You can submit your questions to bill@fishontheotherside.org. Thank you.

1) What does "FOTOS" stand for and what does it mean?

FOTOS stands for "Fish On The Other Side" and is taken from the Book of John Chapter 21. It simply means that the church has not traditionally handled the homosexual issue very well nor has it effectively reached out and ministered to homosexuals and their families. It's time that we as the church minister the way Jesus ministered...it's time we hear Him calling out from the shoreline before a sea of people beyond our church walls...he's calling, "Cast your nets on the other side" (or Fish On The Other Side). 

2) Why does FOTOS exist?

We exist because the evangelical Christians, Pastors and Seminarians that we know truly express a genuine care and love for homosexual persons. We offer the evangelical church a vision and voice to convey such care and love through direct ministry to homosexuals and their families. Our Vision page offers additional details.

3) What can FOTOS offer my church?

Please check out What We Offer. Feel free to Contact Us if we can serve your church or family. We can adapt our many offerings to best suit your specific needs.

4) What activities or events does FOTOS engage in? 

Please check out Events and you will find many activities and events that we've been part of.

5) What does the Bible say about romantic love expressed through same-sex relationships?

Bill Henson will be happy to provide you with this information. Simply email him at bill@fishontheotherside.org.

6) Why does your website not include such information about the Bible on such relationships?

While our website deals exclusively with homosexuality (because that's the nature of our ministry), Jesus Christ does not look at His children solely on the basis of our sexual behavior. He looks at our entire lives expressed through the focus of our heart, soul, mind and body. He looks at the attitudes and motivations of our hearts. And He wants to occupy all of the places of our being with His love and presence, and direct our lives with His guidance according to His entire Word (the Bible).

If we simply include prohibitive verses dealing with homosexuality as sin, this would over-emphasize the Scriptural focus on this issue compared to a greater emphasize that Scripture places upon the condition of our "hearts" in terms of our recognizing our own sinfulness, our receptivity to surrendering our lives to Christ, our openness to inviting Jesus to dwell in our hearts and our willingness to turn from our own ways and follow Him as our Lord.

If you are gay and exploring the FOTOS website, we want you to experience the presence of Christ, His peace and know that His invitation to receive salvation is freely offered to you! You are not and Christ is not defined by a small set of Bible verses. Jesus looks at the "heart." He is seeking you and wants you to surrender your entire heart and life to Him. If you have a heart conviction that you are a sinner in need of forgiveness, then Christ's message will be GOOD NEWS for you. He loves you, He died for your sins on the Cross, and He will freely receive you as His child and come to live in your heart as you welcome Him.

For more about this Good News, check out the Gospel and Bill's Story. Bill's story clearly reflects that God spoke to him through Scripture. He is happy to provide you with a full Biblical apologetic on what God says about such relationships upon request. Simply email him.    

7) Does FOTOS get involved in political activities or events?

No. Our Articles of Incorporation specifically state that FOTOS will not (and we have not) participated in any political activities. We aim to minister to the hearts of God's children and find that the Gospel is best understood by those outside the church when not attached to a political activity or event. We are principally an evangelistic, pastoral care and teaching ministry to individuals and families inside and outside of evangelical Christianity.

8) How is your ministry set up and what governance provisions are established?

FOTOS Ministries, Inc. is a 501c3 non-profit charitable organization incorporated under state law of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Donations from any person or entity within the United States of America are tax-deductible under federal and state tax laws. The state and federal filings include our Articles of Incorporation, which dictate how the corporation operates. FOTOS is governed by an independent Board of Directors currently composed of eight (8) Directors. The Board must approve an Annual Budget of projected donations and ministry expenses prior to the beginning of each fiscal year and approve all non-budgeted and over-budget expense items exceeding $500 throughout each fiscal year. No salary related expenses will be paid to the Founder, his spouse, children or other family members nor to any other person without prior written consent of a formal employment contract by a majority of Directors. The Board of Directors is composed of the Founder and his spouse plus six (6) independent and non-related Directors, including a pastoral psychologist and seminary professor, a university campus ministry director, a doctorate degreed secular university student affairs director, a retired high school counselor and a physician. We are also governed by our Doctrinal Statement. We are happy to provide additional information upon request.    

