GAZETTE Tampa Bay Gay and Lesbian News

Story and photos by Hung Tran

TAMPA—The Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) of Tampa recently celebrated the first anniversary of Rev. Phyllis E. Hunt. Rev. Hunt became the permanent pastor of the church on March 1, 2003. Before coming to Tampa, Hunt served as the interim pastor at St. John the Apostle MCC in Ft. Myers. Within a year, Hunt has won the support of her congregation, and the community in general, and people can see the church is growing. Ross Scudder, a church Deacon, says Hunt's "attitude of caring was toward everybody. She wants to be involved in everything and knows how to make things happen beautifully." Roger Alford agrees that "she makes a lot of changes at this church and she seems very genuine and real."

One characteristic that Hunt has shared with MCC Tampa is resilience. "We can do one of two things with the difficult challenges in our lives; we can define our whole selves from those difficult, and even painful experiences, or these events can be experiences that both help us as we write our story fresh everyday, as well as provide a reference that informs decisions we need to make for our future," says Hunt.

"Sharing this characteristic is the internal motivation that both drives our passion, as well as offers us a comfortable resting station for our souls and bodies," Hunt adds. "I would say the most comfortable gift MCC Tampa has offered me is to be myself and in that gift we are learning how to do this with all of our relationships."

Rev. Hunt loves her calling as pastor of MCC of Tampa and her feeling about the church is endless. Besides regular worship on Sundays and Wednesdays, MCC also has a numerous activities during the month that allow all church members to connect with one another and grow in their spiritual walk. She says, "Like all new relationship we have spent time getting to know each other. We have shared meals, exchanged stories, laughed, cried, sang and prayed together."

"The church community has spent some time reflecting on our history, through the lens of Wendy Foxworth, an outside consultant hired to perform an all-church assessment. Foxworth has helped us see the pervasive patterns of broken relationships that have at times clouded the mission of MCC Tampa."

Looking ahead at the next three years, Hunts predicts that the church will grow bigger, but first, they will change their culture, while providing skilled attention to leadership development and training that will serve to strengthen their ministry teams. "Changing a culture is not easy," says Hunt. "It requires time, dedication—and a lot of forgiveness. Yet the more we learn how to live in this new culture, the more reflective of the gospel and mission of Jesus Christ we see our church becoming."

This major culture shift they have elected to undertake offers the congregation the opportunity to create all the documents that will support this change. "And therefore," Hunt continues, "we will spend the greater part of the next three months developing shared agreements that will define how we will treat each other, a vision statement, our core values and a three year ministry plan."

As if all of the internal change taking place weren't enough, the Church has recently learned that neighboring Hillsborough High School is planning an expansion that will force MCC of Tampa to leave its present home.

"Following the initial surprise of this information, we have slowly settled into the reality of moving," says Hunt. "We are riding yet another wave of change, instead of being consumed and thrown by this unexpected wave. Change in and of itself is rarely comfortable, yet it is the one aspect of life we can depend on." She explained, "We have created a relocation team and will begin the process of looking for a new church home. I continue to be deeply touched by the resilient inner strength of this church."

Despite the challenges there are many comfortable aspects of Rev. Hunt's role as pastor of MCC Tampa. Being a native Floridian who was, for the most part, raised in St. Petersburg, she feels she has "come home," to the area, and to MCC Tampa. The congregation seems to have welcomed all aspects of her personhood, being very gracious with her learning curve as a new pastor, and providing a safe environment to be vulnerable, and even clumsy at times, as she learned their names, customs and traditions, and forged new relationships. Hunt's specialty seems to be forging relationships.

Rev. Hunt "is a very caring person who makes good relationships with everybody," said Carrol Hale, a retired MCC pastor. Rev. Elder Don Eastman adds, "People come to church for many reasons, they stay for one—relationships."

Hunt has a message for the community: "We, at MCC Tampa, do not profess to do relationships perfectly; however, we are dedicated to practicing the two great commandments Jesus taught: to love God with your whole being, and to love yourself, which in turns opens your soul and allows you to love your neighbor. Practice is the key to the human experience of giving and receiving love. We are dedicated to the hard work of learning and practicing the art of respecting each other and loving through forgiveness."

"Knowing what we need emotionally and spiritually is often the inspiration behind our motivation to go to a church, synagogue, mosque or temple. The fundamental component that keeps us coming back is how we are welcomed, and how the worship experience helps each of us connect to God. Ironically, relationships are our greatest challenge as we travel together in life's journey, and sometimes become the very reason we stop attending our preferred worship center," Hunt explained. "I know there are people reading this article who have experienced the disappointment of organized religion and possibly MCC Tampa."

With a characteristic grin, Hunt concludes, "Healing broken relationships is risky at best, and at the very least, hard work; yet it is this deeper work that each of us is called to as we grow spiritually."

COMMUNITY CALENDAR presented by the Tampa Bay Business Guild

LINKS

Are You Registered to Vote? It's easy! Click Here!

AIDS Memorial Bells

Tampa Bay Business Guild

Metropolitan Charities/Metro Center

gaystpete.com

Tampa Bay Lesbians

Equality Florida

National Center for Lesbian Rights

Winter Pride Tampa Bay

St. Pete Pride

queertampa.com

King of Peace MCC

First United Church of Tampa

Gypsy Productions

Team Tampa Bay

Una Voce