Andy Stanley’s ‘Embracing the Journey’ Conference: A Full Report and Exposé. Part 1
Earlier this week, North Point Community Church hosted the Embracing the Journey conference, a two-day event for parents who have LGBTQ children or loved ones in their lives. Notably, nearly all the speakers were gay-affirming, including two men who are in homosexual marriages.
We’ve been writing about it for a long time, documenting the theological drift of one of the largest megachurches in America, frequently with exclusive reporting. Some of the stories include:
North Point Church Is Sending Children to All-LGBTQ Therapists: We Profile One of The Counselors
Celebrating Transgenderism?! North Point Church Staffers Rejoice After Man Comes Out as Woman
North Point Pastor Recommends Struggling Christians Attend ‘Queer Parent Summit’
Report: North Point Church Personnel Knew ‘Lap Dance Leader’ Was Gay-Affirming+ Andy Stanley Responds
Exclusive! Andy Stanley’s Children Ministry Overrun and Led by Pro-LBGTQ+ Activists
North Point Pastor Praises Gay Man’s Affirming Org. ‘Lord, Let Him Create More Allies for the LGBTQ Community’
North Point Church Baptizes Openly Transgender ‘Man’, After Giving Blessing to Transition?
North Point Church Staffers Found ‘Liking’ Pride Parade Celebration
Surprise Surprise, Another North Point Church Leader is Gay-Affirming and Wildly Liberal
Dr. Michael Brown Says He’s Spent 8 Years Exchanging Texts and Emails with Andy Stanley, Who Has REFUSED to Condemn Homosexuality
Initially intended to be a quiet event, it blossomed into a significant news story that the church was unprepared for when the conference was conceived 18 months ago. The chatter eventually got so loud that Stanley addressed this controversy from the pulpit yesterday in a sermon that was not live-streamed but that we have a recording of here. In his message, Stanley explained how the conference came to be and insisted that the church’s view of homosexuality hadn’t changed in 28 years.
We disagreed, and that’s why we drove across the country to attend.
When we pointed out to a volunteer we met on the sidewalk that there was more security than we were used to seeing at a conference, he told us, “Yeah, some Christian blogger has been attacking us and blowing the whole thing up.”
The atmosphere inside reflected that. There was a strong police presence during the event, with a cop car parked outside the church the entire time. Inside, volunteers asked attendees to remove their IDs from their wallets and purses to verify it against the name on the ticket, with one volunteer explaining, “We don’t want the wrong crowd trying to sneak in.”
LeAnne Legans and Gregory Cook greeted us upon entering the conference. Legans is the gay-affirming North Point leader who was last seen getting a lapdance at a drag show, and Gregory Cook is the co-founder of Renovus, an LGBTQ-affirming activist group founded and run by Pastors and leaders within North Point Church, whose mission is to advocate for full inclusion of LGBTQ folks within the church. We smiled, said “hi,” received our lanyard, and came inside.
Posters on the church walls and displayed prominently on projector screens warned against recording any of this conference, citing Georgia law which mandates fines and jail time. In conversation with conference organizers and volunteers, they stressed that security officers were in plain clothes, patrolling the halls and watching the events. In one session a man was taking notes on his laptop and within minutes a volunteer told him he needed to put it away because it could record video or pick up audio. During our check-in, we heard security talking, sharing their concerns about infiltrators and protestors.
Later in the conference, we would approach many people we’ve been writing about over the last year and strike up a conversation. We talked with Sandi Harman-Waldrop, a gay-affirming North Point leader and self-professing ‘Pride Mom’ who hosted the gay wedding of Brian Nietzel, one of the speakers. We chatted up Brian Nietzel, one of the gay-married speakers and also co-founders of Renovus. We spoke to Matthew Vines, the author of God and the Gay Christian and the founder and executive director of The Reformation Project, and many others, including most workshop leaders (more on that later.)
Conference organizers Greg and Lynn Mcdonald would reveal that around 500 people were attending the event and that more wanted to register, but they had to cut off registration for space and logistical purposes. They did a show of hands to see who came from out of state, and the majority were, with some folks even coming from other countries to attend. We observed more than a handful of transgender attendees, along with a smattering of pride flags on key chains, clothing, shoes, water bottles, and journals from the regular folk.
There was a display selling conference merch, t-shirts, and books. One of the speakers, noted that he brought 80 copies of his book which calls for the full inclusion and acceptance of LGBTQ theology within the church, and he sold them out in the first 4 hours.
What struck us more than anything, however, is that throughout the conference, homosexuality as a standard, moral, and necessary theological good was assumed—the entire time. Every talk, every breakout session, every conversation we struck up with our tablemates, there was no hint or suggestion that homosexuality was a sin that must be repented of, but rather a good that must be accepted.
The overwhelming message was that children and family members who come out as gay or trans must be loved and supported, and that support includes affirming them for who they are, in order to retain “influence” and a relationship with them. There was no question of “how do we love and support our LGBTQ children well, while still holding to our convictions?” Instead, we were hammered with the claim that if we want to be in relationship with them, we need to lay aside those convictions and pick up more loving ones; ones that better “reflected the heart of Jesus.”
