[2] Born in Jesup, Georgia, (February 14, 1948), Bacon is the son of a Baptist minister who was also the superintendent of the Wayne County Schools.
He grew up in a politically and theologically conservative environment, and, at the urging of his father, he attended Mercer University in Macon, Georgia with the intent of becoming a physician.
In 1967, while a student at Mercer, Bacon had a chance encounter with Martin Luther King Jr. at the baggage claim in the Atlanta airport.
While there, he was introduced to the writings of Thomas Merton, a twentieth-century Catholic priest and monk who wrote about the true self versus the false self.
After serving as a youth minister at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Atlanta, Georgia, he was granted admission as a postulant for the priesthood.
[3] Bacon co-founded "Beyond Inclusion" and "Claiming the Blessing", two organizations that advocated for LGBT rights within the Episcopal Church.
He co-founded Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace (ICUJP) and Abrahamic Faiths Peacemaking Initiative (AFPI).
[3] In 1999, his alma mater, the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, named him as its Whiteside Distinguished Preacher.
In December, 2005, he was named an Honorary Canon of the Cathedral Center of St. Paul, Los Angeles by Bishop J. Jon Bruno.