Jesus Loves Porn Stars
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” ~ Jesus
That might go against what you have heard about Jesus, but it is true. Jesus loves porn stars as much as he loves pastors, soccer moms, liars, thieves and prostitutes. We are all the same to Jesus. We are all just people who need Jesus to save us from the mess we are in and lead us to a better way.
Last year we bought a booth at the Taboo Naughty … but nice Show and we partnered with xxxchurch.com. We went with the message that Jesus loves everyone and we handed out 2,000 gospels of John with a cover that says “Jesus loves Porn Stars” It was … eye opening. This year we went back with another 2,000 bibles, the same message and it was awesome!
Going in to the show, our team felt hesitant, awkward and scared. Coming out of the show they realized that people are still people, they aren’t judgmental and really they are more scared of us than we are of them. But what really makes our time there worth while are the conversations we get to have.
Many conversations follow these lines:
“What’s this all about? Are religious or are you making fun of Jesus?”
“We are here to tell people that Jesus loves them and we do too.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Nope. Jesus loves porn stars and he loves you.”
“That’s awesome you’re here. I’m going to read this book”
There was an individual who works with a christian but he described all of his interactions with him as super negative. His coworker would say things like, “Because I’m a christian I think that homosexuals should burn.” His question to us was “Tell me what you’re about?” He left saying, “I’m so used to christians judging me. This is super awesome; my wife and I are going to check this out.”
People expect us to be there protesting them and being judgmental. To change their perspective of christians and the church is an honour we take pride in. One of our team members commented “There’s a lot of confusion about what christianity is and I am glad we were able to present a clear demonstration of God’s love and grace.” Another team member said, “I think we surprised people with our age. That we are younger but still have a passion for God was shocking to them.”
I was especially encouraged by the people who got a bible last year and then came back and said they read it and wanted to know more. We even had some people apologize to us saying they had read the bible but one of their friends took it from them because they wanted to read it and now they needed another one. One guy in particular said, “(insert expletive) YEAH; YOU’RE BACK!” “I got that book last year and read it 3 times. It’s changing my life.” He then found 6 different friends, dragged them to our booth and said “You got to get one of these.”
I asked our team what God was teaching them through this experience.
Tim: “It is by grace that any of us can be changed.”
Braelyn: “The size of God’s love aspect was impactful.”
Brittany: “I thought I would be laughed at. Trusting God leads to positive things. If I can tell strangers at a sex show about Jesus, I can tell anyone.”
Jeremy: “God still works through our fears when we trust in him.”
Tricia: “It reaffirmed God’s love for us. His love is for everyone and it is relenting.”
MJ: “The Holy Spirit already at work in people’s lives is immense.”
Jonathan: “It eliminated a lot of fear about sharing my faith.”
Jocelyn: “It reaffirmed how broken Red Deer is.”
It is not hard to imagine an environment like this is a very dark place. I am left in awe of how bright the love of Christ can be.