The First: A Story of Transformation and Inclusion News March 07, 2025 Fred Koenig Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... During the General Conference Session last April, the United Methodist Church dropped its prohibition on openly gay clergy and same-sex weddings. The following June, at the Annual Conference Session, there were exactly zero openly gay clergy appointed to local churches in Missouri. The appointment process begins in February and is typically well underway by the time General Conference convened last April. Becoming a United Methodist clergyperson is not an overnight process. Local pastors must complete licensing school and meet various other requirements, while ordained clergy begin with a degree from an approved seminary and then navigate a years-long journey of formation, examination and approval. Given this timeline, it’s not surprising that the first Annual Conference Session after the policy change did not immediately include the appointment of an openly gay clergyperson. However, that has since changed. Midway through the year, an openly gay pastor — who has been a lifelong United Methodist in Missouri — began serving in an appointed role. Now married, he no longer has to conceal this part of his identity. Always United Methodist Rev. Michael Dunlap grew up in Ebenezer United Methodist Church near St. Joseph. Church was an important part of his family’s life. “It was a perfect environment for me,” he said. “There wasn’t a lot of noise back then about people debating the very identity of LGBTQ people. Church was about the love of Jesus.” He came out of that church in a state that he describes as ripe for his faith to continue to mature. He went to college at Northwest Missouri State University, majoring in agricultural business. There he met Revs. Don and Marjean Ehlers, campus ministers, and his life took a turn. “They saw in me something I hadn’t recognized in myself,” Dunlap said. That something was his call to ministry. At the time the Ehlers had a program in which their campus ministry students were doing pulpit supply for neighboring rural churches in need of a pastor. Before long he was preaching at Skidmore and Burr Oak. The Ehlers nurtured his call to ministry, and by the time he graduated with his degree in agriculture business, he was headed to seminary at Saint Paul School of Theology. At that time the debate around homosexuality was culminating, not only in the church but in Dunlap’s own life. Seminary resulted in deep reflections about his own identity. For the first time he had professional colleagues with whom he was comfortable disclosing his sexual orientation. “In a way I came out to the Church first,” he said. “Coming out to my seminary friends gave me the confidence to come out to my own family.” Although that time of personal spiritual growth was affirming, the United Methodist Church as an institution wasn’t there yet. Dunlap decided he didn’t want to pursue ordination if he couldn’t be his authentic self. Instead, he served the church in other ways without disclosing his sexual orientation, as a local pastor and in other ministry roles. And he kept watching General Conference Sessions and waiting. “I got so sick of hearing, ‘Just give it four more years’,” he said. “It’s been a roller coaster for my entire career.” Through that time, he’s grateful of support he received from so many people in the Missouri Conference. He recalls a time when Rev. Susan Vogel, now retired, was in tears regarding the prohibitions against homosexuals set by General Conference and the implications that had for him personally. “That was the first time I had someone in the church cry for me,” he said. The General Conference session of 2019 was particularly discouraging. “I had hope, then it felt like (the 2019 session) was a big step backward,” he said. And then COVID-19. It was a discouraging time. Dunlap started working for Resurrection Church, the largest United Methodist Church in the world, located in Leawood, Kansas. Church of the Resurrection started in a funeral home, and as a lay director of the funeral ministry. It was a hectic job that could generate 50 or 60 emails a day. The busyness allowed him to lose himself in the work while he stepped away from the divisions within the church. But he didn’t step away from church. Dunlap was attending Keystone United Methodist Church in Kansas City when he met Billy. Billy was attending a Mennonite Conference in Kansas City. Billy grew up in a conservative branch of a Mennonite Church. He later was in a branch that was far from progressive, but it did permit him to attend college. He worked at Goshen College in Indiana. When he disclosed his sexual orientation, he was excommunicated from the church. Billy and Michael started attending church together, the first time either had ever been in church as a gay couple. Billy took new membership classes at Keystone and had a crash-course in United Methodism. He was surprised to find how easy it was to join. “I was shocked that I didn’t have to get rebaptized,” he said. Last August, Dunlap told Northwest District Superintendent Robin Bell, he would be open to taking an appointment. In October she told him she had a church for him. “I knew they were very inclusive, which is unusual,” Bell said. “And Jim [Barnett, who had been serving as interim pastor there] had told me they were moving toward becoming a Reconciling Ministries congregation.” The church was open to having an openly gay pastor, which was an important factor, but certainly not the only thing being considered. “Michael is just a very good fit for that church,” Bell said. “He has a degree in agriculture. He’s from near there. He has a heart for the rural church. He wants to be involved in the community. He is just what they need.” The First Go Around Dunlap was nervous about being the first openly gay man appointed in Missouri and was particularly nervous about being appointed to a rural area. But he wasn’t the barrier breaker for this church. Broadway United Methodist Church in Plattsburg had already fought the fight around homosexuality. They have had two gay men on staff for several years. When a friend from Excelsior Springs told Jacob Enderle-Miller that Broadway UMC was looking for a worship leader in 2016, he thought it sounded like a great opportunity for him to put his degree in choral conducting to use. He also thought the job was at Broadway UMC in Kansas City. When he learned it was in Plattsburg, he didn’t let being in a rural area scare him off. “My entire Enderle family is from that whole corridor right around Plattsburg,” Enderle-Miller said. When he interviewed with Rev. Crystal Karr, the pastor at the time, he told her he was gay and asked if it would be a problem. She said it would not. At first it wasn’t too much of a problem, but in a few months, when Enderle-Miller’s partner (now spouse) Kyle Enderle-Miller was hired as the youth leader at the church, there was more pushback, largely from outside the