Baby Steps Or Status Quo: Evangelicals Put On An AIDS Show

(Since we're talking about Saddleback, here is an article I wrote about the church's "Disturbing Voices" conference, held on World AIDS Day in 2005. After covering the event, I was slightly less skeptical of the church's intentions, but they are still overlooking and tip-toeing around one major issue.

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Baby Steps Or Status Quo: Evangelicals Put On An AIDS Show
By Zachary Sire

Kathi Winter is bespectacled, dowdy, and carries herself like a school librarian. She’s not necessarily the image one conjures when thinking of the disease that has now infected over forty million people worldwide, but this in no way negates the relevance of her testimony at Saddleback Church’s World AIDS Day conference, “Disturbing Voices.” She is one of three women living with AIDS that will speak at today’s conference-closing prayer service in the main congregation hall. The other two, one a single mom from Orange County and the other a clinic founder from Rwanda, make impassioned pleas for prayer.

Also taking the stage: a blonde nurse with the story of how an infant baby died in her arms after acquiring HIV from its parents, the adoptive white father of a black orphan whose biological parents died of AIDS, a youth pastor who reminds everyone to pray for those infected with HIV but don’t know it yet and, finally, the parents of Kay Warren, the wife of Saddleback’s pastor. They are here not to relay a personal connection to the global pandemic, but to instead reflect on what it means to have raised such a compassionate daughter.

Indeed, if it weren’t for Kay Warren, this conference would not be taking place. After seeing the magazine images of emaciated Africans in 2003, Warren vowed to do everything in her power to prevent the spread of HIV and care for those already infected. Her visit to Africa a few months later brought the devastation into focus and set events in motion. Among other things, Disturbing Voices seeks to create a shift among evangelical churches from what has been a long-standing tradition of not discussing an illness with sexual implications. The three-day event has garnered national attention with reporters from the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times in attendance, despite some initial reluctance from pastor Rick Warren to even host it. Kay Warren admits it took some convincing, but her husband eventually realized his wealth and fame (being the author of “The Purpose Driven Life”) could attract scores of smaller churches across the country and ultimately result in a greater good.

With nearly two thousand attendees, Disturbing Voices has succeeded in drawing a myriad pastors, preachers, and reverends from around the world. They attend seminars like “The Local Church Engaged in Prevention/Treatment/Care/Support" where tips on ministering to those infected or affected by HIV/AIDS are provided. Videos are shown highlighting a mixed bag of tragic statistics: fourteen million orphans, over fifty percent of new cases are found in women and, curiously, infections among senior citizens have been increasing at an alarming rate. “That means,” said Kay Warren in one film clip, “those of you in Leisure World need to watch out; it’s not a joke!”

The Warrens founded Saddleback Church in 1980, with a congregation of just two hundred people on an Easter Sunday. In the past twenty-five years, that number has jumped to over twenty thousand, making it one of the nation’s, if not the world’s, leading mega-churches. Conveniently located adjacent to one of South Orange County’s somewhat desolate toll roads, it’s removed from urban centers and is a sort of city in and of itself. The parking lot alone is not unlike one found in Disneyland, complete with available shuttle service when it overflows and guests are forced to park far from church grounds. Perched atop over one hundred acres of beautifully landscaped property on a Lake Forest hillside with multiple service halls, patios, and meeting rooms, Saddleback attributes its success to God.

Of course, one would be remiss to not take into account the aforementioned influence of Rick Warren’s bestselling book, “The Purpose Driven Life.” Selling over one million copies a month worldwide, it is conceivable that the book, which has landed Warren interviews on CNN and Oprah, has had something to do with Saddleback’s success. The book contends that God has planned everything and everyone (which would include the book itself), therefore every person has a purpose to carry out God’s plan. Readers are encouraged to seek that purpose through God, not themselves or the material world. It would be reasonable to assume that some of today’s prayer service visitors are carrying the book in their “Purpose Driven” insignia bearing tote bags.



