In July, when Reverend John Middleton announced his retirement from Joy Metropolitan Community Church after a decade of service to take car of his ailing mother, the news was met with anxiety and hope. However, the church’s board quickly assigned an interim appointment to Reverend Lisa Heilig, who had just finished a similar two-year contract in Sarasota. Heilig took over fulltime at the 250-member Joy MCC on Oct. 10.
“I am looking forward to the fact that Orlando is one of the youngest cities in Florida,” Heilig says. “I think there are lots of opportunities to reach out, especially to our youth.”
Heilig explained how she came to Joy MCC: “I knew that my time in Sarasota was drawing to a close, and I really felt that I was called to do more intentional interim work with another community. At the time Reverend John put in his letter of resignation in July, I had done intentional interim work for going on four years. This opportunity seemed like this was going to work well, so the board and I went for it.”
Heilig is originally from the small town of Davie, Florida. Her life of giving – earlier in nonprofit work and later as a pastor – has always been in the South.
“I lived in Atlanta for 16 years. For the last year and a half there, I would be in Atlanta during the week, and I worked at The Rock MCC in Chattanooga on the weekends.”
The two-hour drive was not a deterrent for work Heilig quickly found she loved.
“I had a great time in Chattanooga, just as I did in Sarasota,” Heilig says.
Metropolitan Community Church started in Los Angeles in 1968 as a Protestant Christian church ministering to the LGBT community. Heilig has been a member since 1994 and was ordained in 2001.
When asked what drew her to the priesthood, she quickly replies, “It’s a calling. I firmly believe we are all called to serve, and I love being a pastor; it’s where I feel my gifts are.”
The interim contract at Orlando’s Joy MCC is for 18 months, with an opportunity to renegotiate.
Heilig feels her 20 years of nonprofit work has informed her pastoral calling: “I believe that faith-based organizations have a vital role in nonprofit work throughout the community.”
She already has great pride to the Orlando congregation’s food bank work, as well as the extra work they put into providing Thanksgiving food to up to 500 local families. She knows all churches face greater challenges in the current economy, especially in a time as religious organizations become more and more culturally marginalized.
“The way we reach out in the future may not look like traditional worship at all,” Heilig states. “Any time you’re in transition, that change is difficult. In Orlando, we’re taking advantage of this opportunity to really discern where this church is supposed to be.”
