High in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, something beautiful happened last week.

Coming Together Ministries gathered at the Hendersonville Seventh-Day Adventist Church for Coming Together LIVE-6: From Brokenness to Wholeness — Healing Sexuality, Restoring Identity, Renewing the Church. What unfolded throughout the week was more than a conference. It was a gathering of people willing to confront difficult realities, listen to stories of brokenness and redemption, and discover again that God is able to restore what has been damaged.

We were deeply blessed by the leadership and participation of Pastor Daryl Bentley, Associate Ministerial Director of the Carolina Conference; Cindy Harsany; and Pastor Bryce Bowman, our chair and vice chair leadership. Their willingness to engage this important conversation helped create an atmosphere where difficult subjects could be addressed with compassion, biblical truth, and hope.

One of the most powerful voices of the week was Lex Renick, a detransitioner who shared her deeply personal journey of identity, transition, and restoration. Lex spoke openly about altering her chest and being on hormones for many years before coming to a different understanding of herself and her identity. Today, she is a wife, a mother of three, expecting another child, and an author.
Her story was not simply about what happened in the past. It was a testimony of what restoration can look like.

Throughout the week, we were also blessed by presentations from Dr. Ron Kelly, Dr. Lilena Walker, and Dr. Jennifer Jill Schwirzer, along with a powerful plenary sessions led by Ivonne Betancourt.

Our seminars addressed many of the difficult issues surrounding sexuality, identity, trauma, and brokenness. Harrison Umaña, Errone Kemp, Antionette Duck, and Dianne Wagner with Mafgia Ministries, contributed to the educational and healing portion of the event.

Raven White shared her testimony and led a workshop addressing childhood sexual trauma. Her willingness to speak about painful experiences reminded us that behind many of the struggles we encounter are real people carrying wounds that often began long before anyone knew their names.

The week was also enriched by personal testimonies from Susan Peña, Sherman Folks, Matthew and Andrea Pakula, and Matthew's parents, April and Tomek Pakula. These stories brought the subject of restoration out of the realm of theory and into the lives of real families.

Fellowship Beyond the Conference

Then came Sunday.

We left the church and traveled into the mountains for a beautiful day on Max Patch Mountain, where we shared a picnic lunch, enjoyed fellowship, and spent time strengthening friendships formed throughout the week. Old friends reunited, new friendships deepened, and conversations continued about the things we had learned.

There was something particularly meaningful about ending the week surrounded by God's creation. After days of discussing some of the deepest wounds people experience, we were reminded that God is still the Creator—and that His desire is to bring beauty, purpose, and wholeness out of broken places.

We eventually made our way to the little mountain town of Hot Springs, along the Appalachian Trail, where we ended our day together over pizza before heading home.

It was a fitting conclusion to a powerful week.

What Comes Next

LIVE-6 was not an ending. It was another step in the growing ministry of Coming Together Ministries.

We are preparing to launch our Life and Health Coaching Course on February 1, 2027, taught by Ivonne Betancourt. This 12-week course will meet on Sunday mornings and will provide participants with practical tools for walking alongside people who are seeking greater health, restoration, and wholeness.  Go to, comingtogetherministries.org/coaching for more information.

We are also implementing our Associate Speaker Program, scheduled to begin August 1, 2027. This program will help equip individuals whose personal journeys and testimonies can become a ministry of hope to others.  Go to, comingtogetherministries.org/associate for more information.

These initiatives—and gatherings like LIVE-6—are possible because people like you believe this work matters.

There are countless people searching for answers about identity, sexuality, relationships, trauma, and belonging. Many have been wounded. Many feel alone. And many desperately need someone willing to listen without abandoning truth or compassion.

Coming Together Ministries exists to meet people in those places and point them toward restoration through Jesus Christ.

If you believe in this mission, we invite you to stand with us.
Your financial support helps make conferences, training, testimonies, educational resources, life coaching, speaker development, and ministry opportunities possible. Together, we can continue creating spaces where people can move from brokenness to wholeness and discover the restoring love of their Creator.

Would you prayerfully consider making a gift today?
comingtogetherministries.org/donate
Thank you for believing in this ministry, praying for the people we serve, and helping us continue this work.
The journey toward wholeness continues—and we are grateful to walk it together.

“Speaking my truth” has become a familiar phrase in our culture.
I understand the heart behind it. Every person wants to be heard. Our experiences matter. Our stories matter. There is value in creating a safe place where people can honestly express what they have experienced, what they believe, and how they feel. 

But I have been thinking about something deeper: Is “my truth” necessarily the truth?

My perspective is shaped by my experiences, my emotions, my upbringing, my wounds, my successes, and even my disappointments. What I see may be sincere, but sincerity alone does not make something true.

That is why Scripture repeatedly calls us beyond ourselves. 

Proverbs 18:17 says, “The first one to plead his cause seems right, until his neighbor comes and examines him.”

What wisdom there is in those words. I may be absolutely convinced of my perspective until I am willing to listen to another person, consider information I did not possess, and allow my conclusions to be examined.

Proverbs also tells us, “Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14).

Seeking counsel does not mean surrendering our convictions. It means having enough humility to recognize that none of us sees everything. 

We need to listen to one another. We need to ask questions. We need to examine evidence. We need to be willing to discover that something we have believed—even passionately—may not be completely accurate.

And ultimately, as Christians, we must take what we hear, feel, experience, and believe back to the Word of God. 

Jesus did not say, “You shall know your truth.”

He said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Then Jesus went even further when He declared,
“I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

That changes everything.

Truth is not merely something I manufacture from within myself. Truth ultimately leads me outside of myself and to Jesus Christ. This requires humility. James 1:19 tells us to be “swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.” Acts 17:11 commends the Bereans because they received what they heard with readiness while still “searching the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.”
 

What a beautiful model for us today: listen openly, search carefully, examine honestly, and compare everything with Scripture.

There is certainly a place for sharing my story. I can speak about my experience. I can tell you what I have felt. I can explain my perspective. And I should be willing to listen when you share yours.

But perhaps I should be much more careful before labeling my perspective “my truth.” Because my judgment can be limited. My understanding can be incomplete. My feelings can change. My opinions can be influenced by circumstances I do not fully understand. 

Truth deserves a higher standard.

Psalm 25:5 expresses the prayer I want increasingly to make my own: “Lead me in Your truth and teach me.” Maybe the greatest freedom is not found in demanding that everyone recognize my truth, but in having the humility to say:

“Lord, I have told You what I think. I have expressed what I feel. I have listened to others. I have sought wise counsel. Now show me what is true even if Your truth challenges mine.”

That kind of prayer requires courage.

And perhaps that is where genuine truth-seeking begins. I don’t simply want the freedom to speak my truth. I want the humility to seek His truth, the courage to accept His truth, and the faith to live His truth. 

Because ultimately, truth isn’t mine. 

Truth is Jesus.