Summer 2013 // fireproofministries.com
I’m excited.
I hope you’re excited, too. What you are currently holding in your hands is something we are pretty pumped about here at Fireproof Ministries. In fact, I’d say this issue of the magazine is the closest we’ve gotten yet to the heartbeat of our ministry. The fact is, we do a lot of things here at Fireproof, but at the core of it all is The Great Commission, that part at the end of the book of Matthew, when Jesus commands his people to “go and make disciples of all nations.” « Matthew 28:19 Go out into the world and tell people about Me. Show them what I am like. That’s what Jesus left his disciples to do, and that’s what He has called you and me and everyone else who follows Him to do. It’s tempting sometimes to think, “Oh, that’s for someone else to do” or “that’s for this organization that I care about to do.” And while that can be true, the fact is: we all play a part. I often joke about being called “the porn pastor” (my mom still doesn’t understand it, but that’s okay), but the bottom line is: because I’m the porn pastor, I have a voice in people’s lives—people in the porn industry who would otherwise never hear about Jesus or see a demonstration of His love. The reason I’m the porn pastor is not just to set people free from porn, but also to introduce and show off Jesus to the people who make it.
http://tinyurl.com/nightlinex3
Watch Ron and Craig on ABC’s Nightline.
At Fireproof, we do outreach in a different way than a lot of people think it should be done, but it works for us. Our hope is that we inspire others to do outreach in a way that works for them. We’re calling this the “Outreach Issue,” where we focus on the ways we do outreach, the people we connect with during our outreaches, and the people we inspire through our outreach. You’ll meet some of the outstanding leaders who head up our porn show outreaches, as well as learn about a couple of other ministries who were inspired by our outreach model to dive into the separate worlds of video game enthusiasts and MMA fighters. You’ll also hear from a man who produces some of the major porn conventions … and learn what he thinks about XXXchurch. I hope you dig in as you read this, but more than that, I hope you read this issue with a considerate heart. That you consider joining us on an outreach. That you consider the ways you can reach people in your city. That you consider how you can show Jesus to the world around you.
Enjoy!
This past August, XXXchurch celebrated ten years in ministry, and as part of that celebration, we set goals for the next ten years. After only a few months into our next decade of ministry, we’re already seeing some amazing progress in all the different areas we targeted for growth, like city-level ministries, church partners, people in recovery, people getting accountable, fundraising, and awareness. We would like to invite you to revisit those goals with us and note our progress by visiting X3goals.com and checking up on every aspect of this next decade of XXXchurch. Thank you for your support.
Track our progress online at
www.x3goals.com
100 new city ministries 1,000 Church Partners 10,000 people in recovery 100,000 Bibles given away 1,000,000 Accountable
10,000,000 Dollars raised
P.S. I know many of you heard about Ron Jeremy, who suffered a heart aneurism in February. It was scary for awhile, and though he is doing better now, he still has a long way to go to get back to the level of health where he was. I know his eyes are more open now than ever to the Lord; please continue to keep him in your prayers.
100,000,000 aware
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o the casual observer, J. Handy would seem to be an ordinary Philadelphia resident. He is happily married, with a young family of two children, ages one and four. They don’t live a lavish lifestyle of mansions and summer homes—they are, in most ways, the prototypical middle-class family, with Handy living the American dream of owning his own business and dividing his time between his family and his career. Ah, but that career. Handy has been around the trade-show industry for much of his working life; in 2005 he found a financial partner and struck out on his own, starting up his very own tradeshow production company. During that first year, they produced a few unrelated shows before Handy hit upon the idea that would change everything. “We came up with the idea of an adultconsumer-based event,” Handy says.
A porn show. “We shy away from ‘porn-ification,’” Handy clarifies, “and instead call it a ‘celebration of the sexy.’ It’s a way for like-minded adults to showcase and experience the adult industry.” And so Exxxotica was born. The “largest event in the USA dedicated to love and sex” began in South Beach, Florida in 2006, and has since grown into four major markets across the country, expanding every year, with somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 attendants at each show.
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Despite its non-family-friendly subject matter, Exxxotica is somewhat of a family affair for Handy. Before the couple had children, his wife helped with many aspects of producing the show; Handy’s
mother and stepfather have also lent their hands to create a successful show, and have since day one.
