The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Oxford (UUCO)  is please to welcome Alicia Johnston to speak at our Coming Out service.  Alicia Johnston was a pastor in a conservative Christian denomination, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, until she announced via a viral video that she is fully inclusive and affirming of LGBT sexuality and gender, and that she is a bisexual Christian.  Her story was covered by NBC, LGBT Nation, Auto Straddle, and Religion News. She now speaks and writes about her story, queer insights on faith, and the intersection of Christianity and sexuality. Alicia has a master of divinity from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, MI and a master of arts in Clinical Psychology from Argosy University. She can be found at aliciajohnston.com.    

Alicia Johnson will also be speaking on Queer Liberation Theology at the University of Mississippi, sponsored by the Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies, on Monday, Oct. 16, at noon, in the Tupelo Room of Barnard Observatory (Center for the Study of Southern Culture)."

Rev. John Pepper speaks at UUCO this Sunday.  He is a Unitarian Universalist minister now living in Forest, MS.  About this week's service he writes "Recently we've been inundated with something supposedly new and it's called "Fake News."  Well I hate to disappoint you, but I don't think it's all that new!  Please join me as I explore 'Fake News' from a theological perspective with a political twist."

John is a recent transplant to Mississippi from Houston, Texas where he spent most of his working life in the pipeline industry.  During those years he discovered Unitarian Universalism.  He attended the Houston Graduate School of Theology, graduating with a Masters of Divinity.  He was ordained by Thoreau Woods UU Church in Huntsville, TX.  John is looking forward to retirement in a couple of years with his husband, Randy, on their small cattle farm outside of Forest.  He is now a member of the UU Church of Jackson. ​