MCC hosts Loves Day
Photos by Antonia Padilla, QSanAntonio.com, February 13, 2009
On February 12, the Metropolitan Community Church of San Antonio held their major fundraising event of the year, Loves Day Dinner and Dance, at the Fountain Bleu Banquet Hall.

Photos -- Transgender Day of Remembrance
Photos by Antonia Padilla, QSanAntonio.com, November 21, 2009

The Transgender Day of Remembrance was observed on November 19 at the Metropolitan Community Church of San Antonio. This is the most important event of the year for the transgender community who celebrated the lives of those who have died because they were different. Photos: (Top row) Special music was performed by Michelle Burnett. (Center row) MCC Pastor Rev. Mick Hinson. (Bottom row) Lauryn Farris, President of the San Antonio Gender Assn. and special guest speaker Christie Lee Littleton-Van de Putte.

The land purchased by MCC is located at 127 Rainbow Drive near the corner of Austin Highway (Google Maps). Pictured at the closing are (front row, clockwise) Jack Broaddus, Clerk of the MCC Board; Marsha Warren, Treasurer; Pastor Mick Hinson; Rosamaria Moreno, Vice Moderator of the Board; and real estate agent Joseph Garrett.

MCC purchases land for new church complex
QSanAntonio.com, September 26, 2009

The Metropolitan Community Church of San Antonio this week signed the final paperwork on a plot of land located at 127 Rainbow Drive that will used to build a new church complex.

The plot, which is nearly two acres in size, is located between Eisenhauer Road and Austin Highway and is approximately five miles northeast of MCC’s present location on East Myrtle.

Established 30 years ago, MCC is one of San Antonio’s oldest GLBT institutions. The move to a new location marks an important passage for the church and will serve as a prevaling theme during the church's 30th anniversary celebration on October 25.

"It is our intention to construct a worship area that will be handicap accessible and comfortably seat 450 to 750 people with a facility that will enhance the current and future ministries of the church," said MCC Pastor Mick Hinson.

Hinson told QSanAntonio that he envisions a tall church spire which could be seen from Austin Highway and which would beckon worshipers to the new facility. He added that now that the land is purchased, fundraising would begin for buildings and infrastructure for the site.

MCC will continue Love’s Day tradition
QSanAntonio.com, September 19, 2009

The Metropolitan Community Church of San Antonio announced this week that it will continue the tradition of the Love’s Day Banquet now that it’s founder, Jim Isaman, has passed away.

MCC Pastor Mick Hinson says that before his death Isaman expressed to Santos Campos, his former partner and best friend, that he wanted the banquet to continue as a fundraiser for the church.

Rev. Hinson told QSanAntonio that church leaders were eager to continue the event. "MCC has lacked a signature fundraising event and the Love’s Day Banquet is the perfect vehicle," he said.

Isaman, who died from complications from AIDS died on May 21, 2009, was a fervent GLBT activist who was involved in over a dozen community groups including the board of the building committee for the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. In 1999 he was awarded the Black Tie Dinner Community Service Award by the Human Rights Campaign. (Click here for obituary.)

Most recently, Isaman was the founder and organizer of the annual Love’s Day Banquet. The event included a Valentine’s Day commitment ceremony on the steps of the county courthouse and a dinner dance.

Rev. Hinson says that the event, scheduled for February 12, 2010, will be scaled back to just a dinner in its first year as an MCC fundraiser. "Moving forward we will expand the event to include more components. In the inaugural year we just want to recall Jim’s memory and fulfill his wish that this event continue after his passing."

MCC to initiate Sunday services in Spanish
QSanAntonio.com, February 6, 2009

The Metropolitan Community Church of San Antonio will begin offering a regular Sunday service in Spanish at 3 p.m. on May 31. Rev. Mick Hinson, pastor of the church, told QSanAntonio that the congregation has identified a need to minister to a growing number of Spanish-speaking worshippers.

"We have recognized a need for this type of service within our GLBT community from conversations with those who come to our other services who are almost totally Spanish-speaking," says Rev. Hinson. "Oftentimes couples will come to worship with us where one of the two only speaks Spanish. While they are able to enjoy portions of our Sunday morning service, we feel this population needs and deserves more."

San Antonio’s demographics show that the city’s Hispanic population represents about 65 percent all residents and growing. MCC’s growth of Spanish-speaking worshippers is an example of how the growth of Hispanic population is affecting institutions within the GLBT community.

The church currently offers weekly services on Saturdays at 7 p.m. and on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. The Spanish services would add a third weekly service.