Kay Warren’s parents finish speaking to the audience and then encourage them, as have all the previous speakers, to assemble in groups of two or three and pray for all those living with HIV/AIDS. There is, understandably, not a dry eye in the house as some parishioners have dropped to their knees sobbing. Others wail with their hands outstretched in front of them. A video montage of dying sub-Saharan Africans plays on the two large projection screens book-ending both sides of the stage. Music is played with muted ambiance by a band that would presumably join in the prayer if it weren’t commissioned to perform. Before all this, other speakers gave more compartmentalized prayer instructions:

“Pray for the heath care workers who treat patients with HIV/AIDS,” said the blonde nurse.

“Pray for the women who are victims of HIV/AIDS,” asked Kathi Winter.

“Pray for the families of adopted children who have lost their biological parents to AIDS,” said the white father.

“Pray that those who don’t know they’re infected with HIV yet find out soon and seek not only treatment, but God’s forgiveness,” the youth pastor said.

“Pray for the organizations around the world that provide services to those living with HIV/AIDS,” said the Rwandan clinic founder.

One of those organizations is AIDS Services Foundation of Orange County. ASF, now in its twentieth year of providing assistance to people living with HIV/AIDS in Orange County, accepted over $5,000 worth of food and supplies from Saddleback Church last year. More recently, Saddleback donated one hundred cases of food collected from a food drive at the church. By all accounts, ASF has stumbled upon a partnership of infinite value, considering the reach and influence the church maintains in Orange County.

Ty Rose, ASF’s Outreach Chaplin, recalls it was the church who approached them and that their clients have directly benefited from Saddleback’s generosity. But while these clients can rely on the tangible items Kay Warren helped send their way, most of them will not be prayed for at Saddleback Church on World AIDS Day because seventy-one percent of them are “MSM,” or, men who have sex with men. Homosexuals are not spoken of at today’s prayer service.

MSM, a coded term used by heath care agencies nationwide, accounted for fifty-one percent of new HIV cases in 2004 in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Heterosexual women made up twenty-one percent. The CDC monitors infections by age too, and can reveal that those eligible for Leisure World residency clocked in at less than one percent, or 3,132 senior citizens across the United States.

To be sure, these statistics are disproportionately dwarfed by worldwide figures; most global infections overwhelmingly occur in male and female heterosexuals. Still, the intent of Disturbing Voices is to develop local (i.e. stateside) ministries. Consequently, one could be within reason to expect that such a conference would make mention of America’s most HIV/AIDS infected demographic, gay men.

Well, Saddleback does take gay men into consideration, but not in regards to HIV/AIDS.

Listed at the bottom of the conference program is a seminar entitled “Loving Homosexuals As Jesus Would,” co-chaired by Tim Wilkins and Chad Thompson.

Recognizing this slight but significant acknowledgment from a religious institution not known for embracing alternative lifestyles is Doug Vogel, ASF’s communications coordinator.

“They’re slowly getting it,” Vogel says, in regards to evangelical attitudes towards gays.

Indeed, it’s a far cry from statements of the past like “[Homosexuals] want to come into churches and disrupt church services and throw blood all around and try to give people AIDS and spit in the face of ministers." That was Pat Robertson on the “700 Club” in 1995, someone the Warrens seem to be distancing themselves from.

“The Gospels repeatedly show that Jesus loved, touched, and cared for lepers — the diseased outcasts of his day. Today's ‘lepers' are those who have HIV/AIDS," said Rick Warren in an interview with the Associated Press.

However, AIDS does seem to carry a relentless stigma in this country as being a gay disease. When one HIV-positive homosexual man, who has elected to remain anonymous and will hereafter be referred to as Robert, was admitted to the hospital with AIDS like symptoms, the first thing asked of him by an attending physician was “How’d you get it?”

This of course would have no bearing on his medical treatment, but his doctor’s first inquiry is indicative of a culture that Saddleback has masterfully tiptoed around throughout the three day Disturbing Voices conference. If an American male is identified as being HIV-positive, it is an unfortunately natural response to assume he is also gay. A recent UC Davis poll showed that more than half of those surveyed first think of gay men when they hear the word “AIDS.”

