Once a year we gather together and try and raise some money for the ministry. We do this by playing 100 holes of golf and none of us our golfers. Each of the staff have assembled a team and to be honest team El Clinto is struggling right now. Nothing would make El Clinto more excited then to see some other geeks out there trying to golf. Here is Clint’s plea for support. If you would like to play or support Team Piety or Team Gross we welcome that as well. Brandon is providing free American Apparel shirts for his team.

If any of you have benefited from the ministry in any way via our X3watch software, Porn Sunday or any other X3 event or resources, then you know how important it is for this ministry to exist and continue.

The golf marathon for Fireproof Ministries will be here in about a month. May 5th to be exact, and if you recall last year’s Hackfest you know it is a ton of fun.

Alot of you ask me “How does XXXchurch get the money to do what it does?” Well, this is one of the top 3 ways, the others are selling merch and speaking dates. I’m asking all of you that are friends of the ministry, friends of me, friends of the family to chip in with some donations OR step it up a notch and commit to playing for TEAM EL CLINTO in the tournament.

If you want to play for TEAM EL CLINTO, I’ll send you a booklet to keep track of all the people donating. We’re playing 100 holes of golf in one day and The goal is to raise $25 a hole. You can start by sponsoring yourself at $1 a hole, that’s a $100 donation from yourself, then ask others to do the same. If that means getting 24 people to donate $1 per hole each, 5 people to donate $5 a hole, whatever… It’s up to you. You don’t have to collect the money. All you need is an address, phone or email from the person so we can contact them and collect. This is where those booklets will come in handy. ALSO, if you’re not living in the Grand Rapids area, we will fly you here, put you up and feed you.

/// If you can’t commit to playing on my team, but want to make a one time donation, click here, click new user and choose TEAM EL CLINTO from the drop down box when you donate.

/// If you want to play for TEAM EL CLINTO, hit me back with your mailing address and I’ll send you a booklet to get started.

Remember, this is not about golf. This is about the ministry and on Monday, May 5th we will have a great time trying to play golf. There will be lots of prizes for everyone involved and just an all around good time.

Thanks for your time.
El Clinto (clint mcmanaman)

More information here!

El Clinto and Sammyk are working on the new XXXchurch.com site. The site is by far the best site we have done in six years by far. We are just a few days away from launching this. If you listen to the podcast you know that “GEEK TALK” was cancelled but for all you “GEEK TALK” lovers you will enjoy this video. This is from SammyK and shows you a peak at the new site and what he is working on as far as the back end goes. If you get through the whole video, you are officially a geek. Sammyk will be in Grand Rapids with us all summer long….can’t wait. WATCH VIDEO
Craig

A technician at TNTV has been suspended without pay for a week after a series of mistakes which led to 3 minutes of an adult movie including 52 seconds of explicit porn being broadcast on national television.

The porn was broadcast a short time after the end of a religious program and resulted in a number of phone complaints to the station. A union is pressing TNTV to take stronger action against their employee.

According to Haupert Ives, general director of TNTV, the technician attempted to watch adult content while taping another program off the satellite. He accidentally taped what he was watching and then neglected to verify the recording.

All in all the trip was amazing. Thanks so much to InternetSafety.com for hooking us up down under. So much to say, we have to go back. Looks like November we will be back in Australia for sure. Podcast is coming up later in the week with some more stuff from the trip including the authors of “The Porn Report.”

Check out some of my daily thoughts below…

-Craig

Easterfest Australia
I felt like I was in 10th grade again. Friday night I caught MXPX in Australia and last night I caught the end of the Newsboys show. My old intern and friend John Reinl would have loved it as they sang “Breakfast in Hell.” MXPX played some oldies but played a great new song called “Shut It Down” off their new record.

The festival here is great. We spoke to hundreds of men yesterday morning about the issue of pornography and finally connected with Adrian Rowse from “The Fight.” Today I am suppose to play in some special Cricket game and then speak this afternoon again. I was able to catch two songs from a band called Freedom One which are from Australia and these guys are amazing.

Brisbane To Sydney
Yesterday I caught up with Andy and Steve again this time for breakfast over at Citipointe Church. It looks like I will be speaking there in November when we come back. We had some pancakes with maple syrup which I found out most people here don’t eat and they don’t cook their bacon crispy either. The money here is plastic…did I mention that already. Colorful and plastic.

In the afternoon, Ben picked me up from Garden City church and I spent the rest of the day with him. He is a good bloke who has been following XXXchurch for a while. We headed over to ABC for an interview for a show called “Conversations”. Turns out the host had a copy of “The Porn Report” in his hands and had just finished interviewing the authors for the same show that I was going to be on. He gave me the book which I read today…more on that later.

The show is about an hour. Half the time with me and half the time with the authors of The Porn Report. You can listen to the show on the ABC website beginning on Thursday I believe. Ben took me to a real Australian Steakhouse for dinner called the Norman Hotel. They don’t have Outback here, the word over here is that Outback is a joke. Check out this place. Ben recorded a little video for me at the restaurant as well. Check it out here. We headed over to the church where I spoke at. There was a great crowd there and lots of good conversations. Afterwards we went out to a coffee shop with several people and talked for a while.

This morning I took off for Sydney. I am speaking tomorrow about three hours from Sydney. On the plane over I read “The Porn Report” and was unimpressed. The book is based on a survey of 1,000 people and their findings about porn in Australia. They make some good points but overall it is pretty weak. Basically, they are for porn and think it is harmless because the 1,000 people they surveyed are doing okay. We asked one of the authors to come on our podcast and he declined. Here is what he told Brandon…

Dear Brandon,

It sounds as though our research would not be of much interest to you. We have no theological or ideological line to push, and the facts that we uncovered would contradict the ideological thrust of your project (eg, we found that most consumers of pornography experience a positive effect from their consumption).

