Hello and welcome back to 3ABN Today Live. 00:00:09.80\00:00:13.11 The great testimonies we've been hearing. 00:00:13.58\00:00:15.31 It's got us all touchy feely. 00:00:15.51\00:00:16.85 We're all old people here enjoying all this. 00:00:18.25\00:00:22.28 Before I go, you said you wanted to put your arm around 00:00:22.32\00:00:24.42 it. 00:00:24.42\00:00:24.65 That's okay now. 00:00:24.85\00:00:25.75 You're married. 00:00:25.79\00:00:26.29 You can do that. 00:00:26.32\00:00:27.26 We've been having a great time here with Coming Together 00:00:28.32\00:00:30.99 Ministries. 00:00:30.99\00:00:31.19 And I was just saying before the break what an incredible 00:00:32.19\00:00:35.53 ministry this is. 00:00:35.53\00:00:37.00 And I didn't say, but what a shame. 00:00:37.00\00:00:39.57 So much of the rejection because so many of our 00:00:39.83\00:00:42.57 universities, our things that we should, would think would 00:00:42.57\00:00:46.94 endorse and support is basically a lot of people are 00:00:46.94\00:00:51.31 saying, hey don't come to, we don't want you on campus. 00:00:51.31\00:00:54.62 We don't want you telling this story, this LGBTQ. 00:00:54.72\00:00:57.65 And you have, all of you in the ministry, you represent victory 00:00:58.89\00:01:03.56 over sin through Christ Jesus. 00:01:03.56\00:01:05.76 And so in a topic that most people don't want to talk 00:01:05.76\00:01:09.73 about. 00:01:09.73\00:01:10.10 We don't want to talk about that. 00:01:10.67\00:01:11.93 We don't want to talk about adultery. 00:01:11.97\00:01:13.27 We don't want to talk about hidden sins. 00:01:13.40\00:01:15.40 We don't want to talk about anything that has to do with 00:01:15.54\00:01:18.14 us, right? 00:01:18.14\00:01:18.94 But this is something that needs to be dealt with. 00:01:19.24\00:01:21.68 We're seeing a change in the people in our church. 00:01:21.84\00:01:24.48 And so I look back and I say, Pastor Ronnie, if I look back 00:01:24.78\00:01:29.08 say 40 years, you're having a church for 140 years or 00:01:29.08\00:01:33.82 whatever, no one, no pastors, nobody would ever got up and 00:01:33.82\00:01:37.86 spoke and said, you know, I think LGBTQ, we can affirm it 00:01:37.86\00:01:41.33 in the church, baptize people, baptize pastors. 00:01:41.33\00:01:43.97 And 30 years ago, wouldn't have, maybe even 20. 00:01:44.73\00:01:48.34 So what's changed? 00:01:49.14\00:01:50.17 Did we find new light in the Bible that says, oh, this is 00:01:50.34\00:01:53.07 all okay, that we can, you know, everything's okay? 00:01:53.07\00:01:55.81 Or have we changed? 00:01:55.98\00:01:57.11 Have we allowed politics and culture to change us? 00:01:57.55\00:02:01.18 And that's really what is happening within the church. 00:02:01.18\00:02:05.12 So we're glad now we left with a thought and you have a 00:02:05.52\00:02:08.72 thought when we come back, you wanted to start us. 00:02:08.72\00:02:10.49 Thank you, Danny. 00:02:10.69\00:02:14.30 is the fulfillment of the law. 00:02:14.30\00:02:16.26 And so anyone that's just provides the love part, but 00:02:16.53\00:02:19.10 doesn't provide the law and the fulfillment of that or 00:02:19.10\00:02:22.00 following that law, you know what, you're not loving an 00:02:22.00\00:02:24.37 individual to just affirm them in the church and say, oh, 00:02:24.37\00:02:26.91 you're okay, God loves you as you are because that love is 00:02:26.91\00:02:30.11 the fulfillment of the law. 00:02:30.11\00:02:31.35 Therefore you might be loving them, but they're still lost. 00:02:31.35\00:02:33.95 And so love and law, love and the fulfillment of that is to 00:02:34.52\00:02:39.79 follow the Bible and what the Bible says about sexuality. 00:02:39.79\00:02:42.26 Pastor, don't you think it's interesting though we as 00:02:42.72\00:02:44.93 Seventh -day Adventists, we have no problem telling people, 00:02:44.93\00:02:48.90 remember the Sabbath day to keep it, the commandment says 00:02:49.50\00:02:51.93 remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 00:02:51.93\00:02:53.97 And we almost pride ourselves in loving people enough that we 00:02:54.07\00:02:58.71 got to tell them the truth. 00:02:58.71\00:02:59.91 Well, you're going to church the wrong day and we're almost 00:02:59.91\00:03:03.38 aggressive sometimes too much so that we're not ashamed of 00:03:03.38\00:03:07.42 that. 00:03:07.42\00:03:11.85 But when it comes to something like this, well, you know, we 00:03:11.92\00:03:15.19 can't say anything. 00:03:15.19\00:03:16.02 We have to be careful what we say. 00:03:16.22\00:03:18.56 We don't want to offend somebody. 00:03:18.69\00:03:19.69 Well, I do think that error is very fragile and it can hardly 00:03:19.96\00:03:24.40 stand to be in the room with the truth. 00:03:24.40\00:03:26.37 But I think about God's list of abominations and it is 00:03:26.37\00:03:32.11 interesting in Proverbs there where it says there's six 00:03:32.11\00:03:34.94 things God hates. 00:03:34.94\00:03:35.94 One of them is hands that shed innocent blood. 00:03:36.48\00:03:39.15 And you know, when we think about the sexual sins that 00:03:40.52\00:03:43.99 define our age and then the corollary and the connected 00:03:43.99\00:03:49.12 ones that follow it, including abortion, we find ourselves 00:03:49.12\00:03:52.59 reluctant to speak up for the innocent. 00:03:52.59\00:03:55.50 And of course, if we could get a loving approach to people 00:03:55.50\00:03:59.93 that was wise without being condemning even though light 00:04:00.57\00:04:06.11 does condemn darkness, but we can have an approach that 00:04:06.11\00:04:09.61 actually gives hope at the same time that it raises the bar on 00:04:09.61\00:04:14.15 health and life and healing. 00:04:14.15\00:04:16.35 And so we as a Church should be at the forefront of all moral 00:04:16.99\00:04:21.52 issues for the sake of those that are confused or blind or 00:04:21.52\00:04:25.59 don't know how to find their way or need a handout. 00:04:25.59\00:04:27.73 You know, we actually for the first time started talking 00:04:29.16\00:04:32.20 about the issue of abortion and we have had two testimonies 00:04:32.20\00:04:37.21 within the two years of our continuing conference where a 00:04:37.21\00:04:40.98 young woman talked about how even as an Adventist girl she 00:04:40.98\00:04:43.48 was basically date-rate at 16, had an abortion and didn't even 00:04:43.48\00:04:48.62 realize necessarily what happened before it was done. 00:04:48.62\00:04:50.72 But as she was going into Christian education, found out 00:04:50.72\00:04:55.02 that she was pregnant again and then had the second abortion 00:04:55.02\00:04:57.96 because after she'd had the first one, it made it much 00:04:57.96\00:05:01.10 easier to have the second one, even realizing years later that 00:05:01.10\00:05:04.47 she had made this huge mistake. 00:05:04.47\00:05:05.87 And I think that a lot of women, young women that have to 00:05:06.23\00:05:09.34 make a very difficult decision like that, you never really 00:05:09.34\00:05:12.21 know what's on the other side until you've made that 00:05:12.21\00:05:14.94 decision. 00:05:14.94\00:05:15.41 And Patty actually talked about how the guilt and the 00:05:16.18\00:05:18.98 condemnation of what she experienced after the second 00:05:18.98\00:05:21.48 abortion, even though she raised three beautiful 00:05:21.48\00:05:23.45 children, the thought in her mind of what she had done to 00:05:23.45\00:05:26.02 those two babies was really powerful. 00:05:26.02\00:05:27.99 And then last year we had Rebecca come and Rebecca talked 00:05:28.79\00:05:32.89 about how, found out she was pregnant at 13, had been 00:05:32.89\00:05:36.16 sexually abused by, you know, kids in the neighborhood and 00:05:36.16\00:05:38.90 things and wound up pregnant at 13, mother drops her off at the 00:05:38.90\00:05:42.24 abortion clinic, she comes out and mother says, we're never to 00:05:42.24\00:05:46.21 talk about this again, so here's a 13-year-old girl that, 00:05:46.21\00:05:49.18 you know, is just a child herself and not having any way 00:05:49.21\00:05:52.25 to process what had happened to that young girl, wound up 00:05:52.25\00:05:55.82 pregnant at 18, and this is where, to me, she went from the 00:05:55.82\00:05:59.39 victim to the hero because she made a determination that she 00:05:59.39\00:06:02.36 was not going to have another abortion, and she fought even 00:06:02.36\00:06:05.33 against, you know, the doctors and even, you know, family 00:06:05.33\00:06:08.93 members that were telling her, you need to have an abortion 00:06:08.93\00:06:10.97 and have this over with, she fought because she had to move 00:06:10.97\00:06:13.44 out of her home, Find another home for an un-wenn pregnant 00:06:13.44\00:06:16.91 girl to live in. 00:06:16.91\00:06:18.21 And then she handpicked the parents that were going to 00:06:18.27\00:06:21.08 adopt her child. 00:06:21.08\00:06:22.11 And three days after she gave birth to this child, hands that 00:06:22.31\00:06:25.11 baby over to parents with a note, please give this to him 00:06:25.11\00:06:28.75 when he's 18. 00:06:28.75\00:06:29.52 And that to me is like, wow! 00:06:29.88\00:06:31.79 Even against the culture and even against, you know, all of 00:06:32.15\00:06:35.56 these things that were pressuring this young girl, she 00:06:35.56\00:06:37.89 chose to save the life of that baby. 00:06:37.89\00:06:39.76 And that to me, those stories are just so incredible. 00:06:40.20\00:06:43.26 That's a hero. 00:06:43.26\00:06:43.93 That's a heroine. 00:06:44.27\00:06:45.47 You know, they're willing to suffer, which is what it takes 00:06:45.80\00:06:49.57 to become a hero or a heroine. 00:06:49.57\00:06:51.61 You have to suffer. 00:06:51.74\00:06:52.84 Before you're celebrated, you're scorned, you're mocked, 00:06:53.14\00:06:55.91 you're set aside. 00:06:55.98\00:06:57.58 And these, which we'll get to, but these Coming Together Live 00:06:58.08\00:07:02.78 events that we're doing are giving lots of people the 00:07:02.78\00:07:06.69 freedom to process, to grow, to heal, to change, to find hope. 00:07:06.69\00:07:12.69 You know, in the area of one of our largest Adventist 00:07:12.69\00:07:16.53 universities, a woman came up to me and she said she's a 00:07:16.53\00:07:19.87 nurse that works in women's health. 