Perry, founder of MCC denomination, set to preach at Sunday morning service; weekend includes carnival, concert, catered meal
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| The Rev. Elder Troy Perry |
It started in 1997 as a group of four people in Jon Haack’s living room who saw the need for a Metropolitan Community Church in Oak Cliff.
Today, Promise Metropolitan Community Church has its own building, an ever expanding ministry and a congregation of 82.
“At that time, there wasn’t a church that was serving the GLBT community south of the Trinity River,” said the Rev. Haack, 46, founding pastor who continues to lead the church. “We saw a need and said, “‘Well, who better than us to meet that need?’ I don’t think any of us could have at that point envisioned the steady growth and progress that we’ve seen over the past 10 years, and the incredible number of people whose lives have been changed for the better.”
Promise MCC is celebrating its 10th anniversary this week, through Sunday, May 13, with a series of worship services, concerts and other events.
The church began as a parish extension of the Cathedral of Hope, then an MCC, Haack said. Promise MCC shared space with two separate churches in Oak Cliff before moving two years ago to its current location at 2527 W. Colorado Blvd.
In addition to obtaining its own facility, Promise MCC has grown in terms of the services it provides to the community, Haack said. A sponsoring church for Oak Cliff Churches for Emergency Aid, Promise MCC makes regular donations to the organization’s food pantry.
Promise MCC provides meals to residents of AIDS Services of Dallas, and sponsors spiritual programs at Pride Institute in Arlington, Haack said. The church also recently began offering Sunday evening services, which typically are led by lay members.
“Many churches do not offer a Sunday evening service at all, and this one can be a place for members of other churches to add a Sunday evening service to their busy schedules, perhaps even a time to worship when, due to travel or other Sunday morning activities, they were not able to attend church,” Haack said.
This weekend’s events include a community carnival from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 12. At 7 p.m. Saturday, the Anointing, a choir from Resurrection MCC in Houston, will perform.
On Sunday, there will be a catered meal at noon and performances by various area GLBT choirs at 7 p.m. following a 10:30 a.m. sermon from the Rev. Elder Troy Perry, founder of MCC.
“He [Perry] was with us as a speaker very early on, very shortly after we first started,” Haack said. “He has not been back since, and therefore hasn’t seen where we are now. This is his first return visit.”
All events are free of charge. For more information about Promise MCC, call 214-623-8400 or visit www.promisemcc.com.
E-mail wright@dallasvoice.com
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition, April 27, 2007.