Pastors - Recent Blog Posts
Eyes of Integrity: The Porn Pandemic and How It Affects You
Chapter 7 - A Safe Work Place
"Brazen Use"
Porn use at work is now so widespread that just about every company has a monitoring system in place. According to a 2008 Nielsen online study, 25 percent of employees with internet connections use them to visit porn sites, which is up 23 percent...
Maybe it's how the past week has gone; perhaps it's just something on my mind - whatever it is, it is rife with discontent on what I see pastors struggling with and how I see them approaching life. I know this message is not for all pastors out there, but there are several who can stand to read this.
First off, let me just say this: Confronting...
Eyes of Integrity: The Porn Pandemic and How It Affects You
Chapter 2 - Pornified Church - How Christians Have Failed to EscapeHonorable Men
"The Neglected Elephant in the Evangelical Room"
Just before the summer of 2006, everything was going Ted Haggard’s way. He was the lead pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, as well as the...
There is a ton of stuff out there about pastors and accountability. Books. Magazines. Blogs (like this one). With so much out there, how are you to know what to do? How do you go about doing it? Too much information bogs down the thought process. There's an adage out of North Point Church, "Speak Less For More". This means simplifying the...
Pure Eyes: A Men's Guide to Sexual Integrity
Chapter 4 - It’s Not What You Think; Defining Normal Sexuality
"What The Bible Says"
(Gen. 38:9), Lot and his daughters (Gen. 19:30–38), David and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11), the Corinthians, and others. From these stories, and the Levitical law, we could develop our own version of what is right and wrong...
I encounter this question all the time, whether or not pornography use amounts to "adultery" that gives a spouse grounds to pursue divorce. In fact I was talking to a pastor this week who struggled with porn and his wife (who recently discovered it) is ready to leave him because she is convinced that his elicit consumption of Internet porn...
You ever have that type of day when everything you hear somehow relates to what you’re feeling inside? Even the lame song at the grocery store somehow has a line that pops out at you and makes you think, “Ok, I get it!!!” The problem with me is I tend to be a little dense at times and it takes a lot to get me to listen or to realize that God...
Dirty, filthy hands. You have them when you are dealing with the issue on your own. You have them when you are dealing with the issue with other people. But let's focus on those who are unwilling to get dirty. The problems are going to continue to steamroll and the pyramid of filth will continue to grow unless someone is willing to tackle the...
For some time now I have seen a pattern, not only lived out here on xxxchurch, but in life as well. That for some reason, many reasons, pastors aren't talking porn. They aren't speaking about addiction. They have turned their monitors off and yet the computer is still running. I guess the elephant is still in the pew; perhaps it's in the...
What takes up your time? Where does your mind go when you have down time? What do you spend time pondering? What do you focus on?
I believe we need to guard what we put into our heads because it determines what we focus on when we have down time. If I spend all day focusing on things that bring me down or put negative images into my head, then...
Do you ever get that stopped up feeling, like you are awaiting something that just doesn't ever seem to come? And everyday you spend countless hours thinking of things you can do to unplug yourself, yet to no avail. It is rough to be stuck!
So... what gets me unstuck? What unclogs the pipes? What are the keys to getting rid of that extra load...
I was running late. Driving from street to street lost in my frantic attempt to find the location of my porn house call. Waiting for me was a 16 year old boy, his mom, Dad, and older sister listening in from upstairs. I finally arrived for our porn conversation and was greeted with warm cookies, brownies, coffee, and I suppose anything else his...
While the two-year-old story about SEC workers watching porn dominated the headlines, the real story about workplace porn got lost.
The real story is that the practice has grown so common, that the SEC story shouldn’t really have been news to anyone, even if it had occurred yesterday. The latest Nielsen survey on porn at work shows that 21...
Previously posted on 10/8/2008
Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church, Seatle, WA isn't one to beat around the bush and that's certainly the case with his latest booklet on porn and masturbation being released in an ebook via The Resurgence website www.theresurgence.org. I like Mark and while I don't agree with everything he says I find myself ...
I paid to talk sex with someone as a young pastor and it was one of the best things I ever did as... albeit it was with a counselor. My understanding is that there is a hang up for some when it comes to going to counseling. It has been my experience (and that of many others) that counseling can be a very helpful process to assist moving...
