And the Rollercoaster goes down

So.... after a morning of encouragement and prayers and excitement with the pastoral staff at FBC, I was walking home, checking the messages on my cel.

The manager of Bar None had called. I called him back. He asked me how it went - I said it was incredible, how did it go from your end? He said that he hadn't expected the "s**t-storm" he went through yesterday. I asked him what he meant. He said that they got some nast phone-calls yesterday in response to the Vancouver Sun article.

He went on to explain that their clientele is both gay and straight, thus my comment on homosexuality was not appreciated. As a result Bar None can no longer work with first@night and we can not meet there anymore.

I was crushed. I felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach.

I asked him if there was anything I could do, explained that the reporter kept pressing me to discuss sexuality, that there are gays in our congregation! But, he said the decision was made. I am praying for a change of heart because the event went so well.

I am still quite upset - actually this is the most upset I have felt in a long long long time.

I am not upset at Bar None - they are awesome people. I am upset that the reporter Chad Skelton had such a wierd spin on the story. Several people made the comment that I had been side-swiped.

Felicia wants to cancel our subscription to the Sun. I wouldn't go that far. Maybe I should write an editorial explaining how off-the-wall the reporter's line of questioning was.

Any suggestions?

Again we could use your prayers.

Comments

Anonymous said…
This has been bugging me since I read your email this afternoon. He obviously had an agenda. Fortunately some of what you said also sunk in. I have no great advice for you, but I am praying for you.
nick said…
I really beelive this will only get better, and know that many prayers are with you from over here too, Santosh.
Anonymous said…
Hear, hear.

However, it may be best to remove the reporter's name and any associated comments from your blog post for legal-libel reasons.

-Warren (paranoid)
Rob Scott said…
Santosh,
Hang in there man. When you get ambushed like this, you're doing well if you can just keep your head up and plod on ... and wait for God to turn things around for good.

I tossed you a line on the Resonate email discussion with some more concrete thoughts from my wife who works in media relations.

All of us King's Bridgers in Calgary will be praying for you and yours.
Hang in there,
Rob
Anonymous said…
Coming from a long line of journalists, I am sad to say that this is all too common. Since moving to Winnipeg and starting our ministry, I do an interview almost monthly. My first few were brutally abused (cutting my answers in such a way that they applied them to entirely different questions, for example).

Since, I will not do any interviews without doing some research as to the paper and the writer. Even then, I am careful on the questions of controversy. Jesus didn't feel obligated to answer questions when He knew the intention was to trap Him. Why should we?

Praying for you, bro! If you need to chat, let me know.

Peace,
Jamie
Hi, I'm a friend of a friend of yours--and she told me about this. The SUN has not the best rep across the country. As well, its rather sexist with the "Sunshine Girl". I don't know why you worry about it.
I would suggest contacting a gay-friendly paper. Advertise your church as Gay-Friendly. See if your gay members will speak out on the church for yourself. I realize you are a minister but forget your own ego in this--just focus on getting rid of the bad press at the moment.
God Bless from Toronto.

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