The outside would dictate that we are an odd pairing, but on the inside, it isn’t that way at all.”
“My stepdad runs the VIP room,” Handy says. “My mom helps, too. [There are only] four people [who] have never missed a show: me, my mom, my stepdad, and Ron Jeremy.”
Indeed, XXXchurch has become such a feature of Exxxotica that the ministry is now an indelible part of the “family feel” Handy strives for amongst his exhibitors.
But there is another entity that has been there since almost the very beginning: XXXchurch.
“The beauty of it is that XXXchurch is always there, and now everyone kinda knows who they are. The attendees are always entertained by the marketing side of what they do, and [within the industry], those ‘Jesus Loves Porn Stars’ Bibles have become kind of a commodity.”
“When we first learned about them, I didn’t know what it was until at the first show. We have over a hundred exhibitors, and a lot of them have three Xs in the name. I didn’t think much of it until we got on site and [their] people started handing out the ‘Jesus Loves Porn Stars’ Bibles.” Handy chuckles. “I thought it was a gimmick still, even then … and then I realized it was a real Bible.” At this point in the story it would be tempting to inject some antagonism between a pro-porn trade show and an anti-porn ministry. But you’d have to work really hard and use your imagination to see it, because as far as Handy is concerned, he’s happy to have XXXchurch on site at every Exxxotica.
But what about XXXchurch’s message? Doesn’t that seem
The outside would dictate that we are an odd pairing, but on the inside, it isn’t that way at all.
Yes, seeing a ministry inside a porn show “was surprising initially,” says Handy, “but honestly, the beauty of it is—right down to the crazy protesters outside our show— everyone has free speech. Our show itself is founded on that. So for us to want to think negative or act negative toward someone who wants to say what they want to say would be hypocritical.” That makes sense, but surely Handy is indicating that he’s happy to take XXXchurch’s entry fee and then give the ministry a wide berth at the show itself. Not so, says Handy. “It’s been a longstanding relationship. To be honest with you, [these are the kinds of people] who, if [they were] my neighbor, we’d just sit down and have dinner and not think twice about it.
antithetical to Exxotica’s purpose? Handy doesn’t see it that way. “Any industry based on a vice has to realize that, if used incorrectly, it can have a negative impact on people’s lives. The same thing goes for sex, drugs, rock and roll. All those things need to be done in moderation. If porn is ruining someone’s lives, the last thing we [at Exxxotica] want is to contribute to that. We’re all adults and everyone has that freedom of choice and the freedom to speak and act to their own devices. We don’t want to put the booze in an alcoholic’s hand, but everyone has to be responsible for themselves.”
Visit to join an upcoming outreach See page 17 for more details on how to serve
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Serve
with us!
Show Choir
The Chorus of People Heading Up Porn Show Outreach by Adam Palmer XXXchurch was founded on the idea of taking Jesus out of the church, off the pew, and into the world where He is needed most. There are few vices in our culture which have more perceived seediness to them than pornography, and so it made sense that XXXchurch’s first outreach ever should be to a porn show.
find common ground, to find things to talk about with people at the shows.”
That history has been well-documented. But ever since that very first outreach, taking the light of Jesus into porn shows has become a foundational element of the work we do at XXXchurch. In many ways, this is the backbone of our ministry.
“I told [my wife], ‘I’ll be outside praying for you,’” Savage says, recalling his own life-changing moment. “I was on the beach and got a word from Jesus, and He said, ‘I’m not holding you out of this place—you’re holding yourself out.’”
But what kind of person goes in? What do they do?
Can you do it? According to XXXchurch porn show vet Leslie Hawkins, who heads up outreaches in the Pacific Northwest, the answer to that last question is a resounding “yes.” “I have nothing in common with people in the industry—except everything,” Hawkins says. “They’re people just like me. They’re women like me. They’re men like my husband. It’s easier than you think to
Over on the other side of the country, in south Florida, Tim Savage discovered the same thing about himself while his wife Sandra went with XXXchurch into a porn show in Miami.
