Evangelical Megachurch Pastor: 'I'm Gay'

The pastor of a Georgia evangelical megachurch has revealed he is gay, moved by recent suicides of gay teenagers. "This situation was the tipping point with me," said Jim Swilley, a twice-married dad of four, referring in particular to the suicide of Rutgers student Tyler Clementi. "There comes a point in your life where you say 'How much time do we have left in our lives? Are we going to be authentic or not?'"

Swilley broke the news to his Church in the Now congregation by first telling him there were two things in his life that were "absolute," reports NPR. "I did not ask for either one of them, both of them were imposed upon me. One was the call of God. The other was my sexual orientation," he revealed. Many walked out during the sermon, but others stayed and offered words of support. He said his first wife tried to convince him 20 years ago to reveal his sexual orientation, but he told her then: "These words will never come out of my mouth." (More Church of Now stories.)