I shared this vision, stories and goals last night for some of our supporters. Here is most of what I shared.. Hope you enjoy and join with us. 

My wife Jeanette plucked a gray hair from my scalp the other day. I’ve lost a little bit of hair over the years and have had a number of different haircuts, but the gray was a first.

Ten years before I got that gray hair, I sat at PF Chang’s in Southern California with Mike Foster and Jake Larson talking about an idea for a “Christian porn site.” We thought of the name “XXXchurch.com,” and as soon as lunch was over, I rushed back to the office to register it before anyone else could.

We had an idea and a domain name. And not much else.

I didn’t need another thing to do. Fireproof Ministries kept me busy with youth events across the country, while “Craig and Jake LIVE” was traveling the globe week-in and week-out, speaking to thousands of junior high and high school kids.

But I was convinced we must do this.

Mike handled web design and web basics and I worked on creating content and planning for launch. Our initial budget was in place:

$5,000 for the website $5,000 to launch it

Launching at the AVN Adult Expo in Las Vegas was a no-brainer. 9/11 had dominated the headlines for four months and I figured maybe people would be interested in something besides security alerts, terrorism, and a new war on terror. Turns out they were: we met people who were friendly and genuinely seemed excited about our mission. We had no plans for another show, another trip, or the next few years. No five-year plan.

I have been a Christian for a long time—I was a youth pastor before I was “the porn pastor”—but in four days at that show, I interacted with people I would never have a chance to meet if I was still a youth pastor working inside the walls of a church. It changed me. It changed my worldview. It changed the way I see Christ and how I talk about Him. It gave me permission to speak freely about Christ.

It gave me a purpose.

 

I headed from Vegas right back into a “Craig and Jake LIVE” winter camp in Prescott, Arizona. One week I am talking to porn stars Jenna Jameson and Ron Jeremy and the following weekend I am sharing Jesus with a seventh-grade kid who just hit puberty while at church camp.

While I was there, our little launch at the AVN Adult Expo turned into a international news story. The Los Angeles Times wrote about it, the Associated Press picked up the story, and we suddenly had a global audience.

We tried playing catch-up. The [email protected] inbox was through-the-roof with requests from people who needed help, or just some hope. Mike was leading worship and involved in other projects and I had all the responsibility of Fireproof Ministries. We had zero administrators, no one full-time—or even part-time—to devote to this ministry. Those first two years were tough. We wanted to do it all, but our lack of resources forced us to keep our goals simple.

Almost two years to the day after that fateful lunch, while we were being filmed for the documentary Missionary Positions, Mike followed through on his initial plan, handed me the reins, and told me to “take it and run with it.”

This was real. I smiled, thanked Mike, and drove away to a wave of emotions. I was:

Scared

Overwhelmed

Excited

Driven

Motivated

Alone

I knew I could take this and run with it, but did I want to? Did I want to be known as “The Porn Pastor?” Was there anything wrong with being that guy?

I started to wonder. We are changing lives. We are providing hope. We are sharing Jesus with people.

The motivation behind XXXchurch.com for me was, “Who else is going to do this?” If I quit because it is too tough, why did we even start this in the first place? The work is not done. Are we going to eradicate pornography from the internet? NO. Was that ever the goal? No.

Thank You to the board of directors, you guys are amazing and blown away by the support.

Our staff and volunteers you guys are incredible and could not or would not want to do this without you.

Our supporters. you guys are incredible and we are grateful for you. 

I don’t know everything that is next. I can assure you that we are not finished. I can assure you that I will be here. I don’t have plans and aspirations to do something else. I am content, fulfilled and still as:

Scared

Overwhelmed

Excited

Driven

Motivated

but no longer ALONE thanks to all of you.

It sounds crazy to say, but I think we are just getting started. I do believe the best days are in front of us. We are committed to being the leading resource in this field. We are committed to go to the places where most religious folks run from. We are committed to lead the conversation online and offline on all things related to porn and sex issues and addiction.

 

As we celebrate ten years of lives impacted through XXXchurch, we wanted to take a break from honoring the past and spend a little time looking toward the future. God is working ahead of us, preparing the way for His message of hope and love to be shared with more people than ever before. The obstacles may be large, but we are confident in God’s leading and direction. With that in mind, here are some goals we have for the next ten years of XXXchurch:

100 new city ministries

We will train and equip local leaders to launch outreaches to the sex industry in their city. Since 2011, we have trained leaders who have started successful outreaches in more than 30 cities. We believe this is just the beginning! Our vision is to create the largest network of trained individuals doing outreach in the sex industry. The goal is for the network to add 100 new cities and become a catalyst for the love of Jesus to transform entire groups of people who have never experienced such grace.

1,000 church partners

We will partner with 1000 churches to reach people through events like Porn Sunday, Porn & Pancakes, Porn & Pastries, & Parenting Events. We are committed to building partnerships with 1000 churches over the next 10 years. Through national PornSunday and other speaking events we will reach this goal.

10,000 people in recovery

We will put 10,000 people in recovery programs online, X3groups or in local recovery groups. Once the secret of addiction is discovered everyone needs a place to recover and grow. In 2008, we launched our 30 day online recovery program called X3Pure. This program alongside of X3groups has served as the #1 online resource for recovery. We believe this impact must increase substantially over the next 10 years to help 10,000 people in recovery. Whether people experience our recovery programs through the local church or online we must touch the massive need for recovery in the world today.

100,000 Bibles given away.

We will hand out 100,000 bibles at 100 Sexpo’s across the world. In 2006, we started handing out bibles at porn shows that highlighted the controversial cover, Jesus Loves Porn Stars. We have found that the bible when distributed with genuine love confronts people with the reality of Jesus’ acceptance. The bibles portray Jesus’ heart for people and highlights our message: it doesn’t matter who you are or what you have done there is a God who deeply loves you. People have been drawn to read the bible in their hotel rooms, on the convention center floor, and at moments of brokenness. We believe the #1 best selling book in the world has the power to soften and change the human heart. It is true, Jesus really does love porn stars, it’s in the book!

1 million people held accountable through x3watch

We will get 1 million new users of X3watch over the next ten years. We believe that every day we need to see roughly 300 people start using our software to make this happen. With over 1 million current users we believe the growth must increase and expand to offer widespread accountability around the world. This vision was birthed from an idea thrown out during an interview in 2002 to a life changing product offering true freedom for many from internet pornography. X3watch monitors where you go online and sends a weekly report of any questionable site you visit to an accountability partner.

10 million dollars raised.

In order to accomplish our goals for the next ten years we have to raise the appropriate funds. For ten million dollars we can accomplish this vision. Money will not stand in the way from the message of freedom we offer the world. We will form new partnerships and sacrifice personally and corporately to achieve this goal. Through the leadership of XXXchurch, products, our donors, partner churches, and organizations we will raise 10 million dollars over the next 10 years

100 million people aware of XXXchurch

We will spread awareness around the globe to 100 million people. News stations, magazines, and newspapers around the world spread our message of love and freedom. We want the entire world to hear that freedom from pornography is attainable. We don’t want any child to experience early exposure to pornography because their parents were unaware. Over the next ten years we will work hard to have the biggest megaphone on the issue or pornography to 100 million people.

 

We will be accountable for these goals and will be able to measure these goals. We have set up www.x3goals.com where you can go and see where we are doing on all these initiatives. 

In the coming weeks we will dive into each of these a bit more and share ways you can get involved.