If however you are interested in engaging with the information, the results have been published in The Porn Report (Melbourne University Press, 2008).

My position would simply be that we should pay attention to the facts on this issue. Given that your position is a theological one, I presume there wouldn’t really be the opportunity for discussion on this? We would be talking at cross purposes, surely? You would say ‘But God hates porn’, and all I could say is: ‘I don’t know. I’m an atheist’. Or you would say: ‘I know lots of people who’ve been hurt by porn’, and I would say: ’statistically they’re in the minority’, and again, we find ourselves at an impasse? It’s morality vs research - the two don’t really connect,

Best wishes,

Alan

I checked out the waterfront, the tower, the red light district and some other cool spots around town today. I tried to check email at the Internet cafe in Kings Cross which is a trendy little spot which also is the red light district. Internet at the hotels here is about 50 cents a minute so it was cheaper there but not worth it. The 60 year old man next to me was watching hard core gay porn and the guy across from video was looking at straight porn. Just a normal afternoon for these folks I guess. I left quickly and wondered if they were part of the group surveyed for The Porn Report. I have a ton of interviews in the morning for New Zealand stuff this week. The local paper already ran something yesterday. Finished the night with a little Ichat with the family.

One more thing if you would like to hear a 5 minute conversation on masturbation and wet dreams click here.

Porn and Power
Josh picked me up yesterday in Sydney and we drove over to Canberra which is the capital of Australia. It is also the porn capital of Australia. It is the only place in Australia where you can legally buy porn besides the Internet. So, there are 100 plus porn shops and it is the most profitable thing in town.

I found it interesting that it is the capital. So, the place where all the power is. Word from the porn shop security people and others around town is that the many members of parliament spend a lot of money at the shops and brothels in town. Brothels are legal all over Australia but porn is not? Strange.

I spoke at St. Matthews church last night and the turn out was amazing. We had all sorts of people drive in from all over the place. The coolest was getting to meet two faithful prayer wall dudes. They had never met each other until last night and came out and showed their support. I shot a video with them that you can see.

Josh and his wife and baby drove me back to Sydney last night and I took off this morning for New Plymouth, New Zealand. I don’t think I can get any further away. I landed here and walked over to the beach across from my hotel and got on our google analytics account and just wanted to see how far XXXchurch has gone. In the last three weeks, we have seen people come to the site from 198 different countries and territories. As I sit in in New Zealand I am blown away that this ministry has covered the world and that I get to be a part of this. Just wait to you hear what is next for XXXchurch…

New Zealand to Home
I have never seen Lord of the Rings so I had no idea what to expect in New Zealand. Lets just say the media went a little crazy over this porn thing. Grant from North Point Church did an incredible job. We had a pancakes breakfast, a parents night and two PornSunday services. I did not get to see much of New Zealand but the people were great and the flight home was long….long. I flew from New Zealand to LAX, LAX to Chicago, met up with the family in Chicago and Sam Sanchez and then drove home. Today is a bit of a blur.
>>> Read more here…

I am currently in Australia. The next week I will be here and then finish the trip in New Zealand. If you live in Australia and you heard me speak about the free filter that is provided by the Australian government. Here is the LINK. You have to live in Australia to get it for free. There are three different filters you can pick, XXXchurch endorses SAFE EYES. That is the last one on the page when you hit download. Download that one for free if you live in Australia. For the rest of you, well maybe we will see the U.S get on board with free filters in the future. If you are looking for the XXXchurch Accountability software click here.

In a few days I head to Australia and then New Zealand. Our good friends at Internet Safety are helping out a ton with the trip. We just finished a commercial for those guys that we are pretty jealous of. Check it out right here or check it out in the video player to the right.
-Craig

Every day we receive stories of pain and devastation caused by pornography. And yet every day we are asked why? Why do you fight? Why push forward? Below you will find a story from a wife who is struggling. Her story is powerful and her hope inspirational. We exist for her, her husband and the others who know there is something more out there - hope will prevail.

My name is Jenn, I’m 39 years old. I’ve been married to my husband for over 17 years. We have a 6 year old son. My husband and I have been struggling in our marriage for years, but I didn’t know what the problem was.  He was very secretive.  3 years ago I found child pornography on our home computer, I was devastated. I confronted my husband about it. He’s a computer programmer and made up some excuse about how our computer got compromised. I told him to get it off the computer and to secure it so it never happened again. A month later, I was going through his lap top, and I found the child pornography again. More excuses, but at this point, I knew they were just that. I kicked him out of the house.

Later we talked, he denied it and said it was another compromise. I wanted to believe him, how could my husband be addicted to child porn? He has a law enforcement background, he’s a Christian, he’s ex-military, a great father, a nice guy, everyone loves him. Then a month later I found the child porn again, and the photos looked just like my 10 and 12 year old nieces. I called his father and showed him the photos, then I took the laptop home and threw it in our pool. My husband finally  confessed he was addicted to pornography, in a bad way, and told me that when he downloaded it, sometimes the “younger stuff” would get in there. But I found very little  “older stuff”. 90% was all young girls.

To make a long story short I signed us up for counseling, but he lied his way through the whole thing. After 12 months of secular marriage counseling, I signed us up for Pure Lifes sexual addiction program (at home). Again, my husband lied through the whole things. I eventually found out that he had been involved with a secret relationship with my 12 year old niece. Buying her gifts, toys, giving her credit cards, he even set her up with a p.o. box where she lived that no one else knew about. And now I’ve found out that he’s molested her.

I am also a child of molestation. My brother molested myself and my two sisters. He was also into pornography.

