writings having to do with spiritual warfare or the like were massively misconstrued in some recent gay articles, but Lou addressed that in a VOR interview and I addressed it in an article.
I must say, however, that some of the “violent” accusations were quite laughable, akin to the National Guard being called out because the Salvation Army was coming to town. I think readers would enjoy listening to my two-hour interview with a young gay journalist named Matt Comer where we discussed these very issues last week. (Click here to listen.) I think listeners will find it insightful that he agreed that in all the time he has known me and/or heard me speak, and in all my writings regarding GLBT issues, I have never once said or written anything that could be called hateful.
Towards the end of the event, an official statement to the media was read by Dr. Brown, followed by prayer and proclamation from Lou Engle for righteousness to be restored to the nation, and for the homosexual agenda to be carried no further, calling specifically for a “stone wall of intercession” to rise from the church concerning these issues.
During the prayer, a protester who had previously driven by the event honking and waving a “Stop Preaching Hate” sign, went across the street from the event and started shouting at the rally participants to look at her in an effort to disrupt the prayer. Intrigued by the sign, considering the love that other protesters had seen from the God Has a Better Way rally, we asked her what “hate” she had heard from the people preaching at the rally. She replied:
They’re preaching hate because they’re coming against who we are, they’re against who we are as human beings, it’s not really about gay rights, it’s about human rights, and they’re against human rights, obviously.
Thus, according to the protester, the GBW participants and leaders were “coming against who [GLBT people] are” when they say that God has a better way than homosexuality, and that this was “preaching hate.” Is this true? As mentioned in Dr. Brown’s article from 2005, the verb hate is defined as “to feel hostility or animosity toward; to detest.” Were the people at the God Has a Better Way rally hostile towards gay people? Clearly not. Were they hostile towards the ideologies and spiritual powers that propagate what they see as a “radical gay agenda”? Yes. And here-in lies much of the conflict and misunderstanding between the groups.
The event ended with GBW participants linking arms to form a “stone wall” of prayer, declaring together “IT STOPS HERE, GOD HAS A BETTER WAY!” After the event, one woman who had come to experience both Pride Charlotte and God Has a Better Way said of the latter: “I was blessed. I think everybody is loved here. This is a very moving event, that I think everybody should be a part of.”
Reports have been coming in since the event concluded that show that many Pride Charlotte attendees were quite open to and welcoming of receiving prayer from the GBW participants (whether they were in red shirts or not), and a few testimonies have been circulating of people at the Pride event coming to faith in Jesus and getting healed of physical injuries and ailments.
What significance will God Has a Better Way end up having? Dr. Brown had the following perspective: “I’ve been saying for years that God’s going to do something in Charlotte that’s going to get the attention of the nation. Believe me, this is the first salvo. By God’s grace, this is just the beginning.”
Tags: charlotte, charlotte observer, gay pride, god has a better way, homosexual agenda, homosexuality, news14
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I wish I had known about this event, I would have loved to had been there, I live in High Point n.c. and approve of Dr Browns ministry or rather Christ ministry through Dr Brown,I believe we must stand against the gross ungodlyness which is engulfing this nation, but at the same time reaching out to the lost in a spirit of love not condimnation, who but for the Grace of GOD go we. GOD BLESS YOU ALL. IN CHRIST TYLER MACON , HIGH POINT N.C.
I think the greatest testimony to this event is the spirit in which it was conducted. I wish I could have been with you guys. May God’s name be great amoung the nations!
Hope this article gets widely circulated! It’s very encouraging to hear large numbers reaching out in love to those typically despised. As a student of Dr. Brown at the FIRE School of Ministry I am proud and not ashamed of the spirit of which everything was conducted. It was so healthy and encouraging to see hundreds of people from numerous different churches and denominations stand together as the people of God, enacting God’s voice on the earth. I happened to pick up some reading material at the GLBT event and the testimonies i’ve found therein only amplfy that we as the church must let our -compassion speak louder than our confrontation, Dr. Brown. So many have been hurt but judgemental unlovers, not taking the real humility to love, listen and help those struggling with real hurts and real desires.
Hello all.
I’m the person I believe is being quoted here. I feel that the article, while well written, has given a somewhat biased account. I would like to post in order to clear up what I feel are a few minor misunderstandings.
I am not the leader of any organization, nor were any of the counter-protesters representative of any organization that I am aware of. We were simply gathered to show support of the LGBT community, as well as our disapproval of your close-minded message.
Also, I was not confused by the peacefulness of your group. Christian organizations often hide behind a loving face when they preach messages of intolerance. The perception of hatred on your part comes from your apparent inability to accept that gay people are human and here to stay. Your supposed God also created them, and to say that you possess the “better” or “right” way is both elitist and bigoted.
