IRVING—A panel at the SBTC’s Empower conference Feb. 25 affirmed clarity and grace in churches’ responses to issues of gender confusion.

Moderated by Lance Crowell, SBTC church ministries associate, the panel featured Cindy Asmussen, SBTC Ethics and Religious Liberty advisor; Wes Hamilton, pastor of Fort Worth’s Hulen Street Church, and Robert Lopez, professor of humanities at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Raised by a lesbian couple, Lopez formerly identified as gay but has renounced the lifestyle. He and his wife, married since 2001, have two children.

All panelists suggested gender confusion has roots in the elevation of self-image over the acceptance of humans as created in God’s image.

Even the innocuous character Elsa in Disney’s “Frozen” becomes a paradigm of the “sovereign self” when she sings, “No right, no wrong, no rules for me / I’m free,” Hamilton proposed.

Lopez, who said he was “initiated into gay sex at 13,” described a “gay movement” or “network,” employing tactics convincing young people of their LGBT orientation because they are different or bullied.

“People are not born gay. You can change. People get out of it all the time,” Lopez said.

When individuals come into churches convinced they are gay, Lopez urged giving them time to “slowly reveal what is really going on.” Most times, gay males will not tell the whole story because of the shame and pain associated with homosexuality.

Teenagers who claim to be gay are often victims committed to protecting their abusers, Lopez added, calling the situation “tough” for churches required to report abuse but unable to convince the abused to tell the whole story.

Asked about assumptions regarding masculine v. feminine stereotypes, Lopez referenced Genesis: “biblically, God created us male and female,” but admitted that “another layer of stereotypes about masculinity and femininity” obscures the issue.

Lopez said he was recruited into the gay scene because he was effeminate. He lisped. Schoolmates made fun of him, raising his profile to predators.

“I didn’t have a dad. I acted like a girl,” he said. “When you are 13 and getting made fun of…you are very vulnerable to messages from older people.”

Excessive focus on traditional masculine and feminine stereotypes encourages insecurity, Lopez said. Teasing fuels feelings of inadequacy, rendering youngsters susceptible to adults who assert, “Look, you’re gay. I can tell. I’m gay.”

Lopez recommended parents celebrate their children’s non-traditional gifts and talents, such as encouraging a sensitive, artistic son to pursue art.

“Don’t sexualize it,” Lopez said, mentioning his daughter, who likes taekwondo, an activity he encourages. Successes boost confidence, rendering kids less vulnerable to questioning their sexuality.

Churches can be at fault promoting “rigid gender stereotypes,” Hamilton noted, mentioning student ministries that seek out popular kids—football players and cheerleaders “so others will come”—rather than embracing teens with diverse interests.

“David was a man. He wed Bathsheba. He killed a giant. But he also wrote poetry and played a harp,” Hamilton said, suggesting student ministries must transcend the typical and create safe places where kids can be who they are. He called for churches to teach the “broader idea of masculinity and femininity as represented in the Bible” rather than rigid stereotyping.

Lopez said the LGBT acronym, which actually lumps together very different characteristics, springs from the gay male movement’s determination to promote gay sex as normal.

“Homosexuality and transgenderism both come from a denial of the biological reality,” he added.

Asked about current movements toward “Christian transgenderism,” Asmussen called them attempts to create a theological justification for humans to “self -create” regardless of biology. Such attempts distort Scripture to justify inclusion.

Hamilton described the church’s proper response to transgender individuals, some of whom have attended Hulen Street while transitioning.

“My first response is I am going to thank God that they are there,” Hamilton said, praising the courage it takes for transitioning individuals to come to church.

“I want to surprise them with love and grace,” Hamilton said. “Look at how Jesus interacted with the individuals. Jesus never fell back into a formula. He never went back into a rote presentation of the gospel. He had the [supernatural] ability to look right into the heart of that person.”

Hamilton urged the church to do this “relationally” with LGBT persons, calling for open conversation, listening and patience, without forsaking biblical clarity.

“The times I went to churches that were more biblical, I went there because I knew something was going wrong,” Lopez said. “I wanted to be free.”

But negativity stymied his recovery. Conservatives had little positive to say about heterosexuality but only condemned homosexuality.

Some transgenders will come to your church because they know they are wrong and want help. Others will be convinced they are right and want the church to change, Lopez said. With the former, he recommended being “your cheerful, Christ-loving self,” offering hope and practical advice. With the latter, he said, “You have to go into the conversation realizing that this person might not have a future in your church. They might walk away. You have to tell them the truth.”

