CALIFORNIA OVERTURNS BAN ON GAY MARRIAGE!
Rev. Troy Perry Wins Landmark
Same-Sex Marriage Case
Today, the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of Rev. Troy Perry and husband, Phillip Ray De Blieck, overturning the ban on same-sex marriage in California.
"As we celebrate the decision of the California Supreme Court, let us also honor and celebrate Rev. Troy Perry for resisting his critics and boldly beliving that this day would come, " Rev. Dwayne said after hearing the news.
Rev. Troy commented, "Today the California Supreme Court ruled to legally recognize our marriage, which took place under Canadian law in Toronto, Canada, on July 16, 2003. The Court's ruling says that our marriage is not less than or different from other marriages in this country; the court ruled that our marriage is equal in the eyes of the law to all other marriages. We thank God that our prayers have been answered! This is a battle that our church, the Metropolitan Community Churches, has fought since I performed the first public same-sex wedding ceremony in the United States -- in Huntington Park, California, in 1969. Today we both give honor to God for this victory."
The cases involved in today's decision were brought to the court in March, 2004, after the California Supreme Court halted the same-sex marriages which had begun at the direction of Mayor Gavin Newsom, on his 36th day in office.
Resurrection is honored to have recently hosted Rev. Troy during our 36th Anniversary Celebration, as well as San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.
Following in the footsteps of Rev. Troy, and as part of the Metropolitan Community Church movement, Resurrection MCC continues to work with a passion for social justice on projects like the American Family Outing, a collaborative project to create dialogue between six of the nations largest mega-churches, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their families.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Newsletter May 2008
News From the Board
The January Board of Directors meeting was held in Palm Springs, hosted by Desert Oasis Chapel. Highlights from the meeting and updates on committee actions included a motion for the ECWR Treasurer to research and review need for a financial audit of ECWR records and to make a recommendation to the Board at the Spring 2008 Board Meeting.
The decision was made to hire a web content manager for the ECWR website. A list of names were collected, 4 people in all, and the CMO chair interviewed the candidates. The selected candidate is Robert Arrington. A little about Robert follows in the article, "Meet the Web Guy."
ConnECtion 2008 update included selecting the logo for the conference. Long time ECWR member, Dan Jackson, created the logo and brochure for us this year, Thank you Dan!! The logo and all related COnnECtion information is available on the website www.ecwr.org.
Discussion on moving the conference from the university setting to a hotel led to a motion to research the cost implication of moving to a hotel in the "off season" and report back to the board.
The Board Election Plan Committee reported work continues in finding people from the membership willing to serve on the committee. With 2 board position needing to be filed before conference this year, it was decided to write a letter of clarification on the election process and send it with the ballots this year. A forum to discuss this topic will be held at ConnECtion in an effort to gather membership input.
The next board meeting was set for April 11-13 in Denver.
ConnECtion 2008-One in the Spirit
On-Line registration is up and working at www.ecwr.org for ConnECtion 2008. Come join us in beautiful Washington State at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma. The general conference is July 10 -13 immediately following the Women's Retreat July 9 & 10.
ConnECtion is a time to gather and worship God with fellow gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Christian in a safe and freeing environment. Workshops and small groups provide many opportunities to connect with others and share our stories. Plan to come early or stay after and enjoy some of the best scenery in the US.
Women's Retreat Update
The Women's Retreat Keynoters Lee Thompson and Yolande Yaeger will not be able to join us this year. It was a difficult decision for them and they sincerely regret not being able to minister to the ECWR Women as planned. Please continue to keep Lee and Yolande in your prayers.
The Women's Retreat Coordinators are pleased to announce the keynoters for this year's Women's Retreat- Chadash Ministries. "...and you will be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord will designate." Isaiah 62:2. Chadash Ministries, based in Long Beach, California, was co-founded in 1991 by Anita Gibbins and Carol Bittmann. As a ministry, our mission is committed to assist individuals toward healing and wholeness of being, through relationship with Jesus Christ, and to develop an awareness of God's love, grace and acceptance, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation.
The January Board of Directors meeting was held in Palm Springs, hosted by Desert Oasis Chapel. Highlights from the meeting and updates on committee actions included a motion for the ECWR Treasurer to research and review need for a financial audit of ECWR records and to make a recommendation to the Board at the Spring 2008 Board Meeting.
The decision was made to hire a web content manager for the ECWR website. A list of names were collected, 4 people in all, and the CMO chair interviewed the candidates. The selected candidate is Robert Arrington. A little about Robert follows in the article, "Meet the Web Guy."