Indeed, both Hawkins and Savage have put their fingers on a universal truth about this type of outreach, which is that everyone has something to offer the people inside a porn show. Savage elaborates: “It’s like a pirate ship—you have all these people doing different things; you know who’s leading and where it’s going, but no one thinks they’re bigger than anyone else or better than anyone. It’s a ministry of beggars helping other beggars find bread. It’s such a great group of people who aren’t looking for overnight, bite-sized relationships; we’re looking for long-term ministry and family relationships. We know Jesus is calling us to the same destination.”
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Black Sheep Amanda Carrasco certainly understands Savage’s analogy. She is a self-proclaimed former “black sheep” who now spearheads XXXchurch and Strip Church efforts throughout Canada. Says Carrasco: “At one time, I felt like I wasn’t good enough for the church. Like I wasn’t loved. And I needed to have those lies broken down, because that’s not true! So now I get to help other people identify those lies in their own hearts; that’s why they’re involved in what they’re doing, whether they’re producing or consuming [porn]. This is an amazing way to tell people, ‘Grace is good enough. You don’t have to clean up to come to church.’” Carrasco didn’t start off with this level of understanding about who she would find at the porn shows, however. Her first exposure to XXXchurch came in 2009, when she discovered the website and had a far different feeling about it than she has now.
“I learned that they actually go to porn shows, and I thought it was ridiculous and the opposite of what Christians should be doing,” Carrasco says. However, after doing a little research on the team, she changed her mind. “I saw their whole heart for people who didn’t feel loved by the church or judged—and that resonated with me.” Back to Savage, though, who spent ten years soaking his life in drugs, alcohol, strip clubs, pornography, and, in his words, “inappropriate relationships.” For him, going to a porn show has become personal. “That culture is made up of people I really understand,” he says, calling porn show attendees “my people.” “I was there. [Those are] people who are going after life really hard and fast. I do that now with Jesus, but only because someone took the time to trust me to hear from Jesus rather than shoving Jesus down my throat. [Now I can] lead and temper the conversations people have, trusting the Holy Spirit. Whether it’s a man or a woman, whether it’s a provider [of porn] or a user, they’re all in that bubble and I hurt for them.”
4o,ooo bibles a year
Johannesburg
over 1oo people per year serving on our outreach teams
LondonChicago newyork LasVegas Toronto miami Sydney
Brisbane Melbourne
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Outreach Outcome “Thank You For Your Time”
While we were putting together this issue of the magazine, we received this email in the XXXchurch inbox:
8-1o shows per year Savage continues, speaking with rapid-fire intensity, “I had to hit rock-bottom and drag myself into a church before I could meet Jesus—I never would’ve imagined someone bringing him to where I was. My life would be totally different if someone had done that. Anytime I’m in the middle of a convention, I get to do what nobody else did for me.” For Rachel Collins, the motivations may be less personal but they are no less different. For the past eight years, Collins has been helping with porn show outreaches in southern California, where she is also a youth pastor, and she loves the consistency she’s had—and the lifestyle changes she’s been able to see. “Seeing girls get out, watching them get out of this business—it’s a struggle but they’re making it through. Some of them take years, but we’re able to be with them every step of the way. We have this beautiful situation where we can be with people along the journey, and they get out and then help others get out.”
The Power of Story One thing that can be assured after a porn show outreach: there will be stories. From casual encounters to life-changing relationships, there are always a few stories worth telling. For Carl Thomas, coordinator for outreaches in New Jersey, the indelible story from one recent show has to do with a couple who had driven six hours through the devastation of the recently-passed Hurricane Sandy in order to attend a porn convention. “They drove that far into unknown territory that had just been hit by a natural disaster, just to go to a porn show,” recalls Thomas. “We were talking about that, and I said, ‘Wow, you guys must really like your porn, huh?’ The woman was really pushing the conversation, telling me about how she thinks the women [in porn] are beautiful and sexy, and then she said, ‘I know guys think that’s sexy, so I’d like to come and see what’s going on.’” That thought process struck a nerve with Thomas. “She was
My name is Brittni. I used to be an adult “star.” I met Rachel [pictured at left] several times at the Exxxotica conventions. I would stop by the XXXchurch booth to see her—she is so beautiful, I absolutely love and adore her. I want to give her the most amazing praise report. Thank you, Jesus, I found him. I am home!
