Exclusive! Andy Stanley’s Children Ministry Overrun and Led by Pro-LBGTQ+ Activists
Not only did Andy Stanley participate in a private, shocking Q&A where he offered some heretical hot takes on homosexuality, but for years one of his children’s ministries has been promoting and partnering with pro-LBGTQ+ organizations.
Debbie Causey is a long-tenured pastrix at North Point Community Church and the director of their Care network of ministries. Years ago, after her son came out as gay, she wrote the book The Big Reveal: Loving Your LGBTQ+ Child While Strengthening Your Faith, which details her experiences handling her son’s revelations. The book is filled with bad theology and sly innuendo. Watch as she pits Paul against Jesus as it pertains to speaking truth to LGBTQ+ folk, something she learned by watching Stanley’s example.
Prominent gay activist Justin Lee wrote the forward of her book, and she has his endorsement on her website. Causey speaks at pro-LBGTQ+ events such as Q Christian conferences, where she is frequently joined by Amy Blakeslee, a leader at North Point.
The Care Network has nine ministries under it, including financial mentorship, divorce recovery, premarital mentorship, crisis response, and Parent Connect.
Where did Parent Connect come from? Amy Blakeslee is the Director of Parent Connect, and she explains the origins in her Q Conference bio.
Hello! My name is Amy. I identify as gay, my pronouns are she/her, and I’m the proud parent of three adult kids, one of whom also identifies as gay. Over the past ten years I had the privilege of meeting with hundreds of parents of LGBTQ+ children through my position on the Care staff at North Point Community Church.
As more and more parents reached out to the church for support, I began meeting with them in their homes. Parent Connect was birthed, one of the first church-based ministries in the nation created specifically for Christian parents of LGBTQ+ kids.
Parent Connect exists to “inspire parents of LGBTQ+ children to follow Jesus by providing a safe environment where they can experience community and personal growth.” This is done through a series of meetings, get-togethers, mentorship, and curriculum studies with parents and their gay or trans kids. Recently, they had Queer Eye for the Straight Guy icon Mama Tammye in as a guest speaker and teacher.
As part of Parent Connect, North Point Church frequently partners with Embracing the Journey ministry, making it an integral part of her curriculum. According to Causey, they refer all out-of-state inquiries to them, and it has their unreserved support. Causey explains in an endorsement video:
“We partner with them, (Embracing the Journey) by sending many couples that cannot attend locally a Parent Connect group. And I trust them completely what they teach these parents, and how they care for these parents, and it has become a ministry that is crucial to supporting parents of LBGTQ folks like myself
….Greg and Lynn are fantastic, empathic, safe people that will lead you towards a better relationship with God…They are a support, and their ministry is life-saving and life-changing. So just wanted to let you know that we are big fans of Greg and Lynn and Embracing the Journey and we hope that you will experience that as well.
The church recommends it as a trusted resource for congregants wishing to find answers and advice when their child comes out as LBGTQ+, along with navigating the emotional and spiritual complexities that the news brings. North Point Community Church has hosted Embracing the Journey conferences in the past, and currently has planned future events with the organization.
Embracing the Journey ministry is run by Greg and Lynn McDonald. They are a husband and wife team who are both long-term members at North Point, as well as leaders in Parent Connect.
While Embracing the Journey is unreservedly recommended by Parent Connect, many at North Point would be shocked to learn that it is an openly “affirming” pro-LBGTQ+ ministry and routinely partners with aggressive pro-LBGTQ activist organizations like The Reformation Project, which seek to advance full LGBTQ+ inclusion in the church.
Furthermore, all their resources are affirming, like books on why the church is wrong to condemn homosexuality, why the bible does not condemn homosexuality, and why queerness is a gift, not a sin. Affirming the Church is, in every word, thoroughly compromised. They teach children to love and accept themselves for who they are, because their sexual identity will never change. Because it won’t change, it must be celebrated.
But it’s not just Greg and Lynn’s involvement at North Point that is problematic. One of Embracing the Journey’s board of directors is Michael Systma. He has appeared with North Point staffer Ryan Gray on the church’s Care Network several times as a teacher.
Another board member is Kat Tindol, who serves with the Care team at Parent Connect at North Point Community Church.
And last, there is Brian Nietzel, an open and unapologetically affirming Gay Christian. Nietzel has been involved with North Point in some capacity, speaking at a Parent Connect event with Lynn McDonald a few months ago.
Crucially, Nietzel also founded the Renovus Network, a pro-LBGTQ+ advocacy group whose mission is to “Connect LGBTQ+ individuals to reclaim and develop their relationship with Jesus” and who envision “a world where no one has to choose between their faith and sexual orientation or gender identity.”
