Pullen Memorial Baptist Church is a Baptist church known for its progressive theology located in Raleigh, North Carolina, US, right beside North Carolina State University. Pullen, called "a fiercely independent Baptist church" whose traditions have "earned it a reputation far and wide as the South's premier liberal church," has a long history of civil rights activism, and is currently a leader on key issues of the day, from LGBTQ rights to activism in Moral Monday protests to alliances with like-minded people in distant places from Cuba to Nicaragua to Georgia in the Caucasus Mountains and Black Sea. Pullen is led by the Dr. Reverend Nancy Petty. In the last two decades, social issues have included Pullen Memorial's stance on sexual issues. In 1992 the Southern Baptist Convention expelled the church for its blessing a same-sex union. In 2002, lesbian minister Nancy Petty was selected to be co-pastor with Jack McKinney, making Pullen the first Baptist church in the South known to have chosen an openly homosexual person as lead clergy. Pullen has been marrying and blessing the unions of same-sex couples ever since. Pullen's Sunday service was named "The Best Sermon to Hear on a Sunday Morning" by the Independent Weekly, a local progressive newspaper based in Durham. The church has alliances and affiliations with the Alliance of Baptists, American Baptist Churches – USA, Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists, Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, Bread of the World, Church Women United, Community of the Cross of Nails, Historic Thousands on Jones Street People's Assembly, Martin Street Baptist Church, North Carolina Council of Churches, and the Triangle Interfaith Alliance. History The church began in 1884 as a mission of First Baptist Church and was organized on December 28, 1884 as Fayetteville Street Baptist Church. It renamed itself in 1913 after the death of John T. Pullen, who had been a lay leader of the church. J.A. Ellis, who became the pastor in 1919, was the first of many Pullen preachers known for applying the Bible to justify controversial social issues. In 1921 the church's Fayetteville Street building was destroyed by a fire and the congregation began holding services in Pullen Hall on the campus of North Carolina State College (now known as North Carolina State University). The church moved to its current location on Hillsborough Street in 1923. E. McNeill Poteat Jr. succeeded Ellis as pastor in September 1929.