When Caleb Kaltenbach joined a Bible study in high school, his intention was to disprove the Bible. But he ended up following the God he had been taught hated him.
Kaltenbach, who is now a pastor at Discovery Church in Simi Valley, California, told The Blaze how, despite being put off Christianity from a young age, he became a Christian while attempting to "dismantle" biblical arguments.
When he was two, his parents divorced and both came out as a gay. Kaltenbach's mum and her new partner wanted him to "experience the LGBT community", he told The Church Boys podcast.
As he attended LGBT parades or events as a young child, he witnessed Christians carrying signs saying, "Jesus has no room for you" or "God hates you."
"If that wasn't offensive enough," Kaltenbach said, "they were spraying water and urine on everyone."
"I remember looking at mum as a young kid and being confused. I asked her, 'mum why are they acting like this?'
"'Well Caleb,' she replied, 'they are Christians and Christians hate gay people.'"
As a young child, Kaltenbach developed a hatred for Christians who had shown him so little love.
When Kaltenbach was invited by a friend to a Bible study in high school, he decided to go along, disguised as a Christian in order to disprove the Bible.
"I thought, 'Okay I'm going to pretend to be a Christian. I'm going to learn about the Bible and I'm going to dismantle their arguments because no one should follow somebody like Jesus who hates people."
"I knew," he said, "that I never wanted the name Christian to be associated with me."
However, at Bible study he learnt about the love and grace of Christ and decided to follow Jesus.
Kaltenbach explained that when he first told his parents about his conversion, he was grounded and briefly disowned.
He maintained his convictions and after graduating from high school and then Bible college, he moved and began preaching in a church in Dallas, Texas. His mother and father quickly followed, moving to be closer as a family.
"Both of my parents started attending the church where I was preaching," he said.
"Both of my parents gave their lives to the Lord. Which is incredible!"
Kaltenbach does not believe the Bible condones same-sex relations but now spends his time trying to help Christians learn to balance traditional teaching about homosexuality with grace and love.
"Do they [both his parents] believe in Jesus? Yes." he says. "Are they Christian? Yes. Do they still struggle with same-sex attraction? Yes. Are they judged by some Christians in the church? Probably? Do they believe the same as me on every theological issue? No. Is God with them on the path they are walking? Yes.
"How do all these things go together? I don't know. I just know that grace can get messy and that is OK because God loves messy people."
Caleb Kaltenbach is the author of 'Messy Grace', released in October. Find out more here.
