Gary Sheng - Ari Crane: Alpha Departure & Faith Journey Conversation Summary

Date: August 9, 2025
Participants: Gary Sheng, Ari Crane
Context: Gary updating Ari on major life transitions including leaving Alpha Schools and deepening faith journey

Meeting Context

• Setting: Phone call while Gary stays at friend's house in Dripping Springs, Texas
• Major News: Gary left Alpha Schools the previous week after moral concerns
• Life Transition: Gary in nomadic phase, discerning God's direction while maintaining openness to Tulsa opportunity with Lael Alexander
• Spiritual Focus: Deep exploration of divine patterns and authentic Christian living

Major Topics Discussed

1. Gary's Departure from Alpha Schools

Moral Discomfort Leading to Exit:

Gary: "I stopped contributing anything. And then a few weeks later stopped getting paid... I was unable to find work that I felt morally comfortable with because I stopped believing in the work."

Loss of Faith in Mission:

Gary: "I can't evangelize something I find would carry... that even though it has a good brand right now, it's getting a lot of hype. I think it's, you know what else had a lot of good brand? FTX had a good brand."

Gratitude for Moral Clarity:

Gary: "But I'm grateful for it because I got a lot more passionate about education and I think modern technology, but most importantly, modern, like a restoration of morality."

2. Lael Alexander Relationship - Administrative Challenges

Executive Function Deficits:

Gary: "He has a hard time with administration and project management, despite his amazing brain... I don't know if he is fully repentant about it... But it should be obvious to him that if he doesn't grow in this way, it will be a bunch of hopes and dreams that don't get fulfilled."

Chief of Staff Role Potential:

Gary: "He needs a lot of administrative and strategic support, chief of staff type vibe... But if he doesn't bring me on, he can have a good luck with that."

Tiny Operation Reality:

Gary: "He's basically been a one-man team with, like, some people that help out with warehouse stuff... It's like a tiny little operation, honestly... and he needs it to be a much bigger operation."

Over-Promising Pattern:

Gary: "He makes a lot of promises that are, he doesn't have the bandwidth to fulfill on in general... the irony is that I would be someone that helps him say no or not over promise."

3. Ari's Current Situation and Opportunities

Job Search Reality:

Ari: "I've put in like 200 resumes in the last couple weeks... I'm at the point right now, Gary, where I'm probably like, I can float our mortgage for a couple more months."

MBA Pursuit:

Ari: "I'm starting my MBA on August 25th... business leadership... Southern New Hampshire University... it's one year. I do five semesters, two classes a semester."

AR Record Sellers Progress:

Ari: "Rogers and I, AR Music Sellers is progressing. We're doing a strategic 500k raise to keep that going... I proposed we spend 300 grand on records, 100 grand on encapsulating and grading, and then the other 100K split between the office space."

4. Faith and Discernment - Divine Patterns Project

Primary Mission Statement:

Gary: "Serve God, discern what he wants me to do. That's what I want to do... At least right now, bring people closer to God using technology somehow."

Divine Patterns Exploration:

Gary: "So the project, this project I'm working on, starting to work on is around divine patterns, divine ways of being... how are they carrying themselves in the world and creating businesses... how are they sticking to their word... Are they playing weird power games like all the time?"

Biblical Worldview Development:

Gary: "I think people need to really build their worldview because they make it a really complete worldview so that they can be their own assessor of... whether you believe that you want to spend time with them... Or do some work with them."

5. Friendship Assessment and Deception Recognition

Friend Betrayal at Alpha:

Gary: "I have this friend that I thought was a friend for many years... he would just, he was being very deceptive to try to get a job at Alpha. And also he wasn't making me look particularly good and was just trying to really figure out who was powerful within the organization."

Biblical Loneliness:

Gary: "It's just a process of almost ruling out more and more people, which is tough. But I think it's in the Bible that the walk is very lonely... There's many, many people will use Christ's name in vain... in a manipulative way."

Divine Friendship Test:

Gary: "And I think God has basically said to me, slow down and figure out who your real friends are now that you quit Alpha, who are your real friends?"

6. Sherman Taylor Situation - Business Ethics

Ari's Frustration with Sherman:

Ari: "I haven't spoken with Sherman Taylor in three weeks. I just thought the bullshit was thick... I've known Sherman since he was my platoon sergeant in the Army back in 2000 in Korea. I just can't anymore."

Betrayal in Business Deals:

Ari: "And then I find out everybody's trying to cut me out of deals. And I'm like, jeez, I'm just trying to help you guys. I haven't asked for anything... don't try to fuck me."

Character Assessment:

Gary: "Yeah, that was a little disappointing, but it's gonna happen and I just need to be wary of that."

