Gold letters spell out sayings from the Bible. "God is Love" stands out on the tall, beige walls of the church. The sounds of an old, worn organ bellow throughout the chapel. Church members feel the vibrations of the 82-year-old organ's music while they sit in pews waiting for services to begin.
A traditional service starts. Call to worship, opening prayer, hymns, readings from the Old and New testaments of the Bible - a routine church-goer would call this home.
Except when people walk into this church, they are greeted with a rainbow flag hanging over the visitor's log.
Welcome to the Rainbow Cathedral, Muncie's first gay church.
Every Sunday, Joe Mumpower, the founder of the church, offers the traditional greeting.
"This is a church of the Lord, and the Lord loves all people," Mumpower says to the congregation.
After pouring more than $200,000 into this church, Mumpower said he wanted the congregants to feel safe.
However, the $11,000 cost to bulletproof the stained glass windows was too high, so he has to wait to bulletproof until the congregation grows.
Mumpower said he started the church because of a dream. He wanted to buy a yacht for when he stays in Florida during the winter, but an angel told him in a dream that if he bought a yacht, a hurricane would destroy it.
"And all of a sudden, I saw this church for sale, and I tied in the dream and the church together," he said. "And instead of buying the yacht, I bought the church because that would be more humane - to make the world a better place to live than what it was when I was born into it."
The Rainbow Cathedral, located at the corner of Liberty and Charles streets, is open to all people. The first service was July 3, and four people attended. Now, an average of 25 people attend the weekly non-denominational services.
The Rev. Erica Eckensberger started volunteering her time at the church in August.
"I had felt the call for a long time to do ministry with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender people," she said. "One, because I am. And two, I know so many of my friends that had been oppressed by the Church and so many people out there that are hurting and really just want to come home to the Church. They just really want to know a loving relationship with God."
BALL STATE
Another reason Mumpower started the gay church was because of problems he had while working as a residence hall director at Ball State University, he said.
"I was a firm believer that everyone should have equal rights, whether you're black, white, gay, blue or green," Mumpower said. "And I think one of the reasons why I went to this extent of wanting a church where people can be free and be able to express themselves is due to my having to put up with so much homophobia at Ball State."
Ball State would not hire an openly gay faculty member during the 1960s, he said.
"In those days, if you were gay, Ball State wanted to get rid of you," Mumpower said. "I could not be openly gay. I had to stay back in my closet for a while."
Mumpower, who retired in 1990 as a Director Emeritus of Residence Halls, said he waited until he retired to come out because he was afraid of losing his job.
"When your job is in jeopardy, you can't help it," he said.
Markie Oliver, who teaches religious studies classes at Ball State, said she had not seen much discrimination at the university.
"Ball State has done a lot of things in a reasonable manner to promote diversity on campus," Oliver said.
Oliver has been with her partner for 14 years.
Societal changes also factor into the attitude the university has taken since that time, Oliver said.
Since Mumpower's retirement, Ball State has added an anti-discrimination clause, which includes sexual orientation, into its official doctrines, Oliver said.
STUDENTS
Zac Davis, president of Spectrum, Ball State's gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and straight allies organization, said he was surprised when he heard Muncie had a gay church. Several students from Spectrum have gone to the church, Davis said.
Junior Robert Hughes, a political science major, said the Rainbow Cathedral is a chance for the GLBT movement to make a difference in the community.
"We're at a place where we can do great things," Hughes said.
He said he encouraged people in the gay community on campus to go to the church if they were searching for a religious home.
"The GLBT of campus has an opportunity to come back and to mold the church into what we want it to be," he said.
Davis said the Unitarian Universalist Church in Muncie also accepts gays into the congregation, but he was happy to see a more formal congregation that gays can use to worship.
Oliver said she did not think people would leave the Unitarian Universalist Church because of the Rainbow Cathedral.
"People stay where they're at home," she said. "If they're satisfied where they're at, they'll stay there."
OTHER CHURCHES
Many congregations in Muncie welcome gays into their churches, Oliver said.
Thomas Perchlik, the minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Muncie, said Unitarian Universalists had been at the forefront of being open to gays and lesbians in the church.
Nationally, the church has accepted gays and lesbians into congregations since the 1960s, but it became an official "welcoming" community in 1989. To become a welcoming church, the congregation holds classes, meetings and congregational discussions about the topic. Welcoming congregations affirm the gays as part of the church, Perchlik said.
"We affirm the right and worth of everybody," Perchlik said.
"It's a way of the religious community to give blessing to that union," Perchlik said.
The Lutheran Church of the Cross, located on Wheeling Avenue, is the only other church in Muncie to complete the welcoming process.
Other churches in the area are not as open about their policies concerning openly gay and lesbian worshippers in the congregation.
David R. Cartwright, senior minister for Hazelwood Christian Church Disciples of Christ said the church had not decided on an official policy concerning gays.
"We're going to take our time, and let the spirit of God work," he said.
The Riverside Avenue Baptist Church also discussed the issue within its congregation and is waiting to decide, interim pastor Robert Burton said.
"I'm wondering if it would lead to a split in the denomination," he said.
BACK TO CHURCH
Mumpower said only two gay churches exist in Indiana: the Rainbow Cathedral and the Jesus Metropolitan Community Church in Indianapolis.
"[The Rainbow Cathedral] is a gay-oriented church, but it's not just for the 'friends of Dorothy,'" Mumpower said. According to www.Wikipedia.org, "friends of Dorothy" is a phrase referring to gay people. Gays in the military started using this phrase to identify each other.
Eckensberger said she has seen a slight growth in the congregation since she first started. Before coming to Muncie, Eckensberger worked in Lafayette at a similar church.
"Since I've been here, I feel really good vibes, and yeah, I know there's gonna be some people out there that are not going to appreciate us," Eckensberger said. "But I think overall, this is a ministry that this community really needs. I've heard too many stories of people that left the Church altogether, and I think that this is very much needed in Muncie."
The Rainbow Cathedral is just one step closer to equality for all people, Mumpower said.
"No one's free until we're all free," he said.
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