00:07:19.87\00:07:21.14 And she told me privately, she said, Mike, the largest users 00:07:21.47\00:07:24.97 of the abortion clinic is the Adventist university and the 00:07:24.97\00:07:28.51 academy that was in our area. 00:07:28.51\00:07:30.28 And this was six, seven years ago. 00:07:30.68\00:07:32.88 So we have this issue that we're not addressing. 00:07:33.18\00:07:35.72 And again, Pastor Ron, you're the only one that is willing to 00:07:35.98\00:07:39.52 give us, you know, that platform. 00:07:39.52\00:07:41.02 Actually, the first time that Patti gave her testimony was 00:07:41.02\00:07:44.09 when I met you, Hector, yeah, in Pasadena. 00:07:44.09\00:07:47.00 But these are very rare opportunities to share. 00:07:47.40\00:07:50.40 But they're gonna grow. 00:07:50.40\00:07:51.33 And you know, one of the things that's important about this 00:07:51.77\00:07:54.20 ministry that I think comes out of these events where people 00:07:54.20\00:07:57.54 are telling their story, sometimes in the now, sometimes 00:07:57.54\00:08:00.31 decades later, is that people change. 00:08:00.31\00:08:03.11 And how you feel when you're 20 about your human sexuality and 00:08:03.35\00:08:07.88 the results of that and potentially abortion, et 00:08:07.88\00:08:11.75 cetera, it all changes. 00:08:11.75\00:08:13.12 And it's good for age -appropriate audiences, 00:08:13.59\00:08:17.59 including age-appropriate young people, to hear these people 00:08:17.89\00:08:21.76 processing their grief, even decades afterwards, because we 00:08:21.76\00:08:26.27 change. 00:08:26.27\00:08:30.41 lot of that blame when you say the university is in church? 00:08:30.41\00:08:33.58 Why are so many going? 00:08:33.84\00:08:35.21 Because it's such a shame we condemn people that way a young 00:08:35.58\00:08:39.75 person or somebody that's not wed, they're pregnant, you 00:08:39.75\00:08:42.92 know, they say, oh, the condemnation I'm gonna get. 00:08:42.92\00:08:45.75 So that pushes them away rather than to love them. 00:08:46.02\00:08:49.52 So we're to love these people. 00:08:49.52\00:08:49.56 We're to love them through this process rather than to 00:08:51.96\00:08:56.36 criticize or rather than to ostracize. 00:08:56.36\00:08:59.17 And we don't do that. 00:08:59.17\00:09:00.47 So there's that imbalance once again. 00:09:00.54\00:09:02.74 And then we have to change the narrative that young women hear 00:09:02.77\00:09:06.88 about abortion. 00:09:06.88\00:09:08.01 Oh, it's just a gentle procedure. 00:09:08.01\00:09:10.91 Oh, it's pregnancy tissue. 00:09:11.51\00:09:14.15 They never referred to as a baby, always a fetus or some 00:09:14.45\00:09:18.75 other term for it. 00:09:18.75\00:09:20.69 And not understanding the procedure itself, which is 00:09:21.32\00:09:25.89 really barbaric. 00:09:25.89\00:09:28.13 And it's like because the narrative has been basically co 00:09:28.50\00:09:34.97 -opted by the culture, it's... people don't know, they don't 00:09:34.97\00:09:39.17 understand women. 00:09:39.17\00:09:40.24 Young women don't know what they're actually doing to that 00:09:40.41\00:09:44.18 little life inside. 00:09:44.18\00:09:45.35 I think if they knew more, which is why we wrote the 00:09:45.91\00:09:49.35 booklet on the truth about abortion. 00:09:49.35\00:09:50.95 We have two books, actually, if you want them, they're free. 00:09:51.02\00:09:53.76 There it is on the screen, the truth about abortion. 00:09:54.12\00:09:56.49 And then also the truth about this LGBTQ or can the Christian 00:09:56.93\00:10:02.36 church affirm LGBTQ. 00:10:02.36\00:10:04.27 So if you want those, you can just call and maybe they can 00:10:04.43\00:10:07.14 put an address up or put our email, whatever. 00:10:07.14\00:10:10.24 And so we'll be able to send those to you free of charge. 00:10:10.91\00:10:14.64 We're thankful for people who have sponsored those and made 00:10:14.84\00:10:18.65 them. 00:10:18.65\00:10:22.98 this, maybe a cliche, but it goes back to Corinthians 13. 00:10:22.98\00:10:26.69 If we don't have love, we can have all these things. 00:10:26.99\00:10:29.22 There's prophecies, but where there's prophecies, they'll 00:10:29.62\00:10:32.26 fail. 00:10:32.26\00:10:32.79 Well, we don't like think about that. 00:10:33.09\00:10:34.93 And you go through all of these things that you can have, but 00:10:34.93\00:10:39.00 if you don't have love, then none of this means anything. 00:10:39.00\00:10:42.37 And so I think what we're missing in the church today, as 00:10:42.64\00:10:47.64 she and I have been talking about it and we're preparing 00:10:47.64\00:10:51.01 some stuff on it is the everlasting gospel that 00:10:51.01\00:10:54.32 sometimes we're so focused on the national Sunday law that 00:10:54.32\00:10:57.79 some of these preachers, all they do and talk about it on 00:10:57.79\00:11:01.29 the television or on the Facebooks and all of that, 00:11:01.29\00:11:04.89 Sunday law, Sunday law, all the while, all of this other, the 00:11:04.89\00:11:08.00 devil's bringing all this stuff in the church and they don't 00:11:08.00\00:11:11.13 even know it because we're worried about what's going to 00:11:11.13\00:11:13.77 happen in the future rather than what's happening to our 00:11:13.77\00:11:16.91 young people and to our churches today. 00:11:16.91\00:11:18.81 Go ahead and we want to talk to Hector. 00:11:19.47\00:11:22.04 That's right. 00:11:22.24\00:11:25.95 example of how the church is somewhat opening up to this 00:11:25.95\00:11:29.78 idea. 00:11:29.78\00:11:33.42 little bit more about that, but there's a woman there named 00:11:33.42\00:11:35.96 Rosalie and she's a very humble woman. 00:11:35.96\00:11:38.36 She raised her son in the church and all of a sudden her 00:11:38.83\00:11:41.56 son announces to her that he's transgender and she doesn't 00:11:41.56\00:11:44.67 know how to really respond to that, but she's praying, she's 00:11:44.67\00:11:47.60 joined our prayer line and then her son showed up at her door, 00:11:47.60\00:11:51.34 you know, fully transitioned to appear as a woman and she was 00:11:51.34\00:11:55.74 just really kind of shocked by that and he had come for a 00:11:55.74\00:11:58.61 visit and then he made the announcement, he goes, I want 00:11:58.61\00:12:00.82 to go to church tomorrow and then the thought was like, oh 00:12:00.82\00:12:03.55 no, how's that church going to receive you that saw you as 00:12:03.55\00:12:06.45 this little boy that was growing up or whatever? 00:12:06.45\00:12:07.96 And as she prayed, the Lord just really convicted her and 00:12:08.12\00:12:11.19 he says, but he wants to go to church and she was like, you 00:12:11.19\00:12:13.56 know what? 00:12:13.56\00:12:17.07 said, I don't care what he looks like, my son wants to go 00:12:17.07\00:12:19.47 to church and she walked into that church, you know, proud of 00:12:19.47\00:12:23.10 her son, the fact that he desired to be in church and she 00:12:23.10\00:12:25.67 sat next to her son in the wig, you know, in the dress or 00:12:25.67\00:12:28.48 whatever, painted nails and in her mind she said, Lord, I 00:12:28.48\00:12:31.78 don't care what anybody thinks, I'm just glad that my son is in 00:12:31.78\00:12:35.05 church. 00:12:35.05\00:12:38.62 shared, you know, in our community to let people know 00:12:38.62\00:12:41.12 that, you know what, that is, I think, the combination of 00:12:41.12\00:12:44.63 loving individuals and also upholding the truth of God. 00:12:44.63\00:12:47.83 Yeah, if we'll make room for God to work, if we can be 00:12:48.93\00:12:51.67 patient, if we can realize that wanting to go to church is 00:12:51.67\00:12:55.67 moving towards the cross, it may seem like he's a long ways 00:12:55.67\00:12:59.47 away, but if we can be patient and not try to redefine what 00:12:59.47\00:13:04.55 love is by changing the law of God, if we can just be patient 00:13:04.55\00:13:10.42 and be prayerful, give God room to work, things can happen. 00:13:10.42\00:13:14.76 Amen, and loving on people and discipling them, you know, it 00:13:15.36\00:13:17.99 doesn't have to be complicated. 00:13:17.99\00:13:19.19 For me, it was simply reading the Bible and praying while I 00:13:19.26\00:13:22.93 was in sin. 00:13:22.93\00:13:27.17 university with my then boyfriend and God met me where 00:13:27.17\00:13:31.14 I was. 00:13:31.14\00:13:31.74 And I did feel lonely. 00:13:32.21\00:13:33.51 I needed to have that wilderness experience, but 00:13:33.68\00:13:36.38 further along in my restoration, having a group of 00:13:36.38\00:13:38.95 men that were not disgusted by me and didn't reject me, but 00:13:38.95\00:13:42.98 were accepting of me where I was. 00:13:42.98\00:13:44.92 And yet, we're also experiencing their own 00:13:45.45\00:13:48.19 difficulties seeking God for themselves, too. 00:13:48.19\00:13:50.33 We were creating a bond in a spiritual community that was 00:13:50.66\00:13:53.66 truly centered around Christ Jesus. 00:13:53.66\00:13:56.03 And I think a lot of our churches, like, that's what we 00:13:56.16\00:13:58.43 need. 00:13:58.43\00:13:59.73 That's such a good point. 00:14:00.10\00:14:01.14 That's such a good person. 00:14:01.34\00:14:02.47 Yes, and then I would want to add to that, too, because 00:14:02.77\00:14:05.94 whether it's pornography, adultery, pre-murder, or sex, I 00:14:05.94\00:14:11.48 think it's also when you have that mindset of humility and 00:14:11.48\00:14:15.18 knowing, like, if we have our past, someone else might have a 00:14:15.18\00:14:20.32 past, too. 00:14:20.32\00:14:23.99 Like, he had a past of homosexuality, but I had a past 00:14:24.16\00:14:28.73 of premarital sex. 00:14:28.73\00:14:29.90 And I didn't think mine was better or his was a greater sin 00:14:29.93\00:14:34.54 than mine. 00:14:34.54\00:14:39.61 that, like, we're all sinful, but the Lord is the one that 00:14:39.61\00:14:45.41 cleanses us, His righteousness that covers us. 00:14:45.41\00:14:48.42 That's right. 00:14:48.55\00:14:50.79 So anything that you were BC, that's the old you. 00:14:50.92\00:14:55.62 That's right. 00:14:55.66\00:14:56.16 That's the old you. 00:14:56.19\00:14:57.19 This is the new you. 00:14:57.19\00:14:58.33 And what a gift. 00:14:58.63\00:14:59.73 Your living testimony of what the Lord can do in your lives. 00:15:00.30\00:15:05.77 And it starts to small because for me, God didn't start with 00:15:06.20\00:15:10.84 homosexuality sin. 00:15:10.84\00:15:11.87 He actually started for me, like, I was really bitter. 00:15:12.01\00:15:14.24 You know, I was very unforgiving. 