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?Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, a?nd the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened."


Matthew 7:7-8



Asking / Seeking / Knocking. Taking New Ground In 2025


Dear friends & ministry partners,


What a start to 2025! Your prayers and support fuel Love & Truth Network and Transforming Congregations as we equip pastors, leaders, and everyday believers to navigate the turbulent waters of identity, sexuality, and relationships with bold, compassionate, biblical truth. The final quarter of 2024 revealed God?s ever-faithful hand leading and covering us ? a year to rejoice! Lives impacted and transformed ? through onsite ministry events, watching/listening to our weekly podcast, reaching out for prayer and coaching, finding my book, and our ministry resources ? all were a testament to your partnership providing the means to do the work and ministry God has called us to.


Pastors and leaders have expressed deep gratitude for the equipping and support Love & Truth Network and Transforming Congregations provide for them and the people they care for; it was a joy to be used by God again and again. His favor blessed LTN and TC spiritually, emotionally, and tangibly ? including financially.


Our dear friends who sponsored our year-end giving challenge with a generous $10,000 seed gift are thrilled with your response. You didn?t just double or triple it ? you quadrupled it! By the end of December 2024, your gifts reached $46,795. Some were able to give large sums, and we?re deeply grateful; many stretched and gave generous gifts of $50 or $100. As those smaller amounts from many people accumulated, it added up to a powerhouse of support! Of course, our faithful monthly partners and regular year-end supporters continued to give, and God blessed it all. You truly are making an impact on the front line ? thank you!

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I?ve written often that your prayer covering protects my family and team in ways we?ll only see in eternity. Please keep us in your regular prayers ? we especially need that support as we take new ground this year. 


Podcast Milestone: 100 Episodes and Counting!


Our Love & Truth Network podcast is putting down some real roots and thriving, reaching new listeners with hope-filled conversations. If you haven?t yet joined us for a show, please do. It is easy to listen to or watch. I encourage you to subscribe to not miss an episode and pass along this resource to your pastors, leaders, friends, and family.

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In February, we hit our 100th episode with Rosaria Butterfield, whose transformation ? from lesbian activist and Syracuse professor to pastor?s wife via a 1999 ?train wreck? conversion ? mirrors our mission of equipping leaders and seeing lives transformed. Her story of God?s truth upending her identity resonates; pastors, parents, and strugglers are tuning in, many seeking prayer and coaching.

Connecting for Prayer & Coaching


I?m humbled by how so many people and organizations are making use of our ministry. Pastors seeking to shepherd, parents desperate to guide kids, and individuals wrestling with sexual sin or identity are reaching out. One of many recent calls was from a mom and dad praying for their child, who has been lured into lies about their identity. These raw, tear-filled conversations echo my journey spent in years of confusion. They?re why we exist: to point to the One who restores. Contact me via our website if we might be able to offer prayer and direction. 


Monthly Online Support Groups


We have also rolled out several monthly online opportunities to gather, connect, and pray together around sexuality and identity throughout 2025. These gatherings, held the first Wednesday of each month, enable those in need to connect with me and/or staff in real-time.


  1. Our Friends & Family Group offers space for those navigating these issues with those they care about while learning to embody both love and truth.
  2. The Strugglers Group is a safe haven for individuals wrestling with sexual sin or identity confusion to find hope and encouragement.
  3. Our Pastor?s Equipping Group allows pastors and Church leaders to join together and discuss or ask anything related to sexuality and LGBTQ+ issues. It?s a time for shepherds to become better equipped to support and guide people in their churches.


?These video meetings are free to attend, but registration is required. For registration and all the details, click here. 


First Quarter Highlights


In February, I attended the ?International Christian Broadcaster?s Convention? in Dallas, TX. I gave six interviews and made new connections for future podcasts and media opportunities ? both for me to be interviewed and for others to join me for our TC podcast. This annual event is recognized as the world's largest gathering of Christian communicators and ministry media professionals. What a privilege to participate! While in Dallas, I preached three services at City on A Hill Church. This was my fourth time sharing with this vibrant ?teaching hospital? church ? a model of healing and restoration.