All the speakers referred to their trans children by their trans names and personal pronouns. One session saw a panelist with a tear-stained face insisting that children need gender-affirming care, and another said that she knew/suspected her child was transgender by the age of three. One session saw a speaker explicitly arguing that homosexuality was not a sin, condemning the “clobber verses” by saying that “none of them are taught in a serious exegetical way.” One speaker was asked in a Q&A if he thought Jesus was “gay,” and his answer left much to be desired.
Andy Stanley himself noted that the expression “homosexuality is a sin” makes “no sense” in light of children threatening to kill themselves, which is a concept permeated throughout the event and presented as a binary choice: if we don’t affirm our LGBTQ kids they will end their lives and we will lose them forever.
We attended all the main sessions, as well as four breakout sessions. Over the next week we’ll report on them, starting Tuesday with the conference opener.
About Author
I know you are trying to make some kind of point, but it seems interesting that you broke every request they had in place as far as not taking pictures or videos for the privacy of those attending. Also, were you undercover the whole time when you were talking to people at the conference? Again, I know you wanted to sneak in and be there to be able to write an article, but I’m not sure how much better of a person this makes you? Gives me the “ick.” Do better.
Well, anonymous, I’m glad he did. This stuff keeps slithering out from under a rock and Satan deceives more. They wanted an indoctrination session. And last I checked in the country (as it dies), we have a first amendment. You want to believe sin is okay. Well, he has a right to attend and report on what he saw and heard. That is called reporting. Sorry.
Oh, Susan, we get it. “Slithering” is okay when it serves you and your agenda well. And you? You’re perfect? I don’t think so. Maybe spend more time focusing inward. I’m pretty sure you won’t get to Heaven and be asked how well you did reprimanding others. You’re talking about other human beings that Jesus loves just as much as He loves you. Do you really think it makes Him smile to see the way you talk about others online? You’ll need to answer for you and you only. Maybe focus more time on your own heart. And next time you’re upset about someone else, why don’t you stop and pray for them rather than lighting up a comment section? It’s Jesus’ job to convict… it’s your job (assuming you are a believer) to love.
Wow, those are an awful lot of assumptions about Susan. I don’t know how you got all that from her comment. May I ask, are you a Christian? If so , you have not shown the graciousness to her that you expect of her. If you are not, then you really have no position from which to judge. Her Judge is God alone. Now if you want to discuss or disagree with her views, no problem. But please be decent about it. Btw, I actually agree with her and have no problem with what it took to expose this conference. If they ( the conference creators) have nothing to hide, then why so much secrecy and fear of “infilration”?
Susan is seen all over these comment sections and has had a lot to say. I agree, Paula, we should show graciousness to all. But if we all believe that, then why are we here? These articles and the comments on them, from people like Susan, are harsh and not gracious. We have made a calling to love like Jesus so complex and have chosen to pick and choose what we have more of a problem with. Just because one person’s sin is more “on display” does not make them any worse of a person. It doesn’t make them less deserving of the kind of love and respect that we should give one another as Christ followers. We all deal with sin in our own ways…some are just easier to hide. May we all love like we are called to and not spend our time beating each other up. I know that is what Jesus would do.
As far as why the conference creators chose to keep the event private, it seems that it was out of respect for those attending. Not because of the content. Considering many of the parents attending would literally be kicked out of their churches for attending or for having a LGBTQ child, they probably did not want it to be known that they were there. Don’t you see the problem? Parents are in churches where they have to choose between their faith and their child. Knowing the love a parent has for their own child, this makes me so sad. I just know that that is not what Jesus would want.
It’s not a fear the infiltration will out a secret agenda but lack the respect of privacy of those attending and that share their struggles in an environment that is free of outing them to those outside of the venue.
The funny thing is, Katie, that while you are instructing Susan as to what to when she disagrees with another commenter, you don’t seem to be following your own advice. Rules for thee, not for me, right?
And Susan has every right to defend this report/reporter. Jesus NEVER called us to affirm sin – he gave us explicit instructions on how to confront those in unrepentant sin. A large church and its staff willingly calling sin good should be called out for the heresy it is preaching and the damage it is causing. Forgetting that God is perfectly Holy and sin will not be in his presence is dangerous theology.
If being gay or transgender is viewed as a sin then why doesn’t the evangelical church wag their finger at the obese, divorcee that remarried, Falwell Jr., etc?
Loving someone and walking with them is our call. Their decisions are their decisions.
We’re no strangers to love.
You’re, like the person you’re defending, speaking out of both sides of your face. An anonymous person complaining about anonymity, hilarious.
And you’re gaslighting the author because Stanley can’t sneak in ‘damnable heresies’ (2 Pet 2:10) but was exposed instead.
Give it a rest.
You know the rules and so do I.
It called ‘journalism’
This sort of subterfuge shouldn’t be necessary for a Church function, but it was.
North Point should be ashamed to host this event. But they are not ashamed.
They are proud
“Troll” : a person who intentionally antagonizes others online by posting inflammatory, irrelevant, or offensive comments or other disruptive content. Internet trolls. In the late 1980s, Internet users adopted the word “troll” to denote someone who intentionally disrupts online communities.
A full commitment’s what I’m thinking of.