Help for Those who Experience Same-Sex Attraction: Guidance for Parents, Pastors, and Friends
This workshop is presented by Dr. Mark Yarhouse, one of the leading evangelical voices on same-sex attraction. Dr. Yarhouse specializes in research on sexual orientation and the development of treatment strategies for individuals who experience conflict between their sexual identity and their faith commitments. He has pioneered an approach that seeks to be faithful to both a biblical understanding of sexual identity and to scientific research on how change can occur for those who experience conflict between their identities as faithful followers of Christ and their sexual orientation.
Dr. Mark Yarhouse is professor of psychology and the Hughes Endowed Chair at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where he also directs the Institute for the Study of Sexual Identity (sexualidentityinstitute.org). Dr. Yarhouse has spent several years promoting dialogue between people who view the topic of sexual identity differently. In 2000, he chaired a groundbreaking symposium at the American Psychological Association's annual convention that brought together gay psychologists and conventionally religious psychologists to discuss common ground in treatment options for people sorting out sexual and religious identity conflicts. He chaired similar symposia at the APA on the many meanings of marriage among different religions and various groups within the gay community, services for adolescents experiencing sexual identity confusion, and a recently-proposed sexual identity therapy framework. Dr. Yarhouse has published over 40 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters and is author or co-author of several books on sexual identity, including Homosexuality and the Christian: A Guide for Parents, Pastors, and Friends and Homosexuality: The Use of Scientific Research in the Church's Moral Debate.
Tuesday, October 19
10 a.m. Chapel — Competing Scripts for Responding to Same-Sex Attraction (DMC, Jeremiah Chapel)
Wednesday, October 20
10 a.m. Chapel — Stewardship: The Place of Sexuality in the Life of the Christian (DMC, Jeremiah Chapel)
1 p.m. Workshop — Helping Those with Same-Sex Attraction: A Guide for Pastors, Parents, and Friends (DMC, Jeremiah Chapel)
