Great news: This morning, The United Methodist Church voted to let Lebanon, Pennsylvania Pastor Frank Schaefer return to the pulpit. Schaefer was famously defrocked last winter for officiating the marriage of his gay son. The decision comes after Schaefer appealed the Church’s ruling last week. The Republic has more:

The nine-person [appeals] panel ordered the church to restore Frank Schaefer’s pastoral credentials, saying the jury that convicted him of breaking church law erred when fashioning his punishment.

“I’ve devoted my life to this church, to serving this church, and to be restored and to be able to call myself a reverend again and to speak with this voice means so much to me,” an exultant Schaefer told The Associated Press, adding he intends to work for gay rights “with an even stronger voice from within the United Methodist Church.” …

The appeals panel, which met in Linthicum, Maryland, last week to hear the case, upheld a 30-day suspension that Schaefer has already served and said he should get back pay dating to when the suspension ended in December.

The jury’s punishment was illegal under church law, the appeals panel concluded, writing in its decision that “revoking his credentials cannot be squared with the well-established principle that our clergy can only be punished for what they have been convicted of doing in the past, not for what they may or may not do in the future.”