wfn.org | Rev. Nancy Wilson Set to Lead MCC Gay Church Group

[UfmccHq@aol.com]

NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: April 25, 2005

Rev. Nancy Wilson Is Nominee For Moderator
of Predominantly Gay Metropolitan Community Churches

Former United Methodist To Lead World's Largest Christian  Organization
Serving The Gay Community

West Hollywood, CA – The Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson, a longtime  leader in the
predominantly gay Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC), has been  nominated to
become the next Moderator of the MCC denomination.

If  elected during MCC's General Conference in Calgary, Canada in July, she
will  succeed the Rev. Troy D. Perry, MCC's Founder and current Moderator.

Wilson has enjoyed a distinguished ministry within Metropolitan  Community
Churches. In 1976, she became the youngest person ever elected to the  MCC Board
of Elders and has served as an Elder since that time.

Wilson,  attended Boston University School of Theology with a Rockefeller
Fellowship,  also holds an M.Div. from SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary, served
as  Vice-Moderator of MCC during 1993-2003 and has pastored MCC congregations
in  Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, and California. She is the former senior
pastor of Metropolitan Community Church of Los Angeles, the Founding Church
of  the MCC movement. She currently serves as senior pastor of Church of the
Trinity  MCC in Sarasota, Florida.

Wilson has a long commitment to ecumenical work  and human rights. During
1979-1999, she served as MCC's Chief Ecumenical  Officer, representing MCC at the
National Council of Churches and the World  Council of Churches. In 1987, she
represented MCC as an ecumenical observer at  the Bilateral Dialogue of the
Roman Catholic and Lutheran Churches in  Columbia, South Carolina, where she
met Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope  Benedict XVI.

She has also been active on behalf of HIV issues, prisoner  treatment
programs, and women's rights. She is the founder of the MCC Conference
for Women in
Professional Ministry.

In 1979, she participated in the  first-ever meeting of gay and lesbian
religious leaders at the U.S. White House  during the Carter Administration.

Rev. Wilson was the Guest Preacher at  the Earl Lectures at Pacific School of
Religion (Berkeley, California, January  2002) and has been a guest speaker
at Harvard Divinity School, Vanderbilt	Divinity School, Allegheny College,
Claremont School of Theology, and the  University of Southern California.

Wilson is the author of Our Tribe:  Queer Folks, God, Jesus and the Bible
(Alamo Press), co-editor of Amazing Grace  with Fr. Malcolm Boyd, and a
contributing author to Poems and Prayers in Race  and Prayer edited by Malcolm Boyd and
Chester Talton (Morehouse  Press).

Rev. Wilson resides with her partner of 27 years, Dr. Paula  Schoenwether.
They both actively work for same-sex marriage  equality.

Prior to beginning her MCC ministry, Rev. Wilson was active in	the United
Methodist Church.

The election of the new MCC Moderator will  take place in late July during
MCC's General Conference in Calgary, Installation  Services for the new MCC
Moderator will take place at Washington National  Cathedral, Washington, DC, on
October 29, 2005.

Founded in 1968, MCC is a  Christian denomination with more than 43,000
members in 23 countries and a  primary, affirming ministry to gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender people of  faith. Additional information on Metropolitan
Community Churches is available  on-line at _www.MCCchurch.org_
(aoldb://mail/write/www.MCCchurch.org) .

(END)
Media interviews with Rev. Nancy Wilson may be scheduled through  the MCC
Communications Department: (310) 360-8640, Ext. 226.
Rev. Wilson may be reached directly by e-mail at
_RevNancyWilson@MCCchurch.org_ (mailto:RevNancyWilson@MCCchurch.org) .

For Additional Information, Contact:
Jim Birkitt
MCC  Communications Department
8704 Santa Monica Boulevard
West Hollywood,  CA  90069
Tel. (310) 360-8640, Ext. 226
Fax: (310)  360-8680
E-Mail: info@MCCchurch.org
Web: _www.MCCchurch.org_ (aoldb://mail/write/www.MCCchurch.org)

____________________________________________________

The  Reverend Elder Nancy L. Wilson
Senior Pastor, Church of the Trinity  MCC
7225 N. Lockwood Ridge Road
Sarasota, FL 34243

