Stopping to Think

The following are my notes from a training session I led at a meeting of volunteers for a youth ministry. We discussed the pervasiveness of porn, its devastating effects, and how to help someone struggle against this sin. Hopefully some of the links are beneficial to you, as well. The Problem of Porn Why Does Pornography Matter? Statistics 1 : Pornography would matter, if for no other reason than the staggering number of people who access it regularly. Asking if pornography matters, in this sense, is like asking if Facebook matters or if cars matter. It’s important to understand simply because of its ubiquity. 13% of all internet searches are for erotic content; that number jumps to more than 1 in 5 for mobile searches. 20% of 16 year olds and 30% of 17 year olds have received a sext. 66.5% of young men and 48.7% of young women said viewing pornographic materials was an acceptable way to express one’s sexuality, according to a 2007 study. [Note: thi...

A Brief Philosophy of Ministry Biblical ministry is centered on Christ and Him crucified 1 . Without the message of reconciliation 2 offered by God 3 to sinners 4 , there is nothing for us to minister. “Christ is the center of Christianity; all else is circumference.” 5 A ministry centered on Christ will take a certain shape: namely, that of prayer and of the Word 6 . Paul asks the Ephesians to pray for him that he may speak boldly 7 , turns his every thought of the Philippians vertical in prayer 8 , and asks the Romans to join him in the struggle of prayer. 9 The same apostle commends to his protégé Timothy the preaching of the Word as a right response to the decaying nature of humanity and the sufficiency of God’s revelation in Scripture to save and transform. 10 Paul also makes clear that those called and gifted by God to minister are to do so for the purpose of building and equipping the body of Christ 11 , and such an endeavor will be futile and ultimately unsucce...