?We exhibited at the Southwest Calvary Chapel Conference ?Made to Thrive? in Tucson, AZ, where I had several great conversations with pastors and leaders about the ministry we provide to equip and bless local churches nationwide.


As I finish this ministry update, I recently returned home from an excellent opportunity to share and teach at the sixth annual ?Transformational Truth Conference? in Spokane, WA. I was especially blessed to share the stage with Nancy Pearcey.


She serves as a professor and scholar-in-residence at Houston Christian University. Nancy Pearcey is a prolific author and speaker known for her Christian apologetics and worldview analysis.


Looking Ahead


Q2-Q4 brings an opportunity for fellowship and exhibiting at the annual Christ Covenant Coalition conference. CCC is led by Bishop Joseph Mattera and unites apostolic leaders from around the United States and many other parts of the world. This event is followed by ministry at two different churches in Northern, N.Y., that I have shared at in the past ? both churches want to take the conversation and training deeper for their leadership.


In May, Melissa and I will exhibit at and lead three workshops in St. Louis, for the Christian Medical & Dental Association. CMDA is a vibrant community of Christian healthcare professionals and students dedicated to glorifying God through their work. Founded in 1931, CMDA equips its nearly 18,000 members with resources, education, and networking opportunities to help integrate their faith into their medical and dental practices. This will be our fourth year at CMDA. What an incredible way to impact and influence Christian medical professionals!


Our family ?Northeast ministry trip,? May 18 to June 20, is shaping up to be a very full and exciting time with churches ? some building on the training and support already provided by LTN or TC, while others will be new connections and first-time opportunities to minister.


This year, summer ministry travel will be shortened by a few weeks to allow our boys to attend Worldview Camp at Arizona Christian University. You may have read the results of a study released in 2022 by the Barna Group, which reveals striking insights into the low percentage of U.S. pastors with a biblical worldview. Here?s what it shows:


Only 37% of Christian pastors in the United States hold a biblical worldview, according to a nationwide survey of about 1,000 pastors. A biblical worldview, as defined by Barna, involves believing in absolute moral truth grounded in the Bible, alongside specific convictions like the Bible?s accuracy, Jesus? sinless life, Satan?s real existence, God?s omnipotence and omniscience, salvation by grace alone, and a personal duty to evangelize. This leaves a majority ? 62% ? embracing a hybrid worldview called Syncretism, where pastors mix biblical ideas with elements from other philosophies, creating a personalized, inconsistent belief system based on preference rather than scripture.


The breakdown by pastoral role is even more telling:


·      Senior/Lead Pastors: 41% have a biblical worldview, the highest among the groups studied.

·      Associate Pastors: 28%

·      Teaching Pastors: 13%

·      Children?s and Youth Pastors: Just 12%


These are both shocking and disheartening numbers. Is it any surprise our secular communities are confused and broken when so many shepherds and leaders are floundering in their worldview?


September is busy as we are also exhibiting at The American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC) World Conference in Nashville. Here, Melissa and Becky will debut their workshop on ?Female Sexualized Attachment? (the groundwork for Melissa?s book on the same topic). AACC is the premiere Christian counseling event, pulling in over 7,000 attendees?including counselors, therapists, pastors, coaches, ministry leaders, and many others from across the globe.


Finally, in November, our sister ministry Transforming Congregations has a new and incredible opportunity ? exhibiting and offering several workshops at The International Conference On Missions (ICOM) in Atlanta, GA. We are excited for this gathering of 4,000-6,000 people with a heart and passion for missions.


?Are you interested in having us equip your church on restoring sexual and relational wholeness and biblical identity? Let?s talk!


Your Role in This Mission


Thank you for standing with us. I?d love to hear your thoughts at gingraham@loveandtruthnetwork.com.


