Rev. Terry J. McGuire

While I have always been in a Church and many different Denominations through out my life and childhood, I was Saved and Baptized at the age of 11 at the First Baptist Church in Huntington, West Virginia where I grew up. I was attending Church and Sunday School and Church Camps long before I started Public Schools, and continued to always find a Church that I could attend no matter where I lived. God had certainly greater plans in store for me than I ever would of dreamed of and has always protected me, but for the Grace of God I have survived some of the situations I had placed myself into. However my Call to Ministry began long before January 1^st 2006 In Church, (Good Samaritan Church – my Partner Bill’s Church at the time, he has since left Good Sam) the Pastor had requested us to write on a piece of paper, what we were willing to let go and let God. I wrote on the paper but more importantly from the heart “In all things”. One afternoon in Prayer of Thanksgiving for everything God has done, and the many privileges He has given me, to be a part of so much over the past 15 years or so in giving thanks, He then asks me to now come and do the same for Him, and so my journey of Faith begins. At first I thought that it might just be some form of ministry that He would assign or task of me and the year ended the same as it began New Years Eve at Church, what an amazing start. As I began my studies and began to understand more about God and all God has done for us as a people for centuries even when we as a people continue to fail Him, He continues to Love us. I started to discern what had He really said. “Now come and do the same for Me”. I am not the most scholastic of students. But I will work with whatever I have, to accomplish any goal set before me. I had asked that He be specific if at all possible. So I started getting scripture verses to look up sometimes in the middle of the night I would awake to have scripture verse running through my mind. I would get up and write it down. Sometimes curious to what it said I would look it up and pray and go back to bed until morning. Starting with (Romans 10:15 & Revelations 3:22, Hebrews 9:20, 1Peter 4:11, “Listen more – Speak less – Pray often” , Psalms 27:8, 19:14, Acts 22:10, “Be Still” , Romans 8:10, 15-17, Acts 26: 22, 1Thessalonians 5:16-22, Matthew 7: 2,3, Isaiah 7:11, 1Corinthians 7:17-24, 1Thessalonians 5:23-24 ) these verses have come to me over the past year and a half or so. I have been studying every day of the week except for Sundays when I alternate Churches. King of Peace MCC and Christ the Cornerstone Church, some days I am studying 6 to 8 hours each day. Going over homework or Bible studies that I participated in through Cornerstone. Earlier this year around July I had ask Pastor Joyce from Cornerstone if I could stop the Bible studies at her church to pursue deeper studies through different free online Bible Schools and studies.  Before switching methods of learning we finished the Old Testament Bible studies from Genesis to Malachi at Cornerstone from the Discovery Study Bible NIV. . While the fellowship of each of the Members was beneficial I felt as though there was more in the Scriptures that I had to learn to be more effectively equipped for whatever God had in HIS greater plans for me. Because financial resources are extremely tight for me, I have accessed any and all the free learning tools I could find via the Internet. However I believe the Holy Spirit has told me that God will provide whatever I need when I need it. also to choose 3 mentors so I have Pastor Joyce Stone from Christ the Cornerstone Church started the Church over 13 years ago , Rev. James Ressor, he started his Calling at 18 years of age, now a retired Pastor of 93, who has written over 30 books and been all over the world and started several seminaries in other countries and Rev. Lorraine Brock from King of Peace MCC. Each brings something different in Ministry styles and very unique personalities with in themselves and their journeys of faith. I can and continue to learn from each of them. Because they are so busy with their works I usually won’t disturb them unless it is something I am having extreme difficulty with, then I will ask for their thoughts about any issue at hand.

I believe that even with the fact that I am an openly gay man, in a committed relationship with my partner for 10 years this December, and myself being HIV + that I have known of since 1990.

While each of the different parts of my life make up who God has created me to be, they are only just a small part of the Ministry I believe that HE has for me to do. First and foremost we are Gods Children and we who HE chooses to send out have the obligation to fulfill whatever God puts in our hearts and paths to do.

If I had a message other than the Gospel Message of Salvation that is available to ALL especially to those who believe otherwise from so many different pulpits today, that we are all to be busy showing others that God does indeed Love them, it would be

Rev. Terry J. McGuire