I’ve now lost my house, my family, my husband, the father of my son, I have a restraining order on him, I’m spending thousands of dollars trying to keep my son in a safe environment. My father and mother in law are Christian leaders at their church, but yet they chose to live in denial and are protecting my husband’s reputation by turning their back on me instead of supporting me. My husband currently has a legal case on the DA’s desk where my niece lives. I don’t know how long it will take to process, but it looms over his head daily.

I still love my husband. I still want God to bring glory out of this mess. He continues to deny everything, despite a written document I found of his confessing to some of it. It’s the most painful thing I’ve ever gone through. I turn to XXXChurch to help motivate me to pray for my husband’s salvation - to break the bondage it has on my husband. I pray that one day we can start a ministry to sexual predators. But for now, I have to sit by and wait on the Lord, trusting that he’ll take care of my son and I while we go through the process of trying to recreate our life and find where God wants us.

Thanks for listening.

-Jenn

>>> You can share your story as Jenn has on the Confessions Blog

A jury found a man guilty of first-degree murder Friday in the killing of a 10-year-old girl, reaching its decision within minutes the day after hearing his macabre videotaped confession.
Kevin Underwood, a former grocery stocker who claimed Internet pornography stoked his cannibalistic fantasies, showed no emotion as the verdict was announced. Family members of the victim, Jamie Rose Bolin, patted each other and shook hands.

The girl’s body was found in a plastic tub in Underwood’s apartment in April 2006. Jurors had heard his detailed videotaped confession in court Thursday.

Judge Candace Blalock told jurors to return to court Monday morning for the penalty phase. Prosecutors have said they intend to seek the death penalty, while the defense has said it will seek to spare his life.

Deputies led Underwood, 28, away in handcuffs once jurors had left the courtroom.

Rose Fox, Jamie’s grandmother, said after the verdict that she was originally against the death penalty in the case, but has now changed her mind.

“He made his choice,” Fox said. “He’s a monster in human form.”

“I was for mercy. And then when I found out what he really did to her … . He showed her no mercy.”

Jurors began deliberating following closing arguments in which Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn predicted it would take jurors longer to pick a foreman than to determine guilt.

“It’s the worst of the worst,” Mashburn said. “His plan is to butcher someone like an animal.”

In his closing argument, Defense attorney Matthew Haire did not dispute Underwood’s guilt. But he called him “a lonely, very troubled, reclusive young man” and accused prosecutors of overwhelming jurors with gruesome evidence.

In the confession, Underwood said he lured the girl, his upstairs neighbor, into his apartment in Purcell, hit her with a cutting board, smothered her with his hands, sexually assaulted the body and nearly cut her head off as part of a fantasy involving cannibalism.

“I wanted to know what it tasted like, and just the thought of eating someone was appealing to me,” Underwood said in the confession.

Underwood also said such fantasies began about the time he started taking the antidepressant Lexapro. Defense attorneys plan to call witnesses during the penalty phase on his use of the drug.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,333929,00.html

I just finished watching the press conference. Here is what the NY Times is saying - Craig

Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month, according to a person briefed on the federal investigation.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer with his wife, Silda, made a statement to the news media on Monday.

An affidavit in the federal investigation into a prostitution ring said that a wiretap recording captured a man identified as Client 9 on a telephone call confirming plans to have a woman travel from New York to Washington, where he had reserved a hotel room. The person briefed on the case identified Mr. Spitzer as Client 9.

Mr. Spitzer today made a brief public appearance during which he apologized for his behavior, and described it as a “private matter.”

“I have acted in a way that violates my obligation to my family and violates my or any sense of right or wrong,” said Mr. Spitzer, who appeared with his wife Silda at his Manhattan office. “I apologize first and most importantly to my family. I apologize to the public to whom I promised better.”

“I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself. I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family.”

Before speaking, Mr. Spitzer stood with his arm around his wife; the two nodded and then strode forward together to face more than 100 reporters. Both had glassy, tear-filled eyes, but they did not cry.

The governor spoke for perhaps a minute and did not address his political future.

He declined to take questions and promised to report back soon. As he went to leave, three reporters screamed out, “Are you resigning? Are you resigning?”, and Mr. Spitzer charged out of the room, slamming the door.

The governor learned that he had been implicated in the prostitution inquiry when a federal official contacted his staff last Friday, according to the person briefed on the case.

The governor informed his top aides Sunday night and this morning of his involvement. He canceled his public events today and scheduled the announcement for this afternoon after inquiries from The Times.

The governor’s aides appeared shaken before he spoke, and one of them began to weep as they waited for him to make his statement at his Manhattan office.

The man described as Client 9 in court papers arranged to meet with a prostitute who was part of the ring, Emperors Club VIP, on the night of Feb. 13. Mr. Spitzer traveled to Washington that evening, according to a person told of his travel arrangements.

The affidavit says that Client 9 met with the woman in hotel room 871 but does not identify the hotel. Mr. Spitzer stayed at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington on Feb. 13, according to a source who was told of his travel arrangements. Room 871 at the Mayflower Hotel that evening was registered under another name.

Federal prosecutors rarely charge clients in prostitution cases, which are generally seen as state crimes. But the Mann Act, passed by Congress in 1910 to address prostitution, human trafficking and what was viewed at the time as immorality in general, makes it a crime to transport someone between states for the purpose of prostitution. The four defendants charged in the case unsealed last week were all charged with that crime, along with several others.

Mr. Spitzer had a difficult first year in office, rocked by a mix of scandal and legislative setbacks. In recent weeks, however, Mr. Spitzer seemed to have rebounded, with his Democratic party poised to perhaps gain control of the state Senate for the first time in four decades.

Mr. Spitzer gained national attention when he served as attorney general with his relentless pursuit of Wall Street wrongdoing. As attorney general, he also had prosecuted at least two prostitution rings as head of the state’s organized crime task force.

In one such case in 2004, Mr. Spitzer spoke with revulsion and anger after announcing the arrest of 16 people for operating a high-end prostitution ring out of Staten Island.

