Left:
Jose Ortiz, Other
Sheep
Coordinator for
Africa, Asia, and
Latinas/os-USA.


Right:
Rev. Gus
Vinajeras, Saint
Matthew Church,
ELCA, Union City,
NJ.
Pastor Gus is a long time friend of Other Sheep.  
His ELCA church is a Welcoming Church
Above:  Other Sheep Display Table

The Joy of Discovery!

There is a story behind this picture (at
left).

This picture was taken just moments
after Jose Ortiz (left) and Ken
Pennings (right) made a surprising
discovery:  They both did their
undergrad  work at Columbia Bible
College of South Carolina.

"I've never met another LGBT person
from my college,"  said Ken.  "This is a
first for which I've been waiting."
Above:  Mr. & Mrs. Michael J. Mostello, Jr.
Drexel Hill Baptist Church
Minister to Seniors
Above:  Jose Ortiz, top left, leads a
small group
Left: An AWAB
friend from Main
Far Left:
Pastor Gus Vinajeras with
Ken Pennings in front of
Gus' church, Saint Matthew
Church, ELCA, Union City,
NJ.
Left:
Stain Class Window from the
Saint Matthew Church, Union
City, NJ.
This
website is
an official
website of
Other
Sheep
Ken Pennings
Executive Director of
Association of Welcoming
And Affirming Baptists
(AWAB)
Closing
Thought:
 We are
all a part
of the
rainbow.
Steve Parelli, Left,  Executive Director
of Other Sheep, with Ken Pennings
You can see
the joy
radiating
from their
smiling faces
. . . like
separated
brothers
united for
the first time.
Jose Ortiz, Other Sheep
Coordinator for Africa, Asia,
Latinas/os-USA
Ken
Pennings,
Association
of
Welcoming
and
Affirming
Baptists
(AWAB)
Executive
Director
Friday morning we shared "Our
Journeys from Pain to Power" in small
groups.
Below:
Steve
Parelli,
left, leads
a small
group
Rev. Gus Vinajeras
leads a small group
Dr. Jeri E. Williams & Dr. Lawrence A. Williams
Drexel Hill Baptist Church Pastors, Drexel Hill, PA
Terri, left, and Shelley Dugan, right, and their son
Anthony
1
2
3
4
5
6
Left Center:
Chris Comier,
Community
Organize,
Empire State
Pride Agenda,
talks with Ken
Pennings, left,
while Pastor
Gus Vinajeras
looks on

Left:
Jose Ortiz,
left, and
Michael
Mostello, Jr.,
right
Gus' Fish,
Union
City, NJ
Late Friday Afternoon Free Time:
Pastor Gus Vinajeras has an urgent need - he has to feed his fish back in
Union City, NJ.  So, he invites Ken Pennings to New Jersey for a breath taking
view of New York City, to tour his Church, and to eat out together.  Gus invites
Steve Parelli and Jose Ortiz to join them.  (Now you know how we got that great
picture of Ken Pennings with the Manhattan skyline, see at top of page.)


Continue . . .

"You used to be so close to me and so real a companion in all my yesteryears.  It
was here at the communion table where I would constantly reaffirm before you my
desire to please and serve you and to maintain my struggle against my
homosexual desires.

"You always assured me your presence and help in this secret battle of mine.  
There was a sweetness in your voice as I felt you draw near and care for me as no
one else could, for others knew me not like you did, nor could they have, for I was
a closeted homosexual.  I had to be.  There was no safety outside the closet.

"But you were there.  You always cared.

"So why am I now so halting in this our relationship, O Lord.  Now that I am open
and affirming of my homosexuality, and knowing that You are too.

"It is for this very reason:  I have built our relationship, I tell myself, on this false
premise: that to act upon my homosexual orientation is morally wrong; and I had
invited you into relationship with me upon this notion and commitment.  If then on a
false premise, how could it have been a relationship to begin with at all; and now
on what premise do I have a relationship with you since the dynamic between us
that built so bonding, so trusting a relationship was all a sad misunderstanding.

"What real rituals of friendship have we established, then?  What patterns of
praying and scripture meditation and longings for each other do we presently
embrace if the former patterns of loving and knowing one another were all
misplaced on a battle that never needed fighting?

"How do I know how to build relationship with you, if all I built with you was on the
wrong premise?

"Was I even in a day-to-day, moment-by-moment relationship  with you at all, O
Lord . . .?"

I ended my speaking and I wept.  My eight years of unlearning . . .  and now more
unlearning.

My mind in all of this is ahead of my heart.  It is my heart now that I need to
respond in love and faith.  My mind speaks to my heart all its reasonings so that
my heart should know by now that God is near; but when will my heart speak to my
spirit?  When my heart can speak again on its own, and not just consent to my
mind its reasons, then will my spirit be restored.

Then He spoke and He asked me, "What do you see?"

"Your back side, Lord," I answered.  "Very close and very near to me . . . so close
I can reach out and touch you."

"You, see," He said to me.  "I have always been here in relationship with you all
these years.  Do not doubt that."

And I looked and I saw that he was still there, so near to me.

"Only," he said.  "It was my backside you did see all this time.  Now, look," He
said as He began to slowly turn on his heel toward me.  "I am just as near as
always, but now it is not my backside that you see but my face.  Let's look at one
another face to face and continue in our friendship, my dear one.   I have always
been here, but now it is not my backside you see but my face."

And in my minds eye He turned toward me, though not a step closer, for he was
as close to me as he had ever been, only now it was not his backside, but his front
side.  The same voice, the same presence, the same form, the same nearness . .
. only now his front side.

February 24,2006
Madison Ave. Baptist Church, Manhattan, New York
My journey on this date and in this place, Steve Parelli

I bowed my head
in silent prayer
to prepare
myself to
partake of the
elements of the
Lord's Table.

"Lord, I am
here," I silently
prayed.  "But I
don't know how
to be in
relationship with
you like I used
to. . .
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