After 25 years of serving as staff pastor, Rev. Houston Burnside Jr. will officially retire Dec. 31 and be honored Sunday, Dec. 28 for his many years of ministry at Metropolitan Community Church of San Diego (MCC).
But he’s not going anywhere and he intends to remain a member and still attend MCC San Diego, which was started 44 years ago.
Pastor Houston, as he is fondly referred to, will be thanked by members and friends, but he insists it is no farewell.
He wore many hats while at MCC and first found his way to the church in November 1984 after he came out as gay. He taught many classes on homosexuality and the Bible, membership, visitation, and has touched many lives.
After approximately 130 members died from AIDS in the late 1980s and 1990s, Senior Pastor Rev. David Farrell went on personal leave, because it was so difficult to continue to bury and have funerals for your friends.
“Pastor Houston was the ‘glue’ for this church before the arrival of Rev. Tony Freeman as the new pastor,” said congregation services connection minister Lyn Malone.
“Rev. Houston has devoted the last 25 years of his life as a loyal and steadfast clergy for MCC San Diego,” said MCC Vice Moderator Al Smithson. “Through it all, we’ve always known we could depend on Pastor Houston to be there for us.”
Attorney Jude Litzenberger said she remembered Pastor Houston reading the names of those who passed from AIDS as part of a 24-hour vigil that eventually led to the creation of World AIDS Day which started right here at the MCC in San Diego.
More about Pastor Houston’s life and career will appear in a future issue of LGBT Weekly.
