Anti-Gay Michigan Pastor Outed for Using App to Solicit Sex with Men

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A Michigan pastor who made anti-gay marriage remarks on his Facebook page as recently as September on Sunday confessed to congregants that he had been outed for soliciting sex using an online application that caters to gay, bisexual and bi-curious men.

The Rev. Matthew Makela, the pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church and School in Midland and a married father of five, was outed by the website Queerty.

“Of course, how someone behaves between the sheets is really nobody’s business but his own, except when he’s actively doing damage to others,” Queerty wrote, attaching screenshots of since-deleted Facebook posts in which Makela reportedly made anti-gay remarks.

The screenshots showed one response to another pastor in which Makela seemed to suggest the church should take the same approach to homosexuality as it does to people who abuse alcohol.

“... We don’t tell a person born with tendencies to abuse alcohol to keep on giving in to his innate desires because he can’t help it,” Makela reportedly posted. “ We try to help him in his struggle.”

In a status update, he wrote:

“Read these words this morning: ‘Long before gay marriage was part of our national discussion, natural marriage did not always reflect God’s will of love and submission. Divorce became common, love in marriage grew colder and children were not always seen as a blessing. Changing the culture begins with changing our culture of marriage and family, taking the marriage union with the utmost seriousness and welcoming children in our church.’ AMEN!”

Queerty also attached screen captures of text messages in which Makela told a man he had met through the application that he would “love to cuddle.” Makela authenticated the messages in an email exchange with Querly, but declined further comment on the exchange, the website said.

After the story surfaced, Makela resigned as pastor and told his wife and senior pastor why. Queerty said it outed him to the community as a matter of accountability.

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In a letter on the church website Wednesday, The Rev. Daniel Kempin said the “nature of Matt’s sin … is now out there for everyone to see.” He asked congregants to continue praying for Makela and his family, as well as for the peace of critics whose comments “are just mean and serve no other purpose than to hurt.”

“Most difficult is to see the way he has been savaged in all of this,” he wrote.

As difficult as the past few days have been, Kempin said it has clarified the church’s purpose in people’s lives.

“We have been wounded by the public scrutiny that this has drawn,” he wrote, “but in the end it reminds me of what we well and truly are: We are a church for sinners.”

Makela’s biography has been removed from the church website.

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Photo via Flickr / Creative Commons