Gateway Church (not to be confused with Robert Morris’ Gateway Church) is a Southern Baptist Affiliated church in Del Norte, Colorado pastored by Greg Shaffer. Shaffer recently apologized on stage for having a man named Justin Garoutte who gave a “coming out” story during the event.
Apparently, Garoutte is part of an organization — the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) — who researches and advocates for homosexuals who commit suicide. The question here, however, is not so much that Shaffer apologized, but what in the world was he thinking to allow a homosexual on stage, to begin with? Thankfully, however, he did acknowledge his error and apologize. To his credit, he does say that he was blindsided. Nonetheless, rule of thumb, never allow gays on stage in a Bible-believing church.
… when you’re not expecting something and boom. That happened to me this week. We had something here at our church where we opened our doors to Philanthropy Days, if you’re aware, and what a privilege it was to open the church to that which, every four years, basically, a lot of people come for a few people that have a lot of money and try to get grants and figure out how that whole process takes place.
You can watch his apology below.
