This last January, the Lifetime Movie Channel aired the movie “Prayer for Bobby” on two different night. I was unable to watch either broadcast so I had my sister record it for me. It’s the true story of a conservative Christian mother’s reaction to her son’s admission of being gay. Mary Griffith begins a campaign to rehabilitate and heal Bobby for the purpose of redeeming him, leading ultimately to his suicide 4 years later. It is an all too familiar tragic story that LGBT people (teens and young adults in particular) experience as they try to make sense of both spirituality and sexuality.

I won’t mince any words in describing it…this movie is intense and if you haven’t seen it yet, have kleenex on hand. I watched it with a couple of our students. After the first 25 minutes, we didn’t speak at all because we were so focused on what was happening. And even at the end, we sat in silence for several minutes before anyone said anything. Prayers for Bobby has definitely impacted me and made me even more aware of the need to persevere in our efforts.

While there were many stirring moments, I believe one of the most intense scenes was when Bobby’s mom first found out about his suicide. The shock, anguish, guilt, and regret all in the same moment as she desperately tried to get out to her husband. That is a feeling that I never want to experience…ever. The movie left me numb for the next several days. I literally had a sick feeling in my stomach, realizing once again how real these issues are. In one of my introspective moments, I wanted to travel through time to August of 1983, an overpass in Portland, Oregon, grab Bobby Griffith by the shoulders, shake him, and tell him that he doesn’t have to do this. I wanted to tell him that his parents, his family, and most of all…God loves him.

And yet, I focus on the present and the work we have to do now. As Mary Griffith has moved on with her life, making peace with her mistakes, and now has become a surrogate mother for so many LGBT youth, I find myself with endless opportunities to prevent such tragedies from happening again.

I began to think of opportunities to communicate further with LGBT students here in our community. Some of our small group leaders and I discussed the idea, talked it over with a couple of our pastors. Then I approached the Director of LGBT Resources at the U of I and she was all for the idea. After throwing around several dates, we settled on Monday, April 6 and we will host it at our campus facility: the HUB, 912 W. Springfield in Urbana.

It occurs to me that the very reason I came up with its name: The HUB – a central point of connection. Well, looks like we’ll have the opportunity to see how that works. Since that is our gathering night for our campus ministry, Excel, I have kicked them out of the building for the evening to that we can host our LGBT neighbors. It will be an interesting gathering of LGBT students and evangelical Christians. We will show the movie, then open up a time for discussion afterwards. I hope and pray that this will be a productive time in which we can connect, listen, communicate, share our lives, get to know each other…and perhaps become friends.