Peace is essential, but not peace at any cost, said Hamilton, adding that the “terms of reconciliation” with the Lord, themselves and others, must be clearly presented to transgender individuals.

“You cannot opt for silence,” Lopez said. “You cannot avoid the issue. Silence is deadly,” he added, noting the error of pastors who claim to “opt more for love than for truth.”

Asmussen also cautioned against complacency, warning that a dire outcome of normalizing gender dysfunction may even be the acceptance of pedophilia, “the next domino in identity politics to fall.”

She further commented on current legislation regarding gender identity, including bills filed by Texas Democrats to amend the state’s civil practices and amenities and property and labor codes by forbidding discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, changes which could force government contractors and faith-based colleges, shelters, businesses, therapists and medical professionals to violate their religious views.

Note: The SBTC is hosting a complimentary Gender, Identity and the Family event on April 4 to help church leaders. For more details, go to www.sbtexas.com/family.

IRVING—Hip-hop artist Trip Lee of Dallas opened the Monday evening session of the Feb. 25-26 Empower Conference asking the audience to consider “the one person who knew exactly what he was sent to Earth to do and did it to perfection.”

“If we are to be the mouthpiece of Jesus, we need to fully understand who Jesus is,” Lee said, turning to 1 Timothy 1:15-16 for the job description given by God.

“Jesus’ main work was with sinners,” he said. Lee added that Jesus isn’t looking for players with particular strengths or gifts. “Jesus has a reverse kind of draft. He’s not here to team up with people who have it all together, but picks those who don’t. I’m tempted to think I’m not good enough for Jesus, but this text reminds us we are exactly the kind of person Jesus came for.”

The passage also points to the extremes to which God’s grace extends as Jesus shows mercy to even the worst sinners. “We think that maybe God likes moderation in who he saved. Paul did terrible things,” Lee recounted. “None of us can drift so far or do things so terrible that Jesus can’t save us,” he added, describing how God’s patience and generosity was on display in the mercy shown toward Paul.

“Jesus’ job description ties in with yours,” Lee concluded. “Focus on the grace and patience and mercy of Jesus. As you embrace that for your own life it will overflow for you to share it.”

Author Lee Strobel told the Empower Conference crowd, “If you’re motivated to engage with people about Jesus, prioritize that in your life, and are prepared to do that, you never know what kind of unexpected adventures God will take you on.”

Recounting the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, Strobel identified ways churches can be stronger salt and brighter light in the 21^st Century. If Jesus was physically living in his house, Strobel said he believes he not only would talk to his neighbor about their heavenly Father, but he would talk to the Father about his neighbor.

Strobel remembered being asked if Jesus physically appeared to him and said he was going to answer every single prayer he had prayed last week, would there be anyone new in the kingdom tomorrow?

“Get your church together and you all agree to pray for one lost friend for one minute at one o’clock every day between now and Easter,” he proposed, including prayer for an opportunity to invite the person to come to Easter services.

Jesus would also leave the door open for questions, Strobel said. “So many of the lost people in our community have spiritual sticking points, questions and doubts in their journey toward God. We are to be prepared to give an answer. We have a defensible faith,” he reminded, pleading with believers to teach children from a young age to stand firmly on the truth of Christ. 

“As we learn to share that truth in a culture that’s increasingly skeptical and hostile toward the gospel, God is going to take us on a series of unexpected adventures that are going to be the joys of our life.” 

D. A. Horton, pastor of Reach Fellowship in North Long Beach, Cal., closed out the session expressing concern that overall declines in evangelism and baptisms reflect a lack of enthusiasm about Christ. In proclaiming believers to be the salt of the earth, Jesus is talking to “every single kingdom citizen,” he said.

Horton said the command is ongoing and imperative as Jesus calls believers to be his agents of both “purity and preservation,” salt in a lost world. As for Jesus’ comparing believers to a “city on a hill,” Horton called the church “the visible marketing plan for God’s kingdom” where faith in Jesus unites diverse people to create a community attractive to unbelievers.

“The world has questions and we have Scripture. It’s time we engage their questions with Scripture,” Horton said, encouraging believers to “reflect Jesus” and prompt lost people to ask, “‘What must I do to know Christ like you?’”

Reporting by Tammi Ledbetter and Jane Rodgers