​Recommended Reading: BookS

These are curated resources that we believe will help you on your journey. Please know that we only endorse the works listed below. Some authors may have views or opinions that do not align with our values and featuring them here is not an endorsement of their whole body of work.
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*For your convenience. click on any book cover to order it from Amazon

embracing the journey by greg and Lynn McDonald

A sympathetic, compassionate, and inspiring guide for parents. 
 
Greg and Lynn McDonald had never interacted with members of the LGBTQ community until they discovered that their son was gay—and without resources or support, they had no idea how to handle this discovery. At first they tried to “fix” him, to no avail. But even in the earliest days of their journey, the McDonalds clung to two absolutes: they would love God, and they would love their son.

This book follows the McDonald family’s journey over the next twenty years, from a place of grief to a place of gratitude and acceptance that led the McDonalds’ to start one of the first Christian ministries for parents of LGBTQ children. Based on their experience from counseling and coaching hundreds of struggling Christian parents, they offer tools for understanding your own emotional patterns and spiritual challenges. They also help you experience a deeper relationship with God while handling difficult or unexpected situations that are out of your control. You will discover tested principles, patterns, and spiritual lessons that can change the way we all see our families, and help Christians at large think though Christ-like ways to respond to the LGBTQ community.

Written in an unvarnished, honest, reassuring, and relatable voice, this is a practical guide for parents and a blueprint to learning to love God, the people He created, and the church, even when they seem to be at odds.

NOW AVAILABLE IN SPANISH

Embracing The journey Companion study Guide BY GREG AND LYNN MCDONALD

​"This book is for Christian moms and dads who are in the middle of your journeys with your LGBTQ+ child. The Embracing the Journey Companion Study Guide is a resource to help you explore your family’s unique story. It’s the place where you can dive deep, either as part of a small group or on your own, into the lessons and truths that the Bible offers about how to love God and love your child.
When authors Greg and Lynn McDonald found out that their only son was gay, his news shook their world to the core. Faithful Christians and devoted parents, they struggled with how to reconcile their love for their son and their love for God. They share what they learned in 21 principles, collected from their experience as well as the experiences and wisdom of thousands of Christian families who have walked this path before you, and who have discovered unexpected blessings and incredible hope along the way. Whether you’re still reeling from a new revelation or you’ve been processing this for a while, this Companion Study Guide is a safe space for you to process the emotional and spiritual hurdles of parenting the LGBTQ+ child God has trusted you with.”

UH-OH. MY SON IS NOT LIKE THE OTHER BOYS by Hanne Larson

This book is a parenting story of fear… and love. All Hanne wanted was to be a good mom and love and honor God as a parent. This unvarnished memoir chronicles remembrances of how her fears and need to self-protect cost her now gay, transgender, non-binary child greatly. It is a painful journey of missed opportunities. And yet is also full of hope and redemption. It is a full circle story in the acknowledgment that fear always limits love.” This book is also available as a free podcast.

The Big Reveal: Loving Your LGBTQ+ Child While Strengthening Your Faith by Debbie Causey
This important book is a must-read if you're a Christian parent with an LGBTQ+ child, pastor, or ministry leader. Debbie Causey approaches this book as a loving, caring Christian mom, licensed counselor, and pastor in a megachurch. She tackles this lighting rod topic by sharing her personal story with her son Noah in an honest, candid, and relatable way that will help countless hurting Christian families with LGBTQ+ loved ones; this book will indeed save lives, maybe even your child's life. 

Who Do You Say I Am? By Carol Gibbs
There is a growing intolerance in our world today, revealing a fear and hatred that is isolating large groups of people and making them targets of persecution and violence. While our culture is not new to persecution, the violent nature is frightening.

How can we continue to ignore what we have witnessed? What can reverse this tendency to devalue others? Is the church a constructive force in reversing this growing intolerance?

Who Do You Say I Am? is a collection of heart rendering life stories shared by the LGBTQ community. This group is one of the many that have endured the pain of persecution and violence. They long to be known and loved and have chosen to be completely transparent and vulnerable, sharing their greatest struggles and victories, with the hope that their stories would be a catalyst to changing hearts. Enter deeply into each story and allow your heart to be changed.

Us Versus Us: The Untold Story of Religion and the LGBT Community by Andrew Marin

Would you believe that 86 percent of LGBT people--from the proud marcher at the Pride Parade to the quiet, closeted teen--spent their childhood in church? More than half of them left those religious communities as adults; three out of four would be happy to come back. For decades now we have found our-selves caught up in a culture war: us versus them. Good news: there is no them. Our culture war has been a civil war: Us versus Us. And there is a path toward meaningful peace. Andrew Marin brings the startling findings of his largest-ever scientific survey of the religious history, practices, and beliefs of the LGBT community. Marin's findings offer clear direction for both sides of a long cultural battle to meet in the middle, sacrificing neither conviction nor integrity as they rediscover the things they have in common and the hope found in Christ alone. Original, groundbreaking research into the religious lives and beliefs of the LGBT community.