It has been a long seven-year journey of porn, prostitution, stripping, drugs, alcohol, and several failed suicide attempts. But I made it! Little did I ever know I would stumble upon XXXchurch again since leaving the adult industry. Well you guys found me, or I found you, or it is simply in God’s plan. [A friend] stumbled across your magazine in our pastor’s office and passed it on to me. I could not believe my eyes when I realized, “Wow! These are the ‘Jesus Loves Porn Stars’ people!” Then I saw Rachel’s picture and I just had to let her know that I am saved! I want to thank her for all of her kind words and loving spirit. I don’t know if she realizes how she impacted me or not, but her being so kind and non-judgmental always felt so good. I never felt love in my life and was looking for it in all the wrong places. It felt great to speak to woman as beautiful as Rachel who would tell me I was her favorite and just have normal, non-porn, girl talk. Please tell her that I thank her from the bottom of my heart and I will never forget what she has done for me. I will be attending the seminar in September and I cannot wait to see her in a completely different light. I have finally encountered the unconditional love of God and I will never go back. Thank you for your time.
View a conversation with Brittni and Rachel at tinyurl.com/brittnivideo
OF MINISTR O R P E IES FIR SENTS PRE
Join us for Bowlfest! Our only fundraiser of the year is coming. Meet the staff, board and supporters and have a great time while we raise funds to support the work of Fireproof. Join us in seattle for a great evening!
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For more details and to sign up, visit Summer 2013 // fireproofministries.com
[Note: this email was edited for clarity and length.]
myxxxchurch.com/bowlfest
reaching over 25o,ooo people per year thinking, ‘If I can learn something off these women, then maybe I’ll look better to men.’ She was a nurse, was articulate, was very friendly and personable … she had a lot going for her, and yet she’s driving six hours to a porn show so she can feel sexier.” He decided to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. “So I said, ‘What are you worried about? Do you really think you need to look like a porn star to be sexy?’ She responded in a self-demeaning way, so I said, ‘Yeah, but you’re beautiful. What are you worried about?’ Her eyes widened and she said, ‘Really?’ You could tell she wasn’t used to being told she was a beautiful person. I wasn’t talking about her being hot; she was just a beautiful person. She was finally able to hear her own value.” Oftentimes conversations go like that, and they aren’t always with people in the industry. Collins recalls a time when her team was able to make a connection with another vendor. “There was a woman across from us who had never been in pornography,” Collins remembers, “but she was trying to sell something at a booth—we found out she was a young, single mom and she was just trying to make ends meet by selling this homemade sex toy.” Though this may sound like just another person trying to make a buck off pornography, it didn’t turn out that way. Continues Collins, “This woman had never done porn, but all these guys were trying to get her involved in the business, to sign up to do porn. She was visibly uncomfortable with what was going on, so she found
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safety in our booth. We were able to pray with her for peace, and in that moment, we were able to help her and love her and let her know what the industry does to you if you get involved in it.” It was a sweet time of ministry for Collins, but the sentiment that comes next is possibly all the sweeter: “I don’t know where she is now, but we had those few days with her and so we seized the opportunity. God can do the rest.”