00:15:14.78\00:15:16.31 So that's just as much as a sin as, you know, watching porn or 00:15:16.78\00:15:20.82 doing other things, you know, cheating, stealing, what have 00:15:20.82\00:15:23.65 you. 00:15:23.65\00:15:27.69 that community really is what, if it's centered around Christ, 00:15:27.69\00:15:30.96 in His Word, in prayer, yes, have patience and just to trust 00:15:31.06\00:15:33.90 God that He can clean me up, He can clean anybody else too. 00:15:33.90\00:15:37.83 Yes. 00:15:38.07\00:15:41.17 If I can kind of bring you into the conversation as well. 00:15:41.30\00:15:44.81 So can you share with us a little bit more about how God 00:15:45.11\00:15:47.61 met you, where you were and the struggles that you were facing? 00:15:47.61\00:15:49.98 Yes. 00:15:50.71\00:15:54.62 I was very young. 00:15:54.62\00:15:55.78 Also, I grew up in the church, you know, went to kinder, 00:15:55.78\00:16:00.82 primary, junior, all those classes. 00:16:00.99\00:16:02.86 But I remember when we had just moved homes, they had told us 00:16:03.43\00:16:09.53 there was, you know, a family member, there was a duplex, you 00:16:09.53\00:16:12.13 know, there was a property on the top, property on the 00:16:12.13\00:16:14.24 bottom. 00:16:14.24\00:16:14.44 I was very young, I was about five years old. 00:16:15.44\00:16:17.37 We would always, you know, every time there was a 00:16:18.41\00:16:21.18 gathering, we were always together, family was always 00:16:21.18\00:16:23.55 around. 00:16:23.55\00:16:24.21 I grew in a family where alcohol was always in the mix. 00:16:24.71\00:16:27.78 But it was always with family. 00:16:29.25\00:16:30.92 It was always, you know, our uncles, our cousins, you know, 00:16:31.25\00:16:34.79 everybody gathering together. 00:16:34.79\00:16:36.26 It came time, I was about eight years old. 00:16:38.29\00:16:40.60 I would go up, you know, to the top house where, you know, what 00:16:41.16\00:16:44.30 I thought was my uncle and my cousin, after they had video 00:16:44.30\00:16:46.87 games, computers. 00:16:46.87\00:16:47.47 So, you know, I would come home from school or in the summer I 00:16:48.10\00:16:50.54 would go up and play video games with my cousin. 00:16:50.54\00:16:52.97 He was much older than me, but he had a computer and he would 00:16:52.97\00:16:56.14 allow me to play. 00:16:56.14\00:16:57.01 Initially, he would just allow me to play and then eventually, 00:16:57.75\00:17:01.48 little by little, he started showing me pornography. 00:17:01.55\00:17:04.09 Nothing just, nothing happened. 00:17:06.35\00:17:07.72 He would just show it and then he would tell me, okay, it's 00:17:08.06\00:17:09.79 time for you to go home. 00:17:09.79\00:17:10.59 And how old were you? 00:17:10.69\00:17:11.59 I was about eight years old. 00:17:11.63\00:17:12.66 About eight. 00:17:12.89\00:17:13.13 So, and that was kind of the norm. 00:17:13.93\00:17:15.86 I would just go up there to go play video games, but he would 00:17:15.93\00:17:18.20 just show me pornography and eventually send me home. 00:17:18.20\00:17:20.80 There was one time, I remember the first time, I went up and 00:17:21.64\00:17:25.94 it was only his dad, which at that time I thought it was my 00:17:25.94\00:17:30.41 uncle. 00:17:30.41\00:17:33.95 you know, with the computer. 00:17:33.95\00:17:34.75 She was like, oh, well, he's not here. 00:17:34.85\00:17:36.35 She was, but why don't you just go ahead and sit down and watch 00:17:36.62\00:17:38.82 a movie. 00:17:38.82\00:17:39.55 And he, and then he started showing me pornography. 00:17:39.95\00:17:42.79 And I was like, wow. 00:17:43.86\00:17:45.23 By that time, I was already kind of getting used to 00:17:45.73\00:17:48.20 watching pornography because my cousin would show it to me and 00:17:48.20\00:17:51.47 I was like, I was kind of more, a little bit more interested in 00:17:51.47\00:17:55.27 just watching it because it was very interesting to me. 00:17:55.27\00:17:57.77 I had never seen it. 00:17:57.77\00:17:58.91 So, I would start going, I would see my uncle, you know, 00:17:58.97\00:18:02.38 come back from work and I would go up and I would say, oh, can 00:18:02.51\00:18:06.68 we watch some movies? 00:18:06.68\00:18:07.72 And he would say, okay, let's watch some pornography. 00:18:07.85\00:18:09.95 I don't know if he knew what was going on of what his son 00:18:10.12\00:18:14.69 has shown me, but I remember he told me, she was like, where 00:18:14.69\00:18:17.59 does my son keep his pornography? 00:18:17.59\00:18:19.39 Why don't you bring one of those movies? 00:18:19.39\00:18:20.83 So, I remember, it's like, why not where he kept them? 00:18:21.33\00:18:23.57 So, I went and I got one of those videos and he put it on. 00:18:23.60\00:18:26.13 And little by little, it started touching me and just 00:18:26.27\00:18:31.44 started following me. 00:18:31.44\00:18:32.34 He wasn't aggressive, but he did started touching me. 00:18:32.57\00:18:36.28 And I would just go up. 00:18:37.48\00:18:39.18 I didn't feel comfortable when he started touching me and just 00:18:39.31\00:18:43.08 doing things, but I was just gotten so addicted to watching 00:18:43.08\00:18:46.82 pornography that that was the only way for me to watch it 00:18:46.82\00:18:49.32 because at my home, we didn't have it. 00:18:49.32\00:18:51.19 And I was so young, I didn't know where else I could watch 00:18:51.43\00:18:53.86 it. 00:18:53.86\00:18:57.77 could say, get my fix. 00:18:57.77\00:18:58.90 But I knew that it came at a price. 00:18:59.37\00:19:02.57 Even though I didn't like him touching me, I would just go up 00:19:03.10\00:19:05.67 and watch pornography. 00:19:05.67\00:19:06.51 But Hector, you know, for anybody else that is in the 00:19:06.84\00:19:09.98 same situation that you've come from, you really are the 00:19:09.98\00:19:12.51 victim, even if you found it interesting. 00:19:12.51\00:19:14.35 And what this man was doing, he was grooming you. 00:19:14.65\00:19:17.29 He was moving you along that path. 00:19:17.29\00:19:19.82 And so, you know, a lot of the victims take responsibility and 00:19:20.09\00:19:23.19 think that it was their fault that they wound up that way. 00:19:23.19\00:19:25.69 But no, you were an eight-year -old child. 00:19:26.03\00:19:27.96 He was an adult. 00:19:27.96\00:19:28.76 You were definitely victimized. 00:19:29.26\00:19:30.90 That's right. 00:19:30.93\00:19:31.37 So, that happened for about four years just continually, 00:19:32.13\00:19:35.94 and he moved on to different things. 00:19:35.97\00:19:37.81 And it just didn't even happen there. 00:19:38.07\00:19:39.67 Sometimes when we would have gatherings at somebody else's 00:19:39.84\00:19:42.38 house, he would find a way to find an isolated spot and he 00:19:42.38\00:19:46.58 would take me and do things. 00:19:46.58\00:19:48.55 So, eventually, that happened. 00:19:49.78\00:19:51.75 We ended up moving once. 00:19:52.75\00:19:54.22 I started getting closer to high school. 00:19:54.69\00:19:58.06 But even through that transition, I became very 00:19:58.23\00:20:01.06 isolated. 00:20:01.06\00:20:01.90 I kind of parted ways from even communicating with some of my 00:20:02.30\00:20:05.33 siblings who were older. 00:20:05.33\00:20:06.23 Did you ever tell your parents? 00:20:06.47\00:20:07.84 I did not. 00:20:07.94\00:20:08.84 So, I was mentioning to Michael, because at church, 00:20:09.07\00:20:11.71 they don't talk about abuse or they don't talk about if 00:20:11.94\00:20:15.18 someone's touching, or they're not supposed to, please let 00:20:15.18\00:20:18.45 your pastor know, let your parents know. 00:20:18.45\00:20:20.22 Like, I've never heard anything like that. 00:20:20.48\00:20:22.15 So, I just kept it to myself. 00:20:22.15\00:20:22.18 And then through that process, even though I was going through 00:20:24.19\00:20:27.86 that pain, I kind of saw a few things that were happening 00:20:27.86\00:20:31.36 between that individual and my mom. 00:20:31.36\00:20:33.96 Like, there was one time that I had opened the room that led to 00:20:34.56\00:20:38.87 the garage, and I had kind of looked, and I thought that they 00:20:38.87\00:20:42.20 had been kissing, and I was confused. 00:20:42.20\00:20:44.27 So, I was very confused in many different areas, because I even 00:20:44.27\00:20:47.01 had seen something happen between them, and I was so 00:20:47.01\00:20:50.95 confused. 00:20:50.95\00:20:51.51 But again, there was one time where I did see them, and I go, 00:20:52.61\00:20:56.05 I'm going to tell my dad. 00:20:56.08\00:20:56.85 I was so upset. 00:20:56.85\00:20:56.89 And then they came, and they told me, no, no, it was just, I 00:20:58.09\00:21:00.46 was on a trip, and I was following them. 00:21:00.46\00:21:01.79 That was the only area that I was able to hold on, which was 00:21:01.79\00:21:04.96 her buttocks. 00:21:04.96\00:21:06.36 And so, they convinced me, and I was like, okay, whatever, but 00:21:06.86\00:21:09.46 I was just so confused with the pornography, with him touching 00:21:09.46\00:21:12.23 me, and all this just kind of bombarding me, and just seeing 00:21:12.23\00:21:15.54 so many things. 00:21:15.54\00:21:16.40 We eventually ended up moving to a different home, and he 00:21:16.77\00:21:20.24 would come around all the time, and I kind of just avoided him. 00:21:20.24\00:21:24.75 I didn't hate him, because I was blaming myself that, well, 00:21:24.88\00:21:27.62 I put myself in that situation. 00:21:27.62\00:21:29.05 I was the one that was going up and wanting to watch this 00:21:29.28\00:21:31.82 movie, so I ended up getting what I got, because I put 00:21:31.82\00:21:35.96 myself in that position. 00:21:35.96\00:21:37.13 So, I never hated him, so even when he would come around, when 00:21:37.19\00:21:39.93 we would move, I would still say hi, and I would talk to 00:21:39.93\00:21:42.93 him, but I became very introverted. 00:21:42.93\00:21:46.10 I ended up going to high school, and so I got together 00:21:46.57\00:21:49.87 with a group of people, some of my brother's friends. 00:21:49.87\00:21:53.01 He was a football player, so he was kind of hanging around with 00:21:53.27\00:21:56.61 other football players and all the popular kids, so I started 00:21:56.61\00:22:00.48 hanging around with them, and they were all about alcohol and 00:22:00.48\00:22:03.05 drugs, so that became my escape, so I just wanted to 00:22:03.05\00:22:07.76 drink, so we started drinking. 