Gay Man with a 'Husband' Scheduled to Speak with Andy Stanley At His Church's Family Conference

Next fall, North Point Community Church is hosting the Unconditional Conference, where Andy Stanley will be a keynote speaker. The conference is being put on by Embracing the Journey, a radical gay-affirming ministry that partners with North Point and offers to counsel parents of struggling LGBTQ+ children, all the while telling them that their child cannot change and they need to stop trying to.

In recent weeks Protestia has uncovered that not only is Stanley gay-affirming, but rather several ministry heads are as well. We wrote how when parents come to them with concerns and counseling regarding their struggling LGBTQ+ children, North Point recommends an affirming ministry for the parents, and affirming, progressive, all-gay counselors for the children.

We also learned that almost all the speakers at this conference are LGBTQ+-affirming.

One speaker we wanted to highlight is Brian Nietzel, an open and unapologetically affirming ‘Gay Christian.’ Brian ‘married’ his partner Dan last year and now lives unrepentantly in a grotesque parody of a one-flesh union.

Crucially, Nietzel also founded the Renovus Network, a pro-LGBTQ+ advocacy group whose mission is to “Connect LGBTQ+ individuals to reclaim and develop their relationship with Jesus” and envision “a world where no one has to choose between their faith and sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Along with Nietzel, Renovus was co-founded by Gregory Cook, an openly gay man who serves on the board of Directors. Cook has been a leader with the North Point Community Church for the last 13 years. He’s joined on the board by gay-affirming North Point Pastrix Debbie Causey and gay-affirming ‘Embracing the Journey’ founder Greg McDonald.

Nietzel also founded Making Things Right ministries, where he seeks to bridge the gap between Christians and the LGBTQ+ community by moving Christians into the affirming camp. His mission statement is to “help reform the Christian response and responsibility to the LGBTQ+ community” and he does this by trying to get Christians to shift their theology through the power of ‘story.’

The pastors at North Point Community Church have opened their arms to Nietzel, and he was recently a guest speaker at their Parent Connect group. He shares:

I presented to nearly 200 parents, LGBTQ+ folks, and church staff at Parent Connect, a vital ministry in Atlanta helping parents love their LGBTQ+ kids well. It was an epic experience!⁠
I shared some of my story and struggle to find peace with God as a gay man, and my long yet full-circle experience with my parents. Then my good friend Caleb shared his story. He bravely brought some edges and urgency, as he chronicled disappointments with his parents and more so with the Christian Church.⁠ The response was overwhelmingly positive.

Nietzel is speaking at the upcoming North Point Conference with Stanley, and he’s overjoyed to be given the opportunity. Given his close ties with other North Point leaders and all the ways they intersect and connect, knowing full well who he is, what he believes, and what his theological proclivities are, he’s likely an integral piece in moving the church in the dark direction it is inevitably barreling toward.