Countryside Church/Unitarian Universalist presents Marc Adams, author of the Lambda Literary Award finalist and Silver Pen Award recipient autobiography, The Preacher’s Son.  Marc Adams will speak at the CCUU morning service on November 4, 2007 at 10:30 am.  Countryside Church is located at 1025 N. Smith Road, Palatine, Illinois.

The Preacher’s Son chronicles Adams’ life growing up gay as the son of a fundamentalist Baptist minister in rural Pennsylvania where he endured a childhood of physical, emotional and spiritual abuse.  He went on to attend—by choice—Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University where he also was employed for 3 ½ years in the student recruiting/university relations department.  His book articulately reveals life at Liberty and the struggle to conform to the standards for which he would have been a martyr.  He shares about his years as an ex-gay.  It culminates with his coming to terms with being gay and his coming out to his fundamentalist Baptist Christian family and his journey to become a UU.
 

In his talk, Adams will share some of his life’s story, share from his new book (lost)Found, as well as talk about HeartStrong, Inc., the non-profit organization he co-founded.   HeartStrong, Inc., is a non profit educational organization for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered students of religious schools, colleges and universities.  It is the only such outreach of its kind in the world.

Since its release at the end of 1996, The Preacher’s Son has garnered praise from bookstores, reviewers, the mainstream press and the gay and lesbian media.  Not to be discounted, Adams says, are the thousands of letters and emails that he has received from men and women, gay and straight, who have read his books and found themselves changed.

"Every time I open my mailbox and find another letter, I am incredibly humbled.  I knew I had a responsibility to share my story.  I just didn’t expect to get such emotional and heart breaking letters.  I feel such an awesome responsibility when I read about how what I’ve shared has touched people."

Marc Adams will also share from his brand new book (the much-anticipated follow up to The Preacher's Son) (lost)Found.

All of Marc Adams' books and resources will be available at the event.