Far-Reaching Effects Doing outreach at a porn show may be rewarding spiritually, but it does require some financial backing, a fact that Carrasco knows all too well. When she first approached her senior pastor about investing in a porn show outreach, her family had been attending that church for only five months. “I was sure he was going to laugh me out of the building,” she says. But no, it went the other way as she began to see God’s hand of provision. “I told our senior pastor it was going to cost $13,000, and though he’d never heard of XXXchurch before, he agreed to give me $2000 to get us started and that was what we needed at that time. I put the rest of the cost on my credit card, and we were off and running! We didn’t have the money, we didn’t have a team, I was 38 weeks pregnant with our third child when we did the show … and God showed up. And He’s continued to
Summer 2013 // fireproofministries.com
show up every time over the last four years.” That wasn’t the last time Carrasco was financially surprised, as evidenced by an experience she had while seeking out supporters one year for Bowlfest, the annual XXXchurch fundraiser. “I had more non-Christians signed up to support me than I did Christians!” she says with legitimate amazement. “They may not believe in Christ, but they believe in people who are willing to step out and say that Jesus loves them regardless of where they are, or to apologize for what the church has done to them.” It is indeed fascinating to see the ways porn show outreaches can have far-reaching effects. Carl Thomas’s wife does not volunteer with XXXchurch or go to shows, but she does occasionally share her husband’s Facebook status updates from shows, which has given her a certain amount of notoriety among the faculty and staff of the public school where she works. “All the teachers and principals in [my wife’s] school know that I go to porn shows and hand out bibles,” Thomas recounts, “and that’s opened up some great conversations for her. She’ll have non-Christian coworkers come up to her and talk to her about whatever—they realize she won’t be judgmental because of what I do. One of them even referred to her as ‘my moral compass.’ It makes her relatable. So what I’m doing bleeds into her life and has given her a lot of opportunities in her workplace to share Christ.” ...Continued on page 21
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Now that you’ve heard all about the XXXchurch outreaches, we’d like to offer a couple of responses...
GO
GO:
Industry
Have you been part of the sex industry? Have you left the life of stripping or making porn? Or do you have a heart to help others find their way out of the industry? If so, contact michelle@xxxchurch.com to learn how you can become a part of our industry team.
GO:
Show Inspired to join the XXXchurch team on an outreach? You can do it in just a few simple steps:
Go to MyXXXchurch.com/apply Step 2 Select an available trip from the list provided Step 3 Fill out the trip application Step 4 Wait for us to review your application and approve it Step 5 Start fundraising for that trip through MyXXXchurch.com Each trip has a local team leader who will contact you and get you set up with details on travel, lodging, and team introductions. Once show time rolls around, this leader will also help you get trained and will then lead you through the entire ministry experience. We’re excited to meet you and are encouraged that you’d consider joining us! fireproof Step 1
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GIVE Give
Give
Prayer We don’t say this lightly: we covet your prayers. Being on the front lines of ministry can be exhausting emotionally and spiritually. Please pray for our teams as they go, for our leadership as they guide, and for new frontiers of ministry to open up to XXXchurch. If you’d like to be put on the prayer needs list for XXXchurch, please email your contact information to ginny@xxxchurch.com
Give
Bibles
One of our porn show mainstays is the “Jesus Loves Porn Stars” bible—these hot items give us a great way to open a line of communication with those we meet inside the porn shows, as well as being, you know, a bible that they take home with them. What better way to spread God’s love than to get someone to take a bible home with them? You can help us hand out these bibles by giving them. Visit myxxxchurch.com/bibles to purchase bibles for our porn show teams.
Give
Yourself
Finances
You can always support XXXchurch.com financially with your tax-deductible donation. Visit xxxchurch.com/donate to give or send your gift to PO Box 50048, PasAdena, CA 91115.
Along those lines, we are currently lining up funding so we can open up avenues of ministry in the following cities: Brisbane, Australia Sydney, Australia Melbourne, Australia Perth, Australia Calgary, Canada London, England Johannesburg, South Africa
If you feel called to help us, please contact ryan@xxxchurch.com
We at XXXchurch don’t have the market cornered on doing stuff; go do something in your own city! See a need? Fill it! This ministry started with hearing the word “porn” during a prayer time, and then brainstorming on ways to put that prayer into action. What words are you hearing when you pray? Grab some friends and go do something crazy for God’s kingdom.
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by Noah Adams
XXXchurch’s porn show outreaches typically elicit a host of adjectives from onlookers. “Crazy” is often one of them, as is “outrageous.” Our porn show model can be polarizing, with detractors on both sides of the debate telling us we shouldn’t be where we are. But one phrase we often hear from the average person exposed to the idea of XXXchurch’s porn show outreach is this: “I could never do that.” Some people who say this mean they could never lower themselves from their lofty, selfrighteous perch to mingle with “sinners,” and other people mean their struggles are so great they couldn’t handle the temptation of walking into the hub of their addiction. Most people, though, say “I could never do that” as though doing this type of outreach is brave and unattainable, as though it requires a special type of person or some inherent set of qualities that are available only to a select few. They look at us and say “I could never do that” in the same way they would say it to Batman or the President of the United States.
