Offensive?

Today in church we had a guest preacher. Craig Gross, who is a youth pastor in Chicago, spoke. He is one of the founders of xxxchurch.com - the #1 Christian porn site. What a story this guy has. He shared a great message and an amazing testimony of God's love and heart for people. There are so many things I could write about what Craig spoke about today, so many stories I could tell. I'll stick with one for this post. For others, you can check out their website.

What these guys started out to do was to get people to start talking about porn and the addiction it can become and how it affects lives and families. They (Craig and his friend who had the idea together) decided to launch the website. They decided they needed to advertise so they felt led to go to the porn convention that happened every year in Vegas. To make a long story short, the coordinators of the convention loved these guys so much they invited them back the following year. They've been there 5 years running and will hit 4 conventions total this year - since the industry has exploded so much.

Side note - did you know that the porn industry pulls in more money than the NFL, NHL, MLB and NBA combined? That's crazy.

Anyway, they had to create some sort of booth for the convention. So, they came up with the tagline "Jesus loves porn stars." They have t-shirts and they also decided to give away Bibles at the convention. They are New Testament Bibles with a cover that reads "Jesus loves porn stars." It's true - he loves them as much as he loves pastors, and children, and teachers, and....

Craig told story after story of conversations he's had with people in the industry and story after story of God being at work. At one point he made a reference to some of the super conservative Christians that are out there. I couldn't help but think if they are offended by their tagline and logo that 'Jesus loves porn stars.' I can just hear it now - that just promotes their lifestyle. Telling them about Jesus' love without telling them about his hatred of their sin is...well...sinful. I just couldn't help but wonder if they are supported by other prominent believers.

Every year so far they have run out of Bibles before the end of the convention. Craig and his friends don't lie about what they are offering. They are clear that the book you are about to pick up from the table is a Bible. People take it anyway. He said every year they look through the trash and not one Bible is thrown away. Of course he joked that people are afraid to throw the Bible away because it's bad luck and no one really wants to mess with God. So, some people do put the Bible on top of the trash can so they didn't really throw it away. We got a laugh at that but those that were left on top of the can end up going to someone else who decided to take a Bible home with them.

God's word is powerful. It can break the addiction. It can set the sinner free. You know, Jesus really does love porn stars.