The rhetoric used is militant and inspires an Us. vs Them mentality that denies the humanity of the LGBT community. LGBT people want only the same rights and freedoms granted to straight people and couples. There is no gay agenda, and no need for your “intercessory prayer” to prevent one.
I’m not trying to stir up anything, but I felt it might be best to respond and clarify both why we were present, and what we were about. Hope this leads to some good discussion in the future!
Hey very excited to see you all sharing God’s message.
I was not at the rally, so I can’t comment on the event itself.
Before I say anything else, I want it to be known that (1) I believe in Jesus as my Lord and Savior, (2) I believe the Bible says that homosexuality is sinful, and we should be honest about that, and (3) I so appreciate Dr. Brown and his ministry, and I deeply respect him. In fact, his Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus books have been very encouraging to me personally (I’m not Jewish, but I’ve been engaged in dialogue with Jewish people who don’t believe in Jesus). I appreciate his reception to dialogue in all the issues he deals with, whether it’s proclaiming Jesus as the Jewish Messiah or being uncompromising on the moral question of homosexuality.
I also appreciate Dr. Brown’s sensitivity with regard to LGBT issues. He doesn’t strike me as one to rub platitudes in people’s faces, nor does he come across as mean-spirited. If I were to pick three words to describe Dr. Brown, they would be careful, kind, and uncompromising. Dr. Brown is not afraid to tell the truth, and he does so in love. He’s that wonderful combination of pastor and scholar.
And praise God for all the people who turned to Jesus in a powerful way at the event, as well as for the reported healings! I am overjoyed to hear about that.
But I’m not so sure that using the term radical gay agenda is right, nor do I see it as beneficial to our cause. What if the use of such language is part of what is causing “much of the conflict and misunderstanding between the two groups”? (And both sides have contributed to this misunderstanding in how they talk to or about one another.) Perhaps there is a fear of legitimizing the gay activist groups who oppose us by not defaulting to that terminology. But why can’t we see the other side’s point of view here? Why is it that we can’t see that they see our use of the term radical gay agenda as another way of saying, “Oh, no, the gays are coming to get us! We can’t let them mess with our rights!”
Can we really dismiss that as liberalism trying to caricature us unfairly? We’re NOT trying to push panic buttons and act as though homosexuality is the ultimate evil, but we ARE trying to say that homosexuality is sin. That message is offensive enough. Why do we need to add to it by reacting with words like radical gay agenda?
But what we often don’t understand is that using the term radical gay agenda is not promoting dialogue. Whether we intend it to or not, it invariably gets interpreted as “hate speech.” And frankly, I can understand why. Not that we actually intend to be hateful when we use it. But we’re still seeing them as “the gay” when we use such terminology. We’re not being genuine.
Let’s say you were to come up to an average gay person and say (after a pleasant conversation, of course), “Listen, God has a better way, and you really should stop living in sin by promoting the radical gay agenda” (or something to that effect, said in a caring tone).
What if they say, “I’m not promoting a gay agenda—I’m promoting my right to be accepted as an ordinary human being”? What do we say then? Do we insist that there is a gay agenda, and the devil is all behind it? (However true that may be.) Or is it probably better to not make such a huge fuss? Is that necessarily “compromising” our convictions? Consider this:
If they ask us if we think homosexuality is sinful, we should certainly be honest and uncompromising. Yes, it is sinful. There is no getting around that fact; the Bible is unambiguously clear, despite many attempts to assert otherwise. But so is gossip, lying, murdering, committing adultery, coveting, etc. The Bible does not devote much ink to the topic of homosexuality. Jesus never mentioned it, even though we He was certainly opposed to it (see Matthew 5:17-18; cf. Leviticus 18:22). Even Paul, who lived in a culture with rampant homosexuality, did not appear to be interested in campaigning against some “gay agenda.” To be sure, Paul mentioned homosexuality a few times, and he condemned it as sin, following the few verses in the Hebrew Scriptures which do the same. Please do not misunderstand me. I am NOT saying that performing homosexual acts is okay, or that we should not repent for such actions. The Scriptures are unambiguously clear on that. But I am saying that maybe we need to rethink the way we’re going about this.
Maybe it comes down to this: The Bible devotes A LOT of ink to sin, a whole lot to God’s wrath against it, and a whole lot to God’s abundant grace in spite of it, as well as to God’s expectation of holiness from believers. The Bible doesn’t say, “The wages of homosexuality is death.” No! “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). The Bible’s most important message is not narrowed down to one specific sin. It’s about mankind’s general rebellion against a holy God who mercifully sent His Son to be the ultimate Pesach Lamb on our behalf, that we might not experience that awful penalty of eternal death that we deserve if we believe in Him.
