At the NRB Convention this week in Nashville, pureHOPE’s Noel Bouché caught up with Steve Siler to discuss his Somebody’s Daughter project and the doors that are opening in the church and society to discuss the social costs of pornography and the hunger for freedom and redemption.
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Our ministry focuses on partnering with churches and Christian schools across the country to equip their people to pursue sexual purity and oppose sexual exploitation. Over the last five weeks, we’ve partnered with Central Church in Charlotte, NC on a series to really open up the dialogue in the congregation about pursuing purity, parenting with integrity, and opposing the injustices of porn and trafficking. pureHOPE team members Rick Schatz, Joanne Samad, Dan Martin, and Noel Bouché had the privilege of ministering to an average crowd of over 1,000 on each of the last five Wednesday nights.
Check out this quick video for a sense of the impact our friends at Central have experienced, and contact us about how your church can partner with pureHOPE.
At the heart of our purePARENTING message is the idea that parents need to equip–not just protect–their kids as they grow up in a sexualized culture. Even before they leave the house to start life on their own, our kids are interacting with the culture outside of our presence–at school, on the bus, at practice, in friends’ homes, etc. That’s when it becomes necessary that they have been equipped to understand God’s will for them (Ephesians 5:17), to understand the lies they are exposed to (2 Corinthians 2:11), and to think and act purely in a God-honoring way (Psalm 119:9). They need to be established in a life of prayer, understanding, resolve, and engagement.
This equipping begins early (earlier than most parents realize), and should continue in age-appropriate ways. We’ve produced a brief document to assist parents in cultivating purity of heart and mind in their kids, whether their child is just learning to walk, or ready to walk through a graduation ceremony. These talking points and ideas will get you started in preparing your kids to pursue God’s purposes for their lives.
For more on equipping your kids to pursue holiness, purity, and sanctification as sexual beings bearing the image of God, check out Jim Burns’ book Teaching Your Children Healthy Sexuality: A Biblical Approach to Prepare Them for Life, which offers more insight, talking points, strategies, and conversation starters for equipping your kids in today’s culture.
In this inspiring four-minute video by Elevation Church, pureHOPE Charlotte Advisory Board members Chris and Sandra Pollard share their journey from bondage, betrayal, and distrust to hope, healing, and intimacy. Their story highlights the abundance of grace and mercy that God readily pours out upon couples who, like the Pollards, choose prayer, repentance, forgiveness, and resolve to fight for their marriage instead of just fighting in their marriage.
“It took getting me into all those closets, and into all those things that I had hidden, and just exposing them to the light of the Lord.” Chris Pollard
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As the injustices of pornography and sex trafficking increase, more individuals are engaging in action to combat them and raise awareness, including many talented artists and filmmakers across the world. The pureHOPE team has had the privilege of connecting with several such projects over the past few years, and below are three documentary projects currently in production that we believe are worthy of not only your viewership, but your prayer and even financial support as well.
SCRATCHING THE SURFACE
For this documentary project on the issue of pornography and its effects on the church, South African filmmaker Francois Driessen and his team at FireTrigger Inc. have assembled substantial interview footage from experts across the country (click here to view all of the raw footage), and intend this project, when finished, to educate and equip the church to address pornography addiction and effectively push back on the pornification of society. This project follows on the heels of Willful Entrapment, a visually arresting short film by FireTrigger that lifts the veil on the perception that porn is “innocent fun” and depicts it as the door to psychotic addiction and destruction that it really is.
RAPE FOR PROFIT
This project is a raw look at prostitution and trafficking in Seattle, one of the busiest hubs for trafficking of women and girls in the US. With footage taken on the streets of commercial sexual exploitation as it happens, as well as interviews of leading experts on prostitution and pornography, the Rape For Profit team exposes the viewer to the utter depravity and degradation of commercial sex in our communities.
SHAMED
This documentary will address the debilitating effects of shame surrounding pornography in conservative Christian communities. The film will document the harms of pornography, through interviews of subject-matter experts, religious leaders, and those who have escaped from the clutches of addiction. One of its goals is to equip young parents how to openly and honestly communicate with their children (starting at very young ages) not only about the dangers of pornography, but also teach them what healthy sexuality is and to understand that healthy sexual relations in the right circumstances are wonderful. Funds for this project are being raised through a Kickstarter campaign, and 75% of the all-or-nothing goal of $40,000 has been raised with a cut-off of February 15.
by Noel Bouché
I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True. Revelation 19:11
It is written that we husbands are to love our wives “just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25). We read this verse and meditate on it at just about every wedding we attend. Yet this eloquent description of the archetypal marriage begs the question: “What does it mean to give myself up for my wife?” While we must follow Christ’s example and be ready to face death literally for our loved ones, most of us will not be confronted with the decision to die a substitutionary death for our wives. But physical death was not the only way Jesus gave himself up.
In the Revelation, John saw the bridegroom returning, and He was called according to two primary attributes – faithfulness and truth. Imagine this! John is gazing upon the “Mighty God” and the “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6), the One to whom all praise is due, and yet the name He chooses to go by reflects His attachment and commitment to us, whose frames are “but dust” (Psalm 103:14). I must ask myself if I’m defining myself in the same manner as my Lord–as a faithful and true bridegroom–or am I defining myself primarily by my professional title, by my accomplishments, or by my net worth? Am I “my beloved’s”? Or am I mine? Continue reading
Most parents we talk to across the country express concern, if not a feeling of helplessness, about their kids’ use of technology, especially mobile devices. This is for good reason, of course; for all the benefits, the tools at the disposal of the average teenager carry many risks and temptations, as articles like this, this, and this document well.
While there are many steps parents can take to monitor, limit, filter, and deactivate with respect to devices and Internet access, the most important remains cultivating open and honest communication between yourself and your kids. Nothing replaces an ongoing,
grace-based dialogue that addresses the topics of sex, technology, expectations, purpose, boundaries, and consequences, all in the context of honoring and loving God in our thoughts, words, and actions (Romans 12:1-2).
To that end, we’ve created a simple document–a safe-use agreement–for parents to use as a communication tool with their teens. By reviewing and signing this agreement together, parents and kids can arrive at a meeting of the minds regarding the privilege of tech use, the expectations and duties surrounding that privilege, and the consequences of abuse of that privilege. In taking this one, simple step and following it up with consistent dialogue, parents are taking a giant leap with respect to equipping their kids to walk with wisdom, discernment, and integrity in the sexualized, technology-driven age they are living.
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