Messy Grace by Caleb Kaltenbach

Caleb was raised by LGBT parents, marched in gay pride parades as a youngster, and experienced firsthand the hatred and bitterness of some Christians toward his family. But then Caleb surprised everyone, including himself, by becoming a Christian…and a pastor. Very few issues in Christianity are as divisive as the acceptance of the LGBT community in the church. As a pastor and as a person with beloved family members living a gay lifestyle, Caleb had to face this issue with courage and grace. 
 
Messy Grace shows us that Jesus’s command to “love your neighbor as yourself” doesn’t have an exception clause for a gay “neighbor”—or for that matter, any other “neighbor” we might find it hard to relate to. Jesus was able to love these people and yet still hold on to his beliefs. So can you. Even when it’s messy.

It's Not Supposed to Be This Way: Finding Unexpected Strength When Disappointments Leave You Shattered by Lisa Terkeurst

What went wrong? Why did God let this happen?
Reality often ends up so very far from the life we long for, doesn’t it? Bible teacher Lysa TerKeurst deeply understands daily disappointments and life-altering loss. By walking through her own valley, she’s discovered that in God we can find unexpected strength as we wrestle well between our faith and feelings.

• With solid truth, vulnerability and honest humor, Lysa will help you:
• Find peace and hope for the future when you feel like your life is not what you expected.
• Stop being pulled into the anxiety of disappointment by discovering how to better process unmet expectations and other painful situations.
• Train yourself to recognize the three strategies of the enemy so you can stand strong and persevere through unsettling relationships and uncertain outcomes.
• Discover the secret of being steadfast and not panicking when God actually does give you more than you can handle.
• Shift your suspicion that God is cruel or unfair to the biblical assurance that God is protecting and preparing you.
• Know how to encourage a friend and help them navigate hard realities with real help from God's truth.

This is a MUST READ for anyone that stands vertical on this earth

The Jesus Creed: Loving God  Loving Others.  by Scot McKnight

The Jesus Creed: Loving God, Loving Others by Scot McKnight (Paraclete Press, 2014) 
A classic text for Christians that explores Jesus’ Greatest Commandments, to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. 

Understanding Gender Dysphoria by Mark Yarhouse

Foreword Reviews' 18th Annual INDIEFAB Honorable Mention for Psychology Few topics are more contested today than gender identity. In the fog of the culture war, complex issues like gender dysphoria are reduced to slogans and sound bites. And while the war rages over language, institutions and political allegiances, transgender individuals are the ones who end up being the casualties. Mark Yarhouse, an expert in sexual identity and therapy, challenges the church to rise above the political hostilities and listen to people's stories. In Understanding Gender Dysphoria, Yarhouse offers a Christian perspective on transgender issues that eschews simplistic answers and appreciates the psychological and theological complexity. The result is a book that engages the latest research while remaining pastorally sensitive to the experiences of each person. In the midst of a tense political climate, Yarhouse calls Christians to come alongside those on the margins and stand with them as they resolve their questions and concerns about gender identity. Understanding Gender Dysphoria is the book we need to navigate these stormy cultural waters.

Love is an Orientation Elevating the Conversation with the Gay Community by Andrew Marin and Brian McLaren

2010 Outreach Magazine Resource of the Year Award winner: culture category 2010 Golden Canon Leadership Book Award winner Relevant Magazine: Top 20 Best Overall Books of 2009 winner Englewood Review of Books: Top 20 Best Overall Books of 2009 winner Christian Manifesto 2009 Lime Award winner Andrew Marin's life changed forever when his three best friends came out to him in three consecutive months. Suddenly he was confronted with the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community (GLBT) firsthand. And he was compelled to understand how he could reconcile his friends to his faith. In an attempt to answer that question, he and his wife relocated to Boystown, a predominantly GLBT community in Chicago. And from his experience and wrestling has come his book, Love Is an Orientation, a work which elevates the conversation between Christianity and the GLBT community, moving the focus from genetics to gospel, where it really belongs. Why are so many people who are gay wary of people who are Christians? Do GLBT people need to change who they are? Do Christians need to change what they believe? Love Is an Orientation is changing the conversation about sexuality and spirituality, and building bridges from the GLBT community to the Christian community and, more importantly, to the good news of Jesus Christ.

Move Toward The Mess The Ultimate Fix for a Boring Christian Life By John Hambrick

Some pastors preach boring sermons. Some church music is dull. But here’s the thing: If Jesus had been boring, the disciples wouldn’t have followed him and the Pharisees wouldn’t have killed him. So if you’re bored, don’t waste another minute. If your church service feels like a failed pep rally that never leads to the actual game, then it’s time for you to follow Jesus onto the field where the opposition is real and the stakes are extraordinary. It will get messy. It won’t always be comfortable. But you’ll make a difference. And you’ll discover that nobody’s bored out there. Nobody.