The 7th Annual
Brian M. Eckstein Podcast Stage
Making Things Right
TBD | TBD
In-Person & Online
Making Things Right invites Christians and church leaders to rethink our response and responsibility to LGBTQ+ people. In this episode "The Long Game: LGBTQ+ Reform in the Christian Church", we will explore challenges, opportunities, and advancements in the church, with a panel of thought-leaders moving the needle in not-yet-affirming spaces.
Listen to the podcast below!
Brian Nietzel (he/him)
Since coming out 15 years ago as a gay man committed to his faith in Jesus, Brian has been working to reform the Christian response to LGBTQ+ people.
In 2019, he co-founded "Renovus", an organization that helps LGBTQ+ people rediscover Jesus in community. Today, Renovus serves hundreds of LGBTQ+ people with regular events and weekly home groups.
In 2021, Brian launched "Making Things Right" to equip Christians and Church leaders to better love our LGBTQ+ neighbor. His podcast mini-series was featured by Christianity Today and has 25,000 downloads. His work has been featured in major media outlets, including The Dallas Morning News, Baptist News Global, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has signed with Gardner Literary Agency and is currently working on his first book “A Quiet Reformation”.
Brian lives with his husband, Dan, and two daughters in Atlanta, GA.
Brit Barron (SHe/HER)
Brit Barron is a well renowned speaker in the areas of storytelling, communication, gender and sexuality. Brit is an experienced storyteller and is known for her ability to use personal narratives and experiences from her life to highlight larger, universal truths. Her casual speaking style, use of humor, and ability to capture an audience has led her to share the stage with Amy Porterfield, Rachel Hollis, Ashlee Marie Preston, Trent Shelton, Jen Hatmaker, Ruthie Lindsey, Nadia Bolz-Weber and many more! Worth It: Overcome Your Fears and Embrace the Life You Were Made For was Brit’s first book and launched in July of 2020, and her second book, Do You Still Talk to Grandma, was released in October 2024!
Bill White
Bill White lives in Long Beach with his wife Katy, who is a doctor working with those on the margins. She does not describe herself as a pastor’s wife. They have two kids, one working in political communications and one in college in graduate school.
Bill worked for 25 years in the evangelical world as missionary, parachurch staff, and pastor. He shifted more post-evangelical around the time his kids identified as gay. Being “the loud pastor,” Bill attempts to have people over for dinner every night. (This depends largely on negotiations with Katy, who is not an extrovert.) He plays board games on the other nights. Bill is an Enneagram 8 who has spent many years in therapy and spiritual direction and needs to spend many more.
Grace Thomas (SHe/HER)
Grace is a committed follower of Jesus with a call to ministry. She is also a trans woman out publicly for just 3 1/2 years. She served 32 years as a pastor in a conservative denomination. During this time her two youngest children came out as gay. She is now retired. Grace, and her wife of 48 years, Cindy, have been working to navigate their mixed orientation marriage for the last 7 ½ years. They remain committed to each other but are currently walking with each other through separation. An introvert by nature, friendships have never come easy. But they HAVE become the lifeblood of Grace’s thriving as a queer person. Helping others experience this thriving is one of her passions along with supporting parents with queer kids and working to promote inclusion in the church.
Rev. Danny Cortez (He/Him)
Danny Cortez (he/him) pastored New Heart, a church dismissed from the Southern Baptist Convention for becoming an inclusive space for LGBTQ+ people. He founded Estuary Space, a non-profit that helps people and churches navigate the complexities of faith, gender, and sexuality. He now pastors at Long Beach Christian Fellowship in Long Beach, CA. He authored The Clergy Guide for QCF, a manual to help churches navigate conversations to become fully affirming of LGBTQ people. He is on the board of Bridges in Africa and PFLAG SGV API.
More Podcasts Will Be Announced Soon!