I just think it would be wise, if we would stop, stand in the gap, build a hedge and turn the tide. Can I hear an amen?

- Frank Damazio exhorting the congregation in his sermon last week.

 My friends Andrea and Colleen just sent me this note:

Colleen and I found a Madona-esc bra for City Boobie Church. It may be a little too futuristic for their taste, but it's kinda sexy.

Temple Christian High School and PBC graduate, Christy Moorman, explains her dating habits to the Willamette Week. It's surprisingly normal and very honest:

Age: 29

Nightly obsession: Jane Austen novels.

Christy Moorman has three no-nos when it comes to the man she wants to marry: No pastors, firefighters or cops. A petite, perfectly made-up blonde, Moorman has spent the past two decades soaking up Christian culture and teachings at a local religious grade school, high school and college. These days, she splits her waking hours between her job as an executive assistant at a Christian music licensing firm, hanging out at City Bible Church (a 4,000-plus member megalith based in outer Northeast Portland) and at her community college web design classes. That leaves little time at home, which she shares with her sister and brother-in-law and their five kids in Camas, Wash. And while she's not actively dating right now, she does attend singles events sponsored by her church…just to practice putting "the vibes" out there. —Kelly Clarke

WW: Why aren't you dating right now?

Christy Moorman: I often only have about one hour to myself every day [between work and school]. [But] I have a very diverse group of friends. I've got my church friends, who sit around and play card games…and my friends that like to go clubbing…. It's two worlds, and I don't fit into either.

Where do you go clubbing?

Downtown…Barracuda, Noche, Voodoo Lounge. It's uncomfortable sometimes; I'm there to have fun, and I feel like I'm fighting off these guys that I don't want near me. I'm looking for a deep relationship, not a one-night deal.

What's a night with your church friends like?

I have some very cool, not uptight church friends. But there are the ones where church is like their entire lives. It's like, "Can we go deeper than who led worship on Wednesday " I'm more interested in what's going on in the world, business, politics….

How has your faith affected your dating in Portland through the years?

I went to Portland Bible College, which is part of my church. A lot of the guys were there to find wives. And a lot of the girls were there to be pastors' wives. That was their goal. Not me…. I was very innocent about sex. And I still am. I haven't had sex ever…. Sometimes, it's like, "Oh my God! I'm gonna die [if I don't have sex]." And other times, I'm fine. It's a factor if I'm attracted to somebody mind, body and soul. But it's never been, "Oh, they're hot. I wanna have sex."

Do you only date guys from City Church due to your no-sex stance?

In the 19 years I've gone there, I've had one boyfriend from that church. He was non-churchy. He'd been around the block, had six tattoos and an earring. Ambitious. All the things I'd never seen. You look around the church, you see a bunch of guys who look bored. You get bored just looking at them. We dated for six months [in 2003]. He wanted to get married. I didn't.

Have you ever dated outside the church?

There was a guy I met at Barracuda that I went out with once last summer [for lunch at Stanford's at Lloyd Center]. He was looking me up and down. He was talking about getting me drunk and up on the table taking my clothes off. I was kind of hoping for something deeper than that.

Biblical personage you wanna date?

Joseph [of Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat fame]. He went through so much crap, and he knew how to handle himself. I see him as this muscley hot guy…no scraggly beard. I like hairless people.

What's the biggest problem with Portland men?

I get very frustrated with the lack of manliness I find here. It's like guys don't want to be men. There are tons of them in my church. I mean, if [me and my boyfriend] get mugged, I wanna know that I wouldn't have to fight off [the attacker] while he went running off screaming….

Are there openly gay people dating in your church?

No…I do feel frustrated by gay men because they lessen my chances to find a husband…. When I see a hot gay guy I just wanna slap him—I mean, you're so hot!

I went to high school with Christy, and she was just as wonderful and sweet back then. You can send her a Valentine by clicking on the Willamette Week link and scrolling to the bottom of her profile.  

(H/T - Chris Snethen)

I appreciate City Bible members who can attend the church and still disagree with the leadership.

Fittingly, here is a comment from a long time member of CBC, who still likes the church, but was embarrassed when she brought her boyfriend to a Faith Harvest Sermon.

The Sunday that we went was the one with this particular Faith Harvest message. 

I was OK with the sermon and am use to PF’s little anecdotes — admittedly I have a soft spot for him as his children are my friends and they have been like family to me. But the second he said that their was a Faith Harvest GOAL — I was completely mortified. I was embarrassed that I had exposed my boyfriend to something that was initially positive and uplifting and then turned out to be something quite different.

An offering should come from the heart — and there is no knowing in what way God is going to inspire someone to give.

It's nice to hear that people can attend CBC and still see through the lame pleas for more money. I would be more impressed if she would mention this to her elder. Simply saying, "Hey, you know what. I still love the church. But that last sermon embarrassed me in front of my boyfriend."

In the wake of the Ted Haggard scandal, KariMichelle offers this thought about what she expects from leaders:

If I am going to follow anyone, damn it, they ought to be living a better life than me. It’s not enough to be gifted and have charisma! It’s not enough to be good looking, cool and hang with the IT crowd.

