The Rev. Troy Perry, the former Polk County Pentecostal minister who went on to found the predominantly gay Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, will return Sunday to mark the anniversary of a local church. The service will celebrate the fifth anniversary of Rainbow Promise Metropolitan Community Church in Lakeland. It also will feature the installation of Rainbow Promise's new pastor, the Rev. Karen Ducham. It is the first time Perry has visited the church. He was invited to the service last year by interim pastor Rick Sosby as a way of boosting the church's morale, Ducham said.
Some small churches feel isolated.
You have to bring in some leadership as a motivating factor. A native of Tallahassee, Perry's family moved to Polk County when he was 12, and he was licensed to preach by West Winter Haven Baptist Church when he was 15. He returned in 1959 and was pastor of First Pentecostal Church in Lake Alfred for two years. In 1968, after disclosing his homosexuality and resigning as a Pentecostal minister, Perry started a congregation in his home in Los Angeles for gays and lesbians estranged from the church. The congregation expanded into the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, which claims about 44,000 members in 300 churches in 16 countries.