ConnECtion 2008 update included selecting the logo for the conference. Long time ECWR member, Dan Jackson, created the logo and brochure for us this year, Thank you Dan!! The logo and all related COnnECtion information is available on the website www.ecwr.org.
Discussion on moving the conference from the university setting to a hotel led to a motion to research the cost implication of moving to a hotel in the "off season" and report back to the board.
The Board Election Plan Committee reported work continues in finding people from the membership willing to serve on the committee. With 2 board position needing to be filed before conference this year, it was decided to write a letter of clarification on the election process and send it with the ballots this year. A forum to discuss this topic will be held at ConnECtion in an effort to gather membership input.
The next board meeting was set for April 11-13 in Denver.
ConnECtion 2008-One in the Spirit
On-Line registration is up and working at www.ecwr.org for ConnECtion 2008. Come join us in beautiful Washington State at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma. The general conference is July 10 -13 immediately following the Women's Retreat July 9 & 10.
ConnECtion is a time to gather and worship God with fellow gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Christian in a safe and freeing environment. Workshops and small groups provide many opportunities to connect with others and share our stories. Plan to come early or stay after and enjoy some of the best scenery in the US.
Women's Retreat Update
The Women's Retreat Keynoters Lee Thompson and Yolande Yaeger will not be able to join us this year. It was a difficult decision for them and they sincerely regret not being able to minister to the ECWR Women as planned. Please continue to keep Lee and Yolande in your prayers.
The Women's Retreat Coordinators are pleased to announce the keynoters for this year's Women's Retreat- Chadash Ministries. "...and you will be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord will designate." Isaiah 62:2. Chadash Ministries, based in Long Beach, California, was co-founded in 1991 by Anita Gibbins and Carol Bittmann. As a ministry, our mission is committed to assist individuals toward healing and wholeness of being, through relationship with Jesus Christ, and to develop an awareness of God's love, grace and acceptance, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation.
Throughout their ministry together, Anita and Carol have been blessed with many opportunities to minister at churches and conferences throughout the United States as well as in the Philippines.. Utilizing workshops, drama, music and prayer, they are committed to sharing God's unconditional love and healing. In addition to ministry, both Anita and Carol have enjoyed careers as social workers in various fields of practice.
Anita is currently the Director of the Women's and Men's Resource Center at Long Beach City College and also teaches courses on campus. Carol is a full time faculty member at CSU Dominguez Hills in their Masters in Social Work Program. Anita and Carol have been life partners for over 20 years and have 3 daughters, 5 grandchildren and a Golden Retriever, named Zoe, who has them wrapped around her paw.
Meet Robert Arrington - The Web Dude
Robert Arrington our "web dude" has lived a unordinary life. Raised in El Paso, Texas he grew up with a dream to travel the world. When Robert graduated from high school he relocated to Scotland where he served in full time Christian ministry with Youth with a Mission. A few years later, his singing talent landed him in one of England's premier Christian rock bands. Over the course of 10 years his ministry took him on many roads including Mexico, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Spain and even a year in Iceland!
After completing his ministry service, Robert returned to the USA and moved to Southern California where his vocal talents gave him the opportunity to pursue his musical talents as worship leader, Jazz singer and a lead vocalist in the Orange County Gay Men's Chorus.
Robert also began to pursue graphic and web design and created his own design business. While in Southern California, Robert met Dr. Nick Warner, then president of ECWR. In 2003 Dr. Warner commissioned Robert to create the website for their new church Desert Oasis Chapel. It was through Desert Oasis Fellowship that we found out about Robert.
While living in Iceland, Robert caught the northern bug and after several years in California he went on vacation to Alaska and fell in love with the 49th State. He loaded up his belongings and drove to Anchorage, Alaska, where he lives today.
Robert's unique blend of artistic talent, spiritual and global perspectives and web savvy lead him to create a business called Zen Designworks, where he specializes in graphic and web design, web development and search engine marketing. Robert particularly enjoys working with organizations who have a spiritual, social and artistic purpose. His clients include
- The Anchorage Fur Rendezvous (furrondy.net), North America's largest winter festival
- Desert Oasis Chapel Palm Springs (desertoasischapel.com),
- The Alaska Film Group (alaskafilmgroup.org)
and numerous websites for corporations, musicians, artists, GLBT communities and spiritual seekers. Robert's Website is still under construction but can be viewed at www.zendesignworks.com.