00:22:07.76\00:22:09.29 I started doing marijuana, and I did all that through high 00:22:09.39\00:22:13.33 school, and in a sense, I don't want to say that it helped me, 00:22:13.33\00:22:16.30 but it just kind of controlled all the hate that I had within 00:22:16.30\00:22:20.54 me because of what I had gone through. 00:22:20.54\00:22:22.34 Hector, you know, they call that self-medicating. 00:22:22.94\00:22:24.91 You know, if reality is just so difficult to deal with, you 00:22:25.31\00:22:28.44 know, then the pills and the alcohol actually help to 00:22:28.44\00:22:31.05 anesthetize the things that were, you know, just so painful 00:22:31.05\00:22:33.78 that you've been through. 00:22:33.78\00:22:34.55 Yeah, because you had been traumatized and been taken 00:22:35.08\00:22:37.82 advantage of, so it seems like those are deep wounds that you 00:22:37.82\00:22:41.62 still hadn't experienced healing for. 00:22:41.62\00:22:43.76 Right. 00:22:43.96\00:22:47.50 time, it was hurting me more because it came to a time where 00:22:47.50\00:22:51.63 I was so angry at myself, and I started thinking about suicide, 00:22:51.63\00:22:55.30 so there was a couple times, once I graduated and I started 00:22:55.60\00:22:58.47 working, but I was drinking a lot more drugs. 00:22:58.47\00:23:01.54 I was doing cocaine and speed and other drugs. 00:23:01.54\00:23:01.58 There was one time where I did try to slice my veins, and one 00:23:05.18\00:23:09.05 of my brothers came in and was like, what are you doing? 00:23:09.05\00:23:10.82 She was like, that's why, you know, you should be drinking, 00:23:11.85\00:23:14.02 because then you do stuff like that, and so I just cut them. 00:23:14.22\00:23:17.46 I did have some scars. 00:23:17.49\00:23:18.49 I just, you know, just kept drinking. 00:23:19.09\00:23:21.16 Couple years later, I was at the top of the second story in 00:23:22.10\00:23:26.60 the roof, and I was drinking again in a very dark place. 00:23:26.60\00:23:29.74 I was just struggling with myself, just being angry, and I 00:23:29.77\00:23:34.38 said, that's it, like I'm tired. 00:23:34.38\00:23:35.84 I'm just going to jump and get it over with. 00:23:35.88\00:23:37.95 I don't want to deal with this. 00:23:37.95\00:23:39.61 I still hadn't, like during this time, I still had not 00:23:41.15\00:23:44.79 heard of anybody talking about abuse or who I can talk to or 00:23:44.79\00:23:48.72 anybody that I can reach or contact, or my parents saw that 00:23:48.72\00:23:52.63 I was just drinking and doing drugs. 00:23:52.63\00:23:54.36 They were like, why don't you just talk to the pastor and 00:23:54.50\00:23:56.20 tell him, you know, just your alcohol problem and not knowing 00:23:56.20\00:24:00.04 what had happened to me. 00:24:00.04\00:24:01.14 So there was that one time where I was on the roof and I 00:24:01.24\00:24:03.47 said, I'm just going to jump, and right when I was going to 00:24:03.47\00:24:05.87 jump, one of my older brothers, his name's Ernie, he came and 00:24:05.87\00:24:09.88 he was like, what are you doing? 00:24:09.88\00:24:10.71 And he was able to grab me as I was jumping. 00:24:10.81\00:24:12.91 So I'm hanging on the top of that roof and he's holding me 00:24:13.88\00:24:17.59 by his hands. 00:24:17.59\00:24:18.72 And I'm just looking down and I go, just let me go. 00:24:19.15\00:24:21.49 And I go, just let me go. 00:24:21.59\00:24:22.79 And there was some stairs that would go down to the first 00:24:23.36\00:24:25.66 floor. 00:24:25.66\00:24:26.29 He kind of swung me and he tried to throw me to the stairs 00:24:26.83\00:24:29.56 and I didn't reach, but it broke my fall and I ended up 00:24:29.56\00:24:33.07 falling to the garage top and I ended up fracturing my spine. 00:24:33.07\00:24:38.41 The ambulance came, I had drugs on me, I had all this 00:24:38.54\00:24:41.71 paraphernalia and I just gave it all to my brother and I hear 00:24:41.71\00:24:44.71 because the police is going to come. 00:24:44.71\00:24:45.91 So everybody showed up, the police, the ambulance and you 00:24:46.08\00:24:48.85 know, they say what happened, give, you know, the report. 00:24:48.85\00:24:51.79 Ended up being on a body cast for like two months. 00:24:52.09\00:24:54.09 How old were you? 00:24:54.49\00:24:55.02 I was, at that time, I was, I want to say about 19, 19, 20. 00:24:55.76\00:25:00.83 Wow. 00:25:00.86\00:25:01.26 I was still very depressed at the hospital. 00:25:02.23\00:25:04.30 They did send me to the psych unit because I wanted to 00:25:04.40\00:25:07.10 suicide. 00:25:07.10\00:25:07.60 You know, I was there, they took me in in the morning and 00:25:08.74\00:25:11.07 they talked to me and I just said, oh no, it was just an 00:25:11.07\00:25:13.24 episode. 00:25:13.24\00:25:16.81 that I would do again and they just released me. 00:25:16.81\00:25:19.58 But I, again, I went back to the same thing, just drinking 00:25:20.08\00:25:24.05 and doing drugs. 00:25:24.05\00:25:25.79 And eventually pastors would come, they would invite them, 00:25:26.82\00:25:30.36 but it was just to, I had talked to one, but it was just 00:25:30.36\00:25:33.56 more like just leave drugs, come to church. 00:25:33.56\00:25:35.30 I was like, well, what's at church? 00:25:35.76\00:25:37.13 Like there's really nothing at church. 00:25:37.20\00:25:38.70 I'd never had, every time, even though I grew up in the church, 00:25:38.90\00:25:41.30 I never had a relationship with Christ. 00:25:41.60\00:25:43.54 Hector, you know, I wanted to ask you this because it's 00:25:44.94\00:25:48.01 interesting. 00:25:48.01\00:25:48.41 The statistic is very high that boys that have been molested by 00:25:49.38\00:25:52.78 men have a stronger same sex attraction, but that wasn't 00:25:52.78\00:25:56.28 your story. 00:25:56.28\00:25:57.39 And I think it's really important that you're one of 00:25:57.42\00:26:00.52 the bravest people I know right now because, you know, to share 00:26:00.52\00:26:04.59 your story in public, being a Hispanic man, and, you know, 00:26:04.59\00:26:07.83 that these are things that are never talked about in your 00:26:07.86\00:26:10.70 culture. 00:26:10.70\00:26:14.27 And, you know, I just want to let you know that I think that 00:26:14.44\00:26:17.74 it's very, very brave of you to sit there and to tell all these 00:26:17.74\00:26:21.31 details. 00:26:21.31\00:26:21.78 But in that process, you know, these issues didn't just go 00:26:22.84\00:26:26.41 away. 00:26:26.41\00:26:26.82 You ended up getting married, right? 00:26:27.38\00:26:28.85 Yes. 00:26:28.85\00:26:29.32 So eventually I was praying. 00:26:29.62\00:26:30.69 I was like, I just need somebody. 00:26:30.85\00:26:32.35 I want to have a girlfriend. 00:26:32.55\00:26:33.96 I didn't have any girlfriends through high school. 00:26:34.79\00:26:37.26 I was very shy. 00:26:37.36\00:26:38.19 I couldn't talk to anybody. 00:26:38.39\00:26:39.86 I was very introverted. 00:26:40.06\00:26:41.23 My brothers would sometimes make fun of me. 00:26:41.73\00:26:43.57 So how come you don't have a girlfriend? 00:26:43.57\00:26:43.60 You know, you're always by yourself. 00:26:44.93\00:26:45.97 I just couldn't talk. 00:26:46.03\00:26:47.30 So I prayed. 00:26:48.07\00:26:48.94 Eventually there was a youth pastor that started attending 00:26:49.30\00:26:52.14 the church I used to go. 00:26:52.14\00:26:53.34 And I made connections with him. 00:26:53.81\00:26:55.58 He finally, you know, got a hold of me and he befriended 00:26:55.58\00:26:58.38 me. 00:26:58.38\00:27:01.12 just come and try to sermonize me. 00:27:01.12\00:27:02.95 He became my friend. 00:27:02.98\00:27:03.85 He was like, hey, let's go out. 00:27:03.89\00:27:05.39 Let's just like, we don't have to go to church. 00:27:05.59\00:27:06.96 Let's just hang out, talk. 00:27:07.02\00:27:08.32 And so I didn't see him as a pastor. 00:27:08.72\00:27:10.89 I saw him more as a friend. 00:27:11.09\00:27:12.03 So then eventually he was like, oh, well, just look, just come 00:27:12.33\00:27:14.93 to socials. 00:27:14.93\00:27:17.47 basketball, we have volleyball. 00:27:17.47\00:27:18.70 So I started attending the socials. 00:27:19.00\00:27:20.54 I fell in love with the socials. 00:27:20.57\00:27:21.80 And then eventually, little by little, I said, that's it, I'm 00:27:21.80\00:27:24.07 done with the drugs. 00:27:24.07\00:27:24.71 I'm done with the alcohol. 00:27:24.81\00:27:25.87 And so I started leaving the alcohol and I started attending 00:27:26.61\00:27:30.45 church. 00:27:30.45\00:27:33.45 So I was working myself towards that. 00:27:33.52\00:27:36.02 But it was very interesting because as I was going in, I 00:27:36.92\00:27:39.92 reconnected with some of my old friends from childhood who were 00:27:39.92\00:27:42.19 like, oh, well, I'm back at church. 00:27:42.19\00:27:43.99 They were at church, they were happy. 00:27:44.03\00:27:45.39 And as I'm going back and I'm reconnecting with my old 00:27:46.09\00:27:48.80 friends from church, as we became good friends, there was 00:27:48.80\00:27:53.03 a couple months down the road, they were like, oh, well, let's 00:27:53.03\00:27:55.24 go out and hang out and go, oh, sure. 00:27:55.24\00:27:56.87 And I'm telling my parents, hey, I'm going to hang out with 00:27:57.27\00:27:59.14 the young people from church. 00:27:59.14\00:28:00.71 Well, they ended up taking me to the club. 00:28:01.11\00:28:02.54 And then so they started, because they were drinking, 00:28:03.21\00:28:05.11 they were like, what? 00:28:05.21\00:28:06.08 And I go, well, I'm trying to leave that. 00:28:06.18\00:28:07.72 And now I'm going back with people from church. 00:28:07.75\00:28:10.25 So I started drinking again with the youth from church 00:28:10.29\00:28:12.79 because they started taking me out. 00:28:12.79\00:28:14.72 So, Hector, yeah, yeah. 00:28:15.82\00:28:16.83 You know, you could just see the depravity of what sin can 00:28:17.06\00:28:19.86 do. 00:28:19.86\00:28:23.06 And, you know, you were convicted to leave the drugs 00:28:23.16\00:28:25.90 and the alcohol. 00:28:25.90\00:28:26.74 And you met a wonderful woman. 00:28:27.24\00:28:28.64 You know, your wife is just absolutely amazing. 00:28:29.04\00:28:30.94 But the one thing that you brought into your relationship, 00:28:31.54\00:28:34.38 what was that one secret? 00:28:35.18\00:28:36.44 So by the time that I was praying and I said, God, I want 00:28:38.38\00:28:41.18 you to give me a good wife, you know, I want to get married. 