{"id":7208,"date":"2023-07-18T11:43:06","date_gmt":"2023-07-18T15:43:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=7208"},"modified":"2023-07-18T11:43:06","modified_gmt":"2023-07-18T15:43:06","slug":"small-town-georgia-preacher-fills-church-pews-by-welcoming-everyone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2023\/07\/small-town-georgia-preacher-fills-church-pews-by-welcoming-everyone.html","title":{"rendered":"Small-Town Georgia Preacher Fills Church Pews By Welcoming Everyone"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pexels.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the night, the worn sign looks like a beacon of darkness outside the modest, red-brick Mt. Hebron Baptist Church. It reads, \u201cThe tired, poor and huddled masses. Welcome home.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the small town in the rural northeast corner of Georgia, it\u2019s the kind of message that reassures Teri Massey she\u2019s loved for who she is, a statement that differs from the one she heard in the Baptist church where she spent her teens into her 40s, where her brother, father and grandfather all held leadership positions.<\/p>\n

When Massey came out 19 years ago after meeting the woman she would later marry, the congregation in her home church responded by campaigning to send her to conversion therapy, holding prayer vigils outside her home. A few years later, she found Mt. Hebron through a friend. Pastor Grant Myerhotlz, who typically preaches in a t-shirt and jeans, met Massey and her wife at the door. The couple listened as he stood in the pulpit and said everyone was welcome. The 63-year-old recalled, \u201cIt was like this load was off of me.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a time when many churches are struggling to maintain themselves, with attendance and membership both at all-time lows in this country, Myerholtz seems to be pulling off a miracle: Mt. Hebron is flourishing. In the fall of 2020, barely a dozen people showed up for his first sermons. These days, sometimes, 100 faces look up at him. Church members say his empathy and engagement are what draw them. His interpretation of scripture is not traditionally heard in a conservative community.<\/p>\n

For example, in April, Myerhotlz gave the opening prayer at the Hartwell Pride festival, which faced backlash from area churches over a proposed spring drag show. The organization\u2019s president Collin Graham, who is trans, said, \u201cThere\u2019s a community of people that guard their religion and say, \u2018It\u2019s not for you. You\u2019re a sinner. You can\u2019t love God like that. So I think it was important to have Grant out there to show people that you can be a Christian and you can be gay or trans.\u201d<\/p>\n