Costly Obedience: What We Can Learn from the Celibate Gay Christian Community

Mark Yarhouse · Olya Zaporozhets

Jun 2019 · Christian Audio · Narrated by Adam Verner

About this audiobook

Though we often hear about the "gay problem" today, there is an even deeper problem in the church today-one that we often overlook. The call to follow Christ is a call to costly obedience for all, not just for gay Christians. Far too often, the church has elevated homosexuality above other sins and required a costly obedience from gays that it is unwilling to demand of others. And yet, the answer is not to weaken the demands of obedience. Instead, gay Christians who make the difficult choice to align their lives with the biblical view of sexuality are a gift to the church, reminding all of us that spiritual growth and maturity is costly. There is a price to pay in following Christ and devoting our lives to the call of the gospel, and it is one that we all must pay-gay and straight Christians alike. Through the stories and struggles of gay Christians who are reorienting their lives around the costly obedience required to follow Christ, Mark Yarhouse and Olya Zaporozhets call the church to reorient as well, leaving behind the casual morality that is widespread today to pursue the path of radical discipleship. Unlike any other book on homosexuality and the church, this is a call to examine your life and consider what God is asking you to lay down to take up your cross and follow him.

About the author

Mark Yarhouse, a licensed clinical psychologist, is the Dr. Arthur P. Rech and Mrs. Jean May Rech Chair of Psychology in the School of Psychology, Counseling, and Family Therapy at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, where he leads the Sexual & Gender Identity Institute.

Olya Zaporozhets is an associate professor in the School of Psychology and Counseling at Regent University. Dr. Zaporozhets is coauthor, with Mark Yarhouse, of Costly Obedience. She has diverse clinical experiences and has trained Christian leaders in mental health counseling in Europe and Asia.

Adam Verner has narrated over one hundred books, including the AudioFile Earphones Award winner Pavilion of Women by Pearl S. Buck. Adam works as a full-time voice actor and on stage in Chicago.