Dennis Jernigan’s Story of Hope, Destiny, and Restoration Sure to Inspire

Sing Over Me is a new, one-­and-­a-­half-­hour documentary about award-­winning singer and songwriter Dennis Jernigan and his painful journey and battle with same-­sex attraction while living as a professing Christian. “It was a life,” he says, “that was filled with shame.” Yet, this is not a story against homosexuality. Rather, it is a story of hope, destiny and restoration.

To release Fall 2014, by Free Verse Films (Los Angeles, CA), the film will premiere at a special live event on Friday, Feb. 28, 7:00 p.m., at Eastwood Baptist Church; 949 S. 91 E. Ave.; Tulsa, OK. Jernigan will be at the event, which will include an opening time of worship, a special screening of the documentary, and will be followed by a question-­and-­answer session.

As a kid, Jernigan recognized he was “different.” When he heard men from his church discussing homosexuals, he recognized–whether the men knew it or not–they were talking about him. Their words were not kind.

“As a child, I thought God hated me. I thought homosexuals were going straight to hell. I was hopeless,” he shares. Jernigan battled that sense of hopelessness throughout high school and college, feeling condemned from the messages he heard from the pulpit; yet he was unable to change.

But obviously something did change. It is the core of his message today.  “I’ve often heard people say, ‘You do more damage than good by telling someone they don’t have to be homosexual.’ I’m not telling them they have to do anything. I’m just telling them God loves them and here’s how He loved me. This is my story.” This event is open to the public.

ABOUT DENNIS JERNIGAN -­ He has penned hundreds of worship songs, including well-­known choruses such as “You Are My All in All,” “We Will Worship the Lamb of Glory” and “Nobody Fills My Heart Like Jesus” and has collaborated with artists such as Twila Paris, Natalie Grant and Rebecca St. James. He walked away from the homosexual lifestyle more than thirty years ago, married and has nine children. “I have never referred to myself as a recovering homosexual,” Jernigan says of his past.  “Never have, never will. I am signed, sealed, delivered, utterly and irrevocably who my Father says I am … a new creation.”

Tickets for the upcoming premiere are $10 online or $12 at the door and are available at

www.singovermemovie.com.

For additional information on the documentary, or if you are interested in hosting a screening at your school or church, email:  [email protected]

RELEASE DATE: Fall 2014

Watch the trailer:

http://www.singovermemovie.com/#!tr ailer/c22wt

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING:

“Sing Over Me is a beautiful and artistic, yet raw and honest portrayal of Dennis Jernigan. As a former homosexual and music lover, my soul connected with this film on multiple levels. The message of hope, love, compassion, faithfulness, and perseverance that Dennis personifies through his story of overcoming same-sex attraction and living out God’s true plan for him is inspirational.”

Christopher Doyle, MA, LCPC

Director of International Healing Foundation and Co-founder and President of Voice of the Voiceless

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ABOUT FREE VERSE FILMS – Founder Jacob Kindberg (Director/Editor) has been making movies since he was eight years old. He studied film production, with a minor in biblical studies, at Biola University in La Mirada, CA, and graduated in 2008. In 2010, he directed his first feature, Channel News. The micro-budget film played at several festivals around the country and won Best Minnesota Feature at the 2010 Underground Exposure Film Festival. He is also an accomplished film editor and member of the Motion Picture Editors Guild. He lives in Los Angeles.

In January of this year, Glenn Beck, the conservative radio and television host, stated on his radio show that if anyone within the sound of his voice hated a gay person, they could not be a fan of his or have a friend anywhere on his show. Mr. Beck is a Christian, a Mormon, and professes to believe the Bible and follow its precepts. If that’s true, I’d like to share the following with Mr. Beck and other alleged Christian defenders of homosexuality.   

