Cyberchurch helps porn addicts

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Brian McGinness had an insatiable appetite for porn.

Day after day, for more than eight years, he spent countless hours surfing the Web for it, usually on a computer that he used after business hours at his old job.

Because of his compulsion to view pornography, McGinness spent more time away from home, so he lied to his wife about having to work overtime in the evenings. He felt guilty about what he was doing, believing that it was morally wrong and knowing that it was keeping him from his spouse and their two young children. But he also felt unable to control himself.

All that started to change one Saturday morning in December after he attended a breakfast of "Porn and Pancakes" organized by XXXChurch.com, an online ministry created to get Christians talking about their X-rated addictions. The site offers information on how and where to get help, links to the ministry's podcasts, "accountability" software that tracks Internet sites visited by computer users and a list of upcoming appearances by members of "the X3 crew."

The December event attracted more than 500 men to Ada Bible Church, which McGinness attends. They ate pancakes and sausage while discussing how pornography had harmed their lives, including their relationships with God and their families.

Since that first "Porn and Pancakes" event, XXXChurch.com has conducted several more of them at other churches, and many more are planned.

"So many churches are so afraid to even talk about this issue," said McGinness, 33, a Grand Rapids resident who works in the construction industry. "It's a dirty little secret."

Craig Gross, a pastor with XXXChurch.com, refers to the widespread use of porn as "the elephant in the pew" that many churches ignored for years because they didn't know how to deal with it.

Nearly every weekend, either he or the ministry's other pastor, 40-year-old J.R. Mahon, are speaking somewhere in the United States — often at more theologically liberal churches, sometimes at "Porn and Pancakes" sessions. They help bring with them a 15-foot-tall inflatable, blue elephant ("the elephant in the pew") that stands outside.

"We realize churches want to talk about porn now," said Gross, 31, whose laid-back demeanor complements Mahon's manic persona. Both pastors are seminary-trained evangelists. "Even if they don't know how to, they've got to, because it's in every home."

They don't aspire to make porn disappear, only to make it less of a problem for some people.