For most of his adult life, Kennedy was living in conflict—pulled between his Christian roots and a lifestyle he admits didn’t align with his beliefs.

After years of alcohol abuse and attempts to reconcile his same-sex attraction with his religious faith, Kennedy experienced a life-altering shift when he dove into Scripture and joined a men’s Bible study, eventually embracing celibacy as an act of obedience to Christ, as DCN reports.

Kennedy, now the author of “The Weather’s Fine: My Method for Navigating Life’s Challenges,” grew up in a Christian household where biblical values were the rule, not the exception. “They instilled Christian values in us as children,” he said of his parents during an interview with CBN News.

Years Lost to Addiction and Isolation

Despite his religious upbringing, he began to spiral in his 20s and 30s, struggling with deep alcohol dependency and unresolved same-sex desires. During those years, Kennedy says he claimed the Christian label but rarely backed it up with participation. “A lot of my life, I barely even got to church, but I called myself a Christian,” he admitted.

Trying to merge two conflicting worlds—his faith and his desires—created what he called a juggling act without resolution. The tension pushed him further from actively seeking God, even when he recognized the clash in his heart. “I tried to reconcile the two and to be able to have my faith and also my lifestyle,” he said, but it didn’t stick. Even Kennedy concedes it was partly why the church faded from his priorities.

Help came not from a sermon or social movement, but from his older sister. She encouraged him to join a men’s Bible study in Atlanta—something he resisted at first. But that invitation became the spark for lasting change.

A Turning Point Through Scripture Study

What started as reluctant attendance turned into a transformation. “That’s where the transformation began,” Kennedy recalled about the Bible study. The group didn’t fish for shallow answers—it dug deep into biblical teachings, something Kennedy acknowledged was brand-new terrain for him. “I had never studied God’s Word,” he confessed.

That deep dive into Scripture unsettled him, igniting genuine conviction about how he had been living. “I believe the Holy Spirit started working in me,” he said. The more he studied, the more difficult it became to ignore the contradiction between his faith and his choices.

At that point, something had to give. Though he had already moved away from some “forms of debauchery,” he realized the ongoing physical relationships were not compatible with fully following Christ. “I could not continue to follow Christ and have Christ in my heart and carry on a physical relationship,” Kennedy said.

Choosing Celibacy in a Countercultural Stand

Kennedy didn’t claim that he could change his orientation. In fact, he said the feelings of same-sex attraction haven’t gone away. But he began to understand that actions flow from choices. His conclusion? That God was calling him to celibacy—a route the modern culture finds increasingly alien, if not offensive.

“I couldn’t change the feelings... but I could change how I acted on it,” Kennedy explained. And that change, he said, was essential to his obedience to God. Predictably, his decision sparked criticism from within the LGBTQ community and progressive circles, where choosing restraint over affirmation is downright heresy.

Yet Kennedy stands firm. “Life’s not fair. Nobody said the Christian life was going to be an easy one,” he said, directly pushing back against the narrative that faith should bend to fit personal stories instead of shaping them.

Finding Strength in Faith, Not Feelings

Today, Kennedy is in recovery from alcohol use and continues to resist same-sex temptation, leaning on his renewed relationship with God. That relationship, he says, offers something no surface-level identity or fleeting desire could ever provide: spiritual peace.

“It also makes me love God more than worldly pleasures,” Kennedy remarked. “So that’s where God gives you the peace. In these trials … the love of Him becomes more important.”

Through his book and testimony, Kennedy hopes to encourage others grappling with similar conflicts to dig deep, not wide. Instead of echo chambers or empty affirmations, he advocates turning to Scripture, conviction, and transformation—even when it's countercultural.