7. Technology and Faith Integration

App Development Ideas:

Ari: "I know that there's biblical trivia apps... godly matchmaking apps... daily affirmation apps. What would be something rooted in biblical or rooted in prophecy that would really grow an audience?"

Denominational Unity Vision:

Ari: "The only thing separating Christianity is our denominations... I've never seen anything that identifies all the differences between the denominations in one area and then could direct people to a local church."

Open Exploration Approach:

Gary: "It's kind of an open exploration. I'm learning to be more, less declarative in exactly where things are going to go because it's really up to God, I think."

8. Wealth and Kingdom Perspective

Soul vs Wealth Trade-off:

Gary: "What is winning the world?... It's your soul, right? So it's harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven."

Prophetic Wealth Vision:

Gary: "Some people have prophesized to me... that I will be a very wealthy man... but I believe that this intensive study that I've been doing and what God wants and really just calling my own bullshit... ironing out who I want to spend time with."

Divine Preparation:

Gary: "I think that God wants me to really reinforce my obedience to him and understand what he wants before I enter the stewardship of auto wealth."

9. Israel and Biblical Interpretation

Nation State vs Biblical Israel:

Gary: "We're being misled to send hundreds of billions of dollars to quote unquote Israel... And that's a big deception."

Ari's Theological Correction:

Ari: "Israel itself as a nation state is not a Christian state whatsoever... They do not believe that Jesus... they are not a Christian state. They do not believe that Christ is the son of God."

Educational Deception:

Gary: "Things like the school field Bible that encouraged people to think that the nation state of Israel... is Israel, which is just the people that have devoted their life to Christ."

10. Town Revival and Infrastructure Projects

Corporate Town Sponsorship Vision:

Ari: "There's a lot of little towns that you wouldn't have to go in and build all new infrastructure... how can you bring those back to life? And it would be sponsorship by large corporations. They would sponsor a town."

Military Base Conversion:

Gary: "One of his intentions is to buy a old military base and some nearby properties... So it's not just like building new buildings as well. It's like bringing life into it."

Environmental Challenges:

Ari: "The whole thing though, with those old military bases, it's all lead and asbestos. So you have to mitigate and it's cost millions to mitigate... they still carry radiological signatures."

11. Plastic-to-Fuel Technology

Revolutionary Process:

Ari: "That kid I've been sending you videos of... he's just invented a simpler, cheaper way... to make a centrifuge that can convert any plastics back to oils and pretty much get any kind of oil."

Trillion Dollar Potential:

Ari: "I think that is trillion dollar global idea that really should be up that I think that you could go back and sell to every single petroleum company."

Coleman Ferguson Connection:

Gary: "One of the Wales partners and mentors Coleman Ferguson is working on a big project related to conversion of fuel. So it could be relevant for sure."

12. Communication and Divine Engineering

Personal Struggle with Communication:

Ari: "For me, it's what my struggle with is communication... sometimes I really have great intentions or intent, but the words that come out do not match my intent."

Divine Design Recognition:

Ari: "The struggle's real where the deceptor is... the struggle is every day and it's constant and it's with everybody around you. And everybody's walk is different. And I think it's engineered that way... divine engineering."

God's Choice-Granting Nature:

Ari: "Who grants us the ability to make choices. He doesn't have to help us make choices. And also I know that as a creation, we're flawed... God looked at his creation and it was good, but it was not perfect."

Key Observations

Moral Courage in Career Decisions

Gary demonstrated significant moral courage by leaving a well-regarded position at Alpha Schools when he could no longer ethically support the work, prioritizing spiritual integrity over financial security.

Discernment and Friendship Assessment

Both Gary and Ari showed mature discernment in recognizing deceptive patterns in business relationships, particularly with Sherman Taylor's behavior and other associates who claimed Christian values while acting contrary to them.

Technology as Ministry Tool

The conversation revealed both men's shared vision for using technology to serve God and bring people closer to faith, while maintaining theological soundness and avoiding denominational divisions.

Economic Transition Challenges

Ari's honest sharing about financial pressures while pursuing his calling demonstrates the real-world challenges of living according to spiritual principles rather than purely economic motivations.

Theological Sophistication

Both participants demonstrated nuanced understanding of complex theological issues, particularly regarding the distinction between biblical Israel and the modern nation-state.

Future Implications

This conversation marks several significant transitions:

• Gary's full independence from institutional employment to pursue God-directed work
• Both men's growing discernment about authentic versus performative Christianity in business
• Continued exploration of technology-faith integration opportunities
• Potential collaboration on town revival projects if Lael Alexander's factory vision materializes
• Deepening friendship based on shared commitment to divine patterns and moral clarity

The conversation demonstrates mature spiritual leadership development, with both men choosing difficult paths of integrity over convenient compromises, while maintaining practical vision for serving God through innovative approaches to technology, education, and community development.