On the heels of news that a teacher was fired from a Seventh-day Adventist school in Longwood because he is gay, the CEO and president of AdventHealth’s Central Florida hospitals is trying to separate its mission and beliefs from that of the Adventist school, telling employees in an email obtained by the Orlando Sentinel that he is “proud” to welcome workers and patients without regard to sexual orientation or gender identity (LGBTQ+).

According to the Orlando Sentinel, CEO Daryl Tol’s email, sent late last week, stopped short of criticizing the actions of the school, Forest Lake Education Center — which, like the hospital system, was founded by Seventh-day Adventists. The hospital system gave $22,500 to the school in 2018, according to the most recent tax records available. (According to our sources, the teacher made 49k per year and the CEO (Tol) makes in excess of $1.4 million.)

Tol also referred to fired teacher Steven Arauz as a friend,

“As an active member of his Seventh-day Adventist church, he has been a friend to many, including me,” Tol wrote. “He has taught the children of our team members, mine included, and he’s been a strong advocate for foster care and adoption throughout the state of Florida.”

Arauz argued the firing should have been illegal under federal anti-discrimination laws since the school relied on state-funded scholarships for at least 40% of its students last year, accounting for nearly $1.7 million in revenue. The school also received an undisclosed sum of federal CARES Act funding.

“Anti-LGBTQ discrimination is wrong, and it’s even worse when it’s funded by taxpayers,” said Florida Rep. Carlos Guillermo-Smith, D-Orlando. “So I’m just glad that AdventHealth issued this statement. They’re clearly showing us the difference between how you can weaponize religion to harm other people and how you actually can use religion to help heal and support others.”

Tol’s email also noted that AdventHealth has supported survivors of the 2016 mass shooting at Pulse, the gay nightclub where 49 people were killed. Last December, the hospital system gave $1 million to the National Pulse Memorial & Museum, created in the aftermath of the massacre, and funded a scholarship program for survivors.

In an earlier statement to the Sentinel, Frank Runnels, the conference’s superintendent of schools, said Adventist teachers are part of the church’s ministry and “must teach, support and live in accordance with the teachings of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.” Arauz “breached this agreement” through his “conduct and advocacy.”

It is uncertain where this saga will end up—the major players being:

the fired gay ex-teacher,
a Hospital System that is unconstrained by Seventh-day Adventist theology and doctrine. Florida Hospital does its own thing and is associated with a local church that also does its own thing,
a pro-biblical Denomination with diminishing influence over it’s spawned medical system,
anti-LGBTQ discrimination legislations,
a militant pro-gay lobby, determined to crush any biblical objection to the LGBTQ lifestyle.

It will be interesting to see what develops in this situation. The stakes are higher than most of us realize.

Resist evil, and reach out to those who are enslaved by it. The truth will set you free (John 8:32).

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”Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded” (James 4:8).