00:28:41.18\00:28:44.99 I ended up meeting my wife at church and we started dating. 00:28:46.12\00:28:50.56 And I was her name is Laura. 00:28:51.19\00:28:52.96 That's right. 00:28:52.99\00:28:53.80 And I was very happy. 00:28:53.80\00:28:55.60 She was very beautiful and her family was very wonderful. 00:28:55.86\00:28:59.37 But I was still watching pornography. 00:29:00.37\00:29:02.30 That's one thing that I couldn't let go even through my 00:29:02.57\00:29:04.71 teenage years. 00:29:04.71\00:29:05.47 I was still, now that I was back at church, I was still 00:29:06.21\00:29:08.91 drinking. 00:29:08.91\00:29:09.44 I started drinking again. 00:29:09.54\00:29:10.38 So when we were going out, you know, with our friends and 00:29:11.15\00:29:13.55 stuff like that, and we were at a house, I would hide and 00:29:13.55\00:29:16.25 drink. 00:29:16.25\00:29:16.55 Eventually she caught on. 00:29:16.89\00:29:18.02 She was like, hey, I don't want no one, you know, I don't want 00:29:18.12\00:29:21.06 to be with anybody that's going to be drinking. 00:29:21.06\00:29:22.62 So when I proposed to her, that night before we got married was 00:29:22.62\00:29:28.20 the last day that I drank. 00:29:28.20\00:29:29.60 So we have been married for 22 years. 00:29:29.73\00:29:31.93 I've been 22 years sober. 00:29:32.07\00:29:33.34 Wow, praise the Lord. 00:29:33.64\00:29:34.94 But the one thing that I did bring into our marriage was 00:29:35.10\00:29:39.14 pornography. 00:29:39.14\00:29:39.67 So I was hiding around, still watching pornography. 00:29:40.28\00:29:43.48 What was the effect that that had on your marriage and also 00:29:44.21\00:29:47.62 in your family? 00:29:47.62\00:29:48.32 Well, because I was hiding, I wasn't being honest with my 00:29:48.85\00:29:54.22 wife. 00:29:54.22\00:29:54.79 So there was always a lot of disconnect, you know, a lot of 00:29:55.46\00:29:58.79 hiding, a lot of like, oh, would you go over here? 00:29:58.79\00:30:00.76 And when I was free at home or she was at work, I was, you 00:30:00.90\00:30:04.13 know, watching pornography. 00:30:04.13\00:30:05.23 There was one day when I had came home early from work and I 00:30:05.33\00:30:09.34 was watching pornography. 00:30:09.34\00:30:10.31 She was at work and I go, I have time. 00:30:10.41\00:30:12.44 Well, she wanted to surprise me to go and have lunch and she 00:30:13.01\00:30:15.68 shows up at the house and I'm watching pornography. 00:30:15.68\00:30:18.25 So we started having a lot of issues like, well, what's going 00:30:19.28\00:30:21.58 on? 00:30:21.58\00:30:22.78 And we started having a lot of just marital issues. 00:30:23.22\00:30:25.35 I mean, even to the brink of almost divorce. 00:30:25.49\00:30:27.49 We had my two children already. 00:30:28.16\00:30:29.89 So that was creating a lot of chaos. 00:30:30.06\00:30:31.89 So again, I had never told my story about my abuse to anybody 00:30:32.56\00:30:37.53 up to that point. 00:30:37.53\00:30:39.10 When she discovered what I was doing, I sat down with her and 00:30:40.14\00:30:43.57 I go, okay, I'm gonna tell you how I became addicted to 00:30:43.57\00:30:45.77 pornography. 00:30:45.77\00:30:49.51 happened to me in childhood and this is how I got addicted to 00:30:49.51\00:30:52.21 pornography. 00:30:52.21\00:30:52.71 What was her reaction? 00:30:53.25\00:30:54.32 She was very just, to me, I always say that she's my angel 00:30:55.95\00:31:00.89 because she didn't hate me. 00:31:00.89\00:31:02.29 She was like, why didn't you just tell me a long time ago 00:31:02.32\00:31:04.99 and we could have gone, you know, I could have helped you. 00:31:04.99\00:31:07.13 And she was very comforting. 00:31:07.13\00:31:07.13 She didn't, you know, get mad at me or say, oh, like, I don't 00:31:09.30\00:31:11.47 want to be, no, she was very comforting and very supportive. 00:31:11.47\00:31:14.24 So when I saw that she was being very supportive, I knew 00:31:14.57\00:31:17.27 that I had to put effort to try to leave that. 00:31:17.27\00:31:19.94 So through that whole process, we had left my old church, 00:31:20.31\00:31:24.15 Spanish church, so we ended up going to an American church. 00:31:25.05\00:31:27.72 And we met a group of people, like we said, community. 00:31:28.68\00:31:31.22 You know, we have to find communities that are like 00:31:31.49\00:31:33.59 -minded and have the same goals. 00:31:33.59\00:31:35.62 So I found a ministry called In Times Like These Ministries 00:31:36.52\00:31:39.66 with Pastor Michael Johnson. 00:31:39.66\00:31:40.96 And I started attending him. 00:31:41.40\00:31:43.26 He had a lay evangelist course. 00:31:43.33\00:31:45.03 So I did that and he showed us how to do sermons, Bible 00:31:45.03\00:31:48.27 studies. 00:31:48.27\00:31:51.74 that time in that. 00:31:51.74\00:31:53.04 And I started doing a lot of the lay evangelist courses with 00:31:53.38\00:31:57.08 that ministry. 00:31:57.08\00:31:57.88 And he taught us, he kept me busy. 00:31:58.15\00:31:59.65 So my thing was like, I had to replace pornography with 00:32:00.05\00:32:03.45 something else. 00:32:03.45\00:32:04.42 And I praise God that he put that ministry in our path that 00:32:04.69\00:32:08.89 helped me to be more involved in the things of Christ and 00:32:08.89\00:32:12.86 showing me how to give sermons and Bible studies. 00:32:12.86\00:32:15.86 And through that, it was 2020 when our ministry was having a 00:32:17.00\00:32:22.37 mini camp or a camp meeting at Pasadena. 00:32:22.37\00:32:25.07 And Michael was one of the speakers. 00:32:25.41\00:32:26.84 And when I heard his testimony and Patty's testimony, I was 00:32:27.01\00:32:30.25 just blown away. 00:32:30.25\00:32:31.18 I was like, what, they're actually talking about 00:32:31.31\00:32:32.68 pornography and all this. 00:32:32.68\00:32:33.85 And on a break, I remember going to Michael and I go, 00:32:33.98\00:32:37.02 Michael, can I talk to you? 00:32:37.12\00:32:38.52 And he says, sure. 00:32:38.52\00:32:39.35 So we go to a back room and we talk. 00:32:39.69\00:32:41.29 We had good conversation. 00:32:41.42\00:32:42.32 We had a wonderful prayer. 00:32:42.32\00:32:43.46 And after that, that was pretty much it. 00:32:44.09\00:32:46.23 We didn't talk anymore until 2022. 00:32:47.00\00:32:50.40 Wait, how funny? 00:32:50.67\00:32:54.40 time and then nothing for a couple of years. 00:32:54.40\00:32:56.77 And then we got connected again. 00:32:56.81\00:32:58.61 I just want to jump in and say, one of the things that I think 00:32:58.81\00:33:01.71 is really profound and I'm just kind of putting this together 00:33:01.71\00:33:04.18 is that when you got busy in church and that's when you 00:33:04.18\00:33:08.22 really got tight with your family because you don't do 00:33:08.22\00:33:10.72 anything without them. 00:33:10.72\00:33:11.62 I mean, if he has something, they all go. 00:33:11.62\00:33:14.02 If the son has something, they all go. 00:33:14.26\00:33:15.79 If the wife has something, they all go. 00:33:15.92\00:33:17.23 And that's really a very powerful thing. 00:33:17.56\00:33:19.79 And does that help you in your own victory that you walk in? 00:33:20.46\00:33:23.77 It does. 00:33:23.77\00:33:24.63 Because even when we're doing ministry, yeah, it's always a 00:33:25.03\00:33:28.20 group. 00:33:28.20\00:33:28.44 It was always my whole, always. 00:33:28.90\00:33:29.90 I mean, wherever they asked me to go preach, my whole family 00:33:30.17\00:33:34.44 was there. 00:33:34.44\00:33:37.38 in the back of a van with 10 people and she's doing 00:33:37.38\00:33:39.88 homeschool while we're bouncing down the road in a church van 00:33:39.88\00:33:42.72 to get here. 00:33:42.72\00:33:43.39 So, yeah, yeah. 00:33:44.05\00:33:45.19 What I love about Hector's story that I think is really 00:33:45.22\00:33:47.39 interesting is the minute you decided to follow the 00:33:47.39\00:33:51.23 interventions that got put in your path, which was to serve 00:33:51.23\00:33:53.86 him and to live in purpose, you started to experience victory. 00:33:53.86\00:33:57.17 And I think that's really powerful because even whenever 00:33:57.30\00:34:00.04 you're reviewing your testimony with me, I was dumbfounded. 00:34:00.04\00:34:03.51 I'm like, so he didn't tell you to go to a group. 00:34:03.54\00:34:05.74 He didn't have you go to a therapy. 00:34:05.81\00:34:07.01 He didn't have you do this or that. 00:34:07.08\00:34:08.64 And your answer was no. 00:34:08.64\00:34:11.08 Like this is the thing that worked for you. 00:34:11.21\00:34:13.65 And I think that's beautiful because everyone's testimony is 00:34:13.68\00:34:16.85 going to be different. 00:34:16.85\00:34:17.52 God, He knows what we need. 00:34:17.72\00:34:19.22 He knows how to intervene. 00:34:19.25\00:34:20.39 And I think that's powerful. 00:34:20.52\00:34:21.39 How important was prayer? 00:34:21.79\00:34:23.19 And what I'm looking for, there are people watching and they're 00:34:23.76\00:34:26.19 struggling with all of that. 00:34:26.19\00:34:27.36 I've heard you say you made up your mind not to do it anymore. 00:34:27.76\00:34:30.33 You didn't since the night. 00:34:30.47\00:34:31.90 But tell me about prayer and communion with God, what an 00:34:32.47\00:34:39.57 impact that's had on you for all these years. 00:34:39.57\00:34:42.04 Yeah, well, prayer became very essential and even opening our 00:34:42.14\00:34:45.75 Bible. 00:34:45.75\00:34:49.02 And the way I grew up going to church is we just go to church 00:34:49.22\00:34:51.82 on Saturday. 00:34:51.82\00:34:52.62 You go to class, you worship on Sabbath. 00:34:52.69\00:34:54.42 And then that's pretty much it. 00:34:54.49\00:34:55.59 There was nothing throughout the week that we didn't have 00:34:55.69\00:34:58.76 family worship. 00:34:58.76\00:35:00.10 It was just Saturday. 00:35:00.30\00:35:01.53 So it was just Sabbath keeping. 00:35:01.60\00:35:02.80 So when I started changing with the community, with the 00:35:02.80\00:35:06.94 ministry, I mean we were studying throughout the week. 00:35:06.94\00:35:10.44 We were having our family worships. 00:35:10.61\00:35:12.14 We were having prayer. 00:35:12.14\00:35:13.11 We were preparing, you know, we and my wife were preparing 00:35:13.91\00:35:17.08 sermons and I was asking her, Oh, help me out. 00:35:17.08\00:35:19.28 So we were more engaged in the study or the Word of God. 00:35:19.51\00:35:23.32 So that became very essential. 00:35:23.32\00:35:24.92 So my spiritual life didn't just become on Saturdays. 