{"id":354608,"date":"2017-09-19T07:26:09","date_gmt":"2017-09-19T07:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=354608"},"modified":"2017-11-10T11:18:56","modified_gmt":"2017-11-10T11:18:56","slug":"two-pastors-in-love-and-only-god-knows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/09\/two-pastors-in-love-and-only-god-knows\/","title":{"rendered":"Two pastors in love, and only God knows"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
Pastor Twanna Gause stepped out of a limousine amid the whir of cameras outside the New Vision Full Gospel Baptist Church in East Orange, N.J.<\/p>\n
Dressed in an off-white wedding gown and veil that sparkled in the cascading sunshine, she carried a bouquet of white roses and lilies, hugged several guests, then parted a sea of well-wishers on the way to her best friend, Pastor Vanessa Brown, who stood waiting at the altar in a cream-colored long coat called a sherwani and gold Punjabi jutti shoes.<\/p>\n
The church doors opened, allowing the faint strains of \u201cYou Are So Beautiful\u201d to float on the hot August air. Pastor Gause stepped inside, where she was greeted by Bishops Levi Richards and Eugene Gathers, both of the Fellowship of Affirming Ministries.<\/p>\n
Both men walked Ms. Gause down the aisle, a role she had initially hoped would be accepted by her father, the Rev. Sam Gause Sr., a Pentecostal minister who lives in Atlanta.<\/p>\n
But Mr. Gause, citing \u201cdifferences in theological beliefs,\u201d refused his daughter\u2019s invitation.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father would not come here because he does not believe in same-sex marriage,\u201d Ms. Gause said. \u201cHe told me the devil tricked me into this, and that if we had been married in biblical times, we would have been stoned to death.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
Mr. Gause, who helped raise four other daughters and a son before divorcing their mother, Cathy Dodson, in 1996, held steadfast in his decision.<\/p>\n