?Do not be overcome by evil; overcome evil with good.?
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Romans 12:21
Dear friends & ministry partners,
At the end of October, we celebrated publishing our 30th Love & Truth Network Podcast episode, and we?re adding more and more of those episodes to our Transforming Congregations platform as well. Please take some time to watch or listen. So far, the response has been overwhelmingly positive, but I would love to get your feedback. You can watch episodes on our Wistia Podcasts page, or you can listen on your preferred podcast platform at Spotify Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts. Podcasts are a great way to get our message out in both monologue style and interviews ? way to connect with and offer biblical perspectives to a growing audience. Let me know what you think!
As I write this update, last night I flew home from New York, where I was asked to be the primary speaker at an annual conference for a secular campus ministry. The audience was made up of 300-400 college students, a population that is constantly inundated with the secular, humanist, anti-Judeo-Christian ideology that is saturating nearly every college and university across the country. BASIC (Brothers and Sisters in Christ) is a campus ministry primarily based in the Northeast, with a view toward continued growth.
When other well-known national Christian campus ministries are softening and compromising biblical truths on human sexuality and identity, BASIC is walking the more difficult and narrow path of ?speaking truth in love?. The Apostle Paul is clear about this, ?Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ? (Ephesians 4:15).
Falsehoods dressed up in Christian sounding rhetoric can actually be worse than overt affirmation of sin, because it can be harder to identify as an anti-Christian/anti-Biblical perspective. Thus, we often say, ?when truth is removed from love, it is no longer love.?
Over the years of watching compromised churches make subtle shifts toward culture in a supposed attempt to ?win people to Christ?, I have watched those churches become less and less recognizable as Christian, and certainly less Biblical over time. Rather than being a force for good, empowered by the Holy Spirit to offer genuine transformation, they maintain the trappings and veneer of Christianity but wind up ?conforming to the world?.
Again, just as the Apostle Paul warns in Romans 12:1-2, ?Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God?s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God ? this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God?s will is?his good, pleasing, and perfect will.?
I am so grateful for steadfast and faithful ministries like BASIC, who are evangelizing and offering genuine Biblical teaching, training, and fellowship for today?s college students.
Also in October, I had the privilege of teaching and sharing alongside several others at a large church in Modesto, CA. Kris Olsen ? founder and director of ?Coming Out Again Ministries? ? did a beautiful job of organizing the event and sharing her story of choosing Jesus rather than owning a false identity based in same-sex attraction. Kevin Whitt ? a former drag-queen and once gender-confused man ? shared his story of surrender to Jesus and coming to a place of accepting himself as the man God made him to be. The youngest and most well-known speaker of the four of us was 19-year-old Chloe Cole. As a detransitioner and advocate for protecting other children from coercion and the ravages of bodily mutilation hidden behind the euphemistic guise of ?gender affirming care?, Chloe was a powerful voice of genuine concern and care for children and adults during our weekend event.
Perhaps you saw Chloe bravely testify before Congress in July 2023, on her 19th birthday. She spoke about how she should be spending the day celebrating with her family and friends, but was instead testifying before the House Judiciary Committee for the purpose of bringing to light the permanent harms done to her by pharmaceutical, medical, and mental health industries that purport to care for those experiencing gender dysphoria. Here's a link to Chloe?s brief and powerful testimony.
Lastly, my book is now complete and available on Amazon for purchase ? both in Kindle and paperback! It felt like the process took forever (I don't love writing), but we're celebrating its completion!
We hope you and many others will be blessed by the book, and we would be greatly blessed if you help us spread it! Two of the most helpful ways to spread the good news in it are (1) purchasing a copy(s) of the book for yourself and others, and (2) if you value the content, please leave a 5-star review to help others know how it has blessed you so it encourages others to read it too. It will also ? very importantly ? be helpful to have positive reviews because we fully anticipate that enemies of the Gospel will leave negative reviews just because they hate the message and want to discourage others from reading it. Your positive review, combined with others, can make an enormous difference in encouraging others to find the hope for Jesus' restoration we are spreading. We would be so grateful for your support!
You can learn more and order the book on our website.
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Upcoming Ministry
November was a full month of ministry. I traveled to various churches and a large Christian counseling organization in the northeast to teach and equip. Amidst the increasing chaos and confusion of today, more and more churches are booking their schedules further and further out. Requests for our help continue to increase.
2024 is shaping up to be a very full year with more meetings and ministry events already planned than at any other time since beginning our national work over ten years ago. With the new book release, our podcast gearing up, and hiring a Christian public relations/marketing company to promote these new resources through Transforming Congregations and Love & Truth Network (primarily to the Christian marketplace for podcast, radio, and television interviews), we are expecting our most impactful year so far.
