Pastor of the Dallas Cathedral of Hope. Childhood in Brunswick and Statesboro, Ga.; conversion from Catholicism to Methodist Church; decision to enter the ministry; process of “coming out” to self and family; college experiences at Georgia Southern University and Valdosta State University; experience in seminary at Oral Roberts University and Candler School of Theology at Emory University; experience of pasturing small town Methodist churches in south Georgia; effects of the civil rights movement and anti-war protests of the 1960s and '70s on his developing social consciousness development of Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) and Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC) denominations; volunteer work with Atlanta Gay Center Helpline; work as pastor of an Atlanta Methodist church, associate pastor of MCC Atlanta and pastor of MCC Jacksonville, Fla.; receiving “call” to pastor MCC Dallas; arrival in Dallas in midst of localized economic depression brought on by savings and loan crisis; family life with Bill Eure and two children; efforts to deal with AIDS crisis; difficulties the church congregation faced when he arrived; process of changing church’s name to Cathedral of Hope; development of Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance and Nelson-Tebedo AIDS Resource Center; difficulty finding creditors to finance new church buildings; demographics of Cathedral of Hope congregation; decision to leave UFMCC and affiliate church with United Church of Christ denomination; development of outreach and social justice ministries.