Church on the Street, a ministry that I am a part of, meets in a park in downtown Wichita. It's a pretty sweet homeless ministry with a significant number of guys that come each week to stuff their faces of food and gorge themselves on Jesus. One Sunday this past summer we weren't able to meet in our park. Being city property, the park was rented out to a festival -- for gay and lesbian pride day.

Punching people in the face for Jesus -- gay pride flag.Truly, I was okay with it. Honestly. It didn't bother me one bit that our church had to move a block away to hold service. It didn't bother me that we cranked up the sound system and boldly proclaimed the word of God. It didn't bother me that homeless guys were wondering why there were gay people in the park. It didn't even bother me that four of us planned on going over there later.

Call me "radical."

Our purposes for going over to the gay pride festival were completely innocent. We didn't plan on doing ministry and we didn't plan on telling people they were going to burn in hell for committing a sin - there are enough people in this world trying to feel good about themselves. The reason we wanted to go over there was to check out this guy's sound equipment. He offered to let us use his services for an event we were planning in August.

Walking across the street to go to the park, we were a little nervous. I have gay friends but I've never been to a massive gathering of them. We decided if anybody wanted to do anything to us, we would just love on them like Jesus. We weren't there to condemn anybody. Christ loved us into being something better than what we were. I thought we should do the same; however, we weren't even to the park yet and we encountered opposition.

"What you're doing is wrong," some guy said to me wearing a burn-in-hell shirt.

I said, "Umm... no, it's not," because I knew full well checking out a guys sound system while surrounded by human beings was not wrong.

"You should be scared," he said back.

I don't understand why "Christians" feel the desire to condemn others (Jn. 3.17). So I raised my fist in the air and said, "Well then - I'm going in!"

As we walked into the gate of the park we were asked to purchase a button. I'm going to safely assume that this lady was a lesbian. I honestly didn't care. We explained our reasoning for being in the park. She was really excited for us and let us in without pay proving to me that it's really not about what you know, but who you know...

Gay pride rallyWalking in we saw a lot of same-sex couples. Most were holding hands. I didn't see anyone making out or having sex - apparently people think that's all gay people do. We even saw some of our friends. People were really nice. I think it was very clear to those around the four of us that we weren't gay. It might have been because, well, they "just know," or it might have been that we were purposely walking through the park girl-guy-girl-guy.

We eventually stumbled across Joel, the sound-man, and he showed us his gear. It was very fancy and high-tech. He accepted the job offer we had in place for him and then that was it. We said our goodbyes, wished him luck, and left. Walking out there was a man speaking, sort of like a motivational speaker, and he was encouraging the gay community to keep doing what they're doing, to keep lobbying for bills in congress, and to continue fighting for their rights. I didn't know what to think.

Outside the park we stood on the street corner waiting to cross the street, the entire time being judged by the nice little "Christians" sitting there, shouting at us. I felt like my home was being prepared in hell - nice cushy pillow and all. They tried handing us a track - you know, the little pieces of paper that tell people about Jesus. They just handed it to us. We refused it and told them they should probably read it.

I couldn't help but think of how nice all of the gay people were to us and how condemning the Christians were. I think if I had gone back, I would have wanted to sit and just "be" with the gay people. I honestly felt like throwing rocks at the Christians on the street corner. I didn't "feel the love" from them; I only felt hatred.

I guess I still marvel at grace. I've never been gay and truly don't ever want to be. The thing is we're all sinners saved by grace - saved by Jesus. It's not because we deserve it, it's because God loves us. Those people aren't going to hell any more for being "gay" than I will for being a liar. But I think there comes a point where we realize the intensity of this Love and it changes us, including our lifestyles. This adventure changed me, changed my perspective, and gave me a renewed ability to love people for who they are, not what they do.

I just hope that I never do throw rocks in the name of love.

If you liked this article (and even if you didn't) check out: Lessons From a Christian Festival

Matt graduated from Friends University in May. (Yes, it's called Friends University, but they do not have a Central Perk...) He loves Jesus very much and is passionate about the Kingdom he seems to talk about all the time. He likes cheesecake, chick-flicks, traveling, coffee, music, trying to write music, reading, and the outdoors. He still lives with his parents and eats their food.