OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — Seth O' Kegley-Gibson is leaving his long-time worship service role at First United Methodist in Oak Ridge to become a pastor in Denver as an openly gay man.
"It's a great neighborhood," O' Kegley-Gibson said. "The church is just down from the University of Denver so I'll have hopefully get to work with some students and some younger families."
The United Methodist denomination officially does not allow anyone in the LGBTQ+ community to become clergy and prohibits same-sex weddings on church properties, but certain regional conferences do, such as the Mountain Sky Conference in Colorado where O' Kegley-Gibson is headed.
When WBIR last spoke to O' Kegley-Gibson in February, he was holding out for the general conference originally scheduled for August 2022 but was delayed until 2024.
He took the pastor job in Colorado soon after the news emerged.
O' Kegley-Gibson encourages other LGBTQ+ church community members in East Tennessee to trust that opportunities will come their way.
"Hold in there, stay strong, and continue being yourself. This conference needs the light that you bring," he said. "We need people from the inside to continue to fight and uphold the dignity of all human life that we so strongly preach."
O' Kegley-Gibson hopes his path will eventually lead him back to Oak Ridge.
Editor's note: The spelling of Holston Conference has been corrected in the abstract.