By Meg Wagner
A Michigan pastor who once rallied against same-sex marriage was caught soliciting sex on a gay hook-up app.
Matthew Makela, an associate pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church and School in Midland, resigned after he was busted chatting on Grindr — where he told other men he was a “bicurious guy” who “loved making out naked.”
Gay news site Queerty obtained screenshots of the conversation, which showed Makela sending multiple photos of himself to other men. The married father of two confirmed the authenticity of the screenshots to Queerty, but would not offer further comment.
Makela stepped down after the article went public, the Midland Daily News reported.
“Pastor (Makela) has acknowledged that there was sin and repentance, and I have testified that there is indeed forgiveness through the same Lord who forgives all our sins,” Senior Pastor Rev. Daniel Kempin said.
Makela repeatedly condemned same-sex marriage and homosexuality, according to Queerty.
In a now deleted comment posted to an anti-gay marriage newspaper column penned by a fellow pastor, Makela compared homosexuality to alcoholism and suggested gay people could overcome same-sex attraction with enough support.
“I love people who have same sex attraction, and so does God,” he wrote. “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. We try to help him in his struggle.”
In a September Facebook post he again repeated his anti-gay views.
“Changing the culture begins with changing our own culture of marriage and family, taking the marriage union with the utmost seriousness and welcoming children in our church,” he wrote, explaining the gay marriage and divorce did not “reflect God’s will of love and submission.”
But on Grindr, the pastor asked to hook up with other men, explaining that he had a girlfriend so he couldn’t “do evenings or overnights.”
“I love making out naked,” he wrote. “Oral and massage.”
“Also love to cuddle,” he continued before sending more photos of himself.
Makela’s biography on the church’s website has been taken down, but it once said that he started serving as a pastor in 2010. –Daily News
A Michigan pastor who once rallied against same-sex marriage was caught soliciting sex on a gay hook-up app.
Matthew Makela, an associate pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church and School in Midland, resigned after he was busted chatting on Grindr — where he told other men he was a “bicurious guy” who “loved making out naked.”
Gay news site Queerty obtained screenshots of the conversation, which showed Makela sending multiple photos of himself to other men. The married father of two confirmed the authenticity of the screenshots to Queerty, but would not offer further comment.
Makela stepped down after the article went public, the Midland Daily News reported.
“Pastor (Makela) has acknowledged that there was sin and repentance, and I have testified that there is indeed forgiveness through the same Lord who forgives all our sins,” Senior Pastor Rev. Daniel Kempin said.
Makela repeatedly condemned same-sex marriage and homosexuality, according to Queerty.
In a now deleted comment posted to an anti-gay marriage newspaper column penned by a fellow pastor, Makela compared homosexuality to alcoholism and suggested gay people could overcome same-sex attraction with enough support.
“I love people who have same sex attraction, and so does God,” he wrote. “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. We try to help him in his struggle.”
In a September Facebook post he again repeated his anti-gay views.
“Changing the culture begins with changing our own culture of marriage and family, taking the marriage union with the utmost seriousness and welcoming children in our church,” he wrote, explaining the gay marriage and divorce did not “reflect God’s will of love and submission.”
But on Grindr, the pastor asked to hook up with other men, explaining that he had a girlfriend so he couldn’t “do evenings or overnights.”
“I love making out naked,” he wrote. “Oral and massage.”
“Also love to cuddle,” he continued before sending more photos of himself.
Makela’s biography on the church’s website has been taken down, but it once said that he started serving as a pastor in 2010. –Daily News
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