00:35:25.22\00:35:28.99 It was just throughout the week. 00:35:28.99\00:35:30.29 And that is what changed. 00:35:30.53\00:35:31.49 And that changed your lifestyle. 00:35:31.49\00:35:33.80 That's the thing that changed what you did every day, what 00:35:34.13\00:35:37.63 you have started to value. 00:35:37.63\00:35:38.87 And there really is power in the Word of God. 00:35:39.47\00:35:41.80 I think a lot of people miss that. 00:35:41.87\00:35:44.27 You know, they might hear that testimony and think, well, 00:35:44.31\00:35:46.07 that's just the Word of God. 00:35:46.07\00:35:47.14 Well, you have to taste and see that the Lord is good. 00:35:47.18\00:35:48.88 You know, it sounds so simple, but that's exactly what God 00:35:49.68\00:35:52.65 used to start the journey for me. 00:35:52.65\00:35:54.35 So I thank you for sharing and being vulnerable. 00:35:54.38\00:35:56.82 But Daniel, it is simple. 00:35:57.99\00:35:58.95 You know, isn't that the beauty of the gospel? 00:35:59.12\00:36:00.72 It is simple. 00:36:00.72\00:36:02.22 And you know, Jesus talks about it. 00:36:02.72\00:36:05.79 Ellen White talks about it. 00:36:06.13\00:36:07.30 Jesus says you can clean the house out, but if you leave it 00:36:07.36\00:36:09.50 empty, the old demons come around looking for an 00:36:09.50\00:36:12.20 opportunity to come in and they know where the key is. 00:36:12.20\00:36:14.30 It's hidden in the back, under the mat. 00:36:14.70\00:36:16.64 And if it's pornography, whatever it is. 00:36:16.77\00:36:18.81 Then the book, Education, Ellen White says that as a safeguard 00:36:19.44\00:36:24.18 against evil, the preoccupation of the mind with good is worth 00:36:24.18\00:36:27.52 unnumbered barriers of law and discipline. 00:36:27.52\00:36:29.62 So if you fill that life up with something, especially 00:36:30.12\00:36:33.66 because when you're serving Christ, your connection is 00:36:33.66\00:36:37.36 deepening with Christ. 00:36:37.36\00:36:38.39 And then you're also in communion with these other 00:36:38.89\00:36:41.23 people. 00:36:41.23\00:36:43.87 And so there is a cooperation with God that really kind of 00:36:44.53\00:36:49.90 allows him to work and works with him. 00:36:49.90\00:36:53.07 And it squeezes, you know, it puts the squeeze on the old 00:36:53.17\00:36:57.35 life and actually brings life in a way that you haven't had 00:36:57.35\00:37:01.22 before. 00:37:01.22\00:37:01.55 And, you know, it's beautiful. 00:37:01.92\00:37:03.08 And just being around you for even really just today, it's 00:37:04.75\00:37:09.39 very evident that the love of God is active in your heart, 00:37:09.39\00:37:11.99 transforming you. 00:37:12.03\00:37:12.83 It's beautiful. 00:37:13.09\00:37:14.00 And I just want to praise his name for your testimony and 00:37:14.66\00:37:17.47 your journey. 00:37:17.47\00:37:21.80 was always interfering with connecting with Christ was the 00:37:21.80\00:37:24.91 excuses. 00:37:24.91\00:37:29.11 And as soon as I let go, I was like, no, I got to avoid the 00:37:30.08\00:37:33.58 excuse. 00:37:33.58\00:37:36.92 to go to trials and tribulations and arguments with 00:37:36.92\00:37:40.06 my wife, but I got to remember who is at playing. 00:37:40.06\00:37:43.36 And I think getting away from, I'm excusing my sin, I think 00:37:44.09\00:37:48.20 that was a big part of it. 00:37:48.20\00:37:49.46 It's so important to spend time with the Lord. 00:37:49.86\00:37:56.20 That's how, that's really how we're changed. 00:37:56.30\00:38:00.11 By beholding, we become changed. 00:38:00.18\00:38:01.91 So we connect with him and by doing that, he changes us. 00:38:02.01\00:38:06.85 There's nothing we can do to change ourselves. 00:38:06.88\00:38:09.68 And I think it's really important to know like it is 00:38:09.68\00:38:12.69 not your work, it is your decision to give your heart to 00:38:12.69\00:38:19.29 Christ. 00:38:19.29\00:38:19.83 That's all you can do. 00:38:19.86\00:38:20.96 And in doing that and giving him time, giving the Holy 00:38:21.00\00:38:24.77 Spirit time, he works on us. 00:38:24.77\00:38:26.97 He's the author and finisher of our faith. 00:38:27.00\00:38:29.87 We can't do it ourselves. 00:38:30.07\00:38:31.41 So you were giving the Lord his time and he has changed you. 00:38:31.54\00:38:37.38 You know, there's so many children that are, and adults 00:38:37.51\00:38:41.85 and pastors too, who are addicted to pornography and 00:38:41.85\00:38:47.42 don't know... 00:38:47.42\00:38:48.86 Whoa! 00:38:50.43\00:38:51.09 Because it's secret, because it's something you do privately 00:38:51.63\00:38:55.83 and it's taking over and you can't tell anyone. 00:38:57.27\00:39:00.54 It's a very personal shame producing... 00:39:00.94\00:39:04.91 Yeah, that's a lie that you can't tell anyone because there 00:39:04.91\00:39:07.68 is help. 00:39:07.68\00:39:11.35 there as well, if people want to use them. 00:39:11.35\00:39:13.88 So that's also another liar. 00:39:14.72\00:39:16.25 I hate to say the word excuse because the shame is real. 00:39:16.72\00:39:19.62 It's hard and you feel guilty, especially as a pastor. 00:39:19.95\00:39:23.63 But Daniel, you bring up a really good point because I 00:39:24.39\00:39:26.59 think even if there are places that you can go, I think that 00:39:26.59\00:39:31.97 first and foremost on everybody's mind is, if I tell 00:39:31.97\00:39:34.97 somebody, will I be exposed? 00:39:34.97\00:39:36.57 Will I lose my career? 00:39:36.67\00:39:37.74 Will I lose my family? 00:39:38.07\00:39:39.34 And so those real fears I think do keep us even from the 00:39:39.34\00:39:42.61 options that are out there. 00:39:42.61\00:39:43.65 And I think that that's why these discussions are so 00:39:43.75\00:39:46.28 healthy. 00:39:46.28\00:39:49.55 that allowed you to tell your story to someone, then imagine 00:39:49.55\00:39:52.89 the power when, what is it, by the testimony of two or three, 00:39:52.89\00:39:56.26 shall that thing be established. 00:39:56.36\00:39:57.46 So the more stories that we have like this, I think it 00:39:58.03\00:40:00.66 really helps individuals that are watching to say, hey, if 00:40:00.66\00:40:03.16 God can do that for them, you know, God can do that for me. 00:40:03.16\00:40:06.60 That's right. 00:40:06.60\00:40:07.27 Faith comes by hearing. 00:40:07.67\00:40:08.90 It's like the seed sows like, this could be my story too. 00:40:09.64\00:40:13.14 And I think by talking about it, I think it helps. 00:40:13.71\00:40:16.68 Like I said, the only person that I had discussed this with 00:40:16.91\00:40:19.31 was my wife. 00:40:19.31\00:40:20.58 And then I had shared it a little bit with Michael. 00:40:20.65\00:40:22.32 Yeah, but what a beautiful response from your wife. 00:40:22.32\00:40:22.35 Had you not had that? 00:40:24.69\00:40:25.69 I don't think you'd be here either. 00:40:25.69\00:40:27.42 Yes, that's right. 00:40:27.42\00:40:28.19 It was the grace of God through her. 00:40:28.22\00:40:29.66 Right. 00:40:29.86\00:40:34.20 Conference a couple of years ago. 00:40:34.20\00:40:36.06 And he was just searching. 00:40:36.77\00:40:37.87 He wasn't a Christian raised, you know, in another 00:40:38.37\00:40:40.70 denomination. 00:40:40.70\00:40:41.50 But somebody had told him about our conference and he lived in 00:40:42.07\00:40:45.41 Detroit and so he drove a couple of hours to be there. 00:40:45.41\00:40:47.78 His idea was he was going to come for Thursday and leave 00:40:48.04\00:40:50.71 Friday. 00:40:50.71\00:40:54.22 he was going to hear. 00:40:54.22\00:40:54.92 And, you know, we just swooped on him and, you know, we just 00:40:55.92\00:40:58.89 loved on him and, you know, we talked to him and you just had 00:40:58.89\00:41:01.62 conversations. 00:41:01.62\00:41:02.29 And the guy ended up staying until Sunday night. 00:41:02.69\00:41:05.39 And he starts work at 6 a.m. 00:41:05.79\00:41:07.76 so he used to get up at like 3 .30 a.m. 00:41:07.76\00:41:09.36 and he didn't even leave our pizza party until like 7.30 at 00:41:09.60\00:41:13.37 night to drive home to be there. 00:41:13.37\00:41:14.64 The point I want to make is that, you know, he started 00:41:15.67\00:41:18.24 coming to our prayer lines and we have prayer lines for 00:41:18.24\00:41:20.84 individuals that are wanting out of LGBT lives. 00:41:20.84\00:41:23.24 We also have our general prayer lines that are designed for 00:41:23.35\00:41:26.82 anybody that, whether you're a parent or an individual 00:41:26.82\00:41:29.18 struggling with anything else, you know, can come to as well. 00:41:29.18\00:41:31.59 But as he got involved in our ministry, he started making 00:41:31.89\00:41:34.89 connections with some of the people that he saw there that 00:41:34.89\00:41:37.29 he could actually, you know, see with his own eyes. 00:41:37.29\00:41:39.46 And through that process, we had people from Australia and 00:41:39.86\00:41:43.16 New Zealand and, you know, South Africa. 00:41:43.16\00:41:45.67 And yet, he's been involved in our prayer lines and on our 00:41:46.07\00:41:48.67 chat rooms. 00:41:48.67\00:41:49.57 You know, it was so amazing is that he had the bravery to give 00:41:49.90\00:41:54.58 his testimony on the last night of our last conference, which 00:41:54.58\00:41:58.51 was a year later after we met him. 00:41:58.51\00:42:00.18 And the next day on Sunday, he got baptized in Lake Michigan. 00:42:00.48\00:42:03.92 So we do have a picture. 00:42:04.45\00:42:05.52 I don't know if you can... 00:42:05.62\00:42:06.59 But then look at that, look at that! 00:42:06.59\00:42:07.86 Isn't that amazing? 00:42:08.86\00:42:09.72 Well, this is one of the byproducts of these Coming 00:42:10.73\00:42:12.93 Together Live events is the amazing sense of family and 00:42:12.93\00:42:16.40 connection that develops out of it. 00:42:16.40\00:42:17.33 It was a surprise to me. 00:42:18.20\00:42:20.24 But the amount of time that's being spent together, the 00:42:20.67\00:42:23.34 hopeful messaging, the non -condemnation, it's not that 00:42:23.34\00:42:28.91 standards are lowered, it's just that the standard of love 00:42:28.91\00:42:31.45 is raised higher. 00:42:31.45\00:42:32.71 And the connecting time, and pretty soon people feel like I 00:42:33.58\00:42:38.25 could change. 00:42:38.25\00:42:39.12 I do want to belong with a group of people like this and 00:42:39.72\00:42:42.29 God loves me the way he loves them and I'm choosing to go a 00:42:42.29\00:42:45.16 different route. 