The Risks of Spotlighting The Faith of New Converts like Nala Ray
By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS
I critique Turning Point USA’s Young Women’s Leadership Summit decision to include new convert Nala Ray on their speaker panel. I warn that new converts like Ray should not be put into leadership/authority roles too soon, emphasizing the need for care and nurturing in a less hectic environment. New converts, famous or not, should be exhorted to settle into a church pew during their faith journey.
Yesterday I wrote a longish essay critiquing Turning Point USA’s Faith section of their organization, primarily focusing their Young Women’s Leadership Summit. The event seeks to engage women of all ages in civic duty, patriotic feelings, and political activism. There are numerous women featured in their poster/line-up of speakers. One of these is Allie Beth Stuckey, with whom I’m familiar, and others, not so much. I’d heard Heidi St. John’s name, another of the women who is slated to speak at the event. I chose her to look into as an example to see what kind of women are being promoted at the Summit. Heidi is highly popular in the homeschooling world. My critique on TPUSA Faith’s Young Women’s Leadership Summit, is here.
Nala Ray, a Pastor’s daughter, is another of the featured speakers. At 18, she rebelled and strayed from her father’s faith. For five years, up until February of 2023, Nala Ray was an OnlyFans model. OnlyFans is an adult site. She vaulted up to the top 1% of popularity on that site, and at her height, earned $300,000 every month. [If this isn’t a testament to the pagan world’s depth of depravity and delight in sexual sin, I don’t know what is…]
Then, a kind and interested male friend shared verses with her, prayed for her, befriended her with no agenda, and encouraged her to turn to Jesus. Nala Ray says eventually, she did. She made strides to align her lifestyle with Jesus’ standards, including throwing out 13 bags of immodest clothing, shutting down her adult site, and being baptized (again). She eventually married the man who had led her back to Jesus.
Since her conversion two years ago and transformed life since, she has appeared on many podcasts and interview shows to testify to the Lord’s graciousness in lifting her out of her sinful ways, to the joy of Christians who know Jesus can and does save anyone at any time, according to His will. She has also met with disdain, skepticism, and doubts about the genuineness of her conversion. Sadly, some are even saying that her sin was too deep to qualify her for the faith.
There’s a Russian Proverb, “Trust, but verify.” President Ronald Reagan used this phrase often in his talks about US-Soviet relations with the Soviet Union diplomats at the end of the Cold War. It became Reagan’s signature statement.
There’s Bible verses too along those same lines. “Test the Spirits”, “Search the scriptures to see if these things are so”, and the like.
We know that Jesus saves sinners. And for those who claim Nala Ray isn’t qualified to be a Christian because of the particular brand of her sin, shame on them. That just proves they have little understanding of the hatred God has for ALL sin, and we were All sinners. He would be justified to throw each and every one of us into hell for punishment of our sins. We all were awful- adulterers, embezzlers, liars, slanderers, thieves, murderers. And before anyone says ‘I’m not as bad as a murderer!’ have you had an abortion? Murder! Have you had lustful thoughts? Adulterer!
We celebrate each and every person whom Jesus decides to save from His wrath. But the Bible has careful instructions on how to handle these new converts. They are weak, lack discernment, and stumble over even the smallest blocks. How many times do we read of the mature vs the immature, those who are on milk not meat, tender consciences, and so on. We encourage them and watch them grow strong. That takes time. For example, the Bible says in 1 Timothy 3:6 of any man who aspires to be an overseer (pastor, elder),
and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into condemnation incurred by the devil.
I’ve watched in sadness the many times new Christians have been launched into positions for which their faith had not been proven, or in which the resulting fame has crushed the flame of their new-found faith. The verse above is explicit that putting new converts into positions of leadership (with all those stresses) is a present danger of conceit, of becoming puffed up, and then falling into the devil’s arms.
I know why we keep doing this, putting famous new converts on display and letting them tread too close to the flame of popularity when they’re not ready. We love Jesus! We love what He can do! The private conversions in thousands of churches around the world that occur daily are out of our sight, though when we hear of them we rejoice. So when someone famous comes along and it seems that our wonderful, gracious, merciful Savior has plucked them up, and we all can see it, we point it out and say, SEE?! Jesus is wonderful!
He is wonderful, but meanwhile, the person propped up in the limelight is suffering. We can’t see it. They may not even know it, but they are.
1 Corinthians 8:9…Matthew 18:7…1 Corinthians 10:32…Romans 14:13– all stumbling block warnings. Would you force a toddler to run a marathon? Of course not! They are not physically ready by any stretch. New converts aren’t ready for the stresses of being in the limelight, whether it’s leadership in a church or fame on the Christian sections of the internet.
The new convert should be in a church weekly surrounded in love by mature saints. We must resist the urge to platform them, and they must resist the urge to accept it.
Someone I read online said that Nala Ray’s two years of being a Christian is a good chunk of time, insinuating she is ready enough for limelight. No. It is not. The verse in 1 Timothy I shared above is commented on by Barnes in his notes:
Not a novice – “one newly come to the faith.” The Greek word, which occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, means, properly, that which is “newly planted.” Thus it would mean a plant that was not strong, or not fitted to bear the severity of storms; that had not as yet struck its roots deep, and could not resist the fierceness of a cold blast. Then the word comes to mean a new convert; one who has had little opportunity to test his own faith, or to give evidence to others that he would be faithful to the trust committed to him. Barnes’ Notes on 1 Timothy 3:6.
Has the new convert borne the storm winds of trial? Have they been tested through time? Have they become a praying saint, ready to bear another’s burden?
Even a good thing like sharing a testimony on successive podcasts, TV shows, and Young Women’s Leadership Summits, vaults the new convert into a milieu for which they are not ready. How do I know this when I’ve never met Nala Ray? God said so in 1 Timothy 3:6, and the other verse addresses I shared above.
And the proof is in the pudding. How often have we seen famous people professing Christ get puffed up by the people clamoring around them, touted as a trophy of grace, then soon and very soon, slide downward into the very dark arena of besmirching Jesus with their return to a sinful lifestyle.
Think of the new convert like a soft boiled egg. Carry them softly, gently. Nurture them. Their roots are tender and shallow. Be proud of Jesus for saving the visibly depraved sinner, but tuck them into a pew and care for their soul, not their fame.
Nala Ray should not be speaking at a leadership summit. Not because of her previous life of sin. But because of her new status as a tender convert navigating stumbling blocks. I wish Nala Ray well, and I pray her path toward holiness is straight, firm, and upward. However, remember to trust, but verify.