“This was a sophisticated and lucrative operation with a multitiered management structure,” Mr. Spitzer said at the time. “It was, however, nothing more than a prostitution ring.”

Albany for months has been roiled by bitter fighting and accusations of dirty tricks. The Albany County district attorney is set to issue in the coming days the results of his investigation into Mr. Spitzer’s first scandal, his aides’ involvement in an effort to tarnish Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, the state’s top Republican.

More info is here.

People have been asking what are we doing in Australia and New Zealand. Here is the itinerary as of today. My friend David Tosti is going to be joining me on the trip so we should have some great photos. If you are in or around any of these places track us down we would love to meet.

AGMF Music Festival
AGMF Fri-Sun, March 21-23- Toowoomba Australia

Tuesday, March 25, 2008 7pm event: Garden City Christian Church located in Mt. Gravatt, QLD Australia.

Thursday, March 27, 2008 7pm event: St. Matthews Anglican Church Wanniassa, Australia

Sat & Sun, March 29-30 event Northpoint Baptist Church-New Plymouth, NZ
P&P Saturday 7:15am
Porn & Parents Sat 7:30pm
Porn Sunday-Sun 8:45am & 10:30am

On March 19th, I head to Australia and then to New Zealand. Getting pretty excited about the trip. Just read this online this morning. -Craig

The 50-year-old from Melton will face court this week on counts of possession and transmission of child pornography.
The man was among 22 people arrested in Australia, the United States, England, Canada and Germany.
His computer was seized in November last year and has undergone detailed forensic examination.
The Herald Sun online understands one other Australian has been arrested.

The Melton man was arrested by detectives from the Victoria Police sexual crime squad’s internet child exploitation team.
He was bailed in an out-of-sessions hearing before a bail justice and will appear for a filing hearing in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

Authorities involved in the international investigation have identified and rescued 20 of the children featured in more than 400,000 pictures, video files and other images.

Some of the children, aged as young as five, were portrayed engaged in sexual behaviour.

The images were traded and distributed globally in the online pornography ring, according to US and international authorities.

Queensland police Detective Chief Superintendent Ross Barnett said Australian investigators discovered the ring and infiltrated it under cover in 2006.

“From our perspective, it’s definitely the largest and most sophisticated and disciplined group that we have ever seen operating in this environment,” Supt Barnett said.

US authorities will not say how they eventually broke through several layers of encryption, background checks and other security measures the pornographers used to protect their online user group from being accessed.

The porn ring was run like a business, FBI executive assistant director J. Stephen Tidwell said today, with the lewd images used as currency instead of cash.

“This is beyond a quantum exponential leap for us to see folks that have gone to this much trouble to produce this kind of volume of horrific exploitation of children,'’ Mr Tidwell said.

Viewers could gain access to the online forum only after passing a series of what Mr Tidwell called “various benchmarks and bars to get over to get into their group”.

He admitted that “with 400,000 (images) we’re going to be at this for years, trying got find the victims'’.

We welcome you to XXXCHURCH. If you are visiting after hearing about us on The Nightline Face Off with Craig Gross and Ron Jeremy. You can watch the FULL DEBATE on ABCNews.com We thank you for checking the site out. Let us know what you thought about the debate!

X3 is a worldwide movement to talk openly and honestly about the issue of pornography. If you need some back story to who we are and what the Porn Debate is check out ABC News Article - “XXXchurch Founder: Porn Is Fantasy, Not Reality”

Some people started posting on ABC’s website and emailing us at XXXchurch about Donny Pauling. I have know Donny for years and have plenty of emails from Donny saying things in his anger towards the church. In fact, the night before Donny gave his life to the Lord he posted on his website about how God does not even exist. All that to say, I stand by Donny and have personally seen his life change in front of me. This is not a scam. And trust me Donny is not doing this for the money. He is not paid on staff at XXXchurch and works a new business in the automobile industry.  Donny posted this in February of 2006 on an adult website months before his conversion. I was with Donny this morning in Orlando and I read this out loud to the men there and Donny talked about it.
 ”My Evil Plan to go Mainstream….I’m going to go to a big church, get radically “saved”, write a book about how God delivered me from producing porn, and tour all the churches in the country… making mad money from the saints.”

Like I said, this was from February 2006 and reflected Donny’s hurt at the time towards the church. People are trying to use this against him now. Trust me he said more things then this….please people tell us something we do not know. Donny is on the next Dirty Little Secret Podcast so listen to it next week.

This just in……

Wes Dupin, Pastor at Daybreak Church in Grand Rapids had this to say after attending the debate at Yale - I was introduced to Craig by my youngest son who served as my Student Ministries Director at Daybreak Church. He said, “Dad, you have to meet this guy and get him to speak at Daybreak.” At first I was a little apprehensive of using the pastor of xxxchurch.com but when my friend Rob Bell, pastor of Mars Hill, used him I felt safe. I determined then and there to do all I could to encourage this young preacher of God to give it all he had. I wished I had enlisted him earlier. Craig not only delivered a moving message but returned to speak at Porn and Pancake Breakfast with over 600 men and teens in attendance. He later spoke at my Creative Infusion Conference with a standing room only of pastors. His presence along with his teaching changed not only my mind but the lives of many of our people.

Craig invited me to go with him to debate Ron Jeremy at Bowling Green University in Ohio. I was deeply impressed with the debate on what porn has done to our culture. I had the second opportunity to accompany Craig at Yale University in New Haven, Conn. The Porn debate between Craig Gross and Ron Jeremy was filmed by ABC News Nightline to be aired the next week, hosted by Martin Bashir. This was the culmination of campus activities entitled “Sex Week at Yale.” I could not get out of my mind that this school had been started 200 years ago as a preacher training college. I wondered what the old preacher Jonathan Edwards, who delivered the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” would think if he were alive on campus for the debate? Wow!

