ENC Assignment 1 Summary

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Palm Beach State College *

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1101

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Arts Humanities

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Apr 3, 2024

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Gayla Hill ENC 1101 Assignment 1 Summary February 11 th , 2024 “How a Bible-Belt Evangelical Church Embraced Gay Rights” Nicole Pasulka's web article "How a Bible Belt Evangelical Church Embraced Gay Rights" first appeared in January 2015 on TakePart, a digital news outlet from Participant Media. Pusulka is a "New York-based award-winning researcher, reporter, and writer." (Lunsford et al.549). She wrote this article to give the thought-provoking perspective of Dale Wigden, who is a gay man seeking acceptance inside of the Christian church, but also the progression of inclusion within the church. Wigden is 40 years of age and was brought up in an exceptionally strict Baptist family beyond Rochester, NY. Because of his family's fervent religious opinions and failed attempts at interventions, he eventually moved away and settled in Nashville, TN, in 2012. Upon Wigden settling in Nashville, he came across Grace Pointe Church, which was located in the town of Franklin. The town of Franklin was predominately white and uncompromisingly conservative. Grace Pointe was a church of many denominations with about 1,500 members at the time. Wigden was initially intrigued by the unique spelling of "Pointe" in the name but also apprehensive if the church would be accepting of his homosexual lifestyle. During his first visit, the worship pastor, Pastor Melissa Greene, delivered a message and said, "It does not matter what you have done or who you are; you were born beloved by God." This message resonated with Wigden, and he was captivated from then on. While the leadership at

Grace Pointe focused their attention on loving people and being supportive of people asking questions and expressing their own viewpoints, they were as yet encircled by customary or conventional convictions and ways of behaving. The congregation at Grace Pointe could agree that everyone sins; they were still very divided on what they believed counted as sin. Although the church stands firm on its position of what is right and wrong, they are now making a stand and speaking up for gay rights. Other churches are also starting to support the LGBT community publicly. For example, the Mormon church in Utah issued a statement that advised conservative groups not to overlook openly gay people. (Lunsford et al. 550). Another example of support came from a large church outside Seattle, Eastlake Community Church. They have 13 services across multiple campuses, and they made it widely known that they would be LGBT-Inclusive. (Lunsford et al. 551). Many others also declared they would be supporting the LGBT community as well as same-sex marriages. When he first began attending Grace Pointe, Wigden was upfront with his lifestyle choice. Even though they welcomed him and other LGBT people, they were not allowed to hold any leadership roles or have wedding ceremonies despite their illusion of inclusivity. Around this time, famous Country singer and Grace Pointe member Carrie Underwood told a UK newspaper that Grace Pointe was "gay friendly." (Lunsford et al. 550). With Underwood offering that expression, it set out a freedom for the congregation to initiate this intriguing topic. In August of 2012, Pastor Stan Mitchell dedicated five services to not only preaching on the topic of homosexuality but also opening the door for transparent conversation. Subsequently, Grace Pointe lost roughly twenty percent of its members following these services. The loss of so many members did not stop the church from continuing its mission of inclusion. However, in turn, it

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