Below are just a few pictures from the CCEF conference we are currently attending. It has been an incredible time! We are looking forward to sharing some of great wisdom we are learning from these Biblical counselors in future blog posts.
Ed Welch teaching about addictions and idolatry Read more…
The following is a summary of Mark Driscoll’s presentation, “Death by Love. Addiction and Atonement.” Mark is the preaching and speaking pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, ranked “the second most prolific church planting church in America” by Outreach magazine. Seattle magazine named Mark one of the twenty-five most powerful people in Seattle, ironically one of the least-churched cities in America. Mark is also the co-founder and president of the Acts 29 Church Planting Network, and the founder of Resurgence, providing theological training for pastors, church planters, and other Christian leaders.- - - -
Individuals are often aware of how addictions negatively impact their own lives and many times how they negatively impact the lives of people close to them, but have difficulty seeing how their addiction impacts their relationship with God. How God and the power of the Gospel can offer hope and healing is what Pastor Mark Driscoll focused on in this talk.
Mark offered a humorous, frank, and honest look at the first century church in Corinth. When we consider all the problems of sexuality immorality, greed, gluttony, drunkenness, incest, cross-dressing and general immaturity of the Corinthians church, this 2000-year-old example is actually very contemporary in its multitude of hard issues and addictions.
As people helpers one of our primary objectives is to offer hope. Hope, not in self, or in another person, but in God. Power rests in Christ, not in who you are as a helper. Our hope needs to be anchored in the cross - the work of Jesus and his faithfulness. Paul writes, “[Christ] will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:8-9) Read more…
The following is a summary of Ed Welch’s presentation, “Addiction, Temptation & Voluntary Slavery.” Ed Welch is a counselor and faculty member at CCEF and professor of practical theology at Westminster Theological Seminary. Ed is the author of numerous books, including Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave.- - - -
We often view the Bible as the Word of God speaking to “normal individuals.” And yet, where does that leave those struggling with addictions, and sins stigmatized as abnormal? Why do we sometimes feel the Bible is silent for individuals struggling with addictions? The key for helping professionals is to recognize that, that though the Bible often feels irrelevant to those in the midst of addictions, we can walk beside our clients in this crisis and show that the Scripture is indeed alive and relevant. Read more…
The following is a guest post by Jimmy Needham. Jimmy has recently released his second Inpop studio album, Not Without Love. Jimmy’s bluesy and soulful style is matched only by the profundity of his lyrics. Jimmy’s musical influences include Jonny Lang, Lauryn Hill, Gavin DeGraw, Marc Broussard and Jason Mraz, but it is the late Keith Green that has influenced him lyrically. “If music—especially Christian music—doesn’t either cause me to repent or worship, then I don’t know why I’m listening to it. And I think that’s why I like Keith Green so much. He didn’t sugarcoat things.” And neither does Jimmy.- - - -
We all have our hidden corners. You know, those secret and wicked sins in our life that look so attractive in the dark, so much so that we sometimes spend our whole life trying to keep them from the bright exposure of the Son. Indeed, we all have hidden corners. Some are just better at hiding them than others.
I was 9 years old when my secret began. I was a 4th grader with 6th grade friends, friends who had access to pornography and graciously let me indulge with them. They took me to a nearby park and there under the playground’s kid castle was a magazine. I imagine many reading this were my age or even younger the first time Satan got his foot in the door of their hearts using pornography. What I cannot imagine is just how much it breaks the heart of God to see little ones corrupted. From that day forward I was living with an addiction, an addiction that wouldn’t leave for many more years to come. Read more…
Are you a man who struggles with looking at porn? Do you want to read an enjoyable, practical and theologically sharp book on the subject?
Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, has released a FREE e-book called Porn-Again Christian: A Frank Discussion on Pornography & Masturbation for God’s Men. You can read it at The Resurgence website or download the full pdf.
Mark introduces the book in a video, and writes on his blog:
Over the years, much of my ministry has been to men in general, and young, single men in particular. The least likely person to go to church in virtually every nation, including my own, is a single man between the ages of eighteen and thirty-four. These guys are a priority for me. . . .
To help these guys, some years ago I sat down and in one day wrote a small booklet about male sexuality that we published in-house. Since then we have gone through thousands of copies and literally cannot keep it in stock. I asked some Christian publishers if they wanted it, and they said it was too hot to handle and so they declined.
So, I decided to just put it online and give it away for free. . . .
I hope this thing goes nuts and hundreds of thousands of guys read it. Read more…
Dr. Kevin Skinner’s new book, Treating Pornography Addiction, has been helping countless people overcome their struggles with pornography.
Dr. Skinner recently interviewed me on his Internet radio show, “Pornography As I See It.” On this show we discussed . . .
Dr. Skinner’s show, “Pornography As I See It,” airs every Monday at 8:00am (MST) on the website, MyExpertSolution.com. He is a licensed marriage and family therapist and has been doing therapy since 1995.
Find out more about how Covenant Eyes accountability software can help you battle the temptation of Internet porn. Read: “Breaking the Lure of Internet Porn.”
A couple weeks ago was Pornography Awareness Week. Breaking Free released a number of posts aimed at educating the public about the harmful effects of pornography for our culture.
1. Is Porn Protected by the First Amendment? - Is some of the adult pornography freely available on the Internet in violation of obscenity laws? This post irons out some of the legal definitions.
2. Ex Porn Star Tells the Truth about the Porn Industry: Part 1 & Part 2 - Shelley Lubben, former porn star “Roxy,” shares her findings about the environment of the adult entertainment industry, focusing on the common experiences of drug abuse, verbal and physical abuse, and the spread of STDs.
3. Are Teens Making Homemade Porn? - This post looks at the popularity of porn among teens today. In particular, the affects of porn on youth sexuality is discussed, as well as the increasing incidents of youth making and distributing their own porn.
4. Porn 101: College Campuses Using Porn in the Classroom - This post looks the trend on college and university campuses of using pornographic literature, photos, and film in the classroom. Particular emphasis is placed on the affects of habitual porn use on the minds of college-age students.
If you want to read more about the negative affects of pornography, you may also like these past posts: Read more…
What does it mean that we have “not even a hint” of sexual impurity among us? How do we live this way in a highly sensualized culture? How do we win the battle for sexual holiness?
This month our theme on Breaking Free will be “Not Even A Hint.” Each Monday we’ll be highlighting a sermon by a well-known and gifted Bible teacher centering on this text in Ephesians 5.
This message was presented March 24, 2004 and was a part of the Ephesians series taught by Sinclair Ferguson at Park Cities Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas. In this message Ferguson calls us to understand what it means to walk in love and light, and how doing so motivates a new sexuality.
One of the hallmarks of Covenant Eyes is our scoring system. When an accountability software user accesses a website, every URL on that site will be given a numerical score. This score lets an accountability partner know whether there needs to be a conversation about where the user went and what the user saw online.
How does our system arrive at these scores? Read more…
Our cause on Facebook is making some waves. If you are on Facebook, check out “Fighting Internet Pornography.”
