Family-friendly, faith-based story hour for children is taking place in libraries across the country

In direct opposition to “drag queen story hours” for children, Christians have begun holding their own faith-based story hours in libraries all over America.

“Our culture now privileges drag queens over biblical kings. Tragically, children have been placed in the middle of this confusion,” Owen Strachan, provost of Grace Bible Theological Seminary in Conway, Arkansas, told The Daily Wire

“As Christians, we love children. Following Christ’s own example, we love boys and girls by welcoming them, protecting them, preaching the gospel to them, and teaching them all God’s truth. This includes biblical truth about men, women, and God’s design for sexuality.”

Strachan hosted a faith-based story hour on Saturday at the Conway Public Library, where he read from The Biggest Story and God’s Design, as reported by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

But when Leah Bilokury, a former evangelical and member of the Faulkner County Coalition for Social Justice, heard about Strachan’s event, she rented a library room at the same time where drag queen Angila Dubois read If You’re a Drag Queen. The reading began, “If You’re a Drag Queen And You Know It … Blow a Kiss!” according to the Gazette. 

The two events took place in rooms across the hall from one another. Notably, Strachan and some of the attendees from the other event conversed afterward in the hallway. 

“If I walked into your church tomorrow, would you accept me?” a man named Austin asked. 

“Absolutely,” Strachan replied. 

“Are we all welcome?” 

“Bring everybody. I always want fellow sinners,” Strachan said. 

The two introduced themselves and shook hands.  

Strachan told the Gazette afterward that it was a great conversation, though he continued to stand firm in his biblical convictions about human sexuality. 

“I want to have conversations,” Strachan said. “And America at a much lower level than like, eternity and where your soul is going to be forever, needs this. We need more actual honest conversation, where we treat each other with dignity. … I heard about the experience of those folks and value hearing them. Because everyone has complex life stories. Many people have had hard experiences, and I have real compassion to that. So that’s always good to hear about. 

“People are not abstractions. People are living beings.” 

Conservative, Christian story hours

Strachan isn’t the only one pushing back against LGBTQ activism targeting children in libraries. 

Actor Kirk Cameron has embarked on a nationwide tour to read his faith-based children’s book, As You Grow, to children and families at libraries all over the country. 

Though he encountered resistance initially, Cameron continued to push, even threatening legal action, before the libraries began to give in. 

After a similar fight, Kendall Lankford, pastor of The Shepherd’s Church in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, hosted a ‘Pastor Story Hour’ event on Saturday at Chelmsford Public Library. 

The event was initially canceled but with help from the Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI), the event was reinstated. 

“The pastor planned to offer a Biblical perspective on gender and sexuality, reading from two books entitled God Made Boys and Girls: Helping Children Understand the Gift of Gender, and Jesus and My Gender,” MFI told The Lion in a statement. “The media attention that the event received generated many angry comments from leftists on the library’s Facebook page, including allegations that The Shepherd’s Church was a ‘hate group,’ accusations of bigotry and homophobia, and more than a few calls to cancel the event.” 

MFI says the event was back on after it spoke with the town attorney. 

Cameron says he hopes stories like these lead other Christians to stand up for their rights and what they believe in: 

“I hope that this victory acts as a source of courage for Christians and conservatives across the country to be brave and not back down, making sure that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the darkness.”