The old hall we were using for the debate looked like it could have served another era as a church but now it was being used for an earlier lingerie show put on by the Yale students. I was quite impressed when I heard Nightline host Martin Bashir comment somewhat under his breath, “I don’t want to be in here for that,” to which he exited. After that show the cameras, lights and sound were all moved in by ABC News. Martin Bashir stood up and made this announcement, “I would like for all who are here to give their total respect to all points of view.” It was quiet momentarily and then he introduced Ron Jeremy and Monique Alexander to which there was thunderous applause. I knew then we were in for an interesting debate. Craig Gross and recently converted to Christ follower Donny Pauling were introduced with respectful applause.

I sat on the front row squarely in line with Craig as if to say I am here to stand in the line of fire. I kept praying that God would give Craig and Donny clarity of thought and the ability to communicate effectively. They were both on. God used them both to speak God’s love in an intelligent and winsome way. By the end you could tell that their message of hope and a better way to live had penetrated this young audience of intellectuals. The college student who sat next to me told me that he entertained himself with at least an hour of internet porn 5 – 6 days a week and would use this opportunity to pleasure himself. He kept his hand up for Nightline Host Martin Bashir to call on. Near the end he got his question, “Donny Pauling, what changed your life from a life of producing porn to a life of abstaining from porn?” You could hear a pin drop. That was the moment that God used in a powerful way to speak to minds forming opinions. God has set him free, no longer bound by addictive behavior and living a life of guilt. What a transforming moment!

Finally, I want to say a word about Ron Jeremy and Monique Alexander. I have spent several hours on two different occasions with Ron. I have found a man who is highly intelligent with a huge desire to hear the truth. The truth about God and his forgiveness. I believe someday the impact that Craig Gross and his ministry has, will love him into God’s Kingdom. Monique Alexander was well-dressed and very cordial to me as a minister. She shared how as a young girl she would often attend church youth camps and continues to have questions about God and religion.

I believe there is great hope that God is working through men like Craig and Donny and the xxxchurch.com to start a spiritual awakening in the porn industry that will eventually move to the church pew. Who knows how God might use Craig Gross like He choose to use shoe salesman like D.L. Moody or a baseball player like Billy Sunday or a dairy farmer’s son like Billy Graham. He might even choose to use a young evangelist like Craig Gross. What a future!

Wes Dupin, Lead Pastor of Daybreak
www.daybreak.tv

Wes Dupin, Pastor at Daybreak Church in Grand Rapids had this to say after attending the debate at Yale:
I was introduced to Craig by my youngest son who served as my Student Ministries Director at Daybreak Church.  He said, “Dad, you have to meet this guy and get him to speak at Daybreak.”  At first I was a little apprehensive of using the pastor of xxxchurch.com but when my friend Rob Bell, pastor of Mars Hill, used him I felt safe. I determined then and there to do all I could to encourage this young preacher of God to give it all he had.   I wished I had enlisted him earlier.  Craig not only delivered a moving message but returned to speak at Porn and Pancake Breakfast with over 600 men and teens in attendance.  He later spoke at my Creative Infusion Conference with a standing room only of pastors.  His presence along with his teaching changed not only my mind but the lives of many of our people.

Craig invited me to go with him to debate Ron Jeremy at Bowling Green University in Ohio.  I was deeply impressed with the debate on what porn has done to our culture.  I had the second opportunity to accompany Craig at Yale University in New Haven, Conn.  The Porn debate between Craig Gross and Ron Jeremy was filmed by ABC News Nightline to be aired the next week, hosted by Martin Bashir.  This was the culmination of campus activities entitled “Sex Week at Yale.”  I could not get out of my mind that this school had been started 200 years ago as a preacher training college.  I wondered what the old preacher Jonathan Edwards, who delivered the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” would think if he were alive on campus for the debate?  Wow!

The old hall we were using for the debate looked like it could have served another era as a church but now it was being used for an earlier lingerie show put on by the Yale students.  I was quite impressed when I heard Nightline host Martin Bashir comment somewhat under his breath, “I don’t want to be in here for that,” to which he exited.  After that show the cameras, lights and sound were all moved in by ABC News.  Martin Bashir stood up and made this announcement, “I would like for all who are here to give their total respect to all points of view.”  It was quiet momentarily and then he introduced Ron Jeremy and Monique Alexander to which there was thunderous applause.  I knew then we were in for an interesting debate.  Craig Gross and recently converted to Christ follower Donny Pauling were introduced with respectful applause.

I sat on the front row squarely in line with Craig as if to say I am here to stand in the line of fire.  I kept praying that God would give Craig and Donny clarity of thought and the ability to communicate effectively.  They were both on.  God used them both to speak God’s love in an intelligent and winsome way.  By the end you could tell that their message of hope and a better way to live had penetrated this young audience of intellectuals.  The college student who sat next to me told me that he entertained himself with at least an hour of internet porn 5 – 6 days a week and would use this opportunity to pleasure himself.  He kept his hand up for Nightline Host Martin Bashir to call on.  Near the end he got his question, “Donny Pauling, what changed your life from a life of producing porn to a life of abstaining from porn?”  You could hear a pin drop.  That was the moment that God used in a powerful way to speak to minds forming opinions.  God has set him free, no longer bound by addictive behavior and living a life of guilt.  What a transforming moment!

Finally, I want to say a word about Ron Jeremy and Monique Alexander.  I have spent several hours on two different occasions with Ron.  I have found a man who is highly intelligent with a huge desire to hear the truth.  The truth about God and his forgiveness.  I believe someday the impact that Craig Gross and his ministry has, will love him into God’s Kingdom.  Monique Alexander was well-dressed and very cordial to me as a minister.  She shared how as a young girl she would often attend church youth camps and continues to have questions about God and religion.