If you've been around any length of time you know who I am. I'm the guy who used to produce porn for 9 years, and whose life was changed after a four year interaction with XXXChurch in which they served as Jesus in skin, changing my perception of Christians. After I became one, XXXChurch continued being Jesus in so many ways. One of those...
Everyone needs accountability, especially pastors. Accountable relationships need to be with people that we trust and feel safe with. The most important quality that accountability partners need is: They need to be able to ask the tough questions.
It seems that many people form “accountable” relationships with their best friends. When they meet...
I guess in some way this is a response to a confession found elsewhere on the site. In some other way, it's an all important reminder of how critical the need is to head this porn thing off immediately.
As you search scripture, we are told to stay away from all things sexually immoral. The apostle Paul even says to flee from it. Though often,...
I was having lunch with my tech guy today and he asked me what I thought about "chatroulette." Honestly, I had never heard of it and so he told me a what it was. This new website allows for you to meet multiple people at random through web cams. You simply push "play again" and you will be connected with another person somewhere in the world....
Sitting in my office and listening to the pain of others seems to be a regular occurrence these days. People are struggling. Often times it is very clear to me where someone has tripped up, why they have gone astray, and what has happened to their marriage to cause such rebellious activity. It seems to be a season of counseling people through...
Over the last few months I have been learning a lot about my sin and my relationship with God. When I sin I build up a wall between myself and God. God never causes me to sin, it is a personal choice that I make to put my will ahead of God’s will. Let me say that again, when I choose to sin I put my desires before God’s.
What is great about...
"Sex Scandal involving _________ Leader." Prominent leaders are in the news on a recurring basis not for their leadership but rather because they got caught with their pants down. Incase you missed them, here are a few names & links: Bill Clinton / Tiger Woods / John Edwards / Ted Haggard / David Letterman / more! / even more!! Beyond the...
How many times have you been in a moment of decision regarding sin and simply closed your ears to the voice of God? I have the feeling that the answer is many.
In my journey towards greater purity I went through this stage where I posted the words, Dead to sin and alive in Christ, in my car. When temptation to cross the line of lust appeared, I...
Currently I feel like I am at a crossroads in my life. I have two choices in front of me; I can either continue on living the same old mediocre life just doing the bare minimum to get by I have been for the last 34 years. Or, I can choose to fully submit to the plan that God has for my life and live that life to the fullest or I should say,...
Be encouraged by a fresh start. I have found it funny that over the last couple of days I have been thinking about who I want to be in 2010. It seems like my mind will not stop processing 2009 and making daily commitments to new beginnings. The reason why I have found this obsession funny is that with God and His grace I have a new beginning...
To borrow terminology from the Twelve Step Movement (i.e. A.A. or N.A., founded by godly Christian men, incidentally), “recovery” is a funny thing... While briefly serving as a live-in drug and alcohol counselor in a Christian recovery program, one phrase I heard repeatedly was “Nothing changes if nothing changes.” Think about that seemingly...
Lust is a common struggle with almost every guy, ministers included. It is a common temptation that most guys deal with. You are not alone!
It should not surprise us that ministers deal with lust, but it does. We think that our ministers are so close to God that they are somehow “immune” to these types of temptations.
I Cor 10:31 “No...
I encounter this question all the time, whether or not pornography use amounts to "adultery" that gives a spouse grounds to pursue divorce. In fact I was talking to a pastor this week who struggled with porn and his wife (who recently discovered it) is ready to leave him because she is convinced that his elicit consumption of Internet...
During the past several years, I have witnessed men commit to becoming God’s man through Every Man Ministries. I’ve found that it’s not about asking guys to do more; it’s about asking them to be more. It’s not about asking them to pursue a plan or respond to a cool idea or even to a dare. It’s about convincing guys, deep down, that being God’s...
Week after week you hope to come up with a profound and griping post to submit to be placed on here…
But how often do we truly sit down and think about our story - The ups and downs of battle with pornography addiction.
How often do we step back…
…and realize the impact of our choices.
But don’t stop with looking at it in a “I should behave better”...