I was folding laundry the other day and I flipped on the T.V. for a few minutes. It was tuned into CNN just as the lady announced an upcoming story about a Pastor in Florida and his controversial methods of talking to his flock about sex. He rented a billboard space with a huge ad that read “mycrappysexlife.com”. You can guess that it caught the attention of passerbys who had mixed reactions to the sign. Some thought it was lewd, while others found it amusing. Either way, it got attention- which was the point.
Matt Keller, 31 year old pastor of the non-denominational Next Level Church in Fort Meyers, Florida, prompted the billboard campaign to advertise his lesson series titled “My Great Sex Life”. Keller said, “God created sex, why not at least tell people what He has to say about it?”
AMEN MATT!
They interviewed a few of the church members and one lady said that in society sex isn’t talked about enough. I’m assuming she meant in a healthy, biblical way, because it’s definitely talked about in other ways. Another guy said that he was glad that he was getting some sound teaching on the subject and that he was proud of the pastor for taking the stand he does and saying “this is what we believe and we’re going to talk about it as a church”.
They also interviewed Kirk Frederickson of Fuller Theological Seminary who said he thought it was good initially, but was concerned that people would be drawn in by the billboard and then feel duped when the link led them to a church website.
Ahhh…the whole bait and switch argument. The whole point of the billboard was to draw people in…perhaps people with crappy sex lives looking for help. Shouldn’t the church be a place they could turn to find the help they’re looking for? Evidently Matt Keller’s plan worked. After beginning his sex series which he co-taught with his wife (very cool) membership increased by 30%!! That tells me people are hungry for truth about this topic, and some of them are willing to step back into church to learn. Think of the other places they could go to learn about sex.
Unfortunately the billboard was controversial enough that the billboard company would not renew the ad for a second month. It now has the regular link to the church website on it. Kudos to Matt Keller for doing his part to plunder the darkness!!! And shame on CNN for ending their report by making it sound like he was only addressing this topic to fill seats in his church. Hooey!
what a great story.
Marketing is marketing; sounds like it was a great novelty, and that we heard about it sounds like it was a great success.
I’d be interested to understand what makes Matt the expert on great sex though… especially to know whether the congregation’s sex life was actually improved by the things that he had to say – and whether the swollen congregation had the stamina to keep it up.
Grammar Nazi strikes again! It is LEWD. That is all.
Much like your topic of Beauty, or the idea of Money, the topic of Sex strikes fear in the hearts of preachers everywhere. The Bible has much to say, but the World is where we get the abundance of our information. I agree with the idea that Matt had, and I applaud it. He is fishing for the audience, hoping to catch a few for Christ. Nothing wrong with that! It is our mission, as well.
Daniel, what makes any of us an “expert” on great sex? A survey in the congregation asking whether or not their sex life was improved by the lessons would be an interesting idea. I would be interested to know what he had to say. Maybe I’ll work on getting some links posted here in the future. As for the marketing, I think it was genius. I think the church is SUPPOSED to be a place people can come to find answers. Sadly, for most people it isn’t where they look and for those who do…well…when this subject comes up there is a lot of uncomfortable silences. I’m withholding comment about your pun.
Chelf – I mean Grammar Nazi – I do know how to spell and I can’t believe I didn’t catch that. Neither did my spell check.
With the Western Church devoid of married priests for more than a thousand years, it’s (slightly reassuring and) no wonder that the church not renowned for dispensing sexual advice.
I would love to see a Christian form of something approaching the sacred or spiritual sexuality that is offered through Taoism or Tantra… to date, I have seen nothing.
At best – and it’s a great start – the message is “enjoy yourselves”, “explore anything and everything” and “do what you feel like doing”. This, from my experience, lends itself to leaving couples forced to reinvent the wheel. People look elsewhere because they want access to high quality information that is readily accessible – and it’s either not there or not accessible within any “Church” context that I’ve experienced.
Girl, I need to link to this blog. I am been here before, but then you weren’t posting, then you did, and look how much I missed.
On the Controversial Bait and Switch. 1. The proff is in the results as long as the bait isn’t an actual temptation. (I am thinking of the whole 70s flirty fishing)
On SEX in the church…we don’t learn enough about relationships from the church. Hubby and I had premarriage counciling, and about sex he said: “Go have fun!” Yeah! Turns out hubby and I had different ideas about what that ment! Go figure!
Do I need to remind you how long it’s been since you posted here???
What a refreshing site! I think Christian couples are searching for the genuine article, sex as God created it and not the smut the world makes it into. I would love to see more churches speak out on relavent topics that evryone thinks about. Great blog. I will be stopping by from time to time.