Everyone knows sex sells, but did you know it's become the latest marketing gimmick among some evangelical churches? Paul Wirth, pastor of The Relevant Church near Tampa issued a 30-Day Sex Challenge early last year to combat the 50 percent divorce rate. During the challenge, married couples in his church were encouraged to indulge in sex for 30 days in a row, while singles were asked to refrain. Apparently, wives in The Relevant Church were caught by surprise! Pastor Wirth's challenge even earned him his 15 minutes of fame on CBS News!
According to Pastor Wirth, "If you look at studies, studies say in 30 days you can develop a habit." Who knew that daily sex is the remedy for divorce? As you might expect, you can buy the book bearing the same title as the challenge.
One of us has the dubious distinction of being a former member of Ed Young, Jr.’s church in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. During her short tenure there, she rarely, if ever, saw him open a Bible in the pulpit on Sunday. He far preferred to engage in “shock and awe” as opposed to having to talk about that pesky Bible. He also strutted like a peacock while having prominent and famous (not necessarily Christian) members of the Dallas community appear on stage (note the word “stage”, not “pulpit”) with him. Ah, well, back to the subject at hand.
As usual, not one to miss an opportunity for shameless self-promotion (or to steal someone else's idea), Ed Young, Jr., pastor of the 20,000 member Fellowship Church, challenged his congregation to have "Sex for Seven Straight Days". After all, 7 is a more biblical number than 30!!! Could it be that the real reason for choosing the magic number "7" is that Ed's not as young as he used to be? See for yourself at the following links:
1. http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=6264382
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPOhQ-nHNfI
3. http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/crime/2008/11/13/jvm.issues.preaching.sex.cnn
The nursery workers in each of these churches will soon be grumbling at fellow congregants because of the "fruit" of their labors! The pun is definitely intended!
One blog commenter critical of Ed Young, Jr., had this to say: "Let's get real. The goal is not talking about sex in church because that can be achieved without the polished marketing and hype that Fellowship Church is putting forth. While I do believe the "Church" should discuss God's plan for sex, I do not think it's His intention to turn it into a carnival freak show. This is just another lousy gimmick that has to do with pride, recognitions, and shameless self-promotion." Please enjoy the following opinion.
http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/dear-ed-young-jr
They say desperate times call for desperate measures! It appears some churches are more "desperate" than others. To rival the television show "Desperate Housewives" maybe one of these churches could self-produce its own blockbuster hit. What a great evangelizing tool!