A Change of Affection: A Gay Man's Incredible Story of Redemption by Becket Cook

Author:Becket Cook
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Christian Life, Religion, Personal Memoirs, Biography & Autobiography, Personal Growth, Spiritual Growth
ISBN: 9781400212309
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2019-07-29T23:00:00+00:00

THE CALLING

At the end of 2013, I began to feel God calling me to go to seminary. At first I just ignored it, because back in January 2012, kind of on a whim, I started a men’s clothing line called Doodles Homme, with JT, a friend from my community group (Bible study). Neither of us had ever designed a clothing line, so it was a steep learning curve. But Doodles Homme took off surprisingly fast, and we quickly got into high-end, exclusive stores in Los Angeles and New York, as well as the legendary boutique, Colette, in Paris. With its success, we were well on our way to becoming a worldwide brand, which made me resistant to seminary. The call, however, was getting stronger and stronger. It was as if I were on a train headed to seminary and couldn’t get off.

At the beginning of 2014, I approached Nick, one of the elders at my church, and explained the situation. I told him, “I feel like God is calling me to seminary, but I’m not sure what to do. Doodles Homme is doing well, and I would have to shut down the brand if I do this because of the demanding time commitment. Also, how will it all work financially? I’d have to turn down most of my production design jobs because of school.” He immediately prayed for me. Afterward, he told me he sensed that God was going to pay for me to attend seminary, and that it would be the confirmation I was supposed to go. I thought, What? How could that be? How is God going to pay for seminary? Clearly, Nick was off his rocker.

Nevertheless, I soon called JT and told him I was going to enroll in seminary and so had to quit Doodles Homme. I asked him if he wanted to take over the company, but he said he had been moving toward creating his own brand that was a huge departure from Doodles Homme designwise, and so we decided to dissolve the company. I was sad but also really excited about this new adventure God was taking me on.

I applied to Talbot School of Theology at Biola University and received an acceptance letter a few months later. Just as Nick predicted, from my enrollment in fall 2014 to my graduation in December 2017, I never paid a penny for school. God had used his people to rally around me and contribute to my seminary fund. It was an amazing testament to the idea that if you step out in faith and are obedient to God’s call, he will provide. The whole experience was not only extremely humbling, but it also greatly encouraged my faith. The solid theological and biblical training I received at Talbot guides me when I speak at churches and universities on the subject of homosexuality, especially when answering difficult questions on this complex subject. I continue to do production design jobs to pay the rent, but itinerant speaking and teaching is my passion and vocation.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.