How a gay St. Louis pastor triggered a war within the Presbyterian Church in America

Greg Johnson describes himself as a “gay atheist teenager” who fell for Jesus — and found himself at the center of evangelical Christianity’s internal battles over sexuality.

For nearly 20 years, Johnson has pastored Memorial Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, right across from Forest Park. He says he’s been gay and celibate the entire time. When he came out to his church, he said he received a standing ovation and shouts of “We love you, Greg” from congregants.

But since Johnson went public with his orientation in Christianity Today, pastors in his denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America, have tried to banish clergy who identify as gay, even if they commit to celibacy.

Johnson has fought that. He says orientation is largely fixed — but believes there is still a place for people like him in conservative churches.

“I spent a lot of years convincing myself that I was a straight man with a disease called homosexuality that could be cured,” Johnson said on Wednesday’s St. Louis on the Air. “And, perhaps up to a million of us did that.”