While ASF’s Rose fights to bury this stigma, he is up against years of conditioning, not to mention a unique approach from Saddleback. Their solution to addressing the issue is found in their non-address of what is actually a non-issue: There’s no such thing as gay people.

So says Wilkins and Thompson, the co-chairs of “Loving Homosexuals As Jesus Would.” Wilkins, the founder of Cross Ministry in North Carolina, believes that gays can be freed from the deceptive illusions of homosexuality.

A self-proclaimed former homosexual himself, Wilkins equates his youthful indiscretions by stating that, “God got his hands dirty when He created man out of the dust of the earth. Jesus got his hands dirty when he washed the dust, dirt and sewage off of the disciples’ feet the night he was betrayed. Now if getting your hands dirty is good enough for God the Father and God the Son, it is good enough for me.”

Wilkins has become a hero of the American Family Association’s “Homosexual Agenda” agenda by contributing articles and speeches that further the notion that being gay is akin to simply being lost. His theory is best summarized in this strategic message:

“Heterosexuality is not the goal – becoming more like Jesus is! As discipleship occurs, the same-sex attractions diminish and in many cases, but not all, opposite-sex attractions emerge.”

Twenty-six year old Thompson, also an ex-gay, is the author of the book, “Loving Homosexuals As Jesus Would.” His teachings involve ministering to high school and college youth that heterosexuality is God’s design—there is no gay gene. While never admitting to engaging in homosexual acts, Thompson remembers being attracted to other boys as early as fourth grade. He was able to distance himself from what he considers unnatural urges by committing himself to Jesus Christ as a teenager. He proudly writes of his pseudo conversion, “My attractions are probably about 1% of what they used to be.”

Landing spots at Saddleback’s conference is an undeniable coup for Wilkins and Thompson, but some question how, exactly, they fit in with the rest of the church’s three-day slate of seminars. Robert is particularly skeptical.

“I think it's very deceptive for the church to hold the conferences they had with the people they used (Chad & Tim). These "ex-gays" are not experts in HIV/AIDS. Why are they equipped to speak during Worlds AIDS Day? I think it's disgusting that they would use this day and this event to preach their ‘Loving Homosexuals as Jesus Would’ agenda. And that's just what it is, an agenda.”

Whatever the motive behind Saddleback’s inclusion of Wilkins and Thompson, it’s clear the church isn’t spreading hate. Wilkins makes this clear in his ministry’s manifesto: “Do I hate homosexuals? Absolutely not! The truth is I love homosexuals more now than when I was one!”

But by ignoring homosexuals in all other aspects of Disturbing Voices, has Saddleback inadvertently propagated the stigma of AIDS being a gay disease by not acknowledging the stigma or the demographic itself? Considering their link to thousands of gays via their contributions to ASF, is it not their obligation to make such acknowledgements and then seek to fight against them? More importantly, does it even matter?

Rose invokes the bible when confronted with the fact that most of his clientele is all but subjugated by Saddleback, analogizing ASF’s receptiveness from the church with the “Good Samaritan” parable.

“While ASF staff may not agree with every aspect of Saddleback Church, we still think it’s a wonderful thing that they’re doing for us. After all, AIDS is not a gay disease. It doesn’t matter how you contracted it. The fact that Saddleback has come to us is a huge step in the right direction; we would never deny their support.”

Robert is more pragmatic.

“It’s a tricky thing if I would accept money or food knowing that it came from the church. I would not cease accepting assistance from the non-profit (ASF) since not all of the money that funds the non-profit is from the church. I would want to know how much they contribute though. I would also want to make sure that these "solicitors" did not try and preach/teach/hold seminars, etc. at the non-profit.”

It is World AIDS Day at Saddleback Church, and as the prayer service concludes, people who might never have otherwise thought about the disease emerge from an institution that has, until now, spent the past twenty five years telling them to do just that.

The cynic might point out that the speeches were contrived, the oversights were deliberate and offensive, and they’re not doing nearly enough. But the tears that have dried in the corners of their eyes and on the folds of their cheeks are real. And the cynic would have to relent, “They’re slowly getting it.”