Over the past two years, we have been prayerfully and gradually increasing our ministry presence at key national events ? offering workshops and exhibiting Love & Truth Network and Transforming Congregations. This has helped to grow a far greater awareness of our presence and our unique experience/gifting to bless and support pastors, Christian leaders, and the Church as a whole.
We are also considering advertising in two magazines specifically designed for pastors and Christian leaders. God has indeed been opening doors of opportunity and we would highly value your prayers ? helping us discern what He is calling us to say ?yes? to and what we need to refer to others that we know and trust.
The common need for churches to minister with increased confidence, boldness, and great compassion in areas of identity and sexual brokenness continues to fuel our desire to have more well-equipped ministers in strategic regions throughout the country.
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We are witnesses to the devastation and loss experienced by countless men, women, and young people who embraced the lie of a godless world-system ? many times, even as Christians. Compromise promised them fun, freedom, and fulfillment, but instead delivered bondage, emptiness, and ruin. Conversely, we also have the great joy of often seeing ?lights go on? when we share and teach. People connect with our vulnerability. What we share about Biblical community resonates with so many on deep levels; they ache for that kind of connection. They long for genuine love and meaningful friendship ? the freedom and joy of being both fully known and fully loved. They are stirred at what we share from the Bible about healing and restoration flowing out of our deep and rich brotherhood and sisterhood ? real friendship, real love, having the power to break addiction and meaninglessness. We see hope spark again for people who had resigned themselves to a mediocre existence ? often a broken, even addicted pattern of living. Certainly not the abundant life that Jesus spoke of.
Lastly, I do want to thank each and every one of you for the blessing you have been to us here at Love and Truth Network. May you have a very Merry Christmas, and I pray that you will have a blessed and wonderful day with your families and loved ones!
Transformation Stories
I always end ministry updates with a story of God?s grace and redeeming love in the life of someone He has drawn into His Kingdom and set free from sexual sin and/or identity confusion. In this final update of 2023, we are sharing the brief stories of my three new friends I recently shared a stage with in California.
Chloe Cole?s Story
???I was only 12 years old when I told my parents that I was a boy. Like many parents in that situation, they didn?t have a clue what to do. They were scared and desperate for answers. They wanted what every parent wants for their child ? for me to be okay and thrive.
At 13 years old, on the advice of so-called medical professionals, I was put on puberty blocking medication, and only a month later I was given my first testosterone injection. The gender clinic presented my parents with the classic false dichotomy regarding children with gender dysphoria: ?Would you rather have a dead daughter or a living son?? Given these options, what loving parent wouldn?t choose to transition their child?
Scared for my life, my parents were prepared to sign anything the doctors asked. This is not informed consent. It was a decision forced under extreme duress.
At 15, I went under the knife for a radical double mastectomy ? the kind that breast cancer patients get. This was after I was sexually assaulted at school by a male student. I just told myself to man up, but I lived my life in constant hatred of my breasts. I started binding, which deformed my breasts as well as my rib cage.
I was afraid, and I couldn?t wait to finally protect my body from the threat of further molestation. At 16, I finally realized what happened to me ? that I had made a huge mistake. I realized the beauty of motherhood was stolen from me by medical professionals who my family entrusted me to. I realized after maturing a bit more that a child does not in fact know who they are at 12 years old. I realized that I wanted to be what I always was and forever will be ? a woman.
With this realization came a series of challenges that were far worse than the transition. Somehow, I had to get myself off these drugs and tell everyone in my entire life that I was not who I said I was. My parents were shocked and felt like they failed me on every level imaginable. My friends all turned against me because I was evidence that their beliefs were a lie. I was a joke. I was a fraud. I was many years behind in development and incapable of feeding my future children. And worst of all, completely alone.
Even the medical professionals who got me into this mess now have no idea what to do with me and they refuse to help me. It almost killed me as it has killed many who regret transition. The big question still remains: How is a 12-year-old introduced to the idea that they could do something as ridiculous as change their sex?
I was and still am the type of kid that never really fit into social norms. I was a tomboy. I was shy. I didn?t socialize easily. At 11, I made my first Instagram account. I had unmonitored internet access. It wasn?t long until I was exposed to a ton of LGBTQ content online, and I had never seen anything like it. You mean, all I have to do is subscribe to this ideology, and then I?m an accepted, celebrated, and valued member of the most talked about community on earth?
To watch Chloe?s full public statement or read the full transcript, visit here.
At 16 years of age, Chloe realized this path of so-called transition was all a huge lie. She faced the fact that she could never become a boy, and realized that the medical, pharmaceutical, and mental health professions had manipulated and coerced her and her parents into making terrible, irreversible decisions.
