As the son of a United Methodist minister, documentary filmmaker Scott Sheppard knows what it’s like to grow up in a small-town church.

But he was shocked in 2013 when he read about the trial and defrocking of the Rev. Frank Schaefer for officiating at his son Tim’s same-sex marriage.

At the time, Schaefer was pastor at Zion United Methodist Church of Iona in Lebanon.“It opened my eyes to a side of the United Methodist Church I didn’t know existed,” he said earlier this week from his home in Los Angeles.

That led Sheppard on a two-year mission to chronicle Schaefer’s personal story as well as the division within the United Methodist Church over homosexuality.

His film, “An Act of Love,” will be shown at 6 p.m. Sunday at Otterbein United Methodist Church, 20 E. Clay St. The film is free and open to the public. A discussion will follow.

Source:lancasteronline.com