00:42:45.16\00:42:45.76 And you know, something better is our watchword and what's 00:42:46.39\00:42:49.16 better than being loved and being a loving family. 00:42:49.16\00:42:51.30 And that's what develops around so many of these events. 00:42:51.33\00:42:53.74 And then you have the faith that grows when God's Word is 00:42:54.24\00:42:57.61 shared and the testimonies are given. 00:42:57.61\00:42:58.84 We only have about 14 minutes or so left, but I want you to 00:42:58.84\00:43:03.14 kind of tell us what you're doing, what's new, where you're 00:43:03.14\00:43:06.41 going to be, how that we can get involved. 00:43:06.41\00:43:08.68 And so once again, that you're being here, what I'm seeing is 00:43:09.25\00:43:13.92 that you're letting people know that no matter what the problem 00:43:13.92\00:43:17.16 is in their life, that we can gain victory over. 00:43:17.16\00:43:20.50 And that's what all of our churches, all of our 00:43:20.66\00:43:23.30 universities, all of our health system, everywhere we go, 00:43:23.30\00:43:26.37 people have to understand if we as Christians, it's our 00:43:26.50\00:43:30.17 responsibility to help them understand. 00:43:30.17\00:43:32.71 There's nothing so bad. 00:43:33.07\00:43:34.31 You said it earlier, gossip, whatever else in the church, 00:43:34.81\00:43:38.38 it's just as bad in God's sight when we reject God's love and 00:43:38.81\00:43:43.02 His Ten Commandments and we reject His laws. 00:43:43.02\00:43:45.32 But God can give us victory no matter what it is. 00:43:45.99\00:43:48.56 We'll bring people all the time to say, oh, this guy was in 00:43:49.46\00:43:53.03 prison for 23 years. 00:43:53.03\00:43:54.30 He killed a guy and everybody's willing to forgive him. 00:43:54.36\00:43:57.17 You know, oh, this is great. 00:43:57.17\00:43:58.53 Well, this guy was homosexual. 00:43:58.83\00:44:00.30 He's what, uh-oh, you know, really? 00:44:00.50\00:44:02.34 I mean, you know. 00:44:02.60\00:44:03.81 We're gonna watch him for a couple of years and see how he 00:44:03.81\00:44:05.94 does. 00:44:05.94\00:44:06.14 Really? 00:44:06.41\00:44:09.98 years. 00:44:09.98\00:44:14.48 give you victory over that. 00:44:14.48\00:44:15.75 And so that's what each of your testimonies are showing us. 00:44:15.75\00:44:19.79 And so thank you for that. 00:44:19.79\00:44:19.82 But let us know what some of the things that's happening, 00:44:21.02\00:44:23.36 how can we get involved. 00:44:23.63\00:44:24.89 And we want you to be thinking about, we want to put their 00:44:24.96\00:44:27.66 address up before the program's over because if I could 00:44:27.66\00:44:31.00 encourage you, I want you to pray and ask the Holy Spirit 00:44:31.00\00:44:33.70 what he would have you to do financially. 00:44:33.70\00:44:35.97 They're growing and more people involved. 00:44:36.30\00:44:38.74 The ministry center they have. 00:44:38.91\00:44:40.44 All of this is so important right now for us as Christians 00:44:40.74\00:44:44.78 and Adventists for this church and that we want to say we need 00:44:44.78\00:44:49.38 you, but we do. 00:44:49.38\00:44:50.25 We do. 00:44:50.25\00:44:50.79 We need you all. 00:44:50.79\00:44:51.82 And thank you for what you do. 00:44:51.89\00:44:53.46 And I'd like for our people at home to donate because 00:44:53.46\00:44:53.49 financially a lot of people can't, maybe they can't get 00:44:58.16\00:45:02.30 out, they can't go somewhere, they can't do whatever, but 00:45:02.30\00:45:04.53 they can send $20 or $100 or some people can send $1,000, 00:45:04.53\00:45:09.10 whatever's on their hearts. 00:45:09.60\00:45:10.71 But we have to keep this ministry. 00:45:10.81\00:45:13.01 God's going to do it. 00:45:13.31\00:45:14.31 But it's like the preacher said, once a church they wanted 00:45:14.48\00:45:17.21 to build this big, they were building a big addition to the 00:45:17.21\00:45:21.02 church. 00:45:21.02\00:45:21.78 And he said, "I've got some good news and bad news." 00:45:22.08\00:45:24.55 And said, which you want to hear it? 00:45:24.55\00:45:26.99 You want to hear it? 00:45:26.99\00:45:27.49 And they said, yeah. 00:45:27.49\00:45:31.89 project." 00:45:31.89\00:45:32.56 And everybody clapped and cheered. 00:45:32.73\00:45:34.46 Oh, they were so happy. 00:45:34.73\00:45:35.86 Then he said, "bad news, it's still in your pocket." 00:45:36.13\00:45:38.90 So that we don't want that to be with our viewers. 00:45:40.67\00:45:43.14 We've good news and bad news. 00:45:43.47\00:45:44.77 The money we don't want to still be in your pockets. 00:45:44.87\00:45:46.91 We want you to pray and ask the Lord what he would have you to 00:45:47.24\00:45:49.74 do to support the coming together ministry. 00:45:49.74\00:45:52.11 And we'll put their address up in just a little bit and we'll 00:45:52.11\00:45:52.15 keep it. 00:45:54.85\00:45:57.59 scroll it on the screen, whatever you want to do the 00:45:57.59\00:45:59.62 rest of the program. 00:45:59.62\00:46:00.62 But we hats off to you all, all of you. 00:46:01.66\00:46:03.99 And thank you for what you're doing for the cause of God. 00:46:04.03\00:46:06.90 What a need in this church. 00:46:07.46\00:46:09.33 And when we're seeing the, from what was totally, you know, the 00:46:09.43\00:46:15.14 percentages of young people accepting of these, these, you 00:46:15.14\00:46:18.94 know, LGBTQ and the lifestyle and affirmation. 00:46:18.94\00:46:22.34 We love the people, but we can't affirm, you know, open 00:46:22.34\00:46:25.71 sent. 00:46:25.71\00:46:26.31 But anyway, tell us, catch us up here. 00:46:26.61\00:46:28.22 I put for the radio, for the folks who are just listening, I 00:46:28.48\00:46:31.75 can't see the screen. 00:46:31.75\00:46:32.75 The website is comingtogetherministries.org. 00:46:33.19\00:46:36.59 Oh, thank you. 00:46:36.89\00:46:43.06 .org. 00:46:43.06\00:46:44.10 That way, if you're riding in your car, you can still donate 00:46:44.33\00:46:48.27 because you can get in touch with them through the website. 00:46:48.27\00:46:51.41 See there, that's one of the reasons we need you here 00:46:51.41\00:46:53.84 tonight. 00:46:53.84\00:46:54.11 Oh, thank you. 00:46:54.28\00:46:55.24 We got a phone number. 00:46:55.78\00:46:56.44 We have a phone number as well. 00:46:56.85\00:46:58.95 Errico 269-815-9007. 00:46:59.35\00:47:04.22 You got about 10 minutes. 00:47:04.45\00:47:06.09 So, thank you so much. 00:47:07.26\00:47:08.59 And, you know, now that we have bought a building and we have 00:47:09.22\00:47:12.49 full -time employees, and, you know, we aren't supported by, 00:47:12.49\00:47:16.90 you know, the denomination, but we definitely support it by 00:47:16.90\00:47:21.57 people's generosity and we really do need you to keep the 00:47:21.57\00:47:25.37 doors open. 00:47:25.37\00:47:26.31 But, you know, you use this interesting analogy, Ronnie, 00:47:26.57\00:47:29.04 said, you know, the ministry has been flying. 00:47:29.18\00:47:31.21 You know, we took off the ground, but we've really never 00:47:31.35\00:47:33.78 really elevated and gotten high up in, you know, to really get 00:47:33.78\00:47:37.35 some altitude on us. 00:47:37.35\00:47:38.42 And really, it's starting to build momentum, but we really 00:47:38.82\00:47:42.56 can't do it without, you know, individuals that are believing 00:47:42.56\00:47:45.63 in this ministry and standing behind us. 00:47:45.63\00:47:47.96 We have salaries now, we have lights to keep on and a 00:47:47.96\00:47:51.57 building to maintain. 00:47:51.57\00:47:52.47 And that, to me, is just shocking even to have that 00:47:52.93\00:47:54.94 reality. 00:47:54.94\00:47:55.57 We've been open for a year. 00:47:55.60\00:47:56.77 It's amazing to sit in that beautiful office to see this 00:47:56.77\00:47:56.81 cross -generational ministry. 00:47:59.71\00:48:01.11 And, you know, anybody listening, I think all you have 00:48:01.71\00:48:03.61 to do is think about somebody you know who knows somebody who 00:48:03.61\00:48:05.85 needs to hear that life could be different. 00:48:05.85\00:48:07.55 And sending these beautiful people out to share their 00:48:07.72\00:48:10.69 testimonies, give hope, the prayer lines that go on, the 00:48:10.69\00:48:14.42 variety of connection points there are with this ministry. 00:48:14.42\00:48:16.73 I mean, you can call now, you know, five days a week, you 00:48:16.73\00:48:20.20 know, eight hours a day. 00:48:20.20\00:48:21.30 And, of course, sometimes they call outside of those hours, 00:48:21.40\00:48:23.90 too. 00:48:24.07\00:48:26.10 hope, give you practical help. 00:48:26.10\00:48:27.50 And to have two, you know, master-degree social workers on 00:48:27.97\00:48:33.11 our staff now, too, is amazing, lining that up with all the 00:48:33.11\00:48:36.04 experience we have. 00:48:36.04\00:48:36.68 And an administrator. 00:48:36.68\00:48:37.61 The administrator is now keeping us very focused and 00:48:38.25\00:48:41.28 organized. 00:48:41.28\00:48:41.68 That's right. 00:48:41.72\00:48:46.45 places, delivering a true gospel message of hope. 00:48:46.45\00:48:49.36 Amazing. 00:48:49.62\00:48:53.43 which is our annual conference that we were talking about. 00:48:53.53\00:48:55.56 And this year, we're not just focusing on LGBTQ issues, but 00:48:55.96\00:48:59.57 we're also going to add a couple of different programs. 00:48:59.57\00:49:01.84 One major one, or a few major ones, social media and 00:49:02.20\00:49:05.81 predators. 00:49:05.81\00:49:06.51 At the age of 13, I found myself in that type of 00:49:06.88\00:49:09.44 situation. 00:49:09.44\00:49:13.52 iPhones and a lot of access to young people, as well as 00:49:13.52\00:49:17.19 betrayal trauma. 00:49:17.19\00:49:18.19 There's a lot of spouses, a lot of women that experience 00:49:18.32\00:49:21.66 feeling betrayed after finding out that their husband was 00:49:21.66\00:49:25.53 either watching pornography or had committed adultery. 00:49:25.53\00:49:28.10 And what are some of the other topics as well? 00:49:28.36\00:49:30.00 Yes, somewhat of like Hector's story. 00:49:30.10\00:49:32.73 So the aftermath of the aftermath after sexual abuse, 00:49:32.83\00:49:36.71 courting and dating, and unforgiveness as well, and 00:49:36.97\00:49:43.31 restoration of what God can do. 00:49:43.31\00:49:46.01 It's beautiful. 00:49:46.61\00:49:49.98 So if you're interested in signing up for our conference, 00:49:50.35\00:49:52.55 we're having it in September in Berrien Springs. 