By Ryan Foley/US Correspondent.
Alan Chambers, the former president of Exodus International, a once-prominent Christian ministry that sought to help people with unwanted same-sex attraction, has been arrested in Florida after authorities say he attempted to arrange sexual activity with someone he believed was a 14-year-old boy.
In a statement Tuesday, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office in Orange County, Florida, said announced the arrest of Alan Chambers, 54, for attempting to “meet someone he thought was a 14-year-old boy – but it was actually an undercover detective.”
According to the sheriff’s office, Chambers faces charges of solicitation of a minor, transmission of harmful material to minors and unlawful use of a two-way communication device.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office also asked anyone with information about possible additional information or allegations to contact investigators. While the agency did not reference Chambers’ ministry background, a local news report identified Chambers as the former president of Exodus International.
Founded in the 1970s, Exodus International became one of the most well-known Christian organizations focused on helping people with unwanted same-sex attraction before shutting down in 2013.
“For quite some time we’ve been imprisoned in a worldview that’s neither honoring toward our fellow human beings, nor biblical,” he said at the time. “Exodus International is the prodigal’s older brother, trying to impose its will on God’s promises, and make judgments on who’s worthy of His Kingdom. God is calling us to be the father — to welcome everyone, to love unhindered.”
Chambers further discussed his evolving views in a 2015 interview with The Christian Post tied to the release of his book My Exodus: From Fear to Grace. The book chronicled his personal experience with sexual orientation change efforts therapy and the eventual closure of Exodus International.
During the interview, Chambers described so-called “conversion therapy” as “dangerous.”
“To promise that someone can experience a complete elimination or eradication of a sexual orientation is something that I don’t believe is possible,” he added. “In all of my years at Exodus in working with people who had been subjected to reparative therapy voluntarily, I’ve never met one of them whose sexual orientation changed completely.
“It doesn’t mean there aren’t shifts. To promise someone, especially a minor, that there can be change I think is dangerous and should not be offered.”
Chambers also told CP that “there are so many gay and lesbian people that I know, transgender people, bisexual people, you name it, who have a vibrant relationship with Christ and their sexual narrative doesn’t negate their righteousness or holiness.”
According to Chambers, “Someone’s relationship with Christ isn’t dependent on the things that they do or the behaviors that they’re involved in.”
More than a decade after Exodus International closed, Chambers is again drawing public attention following the criminal allegations involving communications with someone he believed was a teenage boy. Chambers was released from the Orange County Jail on $15,000 bond on Wednesday.
