Church Porn Sunday

Comments by religious leaders that family members of porn addicts would welcome this open forum like "a moneyshot", were not deemed helpful...:)

Church brings PornSunday into N. County

Atascadero First Assembly joins growing effort to discuss adult entertainment with parishioners who are struggling with it -- possibly even addicted

By Monika Tjia

The Tribune

Nudity and sex are normally taboo subjects in the pews Sunday morning. At Atascadero First Assembly Church on Sunday, they will be front and center.

The Atascadero church is participating in the first National PornSunday, a day when about 75 churches across the nation will discuss pornography in hopes of helping parishioners who struggle with it. It's even sponsored a billboard along Highway 101 to publicize the event.

"Our culture is inundated with sexual imagery," said the Rev. Rick Comstock, the church's pastor. Pornography, he added, "affects the whole person: body, soul, mind and spirit."

Comstock estimates about 40 percent to 50 percent of the congregation of about 500 are affected by pornography, whether by viewing it occasionally or being bombarded by it on the Internet. About 10 percent, he said, are addicted.

Sunday morning's services are intended to start a discussion on something that people often keep secret out of shame and point them toward resources and support.

PornSunday is the brainchild of the Revs. Mike Foster and Craig Gross, both pastors in Southern California.

"I had a God moment in the shower," said Foster, recalling a day several years ago. "God laid on my heart that I needed to take on this issue of pornography in a different way."

That moment led the pastors to create XXXchurch.com, an online ministry dubbed the "#1 Christian Porn Site" -- a place with message boards and information on how to get help.

With the creation of their online site in 2002, the pastors began discussing pornography at men's church group meetings on Saturday mornings.

After speaking about pornography at Mars Hill Bible Church in Michigan on a Sunday in January in front of 13,000 people, they decided to take it a step further with National PornSunday.

"The church needs to be leading these discussions," said Foster, pastor at Crossroads Christian Church in Corona. "There isn't a person who isn't touched by pornography in some way."

Not only church members struggle with pornography; pastors do, too. Foster cited an anonymous poll of pastors that said 37 percent said they struggle with it.

For Comstock, pornography has been a pressing issue in his church since the rise of Internet pornography. About 4.2 million Web sites are pornographic, and 40 million people visit porn Web sites daily, according to statistics gathered by XXXchurch.com.

The Atascadero First Assembly has "purity groups" for church members to attend to support and encourage each other. Gary Gunter, who leads one of the men's groups at the church, has seen how pornography can destroy personal and spiritual relationships.

"People are not admitting their needs," Gunter said. "The less you talk about it, the more hidden it is."

If the church doesn't take the step to have a conversation about pornography, Gunter said, no one else will.

The Atascadero church's billboard along Highway 101 south is before the Del Rio Avenue exit. The hot pink sign on church-owned land has "National PornSunday" in bold letters, the word "hope" on the bottom and Comstock's cell phone number.

Comstock has received a dozen calls a day. The majority of the calls are positive, he said, while a small number are offended.

First Assembly officials don't know how many people will attend Sunday.

"I have high hopes," Gunter said. "But to be realistic, if it just reaches one person and helps them in their struggle then it's worthwhile."

The church has spent more than $2,000 to put on the event and will be handing out hundreds of free resources, books and DVDs.