9) Is there a specific evangelical church or ministry that offers the principal funding behind FOTOS?

No. We are an independent Bible-based Christian ministry and are not formally or informally affiliated with any church or other ministry. We are principally funded by individuals. We will accept donations from churches or other ministries but such entities have no financial or operational control over the management of FOTOS. We are a faith ministry meaning that we place our trust in God to provide for the operations of FOTOS for so long as He wishes to do so.            

10) Doesn't your website potentially hurt someone who may already be experiencing enough pain over this issue in their life? (NOTE: Author permission granted prior to posting.)

We care deeply for those who may be experiencing intense pain related to this issue. Some people feel pain because of abuse they suffered through as a child. Some people feel pain because of neglect or abandonment that they experienced during their childhood. Others feel the intense pain of repression in which they have hidden something so important as their sexual identity from those who love them - they battle the immense fear that if their parents or peers find out that they may be rejected. Some carry the very sad and tragic wounds of actually being rejected by their church or even by their family. In some cases, even their Christian parents. (NOTE: Please see Your Story.) 

FOTOS Founder Bill Henson never experienced rejection from his family, but he certainly experienced immense fear that he might be rejected throughout his teens and early twenties. He understands the vulnerability and intense pain that someone at this stage goes through. Further, he is distinctly aware of the immense pain that those who have experienced abuse, neglect or abandonment feel. Christ would not want to add further pain and we at FOTOS do not want to add any additional pain to those who are hurting.

It is important to realize that homosexually identified persons have a variety of responses to their own sexual identity, a diversity of beliefs about what God wants them to do (or not do) with their sexual identity and a range of viewpoints about the prospect for healing. Our ministry and website are designed to offer Christ to all who want to receive Him - regardless of where they fall in these wide ranges of response, belief and viewpoint.

For some, to hear information about what the Bible says or to read Bill's story or to consider the possibilities for healing elicits a painful response and interferes with the peace they have attained. However, for some, to read the information on this website provides great hope that they are loved by Jesus and still others find strength needed to keep on following Jesus in accordance with their own spiritual conviction.

Clearly a person's response to our website will highly depend upon that person's religious beliefs. We do recognize and sincerely appreciate that this website will not conform to everyone's beliefs. While our ministry and website are based on an evangelical view of Scripture in regards to the issue of homosexuality, we feel a deep love and respect for those who have a different belief. It is the genuine hope and intent of our hearts not to add any further pain to those are already, as you say, experience enough pain.

It is important to note (as mentioned in question 6 above) that Jesus loves all sinner's alike. He certainly loves you, my friend. Thank you for caring about those who are hurting. 

11) I feel that your ministry aims to destroy my Gay Culture. (NOTE: Author permission granted prior to posting.)

FOTOS has no ability to destroy Gay Culture nor an intent to do so. We care about people - specifically that they are able to hear the Gospel and Christ's love for them...indeed, Christ's love for you. If you would like to discuss further, Bill sincerely invites you to call or email any time. 

12) You indicate you still experience some level of same-sex attractions. How do you feel about those who claim they are 100% free of such attractions?

Bill responds, "I believe them and I celebrate with them for the freedom Christ has provided to them. I do think that God works in different ways, that we are all wounded in different ways and to varying degrees and that each of us dive into the healing power of Christ differently. Some people are instantly delivered for sure, but that is not the experience of the majority of people who surrender their lives to Christ and seek His healing.

