As you drive west on I-40 in Arizona, you will begin to see the top of Mt Humphrey, the state's highest peak, rise above the western landscape just as you pass through the town of Winslow. Though you are more than 60 miles away, its prominence takes center stage in the visual arena being offered. It seems to take forever to reach it, though its beauty is so staggering you don't mind watching the slow rise of its summit; with green wraps of pine upon its flanks, a small snow capped top and a sharply chiseled profile, it's one of the most beautiful mountains in the west, as it stands sentinel over the area.
But it wasn't always pretty; millions of years ago it was molten rock far below the Earth's surface. As God shaped our planet, this magma burst forth from the depths in steady streams piling upon itself, growing taller with each convulsion. Eventually the eruptions ceased, the mountain cooled, and the basic elements of earth, wind, water and sand, all collaborated to redefine what was once a hellish mound of rock into the beautiful crown it now is.
Elder Bill Berry is a person who could probably identify with Mt Humphrey. Born in 1943 in Lebanon, Indiana, he would eventually be the oldest of two children, having a younger sister, Barbie, for company as he matured.
To the casual observer Bill could have been regarded as an exemplary child and young adult. He graduated 5th in his high school class, lettered in football, basketball and golf, and was an Eagle Scout. In 1962 he entered Wabash College, in Indiana, and majored in psychology. Leaving the mundane scenery of the cornfields, Bill spiced up his life a bit and went to Hawaii to pursue a Masters degree in speech pathology. After two years there he continued with his speech pathology education, working now for his Doctorate at Purdue University, in Indiana, missing the corn I guess. He received his Doctorate in Speech Pathology in 1971.
During those years of educating himself he also managed to court and marry his Dutch born and raised wife, Elly, and have the first of their two girls. Bill met Elly when he was a sophomore in High school and she a foreign exchange student. They dated for the last three months of her stay in the USA. Evidently Bill's mojo was in full swing when he met Elly as she was smitten with him and they became faithful pen pals after she returned to the Netherlands. Once back home Elly worked on her career in office management. After two years she eventually returned to the States, Indiana in particular, whereupon the two picked up where they left off. They eventually married in 1966 while Bill was a senior in college. To round out the dream, the first of Bill's two girls, Erin, was born when he was working on his PhD at Purdue. She would eventually be joined by Robin, who arrived shortly after Bill finished his schooling and began to work for the Veterans Administration in the early 70's.
Upon receiving his PhD, Bill decided that the VA was to be his employer. An earthquake in Sepulveda, California leveled his first choice of locations so by default he moved to Memphis, his second choice, in 1971.
At first blush you might think Bill's life was charmed, but actually, he held a deep secret that he didn't reveal to the world, specifically his wife, until 1977. When he was 12 years old, during a scout camping trip, an adult introduced him and some other scouts to pornography. Because Bill's mother was unaffectionate and disassociated with her children, the pornography infiltrated a psyche longing for love and attention. For the next 22 years the addiction caused Bill to live two lives, one public, and one very darkly, secret.
Because Elly was so strong, but not a Christian at this point, she made a decision to stay with Bill but was very frank in her assessment that this was his problem. Bill too, though not a Christian either, wanted to make the marriage work but his problem was this: though the counselors he saw could help him understand why he had his addiction, he craved for strength from a
"supernatural" power to help him stop. He searched everywhere, rejecting Christ as the answer many times, in the hope for a quicker and seemingly easier fix. None came.
On April 13, 1983, as he drove to work, Bill listened to an inspirational tape about the trials and tribulations of a college football player who was paralyzed after an injury. Also, as fate would have it, on that same morning his secretary left a pamphlet on his desk that referenced Philippians 4:13. Finally, when he looked at the digital clock on his desk it indicated 4/13 (for the month and day it was). All of this was too overwhelming-God's elements had really started their shaping. Bill began to weep, and on that day he received Christ. He had finally found the supernatural power he had been looking for. In short order, following Bill's lead, the entire family came to Christ and in 1984 they joined Central Church.
Though Bill fully kicked his addiction and became deeply involved in the Church, eventually becoming an elder in 1998, he wasn't finished there. He had seen the
"dark side" and now that he was in the light he was determined to help others leave the shadows. In the early 90's, while doing research on the new and quickly evolving internet, he began to minister to others online about sexual addictions, and how he was able, through the power of Christ, to break the cycle. Still not content, Bill and his wife began giving their testimony in person at church dinners and meetings.
But God wasn't finished with him yet! Bill's desire to further reach out to others led him to start a church ministry, both online and in the physical realm, in May of 2000, for those with sexual addictions, and to cap it off, he became a fully ordained minister in December of 2003.
Bill has come a long way since he was 12; like Mt Humphrey he came from the depths of hell and through the splendor of our Lord he had risen to shine like a beacon in the night guiding wayward souls to the straight and narrow gates.
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