AUGUSTA, GA - Did you look twice? I did. When I got the press release, I assumed it was a typo. Is Porn Sunday some new pagan practice where the congregation collectively meditates on lewd pictures? I knew I had to look into this one.

I showed up for the precursor to Porn Sunday to hear a Sex Talk series. The worship was one of the most amped-up contemporary ones I’ve attended, complete with automated colored laser lights and a smoke machine.

After worship, the pastor launched into his sermon by admitting he felt as awkward talking about sex in church as we did. Adultery and porn are problems in Christian marriages, he said, which is why churches should address the issues.

They used the Porn Sunday idea created by XXXChurch.com, an online Christian site founded by a evangelist pastor Craig Goss. XXXChurch creates promotional items for churches, each targeted at helping break people from sex or porn addiction through Christianity.

Promotional video segments, available on YouTube, feature former porn producers who have given up working in the industry and who have committed their lives to Christianity.

Their motto is “Jesus Loves Porn Stars.”

The holiday… or observance… has even received national news — mostly because the name is so catchy. Hey, I was hooked from the moment I read it.

In Focus Church created its own sex series in conjunction with Porn Sunday.

I was nervous that the service would be one long, awkward moment, but the pastor disarmed the tension with humor as he outlined slippery slope behaviors to avoid.

Never be alone with the opposite sex, he said. Never confide in the opposite sex about one’s marriage. Finally, he said, the best way to have intimacy in marriage is to water your own grass. Yep, I had a record scratch moment there, too.

The grass isn’t greener on the other side, he explained. Your neighbors just take better care of their lawns. If you want figurative green grass in your marriage, you have to take care of your spouse. It was pretty much common sense.

At first, even the idea of saying the word “sex” in church made me a little uneasy. I kept wondering how many other people were, like me, there only to hear the sex talk.

It’s likely that’s why a large number of people in the crowded sanctuary were there. As the pastor admits in his blog, since they began the sex series, their attendance has gone up by about 20 percent. Sex sells, he wrote in his blog.

Not that the church is doing this for money. Given that almost 50 percent of marriages end in divorce, about half of you reading this column probably need to attend.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some yard work to do.


In Focus Church
562 Old Evans Rd., Evans
706-798-0123
infocuschurch.org

Pastor: Brent Garrard
Founded: 1986
Attendance: 300