Oct 18
2024
2024 Fall Newsletter
The Fall 2024 First Stone Ministries newsletter features a powerful personal account of overcoming family trauma and abuse, emphasizing support, forgiveness, and maintaining loving relationships. It introduces the new “Living Free” curriculum for spiritual growth, shares ministry demographic highlights, explains strategies for trusting God, and reviews a book on navigating LGBTQ topics through faith. The newsletter also provides updates on support groups and administrative tools, equipping readers with hope, encouragement, and practical resources for spiritual and relational healing.
From a Christian perspective, gender dysphoria is real psychological distress that warrants compassion, patient care, and truth held together, affirming every person’s dignity as an image bearer while upholding God’s good design of male and female revealed in creation and Scripture. Faithful responses prioritize identity in Christ, pastoral support, and counseling that aligns self-perception with embodied sex rather than transition pathways. For deeper study, see recommended reading on theological, pastoral, and testimonial resources addressing gender dysphoria.
This powerful reflection shares a mother’s experience as her son transitions to a female identity, revealing layers of grief, fear, guilt, and unwavering love. She describes the emotional toll, family tensions, and spiritual wrestling while holding fast to her faith and hope in God’s redemption. With honesty and compassion, she navigates the pressure to accept or reject, choosing instead to trust God’s timing and truth. Her story offers comfort and solidarity to parents facing similar journeys.
“What Is Transgender?” defines the term as a perception-based disconnect between inner gender identity and biological sex, contrasting it with related terms. The article explains God is spirit—not male or female—yet created humanity male and female in His image, equally valuable but gloriously different. Scientific and biblical evidence affirm binary design. Addressing parental dilemmas over name and pronoun changes, it urges truth spoken with kindness, rejecting affirmation of false identity while seeking Holy Spirit guidance to navigate relationships with love and integrity.
“Keeping the Conversation Open with Your Child” equips Christian parents to respond biblically and with compassion when a child shares life choices that conflict with their faith. Offering practical and spiritual guidance—asking forgiveness for reactive words, praying for humility, processing grief, guarding against idolatry, and leaning on God’s Word—it encourages maintaining respectful dialogue while trusting the Holy Spirit’s work. Through patience, emotional honesty, community support, and reliance on God’s promises, parents can preserve connection, witness faithfully, and grow spiritually in challenging seasons.
In “Put Away in Order to Put On,” Laura Leigh Stanlake unpacks 1 Peter 4, urging Christians to embrace Christlike endurance and spiritual transformation. She explains the biblical call to “put away” old habits—like sensuality and addiction—to fully “put on” the life of Christ. Stanlake weaves scriptural context, personal testimony, and counseling experience to encourage listeners to find hope through the Spirit’s power, resist temptation, and live as powerful witnesses for Christ in a challenging culture.
“Biblical Sexuality and Gender” is a comprehensive sermon series presented by Trinity Baptist Church, Norman, Oklahoma, featuring Dr. Robert Gagnon. The series explores sexuality and gender from a biblical viewpoint, covering the Old Testament, Jesus’ teachings, Paul’s witness, and real-world applications. Designed to equip believers, it addresses topics such as identity, God’s intentional design, and responding to cultural trends. The practical, compassionate approach aims to help families and individuals navigate sensitive issues by rooting understanding and guidance in Scripture.