Along with Nietzel, Renovus was co-funded by Gregory Cook, who serves on the board of Directors. Cook has been a leader with the North Point Community Church Production team for the last 13 years. He’s joined on the board by the aforementioned North Point Pastrix Debbie Causey and Affirming the Journey’s Greg McDonald.
Other board members include Sabdi Harman Waldrop, Keith Wilson, and Cortland Russell.
Cortland Russell is an open and unrepentant gay man. A few years ago, he was baptized at Buckhead Church, one of Northpoint’s Community Chuch campuses, despite it being widely known he was unapologetically gay. He writes this in a Facebook event about his baptism that he was encouraged by Causey and Cook to do so:
“Gregory Cook, Chip Fincher, Debbie Causey, Sandi Harman-Waldrop, Marissa Harrison, my LGBTQ small group, my Starting Point Group, and so many more people – you all have walked with me through this journey consistently showing me what it means to be a true Christian and how I could both honor my authenticly queer identity and have faith in Christ as my Lord and Savior.”
North Point Community Church’s ministry to LBGTQ children and parents is overrun by affirming activists in the highest positions of leadership, and they have a long-standing practice of recommending and partnering with counselling and resources from pro-LBGTQ+ organizations.
Stanley knows all about this, but do the people of North Point?
About Author
The two greatest commandments are all about love. And we all know love is all-encompassing and merciful.
Jesus said in John 14:15 if you love God you will keep His commandments. Keeping in mind that God is holy, the Bible has clearly defined sin. So if we refuse to confront sin, we are in disobedience to God and cannot partake with Him.
Yes, and to add to your comment, for others who may read, Jesus specifically addressed that in Matt. 7
“21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
One of Jesus’ commandments is to do the will of the Father. For those who try to claim that God the Father and God the Son are somehow in disagreement on certain sins, Jesus made it clear that He and the Father are one (Jn. 10:30), and there are no disagreements. God, being perfect, does not change. His Word does not change. Homosexuality is an abomination, always has been, and always will be.
Jesus: Love everyone.
tekton: Here’s a long-winded response explaining why I won’t.
Jesus hates sin. He will judge according to His Word. And the unrepentant will spend eternity in Hell.
If I hated you, I wouldn’t be telling you the truth. If I hated you I wouldn’t be warning you of eternal damnation that awaits you. Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 1 Cor. 13:6
Jesus’ definition of love is completely different from yours.
We know for a fact that some of those running Protestia are unvaxxed and support domestic terrorism. Know we have reported this and your churches to the FBI and will not stop until you are shut down and arrested
Hey Johnny, is that you? Where are your little retarded flags of sexual confusion/mental illness?
How many blood clots have you accumulated as a guinea pig for big pharma? Any strokes yet?
So many questions…
And your point is…
Unvaxxed is a good thing and a very smart thing. This has been proven time and time again. Domestic terrorism? You mean they support Black Lives Matter Inc and/or Antifa? I doubt that. Hopefully they support all the parents who are standing up against the school boards for trying to groom their children into LGBTQ perversion.
Seems to be a nearly non-existent reverent fear of God from a large number who claim to be Christians. Fashioning a religion according to personal preferences is the epitome of idolatry, and yet a lack of reverent fear of God causes this to become a small matter in the minds of many. As was stated above, “depart from me for I never knew you.” That should cause fear if nothing else does.
Well said and 100% accurate.
Is there any doubt we are living in the last days?
Wow, great work. I saw they are doing a conference next fall, but couldn’t find evidence that it wasn’t just about being loving but still calling sin what it is. I’ll check out these statements.
As is always the case, success breeds hatred. Andy Stanley is the founding pastor of North Point Ministries, the parent organization of the 8 North Point Community of churches in Atlanta and 100’s more around the country and world.
I began attending NPCC in January 2002. I accepted Christ on Easter 2002, but Andy spoke to me in every service. I could no longer live without Christ. The journey to today has been wild.
I find all these attacks on Andy Stanley and North Point to be quite disturbing, as I have a long relationship with the organization.
Andy is not shy about wading into topics most pastors wouldn’t touch. I’ve gotten to the point that when Andy makes certain statements, I think, “Oh, they’re going to use that comment out of context.” Andy always backs up his teaching with scripture.
All the controversy over how the church handles the LGBT community is a big nothing burger. Everyone know someone who is gay. What is the church supposed to do? Tell them they cannot worship with us? No, Jesus said, “Love God and love one another as I have loved you”. We don’t get to judge, that’s God’s job. All we can do is love and be the hands & feet of Jesus, or as my wife says, Jesus in skin.
This website seems to be very negative, very judgmental. In short, not very Christ-like.