Jimmy Creech
Jimmy Creech, a native of Goldsboro, North Carolina, is a former ordained elder in The United Methodist Church. He holds a BA degree in Biblical Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Divinity degree from The Divinity School of Duke University. In 1965 and 1967, he studied with the Institute for Mediterranean Studies at Hebrew University and Hebrew Union Theological Seminary in Jerusalem, Israel, and at museums and archaeological sites in Israel, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. He served as a pastor in churches of the North Carolina Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church from 1970 to 1990.
While at Fairmont United Methodist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, (1987-1990) he helped to create the Raleigh Religious Network for Gay and Lesbian Equality, an ecumenical group whose purpose was to publicly counter antigay religious rhetoric with a faithful message of God's love for and inclusion of all persons, regardless of sexual orientation.
Creech served as the Program Associate with the North Carolina Council of Churches from 1991 to 1996. He was the Council's Legislative Liaison with the North Carolina General Assembly, representing the Council on a broad range of issues including gun control, health care, AIDS/HIV funding, campaign finance reform, farm workers, children, and the repeal of North Carolina's Crimes Against Nature Law (aka "Sodomy Law"). He helped to create and was the first chairperson of The Covenant with North Carolina's Children, a coalition of nonprofit agencies providing services to children. He also helped to create People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, and served as the chairperson of its Board of Directors. While he was with the North Carolina Council of Churches, the Council voted approval of the membership application of the Gulf Coast District of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, a denomination whose membership is predominantly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender. The North Carolina Council of Churches was the first state Council of Churches in the U.S. to accept and welcome the UFMCC into membership.
In July of 1996, Creech was appointed Senior Pastor of First United Methodist Church in Omaha, Nebraska. In September of 1997, he conducted a covenant ceremony for two women members of First Church. Consequently, a judicial charge of "disobedience to the Order and Discipline of The United Methodist Church" was brought against him based on an amendment to the Social Principles of The United Methodist Church adopted by the 1996 General Conference. The amendment read: "Ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions shall not be conducted by our ministers and shall not be conducted in our churches." In March of 1998, he was tried and acquitted in a church trial, held in Kearney, Nebraska. Creech's defense was that the statement was not church law because it was in the Social Principles.
When the Nebraska bishop chose not to reappoint him to First United Methodist Church Omaha, Creech returned to his home in Raleigh, North Carolina, in June of 1998.
In April of 1999, Creech celebrated the holy union of two men in Chapel Hill. Charges were brought against him and a church trial was held in Grand Island, Nebraska, on November 17, 1999. In August of 1998, the Judicial Council of The United Methodist Church had ruled that the statement prohibiting "homosexual unions" was church law in spite of its location in the Social Principles. Consequently, the jury in this second trial declared Creech guilty of "disobedience to the Order and Discipline of The United Methodist Church" and withdrew his credentials of ordination.
Since the summer of 1998, Creech has been traveling around the country to preach in churches and to speak on college and university campuses, as well as to various community and national Gay Rights organizations. He has also written a book entitled, Adam's Gift, about his experiences of the Church's struggle to welcome and accept lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons. From 2000 to 2005, Creech served as the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Soulforce, Inc., an inter-religious movement that uses the principles of nonviolent resistance, taught and practiced by Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., to confront the spiritual violence perpetrated against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons by religious institutions.
Creech has been active in the following organizations: The Methodist Federation for Social Action; The Raleigh Religious Network for Gay and Lesbian Equality (founding member and former convener); AIDS Service Agency for Wake County (NC) (former vice-chairperson and chairperson of the board); The North Carolina Pride Political Action Committee (charter board member); The Reconciling Congregation Program, (now called The Reconciling Ministries Network); North Carolinians Against the Death Penalty (former chairperson and board member); People of Faith Against the Death Penalty (NC) (founder, former board chairperson and member); North Carolina Low Income Housing Coalition (former board member); The Covenant with North Carolinas Children (founder, former Board member and chairperson); The Omaha Faith Committee of Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty (former board member); and, Soulforce, Inc. (former chairperson of the Board of Directors).
Creech has received the following awards and recognition: the 1990 Lee and Mae Ball Award presented by The Methodist Federation for Social Action for outstanding Christian social witness; the 1990 North Carolinians Against Racist and Religious Violence Award for outstanding leadership in the struggle against hate activity in North Carolina; the 1997 Paul Green Award presented by the North Carolina American Civil Liberties Union for his work to abolish the death penalty in North Carolina; the Triangle (NC) Business and Professional Guild Award (1997) for advocacy on behalf of gay/lesbian/ bisexual/transgender persons; the Heart of Freedom Award (1998) presented by ANGLE/Omaha (Achieving New Gay, Lesbian, Bi and Transgender Endeavors); the 1998 North Carolina Pride Inc. Award; 1998 Saint Award presented by Metropolitan Community Church, San Francisco; selected as one of OUT Magazine's 100 in 1998 and 1999; the Human Rights Campaign Equality Award, 1999; the American People Award (1999) presented by People for the American Way "for challenging bigotry and promoting tolerance within the church"; 1999 Dignity Award presented by the Council of Churches, Santa Clara County, California; 1999 Pride Interfaith Coalition Award, Boston, Massachusetts; the Year 2000 Flagbearer Award presented by PFLAG National; Triangle Community Service Award 2000: Straight Ally of the Year presented by the Triangle (NC) Business and Professional Guild; and honored by The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry and Pacific School for Religion as "A Leading Voice" for Commitment to the Struggle of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People for Honor and Dignity, presented on April 19, 2001.