Positions with Metropolitan Community Churches
1993 -	2003	  Vice-Moderator
1976 - Present	MCC  Elder
1979 - 1989	  Clerk of the Board of  Elders
1974 - 1975	  Northeast District  Coordinator
1979-1999	  MCC Chief  Ecumenical Officer
1996-2002	   General Council Finance Team
1996-2000  Joint Ownership and Property  Committee, Trustee for  World
Headquarters  at MCCLA
1996-2001	  MCC Executive  Staff Team, Headquarters

Pastoral Positions
2001 - Present Pastor,	Church of the Trinity, MCC, Sarasota, Florida
1986 - 2000 Pastor, MCC Los  Angeles, Mother Church of MCC
1975 - 1979 Pastor, MCC Detroit
1974 - 1975  Pastor, Worcester, Massachusetts
1972 - 1974 Associate Pastor, MCC Boston,  Massachusetts

Educational Background
1988-2000 Field Education  Supervisory Pastor with Claremont School of
Theology and continuing education  classes
1980  Master of Divinity, SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary,  Orchard, Lake,
Michigan (Roman Catholic)
1972 - 1974 Rockefeller  Fellowship to Boston University School of Theology
(United  Methodist)
1968 - 1972 BA in Religion, Allegheny College, Meadville,  Pennsylvania

Special Projects
-- Participation in the purchase of new  church facility for MCC Los Angeles
and MCC World Headquarters in West  Hollywood, California.
-- Established a Latin Ministry at MCC Los  Angeles.
-- Founded the "FOR FUND" (Fund for Overcoming Racism) providing
scholarships for people of color in MCC who are clergy candidates.
--  Obtained a Ford Foundation grant for ministry to LGBT youth in Los
Angeles.
-- Representative of MCC at the National Council of Churches  1981-1994.
-- Representative of MCC at the World Council of Churches General  Assemblies
since 1991.
-- Established first MCC contact with GLBT Christian  groups in South Africa,
ultimately worked for affiliation connecting those  pastors and communities
to MCC General Conference.
-- Co-founded of "Free	Spirit MCC" in 1985, a prison ministry at the
California Institute for Women in  Frontera, California that is still continuing.
-- Extensive fund raising for  global outreach.
-- As Vice-Moderator, moderated Elders, General Council and  General
Conference Meetings.
-- Extensive writing, teaching, training in MCC  on the local and
denominational levels in a wide variety of topics.
--  Established the MCC Women in Ministry Conference

Speaking Invitations and  Honors
-- Recipient of the first "Lazarus Award" from the Presbyterian  Church.
-- Preacher at the Earl Lectures at Pacific School of Religion,  January 2002
-- Keynote speaker/guest speaker at various colleges and  universities
including:

MORE LIGHT Conference (Presbyterian)
Harvard  Divinity School
Vanderbilt Divinity School
Allegheny  College
Claremont School of Theology
University of Southern	California
Kirkridge Retreat Center

-- Preaching and teaching invitations at numerous MCC Churches in  the United
States, Canada, England, Denmark, Germany, South Africa, Australia,  New
Zealand, Nicaragua and Mexico.
-- World Council of Churches Headquarters  in Geneva, Switzerland and
Harrare, Zimbabwe, 1998.
-- Represented MCC with  Rev. Troy Perry to Pope John Paul II's worship
service with leaders of  Protestant and Orthodox churches in Columbia, South
Carolina, 1987.
-- Spoke  at the "Women's Tent" at the WCC General Assembly in Canberra,
Australia.
--  Represented MCC to the White House (U.S.), leading a coalition of GLBT
religious  leaders in 1979.
-- Addressed the National Council of Churches of Christ in  the U.S.A. on
numerous occasions.

Service Outside of MCC
Member "White  Women Against Racism" in Los Angeles
Founder in Los Angeles of "The	Progressive Religious Alliance"
Worked in many political campaigns in Los  Angeles and West Hollywood for
civil and human rights such as "The Coalition  Against the Death Penalty."
Co-Founder of the "Lesbian and Gay Interfaith  Clergy Association" in Los
Angeles.
Partnerships with Bienestar (Latin AIDS  Organization), St. Odelia's Roman
Catholic Church and others, for common	ministry and mission.
AIDS activism in Los Angeles for over a  decade.
Member of the Gay and Lesbian Task Force of the Los Angeles Police
Department.

Books
Amazing Grace with Fr. Malcolm Boyd
Our  Tribe:  Queer Folks, God, Jesus and the Bible, Alamo Press
Poems and  Prayers in Race and Prayer edited by Malcolm Boyd and Chester
Talton (Morehouse  Press)