As I’ve written publicly before, I wanted to be a priest from a young age. Since probably 4th grade or so, I had a desire to become a priest. Our family church was the Roman Catholic Church, so I naturally did the catechism routines. The main reason this didn’t pan out was because RCC priests are not allowed to marry, and well, that just wouldn’t work for me :)

But there are other reasons why I didn’t become a priest in the RCC, and reasons why I would not consider it even today. Mainly those reasons have to do with the ceremony and rituals the priests perform. I think a priest should be praying, serving, helping, etc. But standing around in a robe and performing ceremonies? I don’t want any part of that. I’m not against such things being done by priests; its just not for me.

Just before I resigned as Director of Detroit UBF, I found out about a UBF plan to convert all UBF directors into UBF pastors, complete with a robing ceremony. This contributed to my resignation.

Early on, UBF was a para-church for laypeople. There were no robes, no ceremonies, and I loved it! But over time UBF has become its own denomination (and I hesitate to say it is a church; it is more of a cult-like para-church on steroids held together by bonds of human loyalty and ambition).

But the trappings of a church are now being displayed publicly. UBF is moving away from being a layperson ministry and attempting to put on a good face of church-like activity such as baptisms. Since my family now worships at a Baptist church, I am highly offended by the recent baptisms in UBF. And I am highly offended by the attempt to convert UBF directors into UBF pastors just because of their length of service and without proper ordination policies.

http://www.ubf.org/content/baptism-testimony-diana-guzman-chicago