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However, there are those few who look at our outreach model and say unequivocally, “I can—and will—do that.” Mikee Bridges and Josh Boyd are such people. First, Bridges. As an unabashed iconoclast, Bridges definitely fits readily into the mold associated with XXXchurch outreaches. He owns and operates The Armory, a 5000-square-foot space dedicated entirely to video games, for both pro and amateur gamers alike. There came a time when Bridges found himself at a marketing showcase at an evangelism conference, listening to XXXchurch’s Ryan Russell give a talk about doing outreaches as a nonprofit organization. Russell referred to a brothel using coarse, PG-13-rated terminology, and, according to Bridges, “I fell in love with him right then.” “I like broken and dirty ministry and stuff that no one else is doing,” says Bridges. “Talking about stuff you’re not ‘supposed’ to talk about. Being honest. Brutally, almost
Summer 2013 // fireproofministries.com
embarrassingly honest. I love Jesus and I want people to know Him and who He is, and I want to do it on the terms of culture, whether that be tattoos or music or video games or porn or whatever, I want to be able to go talk to people. I’d rather talk to people about Jesus in a bar than a church.” And so Bridges picked Russell’s brain about the XXXchurch model of doing outreach at porn shows. The pair spent the evening talking about mission, evangelism, and Jesus—and then Bridges adapted the model to the gaming industry and GameChurch was born. “We … tweaked the model and then spent [a year] researching the gaming industry to see if there was a need, then started doing what XXXchurch does, but at video game conventions: Jesus loves you, you can have this Bible, talking, conversations, follow-up. And last year we gave out 30,000 Bibles.” Like XXXchurch, GameChurch often finds people looking askew at them, waiting for the other shoe to drop. In fact, Bridges revels in this.
“We like when someone’s coming up to figure out what angle we’re coming from, or what we’re trying to get out of them. When they find out we’re not, they’re stunned. There are countless times when people will uncomfortably stare at you because they don’t have the words. They’re waiting for the punch line or the Christianese, and we don’t have that. We extract all that and tell them simply, ‘Jesus loves you and there’s nothing you can do about it.’” Josh Boyd is also blessedly ignorant of punch lines, though he knows a thing or two about punches themselves—he is the Executive Director of FightChurch, an outreach to mixed martial arts fighters headquartered in Las Vegas. A long-time supporter of XXXchurch while a youth pastor in Indiana, Boyd moved to Vegas to plant a church a few years ago; while that church didn’t take root, a love of outside-thecage outreach did, and Boyd began seeking ways to become a chaplain within organized MMA. It wasn’t easy, Boyd says.
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“I had to do a lot of convincing and have a lot of meetings with gym managers to show I was legit, that I only wanted to build relationships with these fighters and minister to them.” But now? “Two and a half years later, we have a solid relationship in the MMA community in Vegas; they respect us and welcome us with open arms.” That relationship wasn’t built through toothy smiles or slick marketing. According to Boyd, it was built on service—service inspired by what Boyd had seen in the XXXchurch outreach model. continued from page 4...
Handy has apparently thought this through, because he has a ready metaphor to describe the difference between XXXchurch and the vocal religious protesters who often occupy the sidewalk outside an Exxxotica show. “XXXchurch recognizes that, to get someone’s interest or to speak with the people they want to speak with, it requires those people to come to them,” Handy says. “It’s like the difference between Facebook and Myspace. On Myspace you could bug people to join you; on Facebook, you have to be patient and let people come to you. So when you do what XXXchurch does, it works.” When it comes to XXXchurch’s ministry methods, Handy has nothing but respect. And, it seems, is able to articulate XXXchurch’s methodology better than many Christians: “XXXchurch lets people come to them; I’ve never seen a XXXchurch member aggressively going after someone to have a religious dialogue, like, ‘What do I need to do to get you in this religion today,’” Handy says. “I would rather have 100 people who came to me than 1000 people I had to scream at to join my group.”
