Jesus Loves Porn Stars, Wally the Weiner, the 77s. and Nuns Against Porn XXX Church

"People have pointed the finger at Craig and me and told us we have gone too far. But I believe there isn't a single person who would say that of they stood beside us in a 10 foot by 10 foot booth at EroticaLA. You would get it. You would see it. It would make perfect sense." -XXX Church cofounder (emphasis mine)

As you might guess, anyone calling their ministry "XXX Church," nicknaming their website the "#1 Christian Porn site," and making it their business to visit porn conventions is asking for trouble for unfriendly fire from fellow Christians....(and I haven't even mentioned the "Wally the Weiner" costume...click here if brave...Wally, like everyone else these days , has his own website).

But I dare to believe that the ministry of the two pastors behind XXX Church is prophetic, balanced, and by necessity attention-getting. And they navigate it all with careful prayer, sensitive guidelines, ruthless accountability and raw love of Jesus...who loves porn stars.

In fact, the "Jesus Loves Porn Stars" T-shirts very often sell out at porn conventions. Note well, and it should go without saying that Jesus doesn't love what porn stars do..it breaks his heart.

Which is why the XXX Church staff ministers so well and with such "holy worldliness", it's out of the heart of Jesus.

Yeah, they admit that the "over the top" mottos etc. are sometimes just that:

The Stategy:The NameXXXchurch is provocative, memorable, and
it combines the seedy and the sacred. Enough said.
The Tag Line: "..1 Christian Porn Site" is what we are. We also like it cuz it ticks stuffy old religious people off.
The Vibe: It's hip, relevant, irreverent, honest, fun and designed for people just like you.

But without being so "hip, relevant, irreverent, honest, fun", they likely wouldn't have gotten the attention of Good Morning America (Watch their interview here) . They have also interviewed in Penthouse magazine (No, I won't link that, but I actually applaud it!), and have had a movie made about them (all while not being allowed on the 700 Club!).

And I am proud of Christianity Today and the Willow Creek Association (perhaps the two epitomes and epicenters of evangelical establishment) for supporting (CT by ads..even if banished to the back cover) and even sponsoring (WCA) XXX Church's "National Porn Sunday".

Wow, I feel way better about Jesus's wife, knowing those two were bold enough to bless one of the most vital and Bridgroom-honoring ministries of our era.

When Christianity Today prints the C.S. Lewis(!)article on masturbation(!!), however, I'll know the end is near.

It's time not to fear the "m" word in church. We all know perhaps most of our men are"holding their own," anyway.
Look at the stats.
Which many experts believe are low.

Russell Willingham of New Creation Ministries (sex-addiction counseling and help...full journalistic disclosure: I'm on the board) is an excellent speaker, as those at Third Day know..he preached for us last month. I know many churches don't or won't appreciate or support this vital ministry..
Too bad! This is a huge issue.

I asked Russ if he got advance "permission" from the pastor where he guest preaches to mention the "M" word. He said no, he just does it.

Thanks be to God someone has the Spirit and the guts; and thank God we can have this discussion on this website..guarantee folks are reading it whom it will bless and help. I really recommend Russell's amazing book Breaking Free: Understanding Sexual Addiction & the Healing Power of Jesus and his CD or tape on masturbation; order it from http://www.newcreationmins.com/ (Tell them it's for a friend..(: of course..)

Many folks who find the xxxchurch website are googling for porn; and as they pursue the search results, they accidentally stumble into xxxchurch.com, due to the 3 x's. (For those who want to surf the site, but don't want their boss/spouse to raid their cache and surmise they were viewing porn, the site is also accessible at 3x.church.com). Some may call this deceitful and wrong. I would call it deceitful...and right! At least in the sense of how Kierkegaard meant the term. "Parables," he asserts, "deceive the hearer into the truth." Isn't this the "sneaky as snakes and docile as doves" strategy Jesus commanded in Matthew 10:16?

I am aware that an overzealousness to be a snake-like can backfire. I felt blindsided and pre-judged when I was "exposed."

It all began as I was reading an article on the "Pray Naked Experience" blog...a blog by a cool Christian guy; namesaked for one of my favorite worship songs "Pray Naked" (about being honest before God, fully clothed video below) by the 77s. (The 77s song and album title, "Pray Naked" were banned by their Christian label..I get a kick of how the 77s slyly and wryly got back. I'll tell that story next time). I saw a posting on his site called "If you came to this site to see porn, click here."

Like a fool, I clicked it, thinking (I promise!) "I want to see what this guy says to porn-seekers; how will he gently witness?" So when I got to that page, it did indeed suggest the seeker seek Jesus..even gave a link to xxx church...But also mentioned that you had been caught, and the ISP number of your computer would be showing on that page to shame you! Even told how it was legal to do that. I realized that he will get porn seekers accidentally finding his site (like http://www.xxxchurch.com/ and the Focus on the family site http://www.pureintimacy.org/ ...and that is cool...but I didn't appreciate having my ISP number broadcast...and I don't wanna be lumped in w/porn viewers. Actually, I'll go ahead and paste below what that page says, as I am guessing none of you want to go to that page either. It's reproduced here (I just changed the IP number that showed up):

IP Address: 71.135.8.212 We need to talk. We know you aren't looking for what content we're providing. We also know you aren't interested in being referred to the authorities for looking up kiddie porn sites. So we'll make it easy for you: go check out a legitimate alternative. (http://www.xxxchurch.com/) Then we'll just keep your IP address and search request to ourselves. Deal? You're still welcome to join us, but know this now:
we are not what you are after. Yet it is our hope you will see another
perspective. Perhaps you will even see a better way, and a better reason to be
online. Finally, you can keep surfing, but we'll be putting your ip address and
search string on a public site; http://searchrequests.weblogs.com/ Yes, we can do that. Yes, we will do that. And yes, it is legal. Happy surfing and God bless you now more than ever. http://www.praynaked.com/

Bottom line:
I appreciate the heart behind this entrapment, but I prefer the xxxchurch variety.
Read about their God-adventures at the LA Erotica covention; or browse the answers to prayer on the "not afraid to use the "m" word web forum. Check out some of these reports
.
Better yet, join me. I am publicly making a promise to join the xxxchurch team on an outreach of some kind in the future. I already am guesstimating that I won't become one of the (to come full circle to the quote we started with):

"People (who) have pointed the finger at Craig and me and told us we have gone too
far. But I believe there isn't a single person who would say that of they stood
beside us in a 10 foot by 10 foot booth at EroticaLA. You would get it. You
would see it. It would make perfect sense."
In the same article, JR, who ministered at the same show. shares his "Top Ten Porn Show Moments." Number 2 is: "James, a paraplegic, who said, 'If you want to help me, don't pray for me; give me money so I can buy a prostitute to touch me..no one will touch me.'"

XXX Church will touch lepers. Until I am willing to be made willing to do the same, I will be unashamed to align myself with an imperfect ministry that may err on the side of grace and fun.
The story is told of the evangelist, who countered folks who complained about his style of evangelism, "I like my imperfect way of doing it, than your perfect way of not doing it."
And I do get a (hopefully) holy kick out of the enticing xxxchurch banner ads aiming to "deceive" porn addicts to help "Porn! Sex! Girls! Guys!". That may be dirty pool, and may lead to addicts feeling duped. But any site with the following ad just may be alright with the Almighty..maybe even the pope.