By John Hayden
Sunshine Cathedral has long been the spiritual heart for South Florida’s LGBTQIA+ community. Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins serves as the Senior Minister and Rev. Dr. Robert Griffin alongside as the Executive Minister. They have been together decades after first meeting in theology school and are now a spiritual power couple.
We know them through their professional roles, helping the community through celebrations and sorrow. But they also have very fun and active social lives. When they are not attending to their ministry, they relax at their home in Middle River Terrace or visit their son in London, England. Like many, they are still figuring out the new normal in a post-COVID world. “We were on lockdown for a couple of years,” Watkins told OutClique. With most travel restrictions lifted, they have hit the road with a vengeance, going to Italy, Greece, Turkey and other countries. “We are so blessed to once again have the ability to be traveling the world.”
Griffin agrees saying that traveling has been a boost for the mind and soul. “Getting out of the house and out of the country has been wonderful. We sometimes don’t appreciate what we have until it’s gone.”
Family First
The two have been a couple since their early twenties. They have worked to continually support each other at every step. Finding a church that needs two new pastors at the same time was a challenge. Early in their careers they committed to a long distance relationship. Each had ministries in different states that required long hours of travel. “We’ve been doing this in tandem,” Watkins said. “I was supporting his ministry and he was supporting mine until we moved to Fort Lauderdale and were finally able to share a ministry. It’s been such a blessing working under the same roof and being able to live in the same place, functioning as a couple in day to day life.”
Currently, both are in their mid-50s and have settled into South Florida life. They have been serving at Sunshine Cathedral for sixteen years and cannot imagine living anywhere else in the world. “We’ve grown old here,” Watkins said. They’ve both lived and worked in cold climates and say they’re nice to visit, but Fort Lauderdale is just right. Watkins loves wearing shorts all year long and says stormy weather every so often is worth it. “Twice every three years we’ll have to close the storm shutters. But there’s not a single day that we will have to shovel snow or scrape ice off our car windows.” Griffin jokingly says, “I’d rather sweep sand than shovel snow.”
The ministerial couple will be racking up a lot of miles over the next few years traveling to London to visit their son, Mario. “We have a lot of travel miles and tuition payments.” He came to them just a few years ago when he was a 17-year-old exchange student from Brazil. Mario did not have a dad in his life, so Griffin and Watkins stepped up.
Mario is currently in England studying film. The reverends are now working on adult adoption and often joke about skipping over the gross parts of parenting. “We never had to deal with diapers or bottle warming. The stork just dropped off this 17-year-old kid one day and he never left our lives.”
Holiday Traditions
December is their busiest of busy seasons. “Christmas is a work day for us,” Watkins said. In addition to celebrating with the Sunshine Cathedral family, they also have their own Christmas traditions. “Our tradition is making other people happy then having a little time off. We usually like to take the week between Christmas and New Year off.” By noon on Christmas day they’ll be sitting outside on their deck enjoying the South Florida winter and a beverage. If anyone is looking for a gift for the pastors, they encourage Belvedere. Yes we’re talking the libation, not the nine DVD box set to Mr. Belvedere.
It’s the night before Christmas, with the candlelight vigils and songs of anticipation, that they anticipate most. “I like Christmas Eve because everyone takes a pause. They come to worship. They take that pause to be with community, to be with each other. Sing the familiar hymn, smell the familiar incense that we might burn. It’s almost like you’re bringing the community back together for some spirituality. For what was and what we’re doing again,” Griffin said. Watkins agreed saying “I always love Christmas Eve. It’s the end of advent so it’s the end of waiting but not quite Christmas. It’s still the anticipation of Christmas but the wrapping up of Advent, so it’s like two things in one.”
Spreading the Message
In 2019, the pair started a new Christmas Eve tradition by streaming Sunshine Cathedral’s services. “A year before COVID we wanted to do something new and exciting for Christmas Eve,” Griffin said. “Someone suggested live streaming Christmas services. That particular holiday, we had someone use Facebook Live for our second service. Two hundred fifty people watched that night, with 1000 viewers by the end of the week. We thought we were a major television network!”
Over the following years, holiday services were masked with the church only allowed to be at 25% capacity. Some services were held in cars in the parking lot. But Griffin says streaming opened up the service to the world. “Think about that Christmas Eve, then pandemic Christmas Eve, and looking forward to this Christmas Eve. The big picture is, how many more people can we reach and share the message of the Gospel? There’s going to be some child somewhere that will need to hear our message of hope, safety, and that they are not alone.”