The fact that more people don't experience miraculous healings is a Christian reality no matter what our background, sin or life struggle. Heterosexual men who struggle with sexual addiction have a similarly wide range of healing. Many who make money too important or those who struggle with gossip or a food addiction likewise have a similar range of healing if you will.

For some, by God's grace, they experience a total removal of temptation - whatever their struggle or sin. For most of us, God delivers us daily of the temptations we face (see The Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6:13) by giving us strength in the midst of such temptations (1 Peter 5:10) and providing us a way out of such temptations (1 Corinthians 10:13).

In Christ, we can be sure that He has saved us from and forgiven us of our past, present and future sins (Ephesians 1:11-14). In Christ, we can be sure that the Holy Spirit will be faithful to complete the work that He began in us (Philippians 1:6). But just as certain is the Christian reality that we will face temptations until the day we die. Temptation is not sin, however it can certainly pull us into sin.

All this said, let me address what I believe is an underlying concern you have - the prospect that some who claim to be 100% free are actually NOT 100% free and thus have been dishonest about their state of healing. Yes, I believe some struggle with the sin of lying - that's true!  : ) 

Why would they do this? I think there are two explanations that might be helpful to you. First, some who came out of homosexuality in the distant past were under such suspicion by their churches that they were at times asked to renounce ANY remaining attractions as evidence they were "born again". This is an example of how those touched by homosexuality have at times been treated very poorly by the church. So many caved into renouncing such attractions to meet this standard imposed upon them. How unfortunate and sad. Jesus would much rather us be honest about where we are and how we are doing as opposed to putting on a "mask" to make ourselves appear better than we really are. This is in fact why Jesus railed against the Pharisees.

Second, I have a question for you. If you went 6 months or an entire year or 3 years without same-sex attractions, wouldn't you feel a joy and a confidence to say within that time period, "I am 100% free." Yet if you later experienced same-sex attractions, that statement would no longer be true. Yet it was not a lie at the time it was spoken. And it is quite amazing for those of us who have experienced extensive same-sex attractions since our youth to imagine a person going that long without a same-sex attraction isn't it! All this is to say that what looks like a lie may indeed not be a lie after all."   

13) If gay sex is sinful, then what about infertile couples who continue to have sex?

Bill responds, "I used to wonder that myself. I always thought that sounded like a good defense of my same-sex relationship without really thinking much why - it just sounded good to me. Yet while I was still with my gay lover, I came to the conclusion that this analogy breaks down very quickly. At the time, it broke down because I just could not see how God's clearly prescribed design for sex within a marriage could ever be sinful.

Today, it breaks down further now that as a husband and father I have learned more about how the female reproductive system works. Did you know that a fertile couple can make love at the most fertile time of a woman's monthly cycle for months on end and yet not conceive a child? And yet couples can sometimes conceive at the least fertile period of a woman's monthly cycle.

Further, a nursing mother who is fertile cannot get pregnant until her period returns which often does not return until after she stops nursing - some mothers nurse for up to two years or more and thus such a mother is temporarily infertile even though such a couple is not technically infertile at all. Is marital sex during such a temporary period to be considered sinful? I just can't see how that is logically or Biblically the case. That's just my viewpoint of course.

Finally and most convincingly to me, there are thousands of examples where couples have been infertile for the first 10 to 15 years of their marriage only to very unexpectedly conceive their first child. Were the years they had sex as an infertile couple sinful? Yet if they stopped having sex to avoid sinning, how would they have ever eventually conceived their first child? For me anyway, this example eliminates the need to even use a Bible to demonstrate that heterosexual sex by an infertile married couple is moral - logic dictates that indeed there is nothing sinful about it at all. I sincerely appreciate your question and can relate to your viewpoint because I once held it as my very own.  :  ) Thanks for writing. 

Thanks to all of you for your thoughtful questions and comments. Keep them coming!

You are invited and welcome to submit your questions to bill@fishontheotherside.org. Or feel free to call FOTOS toll-free at (877) 683-6867.

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