I believe there is great hope that God is working through men like Craig and Donny and the xxxchurch.com to start a spiritual awakening in the porn industry that will eventually move to the church pew.  Who knows how God might use Craig Gross like He choose to use shoe salesman like D.L. Moody or a baseball player like Billy Sunday or a dairy farmer’s son like Billy Graham.  He might even choose to use a young evangelist like Craig Gross.  What a future!

Wes Dupin, Lead Pastor of Daybreak
www.daybreak.tv

The Porn Debate is on for this Friday on ABC. Grab your popcorn, a loved one and hold on. Watch the porn debate Friday, Feb. 29 on ABCNEWS.com, plus watch the full story on “Nightline” that night at 11:35 p.m. ET. Last week the debate was bumped by some late breaking presidential campaign news.

What are your predictions? Ron Jeremy says he is going slam dunk the porn pastor Craig (see video). Eh, we think not. The Debate is guaranteed to surprise you.

Ron and Craig are much more different in their views than Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. I mean PRO PORN and NO PORN. I doubt that Hillary and Barack will be that close of friends after everything is over. Ron and Craig are friends and are likely to be if they continue to disagree on the issue of porn.

Does a job in porn separate people? Should we let it? Do Christians have too many Christian friends? Is love and friendship stronger than judgment and disagreement? Some people do not agree in us debating Ron? Do you?

When it comes to porn there is one thing Ron and Craig, and X3 and some, yes some of the porn industry agree on: We need to do more to keep it out of the hands of children. You must be 18 to buy it at a store but you can view it all you want on the internet.

There are massive political campaigns happening right now and we have one of our own - PORN IS BIPARTISAN. Our goal: To bring the issue of internet safety to the forefront of government leaders and bring protection to every family in the United States of America.

Check out the new website and download the PDF. And get involved. We can all agree that this junk needs to be out of kids hands and off their computer screens.

Most of you know, last week Donny and myself were at Sex week at Yale. The debate will be on next Friday instead of last night. We got bumped for some pressing news I think revolving about Mr. McCain’s escapades. Anyways, While at Yale we met some people from Vivid. We did not get to catch Steve Hirsh’s talk but here are the highlights. - Craig

The founder of porn empire Vivid Entertainment has asked Google and Yahoo to ‘erect strong barriers to keep children away from accessing adult material’ – but is it being done under the guise of trying to clamp down on porn piracy?

Steven Hirsch, the co-chairman and co-founder of one of the Internet’s biggest porn companies, has issued a statement putting out a plea to Google and Yahoo make it much tougher for kids to access online pornography.

Although the statement is now public knowledge, he also made the plea in a lecture to graduate business students of the Ivy League University on their ‘Vivid Day’ (Sat Feb 16) during the third biennial Sex Week at Yale (SWAY), dedicated to discussions about “love, sex, intimacy, and relationships.”

Hirsch said: “Responsible companies in the adult industry such as ours have done a great deal to deter minors from accessing adult material”.

Continuing, Hirsch noted that: “None of the search engines and portals, but particularly Yahoo and Google, has taken any significant steps in this direction. Vivid will work with any company that is ready to make it much more difficult for children to be exposed, even inadvertently, to material intended only for adults. This is not about First Amendment rights, it is about protecting children.”

Hirsch wants ISPs and search engines to “vigorously promote their filtering and age verification programs to their subscribers so that it will be much more difficult for minors to purchase adult content on the Internet”, and said: “The ISPs, as well as payment systems and adult producers, all need to be more responsible with regard to allowing X-rated material to be obtained by non-adults”.

Hirsch notes that running Vivid is like any other studio – they’re in it not only to make porn, but to make money – and he wants to more ‘creatively’ use the Internet. Please read onto page 2 for details.
irsch also said that: “In the end, running the world’s biggest adult film studio isn’t that much different than running any other studio except that our product is pretty much exclusively about sex. The truth is, Vivid Entertainment is a business like any other. And my job is concerned as much with cost of goods, margins and EBITDA as it is with trying to come up with the idea for the next Debbie Does Dallas…Again”.

Hirsch advised that he often tried to talk women out of becoming porn starts, saying that: “I do interview all of the Vivid Girls personally before we sign them to exclusive contracts. But, guess what? I spend more time trying to talk a new girl OUT of becoming a porn star as I do discussing the deal points of her contract once she’s convinced me that she really does want to go down that path.”

In a hint that Vivid also wants Google and Yahoo to help clamp down on porn piracy while making asking the search engines to make it harder for children to access content that is decidedly inappropriate for their age grou, Hirsch outlines Vivid’s future plans to more aggressively make clever use of the Internet.

His statement notes that: “The adult industry faces enormous challenges in the years ahead but Vivid’s plan is to continue to thrive and he described the company’s plans for the future”, with Hirsc adding that Vivid wish to pursue “strong cross-over marketing such as billboards in Times Square and other high-traffic areas, aggressive promotional programs, licensing deals that promote our name while also making us money, protecting our intellectual property and staying ahead of the pack by seizing new technologies,”.

A press release from the organizers of SWAY described the event by saying, “On Yale’s storied campus, populated by some of the brightest young men and women on the planet, many students still haven’t figured out how to ask someone on a date. Others might even believe that coitus interruptus is a form of safe sex. This February, however, Sex Week at Yale comes to the rescue!”

While the plea does sound like it is part of a noble cause to ‘protect the children’, it also sounds rather suspiciously like a ploy to get more traffic to Vivid’s online properties, something Vivid has most likely quite vividly experienced since the issuing of the statement last week.

Grab your popcorn, a loved one and hold on the Porn Debate airs FRIDAY at 11:35 PM EST on ABC. Head over to the ABC News website for details and a little video preview. Or watch the preview right here on our site in the video player.