I am an Ex Homosexual, Ex Lesbian, Ex Queer, Ex Gay who is extremely grateful to Glenn Beck for inspiring me to leave homosexuality. I lived my entire adult life as an out, active, atheist lesbian. My personal redemption story began in 2009. In a dark, empty movie theatre on the west coast, I watched Glenn Beck act out his autobiographical “The Christmas Sweater.” In the depths of his alcoholism, drug addiction, depression, and suicide, Beck had a dream in which Jesus Christ appeared to him, forgave him, and freed him from addiction and suicide. This was before he chose to become a Mormon. I knew in that instant that if Jesus Christ could free Glenn Beck from alcoholism, drug addiction, and suicide, Jesus Christ could deliver me from homosexuality. I asked Jesus to come into my heart and forgive me and He did. I was freed immediately from any and all desire or temptation to continue in the homosexual life and filled with a passion to tell the truth about homosexuality.

I was not born a homosexual. I was not “born that way.” There is no scientific proof, or proof of any kind, that there is a homosexual gene or that homosexuals are “born that way.” I was sexually molested at the age of 2 and I began making choices at that age that lead to a life of homosexuality. I chose that life and I clung desperately to the lie that I was “born that way” so I would never be held accountable for my choices. This is what every sinner wants. I was a permanent, perpetual victim who demanded to be placed in a special, blameless category of sin. I was “constitutionally incapable of being honest with myself” and as America became increasingly atheist and hedonist, I received more and more permission to practice my special sin of choice.

The secular counseling world, especially, which I sought out to combat addiction, depression, and suicide, demanded that I believe I was born that way and that I just accept and love myself more and better. But even passionate, powerful defenders of homosexuality cannot remove the consequences of sin. In my heart of hearts, where God resides, I knew what I was doing and how I was living were wrong and I could not escape my shame and guilt and pain. Glenn Beck admitted his sin of addiction and Jesus Christ forgave and healed him. God used Glenn Beck to reach me.  When I asked, Jesus Christ forgave and freed me from my sin of homosexuality. I pray that Glenn Beck and other alleged Christian defenders of homosexuality can hear the truth now.

Satan is the Father of Lies and he attacks every child. We are all born children of God; we are all attacked by Satan; and we are all sinners. The only thing special about the sin of homosexuality is the audacity and persistence of the lie defending it. If you love the homosexuals in your life, stop defending their sin. God loves them and God will forgive them, if they turn to Him and ask. Help them believe that He will forgive them. Help them reach out for His forgiveness and love. Love their souls instead of their sin. Pray for their redemption. I am an Ex Homosexual today through the prayers of those who truly loved me, the grace of God, and the power of Jesus Christ, praise God. The homosexuals you love deserve redemption too.

Robin Goodspeed is an Ex-Lesbian and an Advisory Board member of Voice of the Voiceless

Join Maryland Families and Tell the House of Delegates to Vote “No” for HB 91

HB 91 would prohibit a licensed mental health practitioner in the state of Maryland from offering counseling or psychotherapy to a minor that has unwanted same-sex attractions and seeks to change his/her homosexual orientation. It would also take away the rights of parents to choose a licensed mental health care provider for their children that is consistent with their religious and/or spiritual values, if their child wants to overcome unwanted same-sex attractions and seek sexual orientation change.

Click here to read the Press Release: International Healing Foundation Urges Maryland Legislature To Put Client Rights First

Maryland House of Delegates,

HB 91 would take away the rights of minors to receive counseling for unwanted same-sex attractions, even if those attractions resulted from sexual abuse or molestation from a sexual predator.

This bill would also take away the rights of parents to choose a licensed mental health provider that aligns with their family’s religious and spiritual values on the issue of homosexuality.

The freedom to exercise religion is embedded in the Constitution of the United States, and as citizens, we have the right to seek out medical and mental health care that is consistent with our religious and spiritual values.

Taking away the rights of our family and children to seek out counseling from highly trained licensed mental health providers who specialize in counseling for unwanted same-sex attractions is governmental intrusion into our families.

