I had a lot of gay friends and even had some congregation members who were gay, and I just wasn't sure where I stood. In my heart, I was like, "How can I condemn these people for their love of one another?" I started looking deeper into the Bible and studying and then I went to a gay-affirming church. It all came together at one point.
Jay BakkerAs a preacher I just feel like I have to be honest; I couldn't live with myself if I wasn't. I think that's why I've been able to reach some people who don't feel comfortable in churches. I do make mistakes and I can be goofy and quirky sometimes. I'm not the world's greatest speaker. I don't try to hide that.
Jay BakkerWell, these tattoos aren't really rebellion. These tattoos are all tattoos I've had since I have been a pastor.
Jay BakkerThe more I follow grace, the more I'm drawn to him (God), the more I'm willing to stand up for people being persecuted. .. This sounds so churchy, but I felt like God spoke to my heart and said '(homosexuality) is not a sin'.
Jay BakkerI try to love my neighbor as myself but I'm not trying to be a people pleaser. Sometimes that's hard, because my human nature is to want people to be happy with me. But sometimes I feel my convictions are so great that it would be compromising the truth if I didn't do that. So sometimes it's a struggle to say, "This is what I think; this is what I believe, and if you don't agree with me, oh well." The hardest thing for people to accept is the gay-affirming issue. It's hard for people to agree to disagree on that one.
Jay BakkerI love New York. It's made me realize that God's a lot bigger than I thought he was. It's a really interesting crowd. We have an agnostic person who comes on a regular basis, a transgender person who said that they found our church because they we're looking for a church that wouldn't hate them. The congregation is really great.
Jay Bakker