A couple photos are in the Flickr account.

::: ITS ON! The Great Porn Debate is at Yale University. You all are invited to watch it unfold on ABC. The ABC News website will have the entire debate posted and Nightline will have short segments of it up one day after. Please tune in and watch watch the full story on Nightline, thursday, February 21 at 11:35 pm ET. Check it all out here.

The debate is at Sex Week at Yale with porn pastor Craig Gross and porn star Ron Jeremy. This debate will feature former porn producer Donny Pauling with Craig and a current actress in the porn industry with Ron.

Check out Nightline’s Martin Bashir promotional video for the debate.

RECAP FROM DONNY:

Yesterday morning, the morning after the debate, I woke up in a mood very similar to the one The Blower’s Daughter
takes me to: sadness… a sense of loss… a feeling of love that almost seems useless to have.

Don’t get me wrong, the debate was a blast. The experience was one I will remember for the rest of my life. But I was also reminded of the slave I used to be as I spoke with two people still in that same bondage: Ron Jeremy and Monique Alexander.

Ron… I can’t help but love that guy to pieces. There is just something about him in person that just makes you want to squeeze him like a Teddy Bear. He can be a bit vulgar at times, and still I can’t help wanting to put my arm around his shoulder. Monique Alexander is a beautiful 25 year old porn star that has been in the business for 7 years. She, too, is very likable. My heart breaks for both of them because I know what it feels like to be in their shoes when the lights go off and the crowds go away.

I don’t want to go too deep, because I think you’ll do better to wait until the debate airs and experience for yourself what I’m talking about. But I do want to warn you: DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT watch it with children. I’m sure Nightline will bleep out certain words, but very frank porn terms will no doubt make their way into the finished product. Porn realities were discussed with no holds barred. Some adults may even want to consider whether or not they REALLY want to know what they’ll hear from that debate. Personally, I think the story needs to be heard, but if I tell you all this you can’t come to me later and say I didn’t warn you.

I prayed before the debate that God would guide what I said and let His words be heard. I prayed the same for Craig Gross as well. I sure hope that’s what happened.

The debate airs this coming Friday night (February 22nd) at 11:35 pm on Nightline ABC. The time should be the same no matter where you live. An hour and a half of discussion will be edited to about 20 minutes, but I’m told the website will have the full debate beginning on Thursday and concluding Friday.

It will be a… learning experience… should you choose to watch.

This is Jennifer’s story. It is a powerful and is shared by her in our CONFESSIONS section of the site. Check it out and pass it on if you know someone who it could help.

Jennifer’s Testimony:

I’m so excited about what you are doing at XXXChurch. I’ve got to share
my story. It’s amazing that I am even sharing it, because I lived with
my “dirty little secret” for 11 years. That’s right, I struggled with
porn addiction for ELEVEN years. And what’s even more surprising, I am a woman.

My parents gave their lives to Christ when I was four years old, so I grew up in the church. I never missed a service and was the “perfect” little church girl. Growing up, I was very insecure and tended to enjoy attention from any guy I could get it from. When I was 17, I started attending college which opened me up to the “real” world – no longer was I sheltered girl. My addiction started in the computer lab of the school library when no one was around (which was a lot believe it or not). It started as harmless chat with guys, which then turned sexual, and I was so naive of what was beginning to happen. Soon sexual chat turned to pictures of porn, and then to videos of porn, and then I was caught. My porn addiction grew as I got my own computer and internet connection in my bedroom. I was 18 years old, and I guess my parents were totally oblivious. Soon late nights at home were filled with a horrible secret that I kept completely silent. I still maintained the “perfect” girl on the outside and even
was involved in ministry at my church. I was a musician, I was a youth worker in the youth group, and was involved in several other ministries in the church. The shame and guilt of my addiction was with me DAILY. I thought something was terribly wrong with me. Porn addiction was for men only right? I was terrified that someone would find me out, and my life would be over.

My porn and sex addiction even bled over into real life. At 19, I lost my virginity and began a stream of promiscuity that led up to my marriage – all the while still attending church and still keeping my “front” up. NO ONE KNEW – or so I thought. I even tried attending a Bible college, but my porn and sex addiction caught up with me when I was caught sleeping with a guy and I was asked to leave. I returned home ashamed and embarrassed.

You would think that was my bottom, but no – there was more to come.

At 22, I met the man I married. I sure lucked out, because he was a Godly man who must have seen something inside of me worth loving – I don’t know how, because I was such a broken person inside because of the secret sin I had now been hiding for five years.

I thought my porn addiction would go away when I got married. After all, sex was available to me any time I wanted it right? I was so wrong. It got worse. Soon, it began affecting my sex life with my husband. I thought he had no idea what was going on – but he must have.

At 24, we had our first son. I would say the porn addiction laid dormant for a little while and I thought I had it beat. Of course I hadn’t, because I had never dealt with the issues that kept me going back to porn. So soon after my son was born, I started the porn again. My husband must have been praying, and he one day asked me, “Something has me worried about you and computer and I can’t figure out what it is.” Of course I lied and TOTALLY covered it up, and even gave up porn for a short while because I was terrified he would find me out. But eventually, it came right back.

We moved to a new church, and got involved in ministry right away. The porn was like a cancer eating me alive. It has totally infiltrated my marriage totally unaware to my husband, and I finally hit rock bottom. The day came when my son – who was four at the time - walked in on me viewing porn. Although he did not see anything, he could have. I had to stop this cycle of addiction and sin. I had since had another son, and every day was just a gamble on whether or not I would get caught.

