(12-3-25) New York United Methodist Chuch Pastor announces he is TRANSITIONING to become a ‘woman’ during sermon.

Pastor: “Everyone gets nervous when there’s a special announcement from the pastor. I’m not leaving. Hold on to that. I’m going to hold you to it. Rarely do I… I did not get into ministry to talk about myself or my personal life, but sometimes there are things that happen in a pastor’s personal life that is going to find its way out into ministry. And so, I am inviting you to join me in a season of creative transformation for myself, and I think for all of us. Imagine—so I get to announce with joy that I’m transitioning. I’m affirming and saying to all of you that I am transgender. And so, the best way to put this is that I’m not becoming a woman. I’m giving up pretending to be a man.

What will change? Thank God you have never chosen me as your pastor based off of my appearance. Amen. I was waiting for that. None of you ever judged me or that was not part of the intake process of me being your pastor was because of how my face looked, or my body, or how long my hair is, or my clothes. Because at the end of the day, we know that clothes are just fibers. They do not carry an anatomy with them. So to say that something is girls’ clothes or boys’ clothes, well, they don’t come with a reproductive system. Amen?

So what will change? My voice, it might go a tad higher. Pronouns: she, her. But I’m not going to be pronoun police, okay? Because I don’t think that anybody will misgender or mispronoun out of malice. This is a process, it’s a transition. What will change is my full name. I’m taking on for me Fiona’s middle name so that we have that in common. What may change is that we might become known within the community as an even safer space for people who have felt marginalized.

Are my parents okay with this? Absolutely not. They texted me this morning and they asked for me to tell you all that they do not support me and that they have chosen their convictions and their beliefs over supporting their child.

I’m in the category of what they call asexual. I’ve been that way since we’ve all been together. I am not living my life in such a way that I am looking for romance, and that’s okay. We all have to live the ways that we live.”

Related:

The recent changes taking place nationwide in the United Methodist Church also took place in Celina.

Grand Lake United Methodist Church (formerly St. Paul’s) and Bethany Methodist Church…just blocks away went in different directions.

Grand Lake UM remains in the United Methodist Church, while Bethany made the decision to leave during the disaffiliation period to leave.