THE NEXT ADVENTISM
The Only Married Gay Adventist Pastor AN INTERVIEW WITH LEIF LIND BY LOREN SEIB OLD
HOW DID YOUR CALL TO MINISTRY COME TO YOU, LEIF?
I grew up in the church. My father was a pastor and held almost every job—from local pastor to division president. He was 40 years in Africa and the Middle East, and that’s where I grew up. I went to school in eight countries on four continents. My father didn’t urge me to follow in his footsteps, but from my earliest memories I knew that I wanted to serve God. I went to Middle East College and then got my seminary training at Newbold College and Andrews University.
WHEN DID YOU BEGIN TO SUSPECT THAT YOU WERE GAY?
Tat’s a very difficult question, because hindsight is always clearer. Like a lot of gay men, I thought that if I got married, my questions would go away and all of my desires would just snap into place. But aſter being married for a year, I think I did know. I remember that there was a gay bar in the town where I worked, and though I was an Adventist pastor and of course wouldn’t go in there, I wondered what it would be like.
BUT YOU DID CONTINUE IN MINISTRY? Leif Lind (left) with his husband, Taylor Ruhl
I met Leif Lind about 10 years ago at an Adventist Today event in Southern California, along with his husband, Taylor Ruhl. Later I visited the Glendale City Church, and on a Sabbath aſternoon, I accompanied him as he held a funeral at the famous Forest Lawn Cemetery. I was impressed with his pastoral warmth and kindness. Te family had asked for him particularly. On the way home, I asked him, “Leif, do these elderly people
know that you’re a gay man, married to a man?” “Yes, of course,” he replied. I knew right then that I’d found my church—and my pastor. Even
though I don’t live in Glendale, I transferred my membership there, and I visit whenever I can to meet with my congregation. Undoubtedly, many gay pastors have served the Adventist
Church through the decades—but they have had to hide their true selves. Leif Lind is, to my knowledge, the only one whose conference knew he was gay and valued him anyway. I sat down with him to ask a few questions about his ground-
breaking tenure as a gay Seventh-day Adventist pastor. –Loren Seibold
I began in Norway, where I did my internship. Aſter my seminary training, I worked another six or seven years there until we got a call to Africa, where I was the book editor at our publishing house in Kenya. We worked in a pretty remote area with, by that time, two small children. Aſter eight years there we decided, largely for family health reasons, to move and take our chances in Canada, where my wife was from. With no guarantees, I applied to the British Columbia Conference for a pastoral position, and fortunately, I got a job there almost immediately.
IS THAT WHERE THINGS BEGAN TO CHANGE FOR YOU?
I pastored for six years on Vancouver Island. Toward the end, I found myself increasingly frustrated—trying to deny who I was, fighting my own private battle. I had wanted to change and be straight for years. I had prayed and begged and cried and wept before God. I remember fasting for several days, just begging God to change me. But nothing happened.
AND YOUR WIFE?
I kept it all to myself—until I couldn’t. I had quietly attended my first Kinship Kampmeeting on my own about six months before. Being there convinced me that I had to be honest. I am one who plans ahead, so I set a date about six months off when I would tell my wife: the week aſter she graduated from nursing—so I wouldn’t be disturbing her study routine. I told my children a week later.
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