Queer /kwir/ adjective
differing in some odd way from what is usual or normal
strange, odd, peculiar

This past weekend I traveled to the Gay Christian Network Conference in Houston. Attendees there ranged from Christians who identify as LGBTQ, to family members who love and support them, to equality activists from all walks of life, to straight friends and allies and faith leaders like myself seeking to learn from and walk alongside the gay community.

It was my second time attending this gathering, and even more than during my initial world-rocking experience I found myself humbled and challenged and lifted in ways that defy adequate description; ways I haven’t experienced in my two decades as a local church pastor.

As with so many of our most meaningful moments words fail, but I am burdened to find some because those words are our beginning, a way of orienting ourselves around one another and communicating the gorgeous greater-than-words truths of this life.

As I…