A Texas church
that agreed to host a man's funeral reneged on its promise
after learning that the man was gay, according to
The Dallas Morning News. Cecil Sinclair's
funeral was to be held Thursday at the High Point
Church in Arlington, Texas.
Sinclair was
diagnosed with a heart condition six years ago and died
Monday at age 46. His brother, Lee, is a member of High
Point Church. The pastor at the church is the
Reverend Gary Simons, brother-in-law of
nationally known preacher Joel Osteen.
Members of the
High Point Church prayed for Sinclair after his diagnosis.
When he died of an infection from a surgery intended to
sustain him for a heart transplant, a member of the
church staff was immediately sent to minister to the
family, the article said.
Church officials
planned a 100-guest meal and a slide show to commemorate
Sinclair's life. Some of the photos his family selected,
however, proved too controversial for church members.
"Some of those
photos had very strong homosexual images of kissing
and hugging," Simons told the Morning News. "My
ministry associates were taken aback."
There was also a
dispute in the officiating and sequence of the memorial
service, which Sinclair's mother, Eva Bowers, said could
have been rectified.
In the end, the
nondenominational church said it would not hold the
funeral because Sinclair was gay, which went against High
Point's doctrine.
"Can you hold the
event and condone the sin and compromise our
principles?" Simons said in the article. "We can't."
According to the
article, he was a Navy veteran who served in Desert
Storm and a singer in the Turtle Creek Chorale.
(The Advocate)
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