Love is love ministry

My name is Minister Jimmy Sherman. At 28 years old, I have over ten years of experience in customer service, more than five years volunteering with the Red Cross in disaster areas, and two years as a minister. From all these experiences, I’ve realized one thing: I love helping people. Here’s a little about why I started this journey. Between 2014 and 2016, I began noticing my attraction to men. Don’t get me wrong, I liked women, just not in the same way, and I didn’t fully understand the difference at first. It wasn’t until mid-2014, when the second gay rights movement gained momentum, that I realized I was gay. I was terrified to come out—my mother was supportive but still new to it, while my father’s side was completely anti-gay, not to mention the bullying. Long story short, I ended up in a group home for a year in the city. That experience opened me up completely, and I came out. But when I returned home, there was no one to help me in my small rural community.

The mission now is to reach out to youth in our communities to let them know they have a safe place and to help marry those who need it most. Our youth could benefit from their own personal dances and proms, but many schools in the area don’t offer these due to budget constraints—how sad is that? There is a youth center, yes, but it’s overrun by unfriendly, anti-gay individuals. So where does that leave our gay youth? Often on the streets, because home isn’t safe and homeless shelters force them out during the day. As for marriages, our community is rooted in Christian-based religion, and most local churches haven’t yet embraced the LGBTQAI+ community. This leaves a huge gap—literally nowhere to turn except to a judge in court, and that doesn’t exactly make for a joyful wedding.