I decided the “dirty little secret” had to come out. The shame and guilt were so strong, I was so afraid of someone finding out – I kept this secret at ANY cost. And the cost was going to be my marriage, and my sons. First, I decided to tell my husband. I thought he would be so angry and leave me, or expose me to the world for the rotten person I was and had become. But he didn’t – he had such a forgiving spirit and told me that I needed to share my story with others. I decided to start an Addiction Group at church and decided that I wanted to help those like me, but in turn I was helping myself. Through this group (which only consisted of two women and myself), I shared my problem, and one of them ended up having the same problem as me. Weeks and weeks we worked through the issues which made us turn to porn, and slowly God had begun to heal us.

Something definitely had been wrong inside my heart, because I was not afraid of God being able to see all that I was doing. But just because people weren’t, somehow I made that okay in my mind. A few other people came my way – and I shared my story. Men and women alike opened themselves up to me sharing that they had the SAME problem! I was amazed at the number of women though, who struggle with porn addiction. I was not alone. With every person I shared my testimony with, my shame and guilt melted away and I felt like God was showing me how this could be used for good. Eleven years of struggling with porn was finally turning around – and it was making a difference one person at a time.

It has been one year since I have been porn free. Do I ever have temptations? SURE, we all do. Thoughts sometimes enter my mind….but I have made myself accountable with the X3 Watch software and now have two accountability partners who check up on me.

I hope my testimony helps someone else out there. God has called me to share it to help the unlikely addicts of porn – WOMEN. You are not alone, you just have to get past the shame and fear, and reach out and open your mouth and talk about it.

I have already gone to our pastor about Porn Sunday, and my burden to
share my testimony. Some in our church think that’s it’s too shocking of a topic to deal with, but I am living proof of the need – even in ministry.

XXX Church, don’t stop what you are doing. This must be talked about. Silence is what kept me in addiction for so many years, and now that the fear is gone, there is such freedom!

Jennifer
29 years old
Wife and Mom

Moniker, a provider of Domain Asset Management services, continued to lead the industry in premium adult-related domain name sales having successfully brokered the sale of FreePorn, an adult entertainment portal, for US $4 million. Separately, Moniker also finalized its domain name auctions at Internext Las Vegas, grossing more than $1.5 million in domain name sales from that event.

The sale of FreePorn marks one of the largest two-word domain name sales in history and is the largest domain transaction of 2008, to date. The site was launched in 1996 and has consistently been one of the largest portals of free, adult entertainment on the Web. The site has continually gown in page and traffic rank according to Alexa.

“A marketable domain name is crucial to the success of any online adult entertainment business, perhaps more so than in any other industry,” said Monte Cahn, co-founder and President of Moniker. “FreePorn is generic in nature, helping its new owner benefit from direct navigation and general in- bound inquires directed at the site daily.”

Fox News business - Domain sale 4 million

As many of you know, XXXchurch stays out of telling you how to vote or when to vote. We do urge you to check out our new campaign Porn Is Bipartisan.

Yesteday was Super Duper Tuesday and Sunday was the Superbowl. A couple things from these events that bothered me. Sore losers.

1. James Dobson, the influential founder of the conservative, evangelical advocacy group Focus on the Family, has delivered a blow to John McCain — by saying he won’t vote for him if he’s the Republican presidential nominee. “I am convinced Sen. McCain is not a conservative, and in fact, has gone out of his way to stick his thumb in the eyes of those who are … I cannot, and will not, vote for Sen. John McCain, as a matter of conscience,” he said in a statement on Tuesday. “I believe this general election will offer the worst choices for president in my lifetime. I certainly can’t vote for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama based on their virulently anti-family policy positions. If these are the nominees in November, I simply will not cast a ballot for president for the first time in my life,” he said. Dobson said he was just expressing his views as a private citizen — but many of his millions of followers in the evangelical community, who listen to his radio show and read his books, will take it as a signal to do the same. Read More.

2. If you watched the confusing last seconds of the Super Bowl, you might think that Bad Loser Bill was confused or that he thought the game was actually over. But, then you saw him nearly knock over referee Mike Carey to perform his obligatory “hug” of the winning coach Tom Coughlin. Staying on the field until the last possible breath of hope is gone is the very least you can expect of an athlete or a coach. Call it protocol, tradition, or simple class. It’s what people do. When you ditch the last seconds of a brutal loss like that, you are literally turning your back on your team. Heck, if every coach who was sick of losing a big game were to leave when it was obvious his team would not win, Marv Levy and Dan Reeves would have shown us their tail lights by halftime during some years. When you lose, be a bigger man than the guy who just beat you. Shake his hand. Offer sincere congratulations. And then you can retreat to a dark room and pout. Belichick doesn’t get it, and probably never will. But the media and the league seem to walk around him in fear. For a league that fines players $10,000 for wearing an unapproved hat to media day, how come they didn’t have the balls to fine Belichick for leaving the field early? Read More.

The Porn Debate is hitting Universities across the country in the next few months. A highlight of the circuit is Sex Week at the prestigious Yale University in Connecticut. Every year they have an entire week dedicated to sex. Ron and Craig are invited to duke it out in the Porn Debate.

The debate will be moderated and televised by ABC News Nightline, with host Martin Bashir and feature former porn producer Donny Pauling with Craig and a current female actress with Ron.

About: “Sex Week explores love, sex, intimacy and relationships by focusing on how sexuality is manifested in America, helping students to reconcile these issues in their own lives.” We can agree that is a good thing and regardless…we are are excited they are having the discussion at the Porn Debate on the day after Valentines Day, Friday Feb 15th.

If you are close by any of the tour dates come out and show your support! Be sure to call ahead to the college to see if tickets are available to the public and get there early as it always sells out.

02.05.08 - Pullman, WA - Washington State University

02.13.08 - Johnson City, TN - East Tennessee State University

02.15.08 - New Haven, CT - Yale University
(CLOSED TO PUBLIC)

02.21.08 - Athens, OH - Ohio University

04.09.08 - Canton, NY - St. Lawrence University