Watch: Reverend Hooker Explains How Online Ordination Protects Marriage Equality

Why choose online ordination with American Marriage Ministries?

 

 

In the video below, Reverend Tim Hooker talks about the importance of his ordination with AMM in protecting marriage equality for same-sex couples in Tennessee. 

 

When he first felt called to serve in his early 50s, Rev. Hooker knew that uprooting his life to attend a traditional seminary wasn’t a practical path. After researching churches online, he found American Marriage Ministries, whose mission aligned with his values. 

 

He was soon ordained, and began Ocoee Ministries in 2015 to provide ministerial services to people who didn’t have a regular congregation, “but who want the turning points in their lives celebrated.” (via timhooker.org)

 

• Get ordained online with AMM 

 

This timing coincided with the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges ruling that same-sex couples had a constitutionally protected right to marry. While most traditional clergy in Tim’s Appalachian community refused to perform these marriages, the Reverend welcomed them, and was soon performing beautiful ceremonies for same-sex couples and others from all around the region. 

 

 

 

 

 

As Rev. Tim Hooker describes above, online ordination eliminates many of the barriers to traditional ordination – barriers including time and money, and discrimination based on spiritual beliefs, sexuality, gender, race, class, and other defining traits. 

 

By making ordination more accessible to everyone, and providing free wedding officiant training, AMM gives our Ministers the tools they need to serve their communities according to their values, with love and compassion. 

 

Our mission is to ensure that all people have the right to marry and to choose who performs their marriage ceremony, and that all people have the right to solemnize marriage. These are AMM’s 3 Tenets.

 

It’s our incredible Ministers that bring this mission to life!

 

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Connect with Tim: 

 

Rev. Tim Hooker is headquartered in Cleveland, Tennessee, and serves Bradley, Polk, Hamilton, Meigs, McMinn, Monroe, and Loudon counties. 

 

Online: TimHooker.org
On Instagram: @reverendtimothywhooker

Photo via TimHooker.org

 

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