Catalyst 8: Mike Foster

7/25/06

Mike Foster is co founder, with Craig Gross, of xxxChurch. This courageous ministry seeks to compassionately and honestly confront our culture's struggle with pornography. Their ministry is twofold. One the one hand they minister to men, women, pastors, leaders, couples, teens, etc who struggle with porn addiction. They offer several support systems, including blogs, videos, and software to help those broken by this addiction find freedom. Their free software, xWatch, is an accountability tool that sends an update of all the websites you've visited to two other partners. It is not a filter, but rather a history tracker and reporter. Many Christian organizations use this tool and highly recommend it, including the guys at Catalyst.

On the other hand, xxxChurch ministers to the porn industry. In fact, you may be surprised to know that they not only set up booths at porn conventions, but they have been invited back year after year by the organizers to do so! They have even printed Bibles with "Jesus Loves Porn Stars" printed on the cover. They have heard incredible stories and witnessed lives changed as many have left the industry and found faith.

It's amazing to see the different visions God gives to those advancing his Kingdom. What a challenge it must be to do such work, tough on the soul and tough on marriages. It was awesome to hear Mike talk about his wife being just as on board as he is with all this, and that if she wasn't behind it, he wouldn't be doing it. They face criticism but I agree with them when they say that if Jesus were walking around today he would be where these people are, loving them. And so it follows that if we are Jesus walking around today, then the church should be there.