MCCPB Welcomes Rev. Ray Simms

Rev. Ray Simms
MCCPB Provisional Pastor & Moderator
(Photo Credit: Gary Heil)

(PRESS RELEASE)_(Palm Beach Gardens, FL – July 17, 2023) Metropolitan Community Church of the Palm Beach Gardens (MCCPB), the largest faith-based community in Palm Beach County dedicated to serving the local LGBTQ+ community and its family members and friends, recently welcomed Rev. Ray Simms as the congregation’s Provisional Pastor and Moderator. He officially assumed the position on Sunday, July 2, 2023, at MCCPB, which is located at 4857 Northlake Blvd. in Palm Beach Gardens (33418).
 
Originally from Canada, Rev. Simms has lived all over having had parents who were Salvation Army Pastors. He credits that upbringing to his initial introduction to social justice. In 1992, he graduated from St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital School of Nursing in St. John’s, NL and worked in healthcare for the next three decades, including 12 years for the VA in Washington, D.C. and Bay Pines, Florida.
 
He joined MCC DC in 1997 and was active in the church there. He later felt the call of God to the ministry in 2016. After Simms and his partner of 24 years, Dennis, moved to the Sunshine State in 2013, he earned a Master of Theology from St. Leo University and was ordained as a minister two years ago, later working both as a hospice chaplain and part-time pastor at King of Peace MCC in Saint Petersburg, FL.
 
“I truly believe that God has great things instore for MCCPB as members and friends continue to seek God’s guidance in how they can share the love of Christ with those whom other churches see as not being worthy,” says Rev. Simms.

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