Please vote “NO” for HB 91 and respect the rights of parents to make the proper decisions for their children’s mental health! We know what is best for our children, not the government!

Click Here to Sign the Petition and Tell Maryland Delegates to Vote “No” for HB 91

Voice of the Voiceless is the only anti-defamation league for former homosexuals, individuals with unwanted same-sex attractions, and their families. For more information, visit: www.VoiceoftheVoiceless.info

At the start of this year the UK’s Association of Christian Counsellors (ACC) sent out a statement declaring that they do not support any form of therapy to help people overcome unwanted homosexual feelings, what they define as reparative or conversion therapies, and that no member of the ACC could offer them. This is a worrying change of position as, until the statement, the ACC was the only UK body that supported both the client’s right to choose such a therapy and the therapist’s right to offer this type of therapy. Already we have seen a therapist kicked out of the ACC due to their change of position.

The full statement is full of errors and misunderstanding and has the tone of having been dictated by the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) and the UK government’s new Professional Standards Authority (PSA), the body to oversee the “voluntary” register that the government is creating. In fact the statement appears, including from the testimony of those who have had their membership of the ACC revoked, to be based entirely on the desire to have ACC members allowed to join the new PSA register rather than to be based on proper consideration of the evidence.

At the current rate, it appears that soon no one in the UK will be able to receive counseling from a licensed mental health practitioner for unwanted same-sex attractions

In the ACC statement they refer specifically to reparative and conversion therapy as the means to overcome unwanted homosexual feelings. The reality is that, while the model of therapy from Dr Joseph Nicolosi is called Reparative Therapy, therapists who work with those with unwanted homosexual feelings neither attempt to repair or convert. Sexual Orientation Change Efforts, to use the term from the American Psychological Association, use counselling and psycotheraputic techniques to deal with the psychological wounds that contribute to the development of the same sex attraction just as they would use them to deal with the contributing psychological factors for eating disorders, low self-esteem, body image problems and other issues. To use, as the ACC and others such as the UKCP does, terms such as conversion therapy shows a deliberate misrepresentation of the methods used in and the aims of sexual orientation change efforts.

The ACC statement also includes the fact that “Counsellors / therapists do not make assumptions that the client is looking for a particular outcome”. Yet all therapy does this. If a client comes to me because they want to overcome an eating disorder, obsessive compulsive behaviour, low self-esteem what am I as a therapist to do? Am I to presume that they do not actually want to stop self-harming? That they do not want to break the cycle of binge eating and vomiting that is bulimia?

Am I to presume that there is something else or am I to work with the client on the issue that they want to work with? Not if it is unwanted homosexual feelings? In this case I am to presume that they are suffering from the effects of a hetero-normative society (whatever that means) and refuse to work with them on their desired outcome in line with their religious belief system. This position makes nonsense of the role of the therapist and of the authority of the professional body by breaching the core principle that underlines all counselling and psychotherapy – that we deal with the issues that the client wants to deal with.

This position is based on the false belief that by defining homosexual behaviour as unhealthy, by saying that overcoming unwanted homosexual feelings is possible, that we are calling homosexuality a disease or a sickness. Let us look though at another issue – the involvement of young people in violent gangs. We would call this as dangerous and unhealthy because of the psychological and sociological factors that drive a young man or woman to join a gang, but this does not mean that we are calling gang membership a mental disorder or disease. We would, if someone came and wanted out of a gang, work with them not only to leave the lifestyle but also to help them deal with the issues that led them to that lifestyle – yet to do the same with someone who either wants to leave the gay lifestyle or wants to prevent themselves going into it by dealing with unwanted homosexual feelings is unethical. This reality has passed the ACC by in the rush to be registerable.
Phelim McIntyre, N.L.P.M.P. is a professional counselor and life coach specializing in issues concerning masculinity, including sexual orientation, based in the South of England. He is an ex-homosexual, having come out at the age of 13  and now overcoming SSA. He has now been straight for over 10 years.