Talking about the church tackling some serious issues like relationships. Well, Dennis Meredith is taking it to the next level for sure with this special relationship class coming up next month. The objective is for the church to build healthy communities through good relationships. According to the flyer and his being and openly gay pastor the relationship class will deal greatly with male to male relationships and all of the obstacles that go along with two men being in a relationship.
Dennis Meredith is someone of an enigma that I have the authority to discuss because he is form my hometown we have watched him got though a metamorphoses and accepting that fact he is gay. I will never forget Dennis was the pastor of Mt. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church on 23rd Street in Oakland. He was married to a beautiful girl from Macon, Georgia and they had three boys. On the outside looking in they were the ideal first family and he was a known preacher and great singer. Mt. Calvary was and old movie theater and during Meredith’s hay day it was good and full. In the mist of rumors that Dennis Merdith was a PJD (Pineapple Juice Drinker, Obnoxious Media’s phrase for on the Down Low or DL) his ministry in Oakland began to suffer and eventually the reason he had to leave.
At some point Dennis began to go through a transformation before everyone’s eyes. I recall the chatter about the pastor in Oakland and his working out and riding his motorcycle with no shirt to San Francisco. Not the typical behavior of a Black Baptist Pastor. Plus it was some insiders that talked about his office suite all the way at the top of the balcony of Mt.Calvary. The pastor’s study was an office suite with a bedroom said to be for some fun extracurricular activities. For a short period of time Dennis was thought to be a charming ladies man that might have just been the cover he was using to dodge rumors about this real craving for young men.
Dennis Meredith and his family left Oakland under a cloud of suspicion that later came to be true. First stopping in Birmingham for close to a year he finally got Tabernacle Baptist that was in turmoil due to the Quincy Lavelle Carswell being on crack cocaine and bankrupting the church. Dennis and his beautiful and supportive wife that looked past the reasons she had to move south continued to support her husband in taking over a church facing challenges at best. Instead of the rumors getting quite the got worst and worst until eventually Dennis came out of the closet.
Dennis was on my radio show Obnoxious Radio Live when the Bishop Trick Daddy Eddie Long story broke. Some people attacked me for having him on and his not being honest about why he came out of the closet. It was a number of rumors that Dennis finally came out of his hiding and admitted his sexuality rather than facing the embarrassment of one of his past lovers telling his business publicly. No matter what the case was Dennis finally came to terms with his sexuality and did the right thing by being open and honest. It is our understanding that he is now in a relationship with a young man and is happy. Now it was not easy and their was a number of rumors lies and people hurt in the process of Dennis coming out of the closet. At one time he said he had been molested, and then he was bi-sexual, to his current state of openness and honesty that he is a gay man.
He might just be the perfect person to teach a relationship class on male to male relationship in the church. Wow right! Who would have every thought that we would live in a day and time that you can go to church and get counseling on how to deal with your relationship and it is with another man or two women. It seems that no stone will be left unturned checkout the topics: Fems vs. Non Fems, Masculinity vs. Non Masculinity, and the big one Top vs. Bottoms. All of those make his plans to discuss heterosexual relationships sound boring or dull.
The church might be the ideal place to have this discussion since it is in church where so many of these relationships start. We will keep you posted on this Obnoxious Topic and try to get Dennis Meredith, Pastor of Tabernacle on Obnoxious Radio Live to discuss this upcoming class.
Developing……