00:49:52.85\00:49:55.46 So like you mentioned, you feel free to email info at 00:49:55.92\00:49:59.29 comingtogetherministries.org. 00:49:59.29\00:50:01.26 And we'll be glad to follow up with you and send you that 00:50:01.66\00:50:04.07 information so you can be part of this movement where we 00:50:04.07\00:50:07.04 believe that God is able to transform our lives and make us 00:50:07.04\00:50:10.41 into his image as he's designed us to be. 00:50:10.41\00:50:12.64 You know, the best way to support our ministry, if anyone 00:50:13.78\00:50:16.34 is really interested, what we're really trying to promote 00:50:16.34\00:50:19.18 is a monthly donation. 00:50:19.18\00:50:20.88 You know, we have a young girl that was helping us out in our 00:50:21.02\00:50:23.72 IT department and single girl, you know, and she's got her own 00:50:23.72\00:50:27.36 bills or whatever, but she gives us $100 every month, you 00:50:27.36\00:50:30.76 know, and she sends that check. 00:50:30.76\00:50:31.83 And it's those monthly donations that really help us 00:50:32.13\00:50:34.56 to be able to plan ahead, you know, whether it's $20 or $200 00:50:34.56\00:50:38.47 or $2,000, you know, that monthly donation will actually, 00:50:38.47\00:50:42.34 you know, really benefit us much more than just a one-time 00:50:42.34\00:50:45.64 gift. 00:50:45.64\00:50:48.48 ministries because the book we wrote, Canada Christian Church 00:50:48.48\00:50:52.55 Affirm LGBTQ, had somebody who said, they read it and they 00:50:52.55\00:50:56.75 said, oh, we love it, and I want to give you a good-sized 00:50:56.75\00:51:01.02 donation, but I can't tell anybody because I have family 00:51:01.02\00:51:04.96 that's there, so, you know, we don't want to, you know, so 00:51:04.96\00:51:08.73 most of them is, oh, well, we got this, we're going to give 00:51:08.73\00:51:11.40 this, but they say, oh, we got to be careful if we give to 00:51:11.40\00:51:14.40 this ministry and people find out whatever. 00:51:14.40\00:51:17.14 So they need all the help they can get. 00:51:17.71\00:51:20.31 I'm telling you, the Lord's going to do it, but he's going 00:51:20.34\00:51:22.41 to do it through you. 00:51:22.41\00:51:23.31 And so we were going to be not only praying for them, they 00:51:23.65\00:51:27.12 need your prayers, but also financial support. 00:51:27.12\00:51:29.62 And those of you that watch, we've been on not quite 40 00:51:29.68\00:51:32.69 years, but 40 years ago, you know, the idea came to build 00:51:32.69\00:51:35.49 with, so about 38 years, we rarely go on the air and ask 00:51:35.49\00:51:39.09 people to support and donate. 00:51:39.09\00:51:41.13 We always say, if the Holy Spirit's impressing, we do that 00:51:41.60\00:51:44.33 again here tonight, but this is a ministry that the devil 00:51:44.33\00:51:47.77 hates, absolutely hates, because he doesn't want people 00:51:47.77\00:51:51.77 to know they can get victory over this, and no help from a 00:51:51.77\00:51:55.84 bunch of the Christian universities that say, well, we 00:51:55.84\00:51:58.51 can't really have you on here talking about it because we got 00:51:58.51\00:52:01.98 LGBTQ clubs and we don't want, in fact, if we do, and I'm 00:52:01.98\00:52:07.16 talking this not from you all, but information I got from 00:52:07.16\00:52:09.89 others that, in the note, that says some of the, and at least 00:52:09.89\00:52:15.16 in the last administration, I don't know where we're going 00:52:15.16\00:52:17.47 here, but if you so much as have people like yourselves on 00:52:17.47\00:52:22.44 to try to teach people victory over this lifestyle, that the 00:52:22.44\00:52:27.34 government says, we're not going to give a student student 00:52:27.34\00:52:29.71 loans only to qualify student loans if universities are 00:52:29.71\00:52:35.08 supportive of LGBTQ so you you have to support it and i mean 00:52:35.08\00:52:39.92 that's a shame because a lot of the christian universities and 00:52:39.92\00:52:43.56 i don't want to say which ones because i'm embarrassed to 00:52:43.56\00:52:46.16 actually shame it too but there are some that we all know that 00:52:46.16\00:52:50.77 won't have people well we can't have you on campus telling 00:52:50.77\00:52:54.44 people you can overcome sin because we can't tell them that 00:52:54.44\00:52:57.74 it's in and well what good does it do to have a christian 00:52:57.74\00:53:01.14 university if you can help young people overcome sin. 00:53:01.14\00:53:03.88 But Danny, there's a movement, and you know, what's really 00:53:04.15\00:53:07.18 great is some people, you know, maybe they've heard something 00:53:07.18\00:53:10.42 negative about our ministry, and I'm just so grateful 00:53:10.42\00:53:13.02 because now people are trying to check us out and find out a 00:53:13.02\00:53:16.06 little bit more about us, and if they'll take the time, if 00:53:16.06\00:53:19.33 they'll bother to just take a few minutes and hear some of 00:53:19.33\00:53:22.20 our testimonies, they'll see, you know, that our ministry is 00:53:22.20\00:53:25.80 not to take something away or to force anybody, and you know 00:53:25.80\00:53:29.10 what's starting to happen is there's this there's like a 00:53:29.10\00:53:32.41 movement, a little bit of growth happening in our 00:53:32.41\00:53:34.88 ministry, and we're very close to, you know, a major 00:53:34.88\00:53:37.31 university, and we're now having, you know, opportunities 00:53:37.31\00:53:41.28 to have access to individuals and leadership and stuff that I 00:53:41.28\00:53:45.39 think is going to make a big difference. 00:53:45.39\00:53:46.92 And the Bible says we can do nothing against the Gospel but 00:53:47.16\00:53:50.56 for it. 00:53:50.56\00:53:51.39 So I met Muhammad Ali years ago in Berrien Springs, and I was 00:53:51.79\00:53:55.43 talking to him one day, and he said, not just me, there were 00:53:55.43\00:53:57.77 several others, but he said, you know, I really don't care 00:53:57.77\00:54:00.87 if people pay to see me get beat up, or if they pay to see 00:54:00.87\00:54:03.97 me win, as long as they know about me and who I am. 00:54:03.97\00:54:06.68 So in a sense, people can talk about us all they want to, 00:54:07.04\00:54:10.18 good, bad, or whatever, but with the Lord's blessings, 00:54:10.41\00:54:12.98 greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. 00:54:13.35\00:54:16.95 So we realize that there's victory, not only we're talking 00:54:17.25\00:54:20.46 about in sin, over sin, but God has called this ministry as 00:54:20.46\00:54:25.76 surely he's called any other ministry, you know, in this 00:54:25.76\00:54:29.33 church and outside our supporting ministry. 00:54:29.33\00:54:31.50 So that's why we're so focused in sin, asking our folks to 00:54:31.87\00:54:35.90 really support you. 00:54:35.90\00:54:36.84 Thank you, Denny. 00:54:37.11\00:54:40.44 also have other programs that we're wanting to grow with the 00:54:40.44\00:54:42.98 grace of God and the skills that he's given us, and one of 00:54:42.98\00:54:45.85 them is the life coaching program, which I believe is an 00:54:45.85\00:54:48.42 asset and a tool for many people. 00:54:48.42\00:54:50.05 Would you like to share So our life coaching program is still 00:54:50.09\00:54:55.62 in development, but once it's out, we want to open up that 00:54:55.62\00:54:59.93 platform for those who are watching, listening, like if 00:54:59.93\00:55:03.20 you feel that calling to become a life coach, to be like as a 00:55:03.20\00:55:07.17 mentor, a disciple, if you yourself have overcome a sexual 00:55:07.17\00:55:11.91 issue and the Lord has restored you and you want to help 00:55:11.91\00:55:15.54 others, that's what we want to open up is life coaching and 00:55:15.54\00:55:19.31 also for those who are struggling with any sexual 00:55:19.31\00:55:23.45 issue we also want to be able to provide that platform 00:55:23.45\00:55:27.62 primarily of course through God and to journey together and 00:55:27.62\00:55:32.39 using those practical tools as well. 00:55:32.39\00:55:34.83 So God willing that will be coming out. 00:55:35.46\00:55:37.37 We'd like to put the address up or the email up maybe one more 00:55:37.40\00:55:40.50 time just kind of leave it up for a bit here. 00:55:40.50\00:55:42.87 Yes and one last program I'm sorry. 00:55:42.87\00:55:45.01 If you feel called and you feel that God has helped you, you 00:55:45.01\00:55:49.04 want to be able to help someone else. 00:55:49.04\00:55:50.38 We have an associate student Hector here with us as well and 00:55:50.65\00:55:54.05 he shared his testimony vulnerably and we've been able 00:55:54.05\00:55:56.85 to witness how God's worked in his life and our associate 00:55:56.85\00:55:59.89 pathway program is also a program that's going to be 00:55:59.89\00:56:02.52 available to you as well. 00:56:02.52\00:56:04.29 So we want to equip those to teach others how they can 00:56:04.69\00:56:08.90 overcome by giving sermons, teaching tools and 00:56:08.90\00:56:12.60 presentations to schools, conferences and around the 00:56:12.60\00:56:15.30 world. 00:56:15.30\00:56:18.04 I believe God answers short prayers. 00:56:18.04\00:56:18.07 We only got a few seconds that short prayer because we got to 00:56:19.34\00:56:22.48 be out of zero. 00:56:22.48\00:56:23.14 Father God how grateful we are for you sending your son Jesus 00:56:23.85\00:56:29.02 Christ and Lord Jesus. 00:56:29.02\00:56:30.15 We're so grateful to you for what you've done and Holy 00:56:30.32\00:56:33.42 Spirit for living in us. 00:56:33.42\00:56:34.89 So thank you Lord continue to be with this ministry open up 00:56:34.92\00:56:38.93 the windows of heaven to bless them we pray and continue to 00:56:38.93\00:56:42.63 give them victory we pray in all of us in Jesus name. 00:56:42.63\00:56:45.70 Amen. 00:56:46.20\00:56:46.23 Amen. 00:56:46.50\00:56:46.80 Amen. 00:56:47.34\00:56:50.11 I want to thank each and every one of you again for what 00:56:50.24\00:56:52.37 you're doing. 00:56:52.37\00:56:52.81 Be sure, call, write. 00:56:53.04\00:56:55.01 If you can't and didn't get the address you can always write to 00:56:55.34\00:56:58.58 us or call us and we'll give it to you. 00:56:58.58\00:57:00.32 But for now our time is all gone. 00:57:00.52\00:57:01.98 So until we see you next time may the Lord richly bless you 00:57:02.32\00:57:05.19 abundantly more than you could ever ask or think. 00:57:05.19\00:57:07.62 Amen. 00:57:07.89\00:57:08.29