San Diego, CA - June 26, 2013 - Chicago's aChurch4Me? Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), has scheduled Rev. Jerry Troyer to be the Sunday morning guest speaker and to lead a workshop. Troyer is the Senior Minister at Joyful Living Church in San Diego and the author of the book, "Coming Out to Ourselves: Admitting, Accepting and Embracing Who We Truly Are."
aChurch4Me? is a ministry of the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), a diverse congregation with many members who have struggled against oppression, welcoming everyone regardless of orientation, gender identity, immigration status, or family configuration. More information is available at www.achurch4me.org
Rev. Jerry will lead a workshop on Sunday, July 7, from 1-2:30 p.m. at aChurch4Me MCC, located at Overdeir Hall, 3rd Floor of United Church of Rogers Park, 1545 W. Morse Ave. Chicago, Illinois, 60626. The workshop is titled "It's My Story and It's Sticking To Me." According to United Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC) Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson, "Jerry's work reveals how issues of shame, addiction and religion are interconnected — and how healing can happen."
Reservations are required with a suggested donation of $20 for the workshop. Sign up online to attend at http://www.achurch4me.org/events/coming-out-to-ourselves-workshop.
"Coming Out to Ourselves sounds like something that people in the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered) community would do. But consider the invitation for everyone. 'Coming out' is about admitting, accepting and embracing who we truly are," said Troyer. "It includes allowing ourselves to look wholeheartedly at a memory, a relationship or a belief, and decide what is really true for us and what is not."
"This is an opportunity to honestly look at why we can't lose the weight and keep it off, go back to school, find and keep the new relationship, get and stay clean and sober, or whatever," Troyer said. "Often, our guilt and shame from our story, and a feeling of our not deserving whatever it is, can keep us stuck in old patterns and beliefs. Old rules that we carry with us and have accepted as our truth, may be what someone else said was so. When we consciously begin to look at our lives, we can decide what to keep and what to lovingly release."
Troyer continues, "I love the quote from the French-Cuban writer Anais Nin: 'and the day came when the risk of remaining tight in a bud was more painful than the risk to blossom.' There has never been a better day than today to go on a journey inside, where we are safe, nurtured and loved, as we blossom, and come out to ourselves."
In support of his first book, Rev. Troyer is appearing in cities throughout the country holding speaking engagements, readings, and facilitating workshops in various spiritual centers and churches and at lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) events and centers. He was recently in Phoenix, presenting at the Affiliated New Thought Network's annual conference. A workshop in July is scheduled for the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Church's (UFMCC) General Conference in Chicago. His upcoming travel plans also include Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Atlanta, Georgia, Columbia, Maryland, Wilmington, Delaware, Falls Church, Virginia and Washington DC.
A native of San Diego, Rev. Jerry Troyer is a spiritual leader whose teachings encourage everyone, not simply those who identify as LGBT, to expand their beliefs and embrace who they truly are. With his tour arriving on the heels of the same sex marriage debates, his position as a religious counselor and openly gay man stand to carve a new path in terms of how the world views universal acceptance, suggesting that such acceptance must ultimately come from within.
The late, best-selling author Debbie Ford said, "What we can't be with, won't let us be." She also gave this review of Troyer's book: "You will be surprised at how easy it is to find yourself on the pages of this hopeful and encouraging book. A compelling read."
Rev. Troyer and his life partner live in La Mesa, California with their Golden Retriever, Roxie. His column, "Heart & Soul", is published every other Tuesday in the San Diego Gay and Lesbian News ( www.sdgln.com ). "Coming Out to Ourselves: Admitting, Accepting and Embracing Who We Truly Are" is available at www.revjerry.com, in paperback and e-Book editions at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble (BN.com ). The book is published by Balboa Press, a division of Hay House, Inc.
View Rev. Jerry's calendar online at www.comingouttoourselves.com/workshops-seminars-speaking-engagements.html . To request an interview or appearance, please contact Janice Sherlock at The J Sherlock Group, marketing & public relations, js@jsherlockgroup.com or phone 619 467-7428.