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“The major thing we took from XXXchurch is that they go to the porn stars, they go to the strippers. That’s what we do. We go to weigh-ins, to fight events, to training. We meet the fighters, but we also volunteer at any event to serve—we hand out water, we wind camera cords, we open the gates when fighters go out, we wipe blood off the mats.” Wiping up fighters’ blood is only a small part of FightChurch’s impact, though. Boyd’s ministry requires the same type of single-minded, focused dedication that a successful MMAer would have. “There aren’t scheduled practices like in a team sport,” Boyd says, “so in order to minister to these guys, you have to meet with everyone individually. A lot of them are training six days a week, eight hours a day, and they have parttime jobs. A lot of our ministry has to be done every day, all day, in the corner of a gym or meeting a guy between jobs working security at clubs to stocking groceries overnight.” He continues: “These guys are all young—in their early twenties, mostly—they have girlfriends or wives and young kids, so they’re scraping to get by and live their dream. They don’t have a salary—they’re getting paid a couple hundred bucks to show up for a fight—if they’re a pro. The amateurs don’t get paid a cent. I’ve been working with one pro, who had his first fight, and he got paid $250. For three months of training. “It keeps me going to know these guys really need our help with spiritual and practical needs, and they’re not being reached by anyone else. I’ve never bumped into anyone else who is out and about ministering to this community.”
Show Choir
do this ministry, and I get to show them how to love and respect and cherish these women, and not because of their bodies but because of who they are. I’m loving them with my life.” It is that component of porn show outreach— the part where new people join the team or come along for the ride—where many of the XXXchurch coordinators seem to come alive. Says Hawkins: “My husband and I have led a group from our church for the last four years. We do it as a couple. We get together a group of several people, most of whom have never done this before, who are afraid of stepping out, who are afraid of the unknown. But it’s amazing to bring in these people who are so open and to train them up and to watch them become passionate about this ministry.”
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Carrasco has noticed similar tendencies among the nonChristians in her social circle. “I’ve found that I am a lot more approachable now—even if people aren’t struggling with porn, but are struggling with something else. They think, ‘Amanda can tell people ‘Jesus loves porn stars,’ so maybe she’ll be able to talk with me about what I’m going through.’”
Take It Home Over her years of involvement, Rachel Collins has become a sort-of Swiss army knife of ministry, providing a variety of needs and reaching into different areas as those needs arise, from porn shows to strip clubs to anywhere else she sees hurting people.
That sort of passion is exactly what keeps people like Leslie Hawkins, Carl Thomas, Amanda Carrasco, Rachel Collins, and Tim Savage—and plenty of other XXXchurch volunteers—going, year after year, back to the porn shows. Savage especially appreciates the longevity of the relationships he’s forming. “You know the truth will [win out],” he says, “and you know it’s a long-term investment. Once you’ve experienced it, you can’t go back.” Hawkins agrees: “One thing we like to accomplish … is to let people know that they can do this type of outreach, that it’s not too crazy or out there, and hope they take that fire for God back home with them.”
“I want nothing from these women,” she says. “I want to serve them. But then I also get to help people who want to
Like Bridges, Boyd likes to stand outside the traditional church model of ministry to go to those who live outside the norm. “[Many of these fighters] aren’t going to darken the door of a church, so we help them out with groceries or whatever, and we’re able to share the love of Christ with them. For some reason, [some] churches can’t get behind what we do because of the fighting—the violence. But that’s just a platform. What we do is about people.” FightChurch and GameChurch exist because two different men looked at XXXchurch and said, “I can do that.” So now the question becomes: what can you do?
Summer 2013 // fireproofministries.com
fireproof Summer 2013 // fireproofministries.com
fireproof
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Fireproof ministries
2012 financial summary
414k
management
staff, contractors, Professional Fees
total income
460K 664K + 93K $1,217,000
Contributions
513k Resources & Programs xxxchurch, x3watch, outreach, strip church, & heart support
Resources x3pure, x3watch,
products, affiliates
Services/Speaking
Total Income
total expenses
$1,187,000 100k
Administration
Office, INsurance, Supplies, Bank Fees
99k Travel Expenses 61k fundraising
Expense and events
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fireproof
fireproof Summer 2013 // fireproofministries.com
Summer 2013 // fireproofministries.com
fireproof
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fireproof Fireproof Ministries PO Box 50048 Pasadena CA 91115
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