Anthony Venn-Brown Gay Pentecostal Preacher

Anthony Venn-Brown is Australia’s first openly gay Pentecostal preacher. He was a leading minister in the Australian Assemblies of God Church before resigning his post after coming out. He is currently an active member of Hillsong in Sydney.He is the author of A Life of Unlearning which won the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Business Association Literary award in 2004. The book was revised and updated in 2007.In 2007 Anthony Venn-Brown was voted as being one of the most 25 influential Gay and Lesbian people in Australia.Venn-Brown is a Co-founder and Convenor of Freedom 2 B[e]. The stated mission of Freedom 2 B[e] is to create a global network of GLBTIQ people from Pentecostal and Charismatic backgrounds that helps them resolve issues of faith and sexuality and creates understanding and acceptance.In 2007 Freedom 2 B(e) gay Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians and their supporters marched in the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras for the first time.In part one of this interview Anthony talks about his early Pentercostal Christian days and how he hoped being in the church would help him to lead a ‘normal’ heterosexual life.He also discusses how he underwent sexual conversion therapy which for many included electric shocks and even lobotomies.Despite being married with children he could not deny his sexuality to himself.

Author: kensington25
Keywords: anthony venn-brown gay homosexual homosexuality assemblies of god christian church hillsong
Added: January 20, 2008