Chloe?s story is deeply tragic in all that was taken from her, but also profoundly triumphant in the way she has chosen to tell her story for the sake of exposing all the lies permeating so-called ?gender affirming care?. She has found great purpose and meaning from the pain and loss she has experienced. I do not know if Chloe has made a decision to give her life to Jesus, but I do know that she is experiencing the love and appreciation of many Christians. Will you join me in praying for her protection as she bravely shares in the face of intense hatred and opposition? Will you join me in praying for a genuine relationship with Jesus and deep fellowship in a local church?
Kevin Whitt?s Story
I grew up in a dysfunctional home with a very abusive father. As a child, I endured verbal, physical, and sexual abuse. In the first grade, everyone called me ?gay? and ?faggot? because I seemed more feminine than other boys. Words are powerful, and I believed those lies. I began having same-sex attraction at a young age, and by age 15, I came out and started dressing in drag. I was embraced and accepted into a community of people that I could relate to, and the attention and recognition of dressing in drag became addictive.
As soon as I was old enough, I got into the club scene as an entertainer. Desperate for money, I started working in the adult industry as a transsexual prostitute, phone sex operator, dominatrix, and webcam ?model.? I thought this would be temporary, but earning over $1k a day became addictive, and I couldn?t stop. Men made me feel sexy and wanted.
I hated Christians because all I?d ever been taught by the Church was that gay people were going to hell and their punishment from God was to contract AIDS and die. So I figured, if I?m going to hell, I might as well have fun doing it.
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Eventually I realized how toxic and addictive my lifestyle had become. Many friends and acquaintances had died young from HIV, and I saw others ruin their lives with drug and alcohol addictions.
One day, while working in a male strip club, one of the stripper boys invited me to go to church. I thought it was weird, but I was open to it and I went. That day a seed was planted in my heart.
A few months later, I got invited to church on Easter Sunday. God grabbed my attention through a modern-day version of the resurrection of Christ being played out on stage, and I began to cry. I saw all that Jesus had done for me. That was the first day of my walk with Christ.
Eventually my desires to do drag, party, or have sex lessened. God began speaking to me and I got rid of all of my female clothing and accessories. My heart began to change dramatically as God continued to show me my true identity. I did not come to Christ seeking change in my sexuality. I simply came to Him with the desire for a healthy life, and kept an open mind and loving heart. He did the rest.
I now understand that my sensitivity and interests in art, fashion, and beauty do not equate to homosexuality. American culture places a stigma on men. If we don?t watch football and act a certain way, we must be gay. But that is a lie. I am created in God?s image, and He gave me a creative mind. I love being a man just the way I was designed to be.
Kris Olsen?s Story
I was attracted emotionally to other girls in junior high school. In my late teens, I started feeling physically attracted to girls. I never gay-identified, as I didn't like the feelings and wanted them to go away. I was frustrated, had no idea where the attraction was coming from, and wanted nothing to do with it.
In my early 30s, I had a powerful encounter with Jesus and received him as my Savior. I thought that as a Christian, I would not experience same-sex attraction anymore. But although I wasn?t acting on it at all, it did not go away. I?m a member of the LPGA and was so focused on my career that attractions faded to the background.
About ten years after becoming a Christian, while in a business meeting, I looked across the room and made eye contact with a woman. I was immediately attracted to her, and I could see in her eyes that she was extremely attracted to me, too. I didn?t want to pursue anything with her, so I resolved to keep my distance.
A couple of months later, in another business meeting, she sat down next to me. She asked how I was doing, and I ended up unloading all of my work-related frustrations and struggles on her. She offered to help me because she?d had similar experiences, so I agreed. We struck up a friendship, which became a relationship, and I entered into the world of lesbian sexuality. She was practically my dream girl, but all along, I felt unsettled about it and very internally conflicted.
She wasn?t a Christian, and I was. One day as we sat in my car talking, I mentioned a biblical concept that applied to our topic of conversation. I said, "There's this Scripture in the Bible that says?." I barely finished when she turned to me and said, "Shut up! I'm so tired of hearing about Jesus. If you mention Him one more time, I'm out of this car and you'll never see me again."
Suddenly, I knew I was at a crossroads of choosing my faith or her. In that moment, I chose my faith.
It was the hardest decision I had ever made, and I knew I needed serious help to work through it. I needed more than just reading Scripture; I needed a counselor, someone who could help me unravel the deep emotions from a faith-based perspective. I ended up paying to join a Christian ministry program where I gained understanding about where my same-sex feelings had come from. I also attended a conference and read a couple of books on the topic of transforming unwanted same-sex attraction. All of these things were healing for me.
?I enjoy my freedom and am happy.?
Today, I?m no longer attracted to women, and I have attraction toward men. I?m currently single, enjoy my freedom and am happy with being released from the intense conflict in my soul over my sexuality.
Your fellow-laborer,
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Garry Ingraham