Embrace Webinar #14 -Caleb Kaltenbach
Embracing Messy Grace
November 14, 2019
Caleb Kaltenbach grew up in the LGBTQ community, raised by gay parents and marching in pride parades, and he experienced firsthand the hatred and bitterness some Christians demonstrated toward his family. In high school, Caleb surprised everyone—including himself—by becoming a Christian with traditional convictions on human sexuality. As a pastor and as a person with beloved LGBTQ+ friends and family members, Caleb has long and rich experience in the challenge of loving all people well while remaining grounded with grace and truth in the historic Christian understanding of human sexuality. Join us for a conversation in which Caleb shares more of his story along with reflections about what he has learned along the way.
Messy Grace: How a Pastor with Gay Parents Learned to Love Others Without Sacrificing Conviction
by: Caleb Kaltenbach
Very few issues in Christianity are as divisive as the acceptance of the LGBT community in the church. As a pastor and as a person with beloved family members living a gay lifestyle, Caleb had to face this issue with courage and grace.
Messy Grace shows us that Jesus’s command to “love your neighbor as yourself” doesn’t have an exception clause for a gay “neighbor”–or for that matter, any other “neighbor” we might find it hard to relate to. Jesus was able to love these people and yet still hold on to his beliefs. So can you. Even when it’s messy.
The Messy Grace Group
Caleb Kaltenbach started The Messy Grace Group to help your church/ministry develop systems that honor your beliefs and allow LGBTQ individuals to attend. Whether it’s conflict management, problem-solving, teaching, working with staff or volunteers, investing in families, helping student ministry, assisting boards, coaching pastors, developing processes, strategic planning, or _______ (you fill-in-the-blank), The Messy Grace Group can help! With empathy, authenticity, and clarity, we’ll help you minister within the tension of grace and truth!
Lead them Home’s Give Shelter initiative
LGBT+ teens are at disproportionate risk for homelessness. Share Christ’s love by purchasing a wishlist item for a homeless LGBT+ teen in need.
CALEB KALTENBACH (Presenter)
Caleb Kaltenbach grew up in the LGBTQ community, raised by gay parents and marching in pride parades, and he experienced firsthand the hatred and bitterness some Christians demonstrated toward his family. In high school, Caleb surprised everyone—including himself—by becoming a Christian with traditional convictions on human sexuality. As a pastor and as a person with beloved LGBTQ+ friends and family members, Caleb has long and rich experience in the challenge of loving all people well while remaining grounded with grace and truth in the historic Christian understanding of human sexuality.
Learn more about Caleb on his website: Caleb Kaltenbach.
MICHELLE SANCHEZ (Facilitator)
Michelle Sanchez is Executive Minister of Make and Deepen Disciples for the ECC. Her dream is to foster a multiethnic movement of disciples who make disciples across all ages. Prior to this role, Michelle served as Pastor of Christian Formation and Mission at Highrock Covenant Church in the Boston area, ministered to international students in New York City with Cru, and worked as an investment banker for Goldman, Sachs & Co. Michelle earned an M.Div. and Th.M. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, an international business degree from New York University (NYU), and certification in spiritual direction from Boston College.
