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# Faces of the day
- URL: https://goodoil.news/faces-of-the-day-128/
- Published: 2019-06-02T18:30:19.000Z
- Updated: 2019-07-07T22:07:22.000Z
- Author: Juana Atkins
- Tags: Blog, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-17 04:14

Today’s face of the day accepted an invitation to visit and speak at a Destiny church event. As a result of him being brave enough to start a dialogue he has been rejected and condemned by many in the gay community.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/31/f4/31f4e20a-0315-499e-83ff-139e8eab53bf/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/wcxwqhszjva2vhg5zp5kciwkwi.jpg)

James Laverty and Brian Tamaki embrace at the Destiny Church event on Saturday. Photo / Brett Phibbs NZ Herald

> \[…\] Speaking with *Newstalk ZB* this afternoon, Laverty said he’d received a lot of hurtful messages following last night’s conference.  
> “My community have been very hurtful today and it’s really sad. I’ve been called the worst traitor in the world \[…\]  
>  
>  
> “I have to be honest, I walked in with a lot of fear when I arrived last night, **but I have been more afraid of my own community after today.**  
> “The hurtful things that have come from them are far more damaging than what Brian would have said to me.”  
> In contrast, Laverty said he’d had a lot of warm messages from the church congregation and other ministers.  
>  
> \[…\] Laverty acknowledged the possibility that Tamaki’s public apology may be a PR stunt or politically motivated, but he said he felt there was a bigger picture to it.  
> **“It’s about dialogue and the first steps to dialogue, and I think that’s what has been created from it,”** he said.  
> “It’s up to the community to take him up on that offer or not, but I am going to start the dialogue and see what things we can put in place and how we can work forward in some way.  
> **“I believe that is the right way for anybody that wants to see a change inside New Zealand churches.”**  
> Laverty also acknowledged that he had a different view of Brian Tamaki.  
> “I certainly come from that era where the comments that were said by him were very hurtful. But you know, as he said last night in his speech – hindsight is a wonderful thing and would he do it differently? Absolutely.  
> “We all live and learn in this world. I have to take him at his word, and his words definitely came across as being sincere.”  
>  
> A newspaper