church. The hire made sense; Kyle had previously worked as a youth leader at an Episcopal church. The local Baptist minister started pressuring Karr to fire the couple. District Superintendent Cindy Buhmann became involved. She recalls that other ministers in Plattsburg were already uncomfortable with the United Methodist Church having a woman pastor, and having an openly gay person on staff was a bridge too far for them. “They took the United Methodist Church off of the church Christmas tour,” Buhman said. “It was just ornery.” Buhman went to a ministerial alliance meeting in support of Karr. “It was not acceptable in their eyes, and they wanted us to fix it, but to us there wasn’t anything that needed fixing,” Buhman said. A compromise was reached in which the Enderle-Millers were not to lead community activities. But that’s been a few years, and things have shifted. “The churches that were opposed to us are no longer doing anything in the community anyway, so now I’m very involved in community events,” Jacob said. Through that time, Jacob said he felt supported, and many people stood up for him while the church was sorting things out internally and were also very supportive outside the walls of the church. He recalls one member who was politically conservative speaking up in favor of the church becoming part of the Reconciling Ministry Network, which they voted to do in November 2024. She said she believed everyone is a child of God and should be able to live as they were created. Dunlap’s Appointment In 2024 the pastor of Broadway UMC was moved, and an interim pastor was filling in until another pastor could be found. Pastor Parish Relations Committee Chair Lisa Querrey said there were some potential candidates, but she suspects that the church being in the process of moving toward joining the Reconciling Ministries Network may have scared them off. So, when Northwest District Superintendent Robin Bell contacted Querrey and said she had a candidate, and he’s gay, and asked if that was O.K., Querrey said of course. “It fit perfectly into our vision of our church moving to be part of the Reconciling Ministry Network,” Querrey said. “It happened so quick, all at once, it really felt like God’s hand was in it.” When the church took a vote on becoming an RMN church, it was nearly unanimous. “We’re a very open, loving church,” Querrey said. “It doesn’t matter who you are, you can be yourself here. I know this may be a new thing for the Missouri Conference, but it didn’t feel new to us at all.” Dunlap feels the experiences that he and Billy have had their whole lives through the church has prepared for them for the role they now serve. He understands it is new territory. He’s newly married, which is a time of adjustment for anyone. There is no other gay clergy couple that he can ask about things. Billy is both a new United Methodist, and now he’s a clergy spouse. “We have a lot of new things to figure out together,” Billy said. Their first Sunday at Broadway was Dec. 1, the first Sunday of Advent. They had just gotten married, and Billy started his new job at the men’s healthcare clinic in Liberty the next day. “The church was just exceptional in how they welcomed us,” Billy said. Dunlap agreed that they couldn’t have done more. “The people here have a great spirit,” he said. “We can be ourselves here, and we’re not used to that. It makes us nervous,” Billy said. He’s been very impressed not just with how they were received, but how the United Methodists at Broadway UMC live out their faith. “The congregation here is more interested in being out in their community and serving rather than just coming to church for an hour on Sunday morning,” Billy said. The church is active in providing for people in need in the community through a food pantry and thrift store and does a free community meal monthly. Dunlap hasn’t heard any negativity from the community, but he realizes it took years to get to that point. “We’re standing on the shoulders of those who did hard work before us,” he said. Someone from the community who is not part of the church told Dunlap that they appreciate and respect his openness. The person has a son who is gay who no longer lives there. Dunlap hopes Broadway can become known in the region as a church that is open and inclusive, so people of the LGBTQ community will know they don’t have to go all the way to Kansas City to find a church where they can worship and be accepted. Dunlap’s only hesitation with sharing his story is that he hopes it isn’t too hard for colleagues who are in ministry settings where they can’t be their authentic self. “I know what that is like, and my heart breaks for them,” he said. “If 28-year-old me could have known that at 43 I’d be married to a wonderful man and serving as a pastor, my heart would have been so at peace.” Billy said his previous church was about demanding conformity, and the United Methodist Church is about nurturing people and helping them be the person God designed them to be. He appreciates that aspect, and is glad United Methodists can authentically be themselves and live into its motto of having open doors. Being truly open to anyone, and not just saying the words, is important to much of the membership at Broadway. Beth Garr grew up in Broadway UMC, and always found it to be a welcoming and inclusive place. She moved away for college and for her career, but Garr moved back to the area in 2021 and brought her family to the church, largely because it is open and accepting. “That is 100% important to us,” Garr said. “Our church feels like a big family, but it’s also feels mighty when it counts. We talk a lot about this in our house, and inclusivity is why we chose to continue to be active there and support the missions of the church.” Garr teaches vocational agriculture in high school, and her twins were active in the church youth group during their high school years. They graduated last year. Her daughter is at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg working on a degree in nursing, and her son is serving in the Army in the Washington, D.C. area. “Both still participate in our worship online, and both of them were able to take part in the vote for us becoming a Reconciling congregation,” Garr said. At a time when it can be hard to find a pastor for a rural church, Garr is thrilled to have Dunlap serving as pastor there. “It’s amazing how God’s timing worked out,” Garr said. “Michael was absolutely the person our church needed to get.” Dunlap could have changed to a denomination that was more accepting, or he could have chosen a career path apart from the church. As he serves as pastor to Broadway UMC and the community, he is glad that he stayed the course. “There was just something about my call within the United Methodist Church and my roots in the Methodist church that I could never really leave it,” he said. “Throughout my career I’ve had people I could trust who have supported me. I have nothing but gratitude for the Missouri Conference.”