“So what?” Someone protests. “Homosexuality is sin!” Yes, but again, so is idolatry, gossip, lying, pornography, and other forms of sexual immorality (not just homosexuality). I know I’m not saying anything that comes as a surprise to anybody, but do we perhaps present ourselves as overzealously against ONE sin in particular of our popular culture? Might that unintentionally communicate that the biggest issue of Christianity is homosexuality? Maybe the gay pride proponents (just like everyone else) simply need a powerful presentation of the gospel both in word and deed. The gospel transforms lives. I’m NOT advocating that we need “saved” homosexuals who are continuing to celebrate their homosexuality. I’m saying we need people with transformed lives who want to live out the gospel and see people as “people,” not as “gay-rights activists.”
I’m tired of homosexuality often being the number one issue for American evangelicals. It’s not that I’m saying that we shouldn’t do peaceful demonstrations such as this. It’s more that I’m questioning whether we really need to do “demonstrations” at all. Can’t we just talk to people normally?
I’m not trying to be contentious. I’m just trying to understand how the institution of marriage is threatened unless we take political action. Is it the definition of marriage that’s threatened? Don’t evangelicals still have free speech? Can’t we still say on our own that marriage is between one man and one woman? (That, in and of itself, is controversial enough.) Do we have to prevent gay people from getting married in order to communicate that gay marriage is wrong? How does a gay person’s marriage threaten my heterosexual marriage? Which is a more powerful message—lobbying in an attempt to make gay marriage illegal, or simply being using our actions to lovingly share the gospel with people? What does Scripture say about this issue?
Ben,
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. I’m taking your post seriously, and will be responding in an article shortly, after discussing it with Dr. Brown.
Blessings,
Marcus French
Editor: Voice of Revolution
[...] following is part of a question posed by a commenter named Ben on our God Has a Better Way article: But I’m not so sure that [...]
Ben,
I shared some thoughts regarding part of your question at the link above. Could you explain what you mean by “seeing them as ‘the gay’” in the following?
Marcus,
Thanks so much for your follow-up. :-) Sorry about the late response:
I think what I meant by “the gay” is that (at least to me) it seems as though we’re setting up an “us vs. them” paradigm. They’re the gay rights “virus” over there, and we’re the good conservative Christians over here. I know we DON’T want to send a message like that.
If that’s still confusing, please let me know, and I’d be more than happy to try and clarify further.
Thanks again so much for your follow-up. :-)
God bless,
Ben
Marcus,
I feel like I need to retract a bit on the post I just made immediately above. Perhaps “radical gay agenda” can be used (I’m rethnking this). I’ve just heard it so much that it sounds impersonal to me, the way it’s often used. Perhaps it’s not the phrase itself that bothers me.
People can say that you and I are promoting a “radical Jesus agenda” with Christianity (and they would be right).
But here’s what I mean when I say ”seeing them as ‘the gay’” (which, I freely confess, was probably not the best wording): I’m skeptical that we can paint all gay-rights activists with a broad brush. That is, are all of them trying to put conservative Christians “back in the closet”? If not, then can we apply the term “radical gay agenda” to everyone who says they’re promoting gay rights? (I don’t think that either you or Dr. Brown have claimed that all gay-rights activits are the same, just to clarify. So I don’t mean to imply that you have said that. Please correct me if I’m misunderstanding what you’re saying.)
Thanks again for your response.
God bless,
Ben
Ben,
Thanks for further sharing your thoughts. Could you give some examples of gay activists pushing for gay rights that we wouldn’t see as “radical” in their agenda?
Hi, Marcus,
Note this post from a homosexual on this website:
“I just want to be treated as a human being with equal access to the same basic human righst as the next guy. I don’t need acceptance from all individuals of society, but i do need equality, not second tier status because members of society think i’m an abomination, against gods will, or a chemical abnormality” (taken from mississauga75’s comment on http://www.city-data.com/forum/politics-other-controversies/642377-teacher-bucks-homosexual-training-gets-suspended-29.html).
Also, note the description by this self-described “former homophobe” and non-Christian “male heterosexual” of the purpose of his website:
“My goal with this site has been simple. To tell heterosexuals that you don’t have to approve of homosexuality but you also don’t have to fear it. I define homophobia not as disagreement or theological differences but simply when you cross that line where you say that a certain group based on sexual orientation should be treated unfairly in our society including: limiting civil rights, limiting opportunities, comparing homosexuality with pedophilia and out and out hatred. You do this because you think the personal morals and the consensual sexual activities of others will affect you personally and those around you and possibly your country. This is irrational and this is a phobia” (taken from http://www.godhateshomophobes.com/mission_statement.php; however, this site is more of a reaction to Westboro Baptist Church, which is completely unlike Dr. Brown’s loving ministry).
He doesn’t seem to equate “homophobia” with “seeing homosexuality as sinful.”
I can give more examples if you want. Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner. I’ve been very busy.
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