We’re excited about our new series RED HOT SEX starting this week at The Gathering. This series was created as a wake up call to not only our people at The Gathering but to our county as well. My first impulse was to name this series Holiness but sadly enough it would not have gotten the attention it has from the title RED HOT SEX. We recently mailed out approximately 51,000 flyers to homes in the
Sevier
County and surrounding area and have received some interesting feedback from some of those patrons.
First of all I want to apologize if our mail out offended anyone this past week. We certainly did not mean for that to happen. We knew we were taking a chance with this mail out and prayed much over the decision.
Our motives are pure.
The REAL issues involved here are the startling facts that we live in a world that is saturated by perverted sex. It is even in our churches! Adultery and pornography are destroying the American family and it’s time we as a church talked about it! It is time that we addressed these issues. We ask that others will join us as we pray for our children and marriages all across this country. I believe that God’s word shows us how we can live a life of holiness in a time when few people understand what that really is. It is a life where our son’s and daughter’s retain their virginity and couples go to the marriage altar pure. Where a mother and father love one another and commit to each other for life.
This is God’s desire for His people and if the world is going to talk about it then it’s time the church speaks up and tells the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth….so help us God. Pastor Gene
October 5th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Thank God for The Gathering and a Pastor that hears the call and takes the bull by the horns. The world is headed down deeper into the pit and the truth is the ONLY thing that will set it free.
October 6th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Hi Gene - saw you created some buzz with your mailers for your red hot sex series. We are wrapping up a sex series at Crosspoint in Decatur Alabama. People need to hear what God has to say and Im glad there are churches bold enough and brave enough to engage the culture and risk the fallout. I hope that many lives are changed as a result!
God’s Best
-dave anderson
October 6th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
Some words of encouragement, hang in there! I have been studying sex education for youth and family relationships seriously for the past two years. If we can’t build great marriages and save our youth we won’t be successful in reaching our world with the gospel. You are trying; I commend you for your courage and wish I could be there to take part. Sincerely, Dave
October 7th, 2007 at 8:51 am
Paster Gene,
I find it laughable that people were offended by a flier inviting them to come to a church to learn ways of improving their marriages and remember that sex is not a sin. I wonder if the gentleman who was interviewed has a TV and allows his children to watch it, lets them read magazines or go to school. Sex is all around us. I’d rather children be exposed it from a “safe” source than other influences.
I commend your efforts. In the ever changing modern world, we need to remember that too many people attend church with a false persona. They come for their weekly dose of “holiness” than spirituality. The lines between have been blurred and we’ve forgotten the teachings of our great leaders in this world.
Blessings to you,
Jen Whitworth
Fellowship Chair
Channing Unitarian Universalist Chruch
Edmond, OK
October 7th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
Pastor Gene,
Congratulations on your idea. We have to draw people’s attentiont to God’s Word. Sometives we have to use some unconventional resources. Go ahead.
Zedequias Trajano, Brazil.
October 12th, 2007 at 11:33 am
Keep up the good work. This series sounds salty to me and I like it. The only people that have problems with this stuff are Christians. We’re not trying to reach christians, we want to grow Christ Followers! Did you happen to go to the creative conference at Daybreak in Grand Rapids Michigan? Stay with it cause East Tennessee needs you. Take Care
October 29th, 2007 at 7:49 am
Hey Pastor…
I’m a missionary in Spain and we are approaching non-christians in ways that offend you typical “God-in-a-box” believers. For far too long we have been holding our methods of reaching the lost sacred… when the message is the only thing that is sacred. Paul used the statue of the “unknown God” to connect the people with Jesus. Many teach that the statue was a statue to our God that the people did not know. But that’s not true… it was a pagan statue, that’s it. Our God has no graven images in His name. So, Paul used a pagan statue to connect the people to Christ. And… in my opinion… Christians are way too easy to offend, anyways. There are thousands of people going to hell everyday… and when I say that to congregations… many are more offended that I used the word “hell” than they are about the thousands of people who are going there.
Ministry sure is a tricky thing, aye ? Well, like the others said on here… be encouraged… if the church doesn’t talk about sex head on… the world will. I’d rather the church approach these issues head on. After all, it’s the number one reason the singles in church lose their faith in Christ… because no one is approaching the subject in a real, serious fashion. They feel left out… alone… and that Jesus doesn’t doesn’t have an answer for these extremely real struggles that the singles have. Anyways… I’m with ya. Blessings !!