Jimmy Creech, Author of Adam’s Gift: A Memoir of a Pastor’s Call to Defy the Church’s Persecution of Lesbians and Gays (Duke University Press) will be holding a reading and book signing at Clifton United Methodist Church on May 14th at 10 AM.

A native of Goldsboro, North Carolina, Jimmy Creech was an ordained elder in The United Methodist Church from 1997 to 1999. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Biblical Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Divinity from The Divinity School of Duke University. Since the United Methodist Church removed his ordination in 1999, he has worked with many social-action organizations, including Soulforce, an interfaith movement confronting spiritual violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons; the North Carolina Religious Coalition for Marriage Equality, dedicated to defeating a anti-gay marriage amendment to the NC State constitution and to advocating for marriage equality, and Faith In America, an organization working to end religion-based bigotry. He has received the Flagbearer Award from PFLAG National; the Human Rights Campaign Equality Award; the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina Frank Porter Graham Award; the North Carolina Pride, Inc. Award; and the Lee and Mae Ball Award, presented by The Methodist Federation for Social Action. He was selected as one of OUT magazine’s “Out 100” in 1998 and 1999. Creech now lives in Raleigh where he recently helped to found the North Carolina Social Justice Project.