Two standing ovations were given to the Rev. Dee Kelley on Nov. 26 as he said goodbye to his congregation after losing his license to preach in the Church of the Nazarene following a church trial.

“God loves you and I love you,” said Kelley to his congregation at First Church of the Nazarene on campus at Point Loma Nazarene University.

“That’s the best place we have to start and that’s the place we all have to end. God loves you and I love you,” concluded Kelley, to a standing ovation from his congregation of 17 years.

Kelley, who is in his 60s, was convicted on Aug. 14 by a church jury of supporting same-sex marriage, which is considered contrary to the Church of the Nazarene manual about human sexuality and “out of harmony” to church doctrine.

Kelley’s 35-page appeal was denied on Nov. 20 by a Nazarene appeal board in Kansas City. On Dec. 5, he filed an appeal to the denomination’s seven general superintendents.

Kelley wrote a three-page essay in the book, “Why the Church of the Nazarene Should be Fully LGBTQ+ Affirming” in which 89 other writers including former pastors and others wrote essays.

The publisher, Thomas Jay Oord, is a Nazarene minister, and the denomination has since filed charges against him seeking to revoke his license in 2024 in a church trial.

Kelley’s appearance at First Church on Nov. 26 drew a sharp rebuke from Southern California District Superintendent Tom Taylor, who sent out notices saying “Rev. Kelley is not a minister in good standing and did not receive the required approval to preach at the Nov. 26 service.”

Taylor wrote that Kelley “has forfeited his right to further appeal” because of “his refusal to suspend all ministerial activity as required.”

Kelley responded by saying the district-appointed senior interim pastor asked him to say some words of farewell to the congregation. Two pastors presided over the service, and Kelley said he was not preaching. He added he did not pray, lead worship, or read scripture other than passages he remembered in his farewell.

Kelley said he only wrote the essay to spark a dialogue about same-sex marriage within the church and get people to think about it.

Former theology professor Craig Keen said Taylor was being “petty” by sending out notices about Kelley’s goodbye at First Church.

Earlier in the service, Kelley said, “I look out at this sea of faces. I see the wonderful diversity we have. I love that about this place.”

“I know that church has not always been a safe place for all people at all times. I’m sorry about that,” said Kelley.

In his appeal, Kelley wrote, “Oh, how I wish they would know we are Christians by our love. Instead, I think they have come to know we are Christians by our judgments.”

When Kelley’s appeal was denied, many supporters wrote “I Stand with Rev. Dee Kelley” on their Facebook pages. There are hundreds of angry Nazarenes commenting on the treatment of Kelley on Facebook pages.

“I’m at a bit of a loss on how anyone can say it was a correct decision, when a congregation of about 200 people gathered on Sunday, and lament filled the room,” wrote Lainie Alfaro, the former editor of The Point, the student newspaper at PLNU.

“I’m at a bit of a loss with the blatant disregard of care and support for this congregation as they are going through this change…someone has lost their job of over 17 years,” wrote Alfaro.

“The auditorium was packed, and it was all supportive of Dee,” said First Church board member and PLNU professor Dean Nelson. “But it was so sad because Dee had been taken away from us for no rational reason.”

Keen wrote that the appeal denial, “literally sickens me,” because the panel is supposed to be “purportedly a fellowship of the body of Christ, turning to one another…caring, embracing, hoping, praying to be a means of grace for one another…”

Kelley’s trial sparked the creation of a cartoon series lampooning the Church of the Nazarene online. The most recent carton showed an angry judge from on high at a desk labeled “Nazarene Church Bureaucracy” saying “For the crimes of critical thinking, seeking dialogue, and including the ‘wrong’ people…you have been found GUILTY!

The church board has allowed Kelley and his wife to remain at the Nazarene parsonage in Point Loma for now. The interim senior pastor is Russ Martin who is a graduate of PLNU and attended First Church for many years.

On Monday, Dec. 11, Nelson confirmed the board offered Kelley “to stay on staff in an administrative role, where he can stay in the church-owned house for the next several months.” Nelson said he does not know if Kelley would take the offer, but it is not a ministerial role.

Nelson said he was perplexed as to why District Superintendent Tom Taylor would fixate on removing Kelley as a pastor. Taylor first demanded Kelley’s resignation once he learned of his essay in the book, but a district superintendent does have the authority to remove a pastor.

Taylor later served a role in Kelley’s trial, which Nelson was “like a bad ‘Perry Mason’ episode except this isn’t fiction – it’s stranger than fiction.” Nelson described Taylor as “a bully.” Taylor, a former Nazarene pastor, has announced he will retire in May of 2024. He could not be reached for comment.

“Everybody loves Dee,” said Nelson. “Which makes it that more mystifying that Tom would object so much to a man who is so Christ-like. It’s like a purge of anyone who thinks independently.”

A seven-man, two-woman church jury voted 9-0 on Aug. 14 in a two-day trial to convict Kelley of being “out of harmony with the Church of the Nazarene’s doctrine, teaching, beliefs, and practices,” according to the verdict form that cites the Nazarene manual.

The verdict form says Kelly “publicly advocates beliefs that are unorthodox” that required revocation of his preaching credential. Homosexuality is considered sinful behavior.

Some ministers from out of town served on the jury held in a Point Loma hotel. The trial was closed to the public and press and Kelley’s wife was the only non-participant permitted to attend. About 60 supporters of Kelley were turned away from the conference room, which could not accommodate people who wanted to attend the trial.

Kelley pleaded not guilty and acted as his attorney. There were no witnesses except for Kelley speaking on his behalf. The main exhibit was the three-page essay Kelley wrote.