Exodus Ad Campaign Shows 'Change is Possible' through Testimonies from Ex-gays
Exodus launches an ad campaign to challenge mainstream America to question homosexuality and encourage the Church to provide the answer.
The largest Christian referral and information ministry for homosexuals in the world launched the second of four ads featured in numerous media outlets this year as part of a campaign intended to attract more attention to homosexuality – by asking people to reexamine it.
Exodus launched the $200,000 ad campaign, entitled, “Question and Anwer” by featuring the first ad of the series in the July 8th edition of the Cincinnati Enquirer. The ad featured President of Exodus International, Alan Chambers with his wife Leslie.
The second ad, published on a full page of the Los Angeles Times on July 23, featured Exodus Communications Director Randy Thomas and his personal testimony of how he overcame homosexuality. Although Thomas had engaged in a homosexual lifestyle, he shared in the ad, he discovered that his longing for male intimacy sprouted from the absence of a relationship with his father, who abandoned him at a young age. However, with the help of a friend, he was able to experience “sexual re-orientation," a testimony which reinforces the message printed on the bottom of the ad, “Change is possible.”
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"It took an old friend to see past the mask I was wearing, to help me finally face the doubts and scars I'd been avoiding,” said Thomas regarding his road to change. “He showed me the irony of how my 'mask' was the very thing keeping me from genuine male intimacy."
Pro-homosexual advocates have argued that homosexuality is genetic, although scientific research has not provided enough evidence to validate the argument.
"We believe that our culture is being bombarded with scientifically, psychologically and spiritually inaccurate information by the liberal media and political elite," said Chambers.
"Exodus is challenging mainstream America to question homosexuality and encouraging the Church to provide the answer,” he said.
In the ad featuring Chambers and his wife, Chambers told skeptics of his change, “Leslie is not my diploma for 'healing' nor is she a prop that shows how I've abandoned a sexual identity. She is my perfect complement and completes me in ways no male relationship can ever do...physically or emotionally."
Future “Question and Answer” ads will highlight Mike Haley, Director of Gender Issues for Focus on the Family, and his wife Angie. Both couples write about their experience with leaving homosexuality and also about the importance of traditional marriage, according to Exodus. Melissa Fryrear, Gender Issues Analyst for Focus on the Family, will also write about her experiences emerging from a homosexual relationship to form a relationship with Christ in an ad later in the campaign.
Exodus recently held its annual conference July 20-24 at Azusa Pacific University in Los Angeles, Ca.
Exodus is a nonprofit, interdenominational Christian organization promoting the message of "Freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ." It has grown to include over 100 local ministries in the USA and Canada and linked with other Exodus world regions outside of North America, totaling over 135 ministries in 17 countries.