Rev. Hinson says that speakers from the church’s Pastoral Care and Shepherding teams will conduct the Spanish services. Additional speakers will come from other areas of MCC’s ministry.

MCC is one of San Antonio’s oldest GLBT institutions. After 29 years in San Antonio, the church remains a vital entity and a central partner to organizations, religious and otherwise, throughout the GLBT community.

Pastor Hinson also told QSanAntonio that the church is looking for a larger building. He said that the congregation would like to stay in the Tobin Hill area.

Rev. Elder Troy Perry presides over the Communion service at Rev. Mick Hinson’s installation at MCC S.A. Rev. Elder Darleen Gardner presided over the ceremony. Rev. Illene Dunne, pastor of the Madison Square Presbyterian Church, participated in the installation service.

Rev Mick Hinson, standing next to his son Dexter, receives the Gifts of Ministry from the Pastoral Search Team. These items were his robe, stole, Bible, Communion ware, water, oil, denominational and local by-laws and the keys to the church. Clergy participating in the installation ceremony stand with Rev. Hinson at the front of the sanctuary in preparation for the Communion service.

MCC installs Rev. Mick Hinson
QSanAntonio, November 4, 2007

The Metropolitan Community Church of San Antonio officially installed Rev. Mick Hinson as their new pastor in a ceremony held at the church on November 3. The service was officiated by Rev. Elder Darlene Gardner, MCC’s Region 6 Elder. MCC founder, the Rev. Elder Troy Perry, also participated in the cermony. Rev. Hinson is the fourth pastor in MCC S.A.’s 28-year history. The church remains a vital entity and a central partner to organizations, religious and otherwise, throughout San Antonio’s GLBT community.

The San Antonio Metropolitan Community Church's new pastor Rev. Mick Hinson was most recently the pastor of MCC Charlotte, North Carolina. He and his partner, Gene Hinson (left in photo) have two adopted children.

MCC S.A. welcomes Rev. Mick Hinson as their new pastor
QSanAntonio, March 10, 2007

Parishioners at the Metropolitan Community Church of San Antonio officially welcomed their new pastor, Rev. Mick Hinson, with a special celebration following his first service at the church on Sunday, March 11. Hinson comes to San Antonio after spending 8 years at the MCC Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The congregation also got a chance to meet Hinson’s family that includes Gene Hinson, his partner of 14 years, their 9-year-old son Dexter and their 4-year-old daughter Kheeda. Rev Hinson and his family arrived in San Antonio in late February and have been busy unpacking, settling into their home on the Northwest side and getting the kids into school.

"I feel and believe that God wants us in San Antonio," says Hinson. "We are so excited about being here, meeting new people, and doing ministry in new ways! The positive energy is so crisp and vibrant it is amazing to watch God work in it."

Hinson is a native of Alabama. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Huntingdon College in Alabama and a Masters of Divinity from Duke Divinity School. He completed his Residency year at the Advanced Level in Clinical Pastoral Education at Duke University Medical Center and received the P. Wesley Aitken Pastoral Care Award for Excellence in Pastoral Care.

According to his biography on the Charlotte MCC Web site, in 1985, during his days in the seminary, Hinson, then married to a wife of two years, came out as a gay man. He discovered MCC and it became a place for him to "ask the vital questions and to understand God in a new and amazing way." Hinson, then a member of the United Methodist Church, began the process of becoming clergy within the MCC.

In 1987, Hinson founded and was pastor of MCC Augusta, Georgia for two years. This was followed by two years of training at St. Mary's MCC in Greensboro, North Carolina. Then he was pastor of MCC Greenville, South Carolina for six years. In July 1998, he became pastor of MCC Charlotte where during his tenure the church purchased a new facility and membership increased from 150 to over 250.

In an interview with QNotes, a North Carolina GLBT publication, Hinson says that the time he spent in Charlotte was rewarding but that both he and his partner Gene felt it was time to make a change. "I had been doing some praying and I felt I had done what I could do here, so I asked God to tell me if I should move on" he told QNotes. "Just as I am going on to MCC San Antonio, I know that God has someone special for Charlotte. That church helped me grow as an individual. It’s been a wonderful gift."

Hinson's first sermon in San Antonio had the theme of ‘New Beginnings.’ "Just as I know God was in the process of bringing my family and me to San Antonio, I know that God is in the process of making all things new," he says. "New beginnings! Yes! I invite everyone to come to MCC San Antonio and witness the mighty, awesome, wonderful, and phenomenal blessings that only Jesus can give."