I drove to the airport on Wednesday the 14th, armed with anticipation and my favorite shirts. I was headed to the Wisdom Pearl meeting in Phoenix Arizona.
All went well until a flight delay in Dallas caused me to arrive in Phoenix after midnight. That hotel bed never felt so good.
After a great breakfast in the hotel, I headed to the airport to pick up the lovely and gracious Tere. I put the luggage and the passenger in my rental car and headed to the meeting. We arrived at the Dream City Church in Scottsdale and immediately saw friends there. We sat down with Ron Kelly and Allen Hoffman for a bit, enjoying each other’s company. Then it was time for the big interview.
The Big Interview
Benny Johnson hosts a podcast called The Benny Show. His main YouTube channel, titled "Benny Johnson", has amassed 6.01 million subscribers and 4 billion views as of September 2025. At the Wisdom Pearl meeting, Benny interviewed Gary Venden, Conrad Vine, Andy Weaver, Tim Reisenberger, and Jules Obomsawin about masculinity and manhood in other cultures.
During the interview, Benny asked Andy about his family. Andy replied that he had a small family, just eight children. Benny laughed loudly. Conrad Vine talked about growing up in England and learning manhood from the Word of God, rather than culture. Tim Reisenberger shared insights from his culture (Oriental and German) and the others did the same.
At the end of the interview, Benny Johnson was presented with a Great Controversy, and was visibly touched as Conrad Vine prayed for him. He remarked that he was deeply blessed by the collective wisdom of this group, and he hoped to interact with them again. I hope he invites some of them on his podcast show.
There was a very good spirit at this meeting, Adventists from across the United States, united in our hope of the Second Coming and committed to living by biblical truth as we await That Day.
Several of us went hiking at Pinnacle Peak on Thursday afternoon. It was lovely there. The younger members of the group lost no time in conquering the Peak, while the rest of us contented ourselves by watching them. Afterwards, we ate at the Green Vegetarian restaurant with these friends, topping off the day with vegan ice cream.
On Friday, Tere and I ate breakfast together and went for a hike. On top of Lookout Mountain we found a perfect seat in the rock, and read several Bible verses, praying over them together.
Back to the meeting we spent a nice couple hours with the Arocho Family and another couple. In the afternoon there was a men’s only meeting, which I attended, since I was a man. It discussed the importance a healthy diet and lifestyle on male ‘plumbing’. It made sense to me, I’ll start tomorrow.
On Sabbath, we were at the meeting for the whole day. Tim Reisenberger gave a good presentation, drawing from his own marriage experiences. Dennis Page gave a nice talk, and Ron Kelly gave the worship hour message.
Lunch time was awesome, we sat with the Arocho’s and the amazing Victor Clairmont. After lunch, Tere and I went for a walk. According to Dr. Wes Youngberg, walking after a meal is good for your hippopotamus...err...hippocampus.
Then an amazing interview happened. Ron Kelly interviewed Nala Ray. Nala is a former OnlyFans star (one of their highest paid performers). Despite earning roughly $14 million over five years on the platform, she experienced deep emptiness, isolation, and spiritual conflict regarding her lifestyle. Through the efforts of a friend, Jordan, she found Jesus Christ as the Answer of her life and the Desire of Ages. She quit OnlyFans and deleted her erotic content (essentially a pornographic site that exploits young women), and today speaks out against the moral darkness of it, and extols Jesus as the Savior we all need.
After leaving OnlyFans, Ray was interviewed at length on prominent American conservative and Christian media, including by Michael Knowles in April 2024 and February 2025, and Charlie Kirk in June 2025.
She married Jordan Giordano in 2024 and is today a voice for the freedom that Jesus Christ offers, encouraging young girls to avoid the pitfalls she was caught in.
It was a tremendous testimony, sobering in its realism, but heartwarming in its encouragement and freedom in Christ.
GYC or ASI should absolutely have someone like her as a speaker to both warn and encourage Adventist youth. Testimonies like hers are worth hearing. These people are brands plucked from the burning, and ground taken back from the enemy for Jesus Christ.
At the end of her testimony, Jordan was called up on stage and together they were given a Great Controversy and a Desire of Ages as Ron Kelly prayed for them.
Saturday night, we drove up to Dobbins Lookout after dark and sat on a rock and looked at the city below. It was a fitting end to a perfect day.
Sedona
Sunday morning, after breakfast we drove to Sedona and hiked up Cathedral Rock, after parking in the proud Methodist Church parking lot–the one with all the rainbow flags. For the second time, I looked for a rock to sit on and found a perfect ‘love seat’ in the solid rock, complete with sloped backrest. We sat there for a couple hours and read our last two Bible verses, praying over them together (1 Kings 19:4-8; Ephesians 5:25).
After praying together, I asked Tere a question. She answered in the affirmative, and now will have to change her last name. It was a special time in a special place. I guess our new pronouns are they/them.
We walked back to our car, pausing only long enough to tell a couple black girls who were hiking up the mountain, what had just happened. They screamed with delight. Apparently they approved.
It occurred to me as we left the church parking lot, we had just taken a major step towards heterosexual marriage, after parking in an LGBTQ affirming church. Talk about taking back ground from the enemy.
I appreciate Ivan Raj, Heidi Tompkins and the Wisdom Pearl team for making unique meetings like this available. The Wisdom Pearl vision is to build bridges with other Christians, encouraging them in the good things that unite us and sharing some of the beautiful truths we have with them.
Thanks Ivan for your vision, and tireless effort to organize meetings like this. Thanks to the Lord for protecting and inspiring meetings like this, and thanks to all who attended. We were all tremendously blessed for attending.
The videos will be available soon.
Lord bless you richly!
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