Shortly thereafter, they found a production company to stream their weekly, 10:30am, Sunday service and other special events. Griffin says the more polished, professional look has helped them grow their audience. “Look at what we were doing going into COVID and comparing it to what we are now producing. Before, we were excited to reach 1200 people or even 5000 people this week. At that time it looked very different from what we are doing now. Then to realize the importance of making that shift, technology-wise, camera upgrades, creating a more professional presentation, and packaging it differently meant a lot not only for us but also the people that we are reaching. To touch people in parts of the world, that includes numerous countries, small villages, and small country towns that you never thought you’d reach before. We hear back from them and what it means in their lives.”
This is the first Christmas since 2019 with no COVID restrictions, but they wonder if many people have permanently changed their worship habits. Watkins said they won’t know until they look out into the sanctuary on Christmas Eve. “Maybe Christmas and Easter will be like of old, standing room only.” But the services will still be broadcast worldwide. “Even if you have everyone in the sanctuary, that’s still less than 600 people. I would much rather reach 30,000 worldwide than 600 on a local level. There’s so many people that need to hear that somebody thinks they are OK. That someone thinks they’re wonderful being the unique people they are. Because people need to hear it I’m thrilled that more people hear that and aware that many more need to hear it still.”
Reaching people is their true passion. Both are long-term HIV survivors who were diagnosed at a time when that wasn’t an expected outcome and is a part of their spiritual journey they share with those that need to hear it. Living life as openly gay men in a spiritual and pastoral profession is rare. Together the two have grown Sunshine Cathedral into an even more welcoming place than it already was when they arrived.
“We are by nature, missional, not evangelistic,” Watkins said. “We have a mission and want to be available to as many people as possible. We still live in a time where it is less safe to go to school in some districts and some states. It’s less safe if your family doesn’t look like a 1950s sitcom family.” The resurgence of stigma against the LGBTQIA+ community is harmful mentally, spiritually, and physically. “There’s a lot of violence. There’s a lot of discrimination written into law. You go to bed one night with rights and you wake up the next morning with those rights gone. This is a time when people need to know there’s a voice that affirms them and there’s a community that embraces them. Even when people are saying terrible things about them, there’s another entity saying – they are God’s miracle, not God’s mistake.”
Hitting The Road
Griffin and Watkins love traveling. With retirement only a decade or so away, they don’t see the end of the road, they see the start of the road. “What I think we want to do is RV. Keep this place as home but we’ve traveled a lot. We’ll just hit the road.”
RVing was how they started their relationship. When their ministries were in very different places, Griffin says they would spend their free time exploring America. “We had this 36’ pop up dolphin RV. It’s when I was in Maryland and he was in New York. He would come down and we would take it out for a week or the weekend. Just hit the road and go. Wherever we go is where we would end up. We would see his family in Texarkana and other stops along the way. If we went to Alabama, we would see my family”
Watkins says the travel is very relaxing. “The reason I love RV and cruises is the movement puts me to sleep. It’s the best sleep I get, which makes me not very helpful with driving. I love trips where I can sleep, sleep, and more sleep. I can sleep in a car. But I can also do it in a queen-sized bed in the back of a 36’ RV.” That means Griffin spends a lot of time at the wheel. “There are many mornings where he will go to bed and sleep in one state and wake up in another. You get out of yourself and everything you’ve been around and you’re on the road and traveling.”
He loves the combination of traveling but still feeling like home. “If we could drive everywhere we go we would. We can cook, sleep, and bring the pets. The RV is our home away from home.”
For now, a return RV life is still down the road. This December they are once again throwing themselves into the spiritual needs of their congregation, either live, in person, or online. “So we’ll see. Is Christmas just different from now on or is Christmas back? We’ll know this Christmas in the room. As long as people are getting the Christmas message of love, generosity, and community. If they’re getting it in the room or outside the room, as long as they’re getting it, that’s what we’re excited about.”
By noon on Christmas, the hymnals will be put away, the robes stored, and holiday dinners will be in the ovens. Griffin and Watkins will then settle in on their deck, drink in hand, and full of holiday spirit.
Remember this holiday season, you are God’s miracle.