Ask the Board
We want to hear from you! One of the reasons we moved to an electronic newsletter on monthly format is to increase the amount of communication and interaction with the membership. Moving forward the membership will be receiving notifications of upcoming board meetings. Board of Director Meetings are open to all members and we encourage members to come and get more involved with the organizations.
We are here to serve you as members and together build a ministry to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender Christian Community helping all to reconcile their sexual orientation with their Christian beliefs and grow in Christ. Feel free to contact the board and ask us questions, suggest activities and just get more involved. Email the board at ecwr@ecwr.org.
Meet Robert Arrington - The Web Dude
Robert Arrington our "web dude" has lived a unordinary life. Raised in El Paso, Texas he grew up with a dream to travel the world. When Robert graduated from high school he relocated to Scotland where he served in full time Christian ministry with Youth with a Mission. A few years later, his singing talent landed him in one of England's premier Christian rock bands. Over the course of 10 years his ministry took him on many roads including Mexico, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Spain and even a year in Iceland!
After completing his ministry service, Robert returned to the USA and moved to Southern California where his vocal talents gave him the opportunity to pursue his musical talents as worship leader, Jazz singer and a lead vocalist in the Orange County Gay Men's Chorus.
Robert also began to pursue graphic and web design and created his own design business. While in Southern California, Robert met Dr. Nick Warner, then president of ECWR. In 2003 Dr. Warner commissioned Robert to create the website for their new church Desert Oasis Chapel. It was through Desert Oasis Fellowship that we found out about Robert.
While living in Iceland, Robert caught the northern bug and after several years in California he went on vacation to Alaska and fell in love with the 49th State. He loaded up his belongings and drove to Anchorage, Alaska, where he lives today.
Robert's unique blend of artistic talent, spiritual and global perspectives and web savvy lead him to create a business called Zen Designworks, where he specializes in graphic and web design, web development and search engine marketing. Robert particularly enjoys working with organizations who have a spiritual, social and artistic purpose. His clients include
- The Anchorage Fur Rendezvous (furrondy.net), North America's largest winter festival
- Desert Oasis Chapel Palm Springs (desertoasischapel.com),
- The Alaska Film Group (alaskafilmgroup.org)
and numerous websites for corporations, musicians, artists, GLBT communities and spiritual seekers. Robert's Website is still under construction but can be viewed at www.zendesignworks.com.
Ask the Board
We want to hear from you! One of the reasons we moved to an electronic newsletter on monthly format is to increase the amount of communication and interaction with the membership. Moving forward the membership will be receiving notifications of upcoming board meetings. Board of Director Meetings are open to all members and we encourage members to come and get more involved with the organizations.
We are here to serve you as members and together build a ministry to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender Christian Community helping all to reconcile their sexual orientation with their Christian beliefs and grow in Christ. Feel free to contact the board and ask us questions, suggest activities and just get more involved. Email the board at ecwr@ecwr.org.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Welcome to Our Blog!
Welcome to the ECWR Blog! This is the very first entry of our new forum where you, as a member of our community, can tell us your own story, share your insight, give us your hard-earned wisdom, lift up a brother or sister in need and form lasting friendships that may just last a lifetime.
It is our hope that the ECWR blog will become a place of encouragement and fellowship for our family. This is YOUR blog, so feel free to contribute.
We at ECWR know that our community is blessed with talent. If you have the gift of writing and a desire to minister to others, we encourage you to participate, lead discussions, introduce topics, tell a good story to give us that much needed chicken soup for the soul.
Just a rules for the road.... to keep this a safe place for our community, we will monitor the postings on this forum, and we will endeavor to keep our blog a place of positive, rich content. Therefore we discourage any postings that have a negative, offensive or discouraging overtone. We hope that each of our postings will serve as a way to encourage and uplift our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Happy Reading and Blessed Writing!
Robert
Your ECWR Forum Moderator
It is our hope that the ECWR blog will become a place of encouragement and fellowship for our family. This is YOUR blog, so feel free to contribute.
We at ECWR know that our community is blessed with talent. If you have the gift of writing and a desire to minister to others, we encourage you to participate, lead discussions, introduce topics, tell a good story to give us that much needed chicken soup for the soul.
Just a rules for the road.... to keep this a safe place for our community, we will monitor the postings on this forum, and we will endeavor to keep our blog a place of positive, rich content. Therefore we discourage any postings that have a negative, offensive or discouraging overtone. We hope that each of our postings will serve as a way to encourage and uplift our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Happy Reading and Blessed Writing!
Robert
Your ECWR Forum Moderator
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