Several of our authors recently attended the inaugural Revoice conference in St. Louis: a gathering for sexual minorities in the church. Here are our thoughts on the (controversial?) conference we experienced together.
The slog of waking up to my drab mundane life takes a sharp turn for the better, and I am suddenly filled with hope and optimism. The world is not so scary anymore. How on earth did I live without this hope before? I attended this year's YOBBERS retreat, and my mind is spinning over what I just saw and experienced.
We recently celebrated our faithful Patreon community, our YOBBERS, with an inaugural retreat. 47 guys from literally all over the world united for a weekend in the mountains, and we had a fantastic time together. Several of our core authors attended the YOBBERS retreat, and we recently debriefed our weekend together.
My biggest fear was that my best friend was going to force our friendship to end all because of this girl, pushing me away from his life. It was the fear that whatever friendship we'd built in the past he was willing to tear down, trample to the ground, and pretend that I never existed at all.
It's the final episode of our Five Values series! Our editor, Tom, discusses his personal journey of vulnerability from attending a conference to writing a book to cofounding this very blog. Additionally, he affirms the role vulnerability plays in each of our stories — whether we're publicly "out" or not.
I would be coming out to my family over dinner. I told them that I wasn't planning on changing the course of my faith. I explained that I was telling them because I planned to tell even more people. I told them that if I wanted to talk about it again I’d be the one to bring it up, and I stood up and left.
In this episode of Manly Monday, Tom dives into the fourth of our five YOB values — courage. A value that goes hand-in-hand with our final value, vulnerability. In order to embrace vulnerability, however, one must first take courage. Watch as Tom talks about rollercoasters, public speaking, and Holy Spirit promptings.
You shouldn't have to hide you are. You should be able to be honest about every part of yourself and be accepted and loved for it. And your friends and family should be the biggest supporters of your life as you do so.
As I entered into ministry, I knew my SSA could end it all in one swift move. I hoped that instead of being rejected I would be loved. I hoped that people would notice their prejudice and change once they met me. I spent much time in prayer -- but also smoking.
All these ups and downs often caused me emotional pain. I had to take risks rather than stay safe and comfortable. My SSA made me feel weak and ineffective around all these straight guys. These painful things tested my friendship with James, too.