Teaching Corner


The Myth of "Just Be Yourself"


The lure of desire, what looks like an easy pathway rather than a challenging one, the pursuit of pleasure ? all of these hollow promises can be enticing. I bought the lie hook, line, and sinker: ?Just be yourself.? It sounded like freedom, a ticket out of shame into acceptance. As a young man sick of fighting same-sex attractions, I plunged into the gay community. I told myself this was authenticity ? living my truth, unshackled from the Church?s rules and God?s supposed judgment. While culture wasn?t cheering me on back then (like it does today), I still felt the false promise of peace ? if I?d just lean into ?me.? But that ?me? was a prison cell of my own making, a lifeless shell that left me more empty with every attempt to find fulfillment.

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Rosaria Butterfield, our guest for Podcast #100 this February, lived it too. A Syracuse University professor, she built her life around a lesbian identity fortified by feminist theory and pride. She thought she?d found herself until a pastor?s kindness cracked the façade, and Christ exposed the emptiness of it all. Her story, like mine, reveals the trap: ?Just be yourself? isn?t liberation ? it?s a dead-end road.


I have often called out a lack of authentic, biblical leadership in those who set themselves up as compassionate advocates, supposedly taking a more loving approach toward ?sexual minorities.? But they have traded biblical love (1 Cor 13:6) for a counterfeit. What they are offering isn?t a new life in Christ through repentance and growing sanctification on the topics of sexuality and identity; it?s hopelessness and bondage. True identity isn?t found digging deeper into yourself; it?s forged in surrender to Someone greater ? our Maker/Designer.


Back then, I was proud, gay, and anti-God ? thinking I had discovered my true self. I hated the Church, rejected its teachings, and leaned into ?my truth.? But the real truth? I was a mess of feelings, a rollercoaster of highs and lows that never landed in a solid place. My book, ?Am I Gay?? lays it bare: the more I chased that self, the more lost I got. Identity confusion wasn?t my biggest problem ? it was the fruit of a root I couldn?t see. I thought I was free while tethered to a lie that shifted with every mood, applause, and rejection.


I?ve often heard a now-familiar refrain: "LTN became a lifeline to me.? I can hardly believe God has graced us with such blessing and such responsibility to speak into the lives of precious, hurting people. I think of one young man who represents countless others, drowning in a quicksand of empty promises, chasing a broken self that culture told him to embrace until he finds real hope and transformation rooted in Jesus alone.


Here?s where it turns. God didn?t tweak my old self ? He scrapped it and built a new one that comes through the finished work of Jesus on the cross. I didn?t find peace being ?me?; I found it letting go of ?me.? Our website?s About page tells it: from a gay man who hated God to husband, father, and pastor ? all by His mercy. Marriage to Melissa, raising our sons, leading this ministry?none came from polishing the old Garry. It came from surrender, looking into a mirror that didn?t distort. Christ didn?t just save me; He showed me who I was meant to be. And He offers the same mirror to you and all who call on Him.


Rosaria?s story, fresh from our podcast, echoes the same message. She didn?t evolve from lesbian activist to pastor?s wife by digging into herself ? pride and time didn?t rewrite her script. Christ did. Why? He?s the true mirror for humanity. From the start, we were crafted in God?s image ? little glimpses of Him designed to reflect His character, love, and strength. Sin smudged that glass, and culture keeps smearing it with lies like ?just be yourself.? But Christ wipes it clean, restores the reflection, and shows us the blueprint we lost.


Pastors, direct those in your care to look to Christ, not culture?s kaleidoscope. I saw a great example of this in Fort Worth this month: a ?teaching hospital? church, healing because it points to Him. Broken people trade ?me? for Him ? our groups have been full of men/women proving it works. After a coaching call, one guy reached back to me: ?I thought I could only find happiness pursuing and attaining my desires ? now I see I?m far more than that.? It?s not about erasing your story; it?s letting Christ rewrite it into something truer and eternal.


?Where does this leave us? With the only path that leads to life. I?ve lived on both sides of the fence ? clinging to a self that failed and surrendering to a Savior who remade me. Rosaria?s on the same journey of becoming. All those who are actively following Christ are on that journey, too. Countless testimonies on our website speak to it. Love & Truth Network is here to equip and support pastors and local churches in this essential exchange ? our rags for His glory, purpose, and belonging.

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