I tend to be pretty open about my struggle with pornography, so I rarely shy away from the issue whenever it comes up in discussions with youth group guys, which is unfortunately pretty often. It also comes up in church staff conversations where I’ll be pretty transparent about the roadblocks I’ve established for myself to gain victory over it.

So, when my sr. pastor asked me if I was interested in taking the Colossians 3:5 passage of a series he’s doing, I was nervously willing to jump in and cover the issue publicly in our Sunday morning services.

“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.”

Colossians 3:5 (NIV)

I co-taught the message on pornography and lust with a lady in our church. We first shared our own stories about our struggles with porn, then moved into some of the dangers and consequences that pornography can have, followed by common lies we believe about porn, and finished with steps to start gaining victory over this addition in our lives.

Our main push through the message was to encourage people to just start talking about the struggle. To help people get started we provided a phone number where anyone could anonymously text message us with any question they have regarding pornography and lust. If we had time at the end of the service, we intended to answer some of them publicly from the stage, but unfortunately the clock never permitted that, so we shot a follow-up video answering the questions instead and posted it on our church’s website.

With the video posted, last week our church’s website had the highest traffic levels it’s ever had. The follow-up page I created with links, resources, and our follow-up video generated a lot of hits, which tells me we hit a nerve. So far we have not seen a movement of confessions or talked with a lot of men and women seeking accountability, but the traffic on our church’s website indicates that the need is there. How we respond from here is something we’ll have to talk about in an upcoming staff meeting.

You can watch the Sunday message I co-taught on porn and the follow-up video on our church’s website.

Posted on March 15, 2010