A leader should be living a holy life. I’m tired of a wishy-washy church where pastors are soft on other pastors because of their own sin, where the BOYS club protects one another and where the best a church can do for leadership is gossipy, immoral, leaders.

Sounds about right to me. And I would add that congregations need to do a better job holding their leadership accountable. Because when they don't, the church becomes just another lame church like City Bible.

Reforming Heathen makes an obversvation:

The number of homeless people in Oregon stands at 16,221, in Washington it's 23,970.

A total of 744,000 people are homeless in the United States.

One wonders how much effort is being put forth by the mega-churches headquartered in these states to end this problem?

Or are they too busy spending $1,400,000 on a townhouse in Washington, D.C.? (Will they welcome the homeless persons there?)

Our office has just received several front row tickets to the THRIVE '07 Conference at City Bible.

Pasted below is a copy of the ticket.

Print out the ticket, and present it to the Usher. He will direct you to your seat in the the front of the auditorium, where the Holy Spirit will be pouring out his love on the rich and powerful.

Hat Tip (Jack & Chris)

David Mackin leaves an interesting comment discussing Homophobia. The comment is specifically about Bible Temple, but it likely applies to other churches, as well.

Homophobia in Bible Temple:
Around 1984 while still on staff at PBC, I met a brother named James (name changed). James was a Christian brother who had struggled with homosexuality for many years. James told me that he went to Dick Iverson, the sr. pastor of Bible Temple, and asked him if the local church would sponsor a support group for Christian men who struggled with sexual attraction to other men. James told me that Dick Iverson said that there was no way that Bible Temple would sponsor such a group. According to James, Dick said that he would not want a bunch of men who were struggling with homosexuality to be in the same room with each other lest they start lusting after each other. This decision by Dick so hurt and disappointed James that he left Bible Temple, and, as far as I know, went back to his homosexuality.

A Support Group that Heals Homosexuals:
Just the other day, a Christian psychologist (whom I will call Dr. Tom) told me that he used to lead a Christian men’s group composed of both homosexually-struggling and heterosexual men. He explained that such a mixed group was highly unusual because the male attendees would normally feel threatened, but not in this group. Dr. Tom shared how he encouraged all of the men to hug one another whether they were struggling with their heterosexual identity or not. When I asked him why, Dr. Tom said that those who were struggling so much with homosexual tendencies needed to have other men give them sincere, affectionate but non-sexual hugs since they were only used to the touches of other men being of a sexual nature. Dr. Tom shared that this group saw many, many men turn away from homosexuality, get married and lead normal family lives.

How Bible Temple’s Controlling Spirit Hurt its own Struggling Church Members:
About the same time as meeting James (above), I was visiting with Phil Hobizal, former director of the Portland Fellowship, an Exodus International, Inc. ministry which counsels struggling homosexuals and lesbians. Phil told me that Bible Temple (now City Bible Church) had some church members who were struggling with homosexual issues, but that they would not refer them to the Portland Fellowship for counseling unless Bible Temple leadership had full access to each one of their church members’ counseling files! Phil had to tell them that he could not do that because it was unethical (and probably illegal). As a result, Bible Temple leaders would not refer their own sexually struggling members to a place that specialized in the healing of homosexuals.

Jesus Rebukes the Over-controlling, Uncaring Spirit of Religion:
In my view, we have a doubly sad and abusive state of affairs here: not only would Bible Temple not host a support group for its own church members who were struggling with homosexuality, they also refused to refer their members out to the Portland Fellowship because its director would not violate the privacy of his counselees by giving Bible Temple full access to their church members’ files! Such a situation reminds me of the words that Jesus says to the pastors of His day: “”Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering” (Luke 11:52, NIV). The spirit of “control-over” is a familiar part of the demonics behind human Relgion. Such leaders, when they see that they will not be in total control, would rather allow hurting people to continue in their wounded ways than to assist them in getting the genuine help they need. I don’t think such actions reflect those of Jesus. (I would be curious as to whether the church’s policy has changed under Frank’s administration…)

My brother Jesse tips me off to an OregonLive news story regarding a Newsong Church Leader, named Jeremy Thompson who was recently indicted for molesting a couple of teenagers in the church. Crazy thing is uh… he used to work in the City Bible youth group and uh, my brothers and I kind of knew him. Jesse offers the following insight:

He used to live with a family I knew. We always called him Jeremy the pedophile because he was always having young boys spend the night. He helped out a bunch with City Bible's Junior High Youth Group. I know it is sad, but in a sick way I think that it is hilarious that as a 16 year old I knew that what this guy was doing was creepy/inappropriate. And that no one ever said to him, "Hey Jeremy why don't you just take the kids to lunch. Why do you always have to have sleep overs."

FWIW, Jeremy always seemed nice to me, and I never suspected anything. But here's an example where standing up to the church would be the right thing to do.

For those who need a picture to jog their memory click here.

Update: A reader points out that Jeremy wasn't convicted he was only indicted. I read the report too fast, and I used the wrong term. I apologize for the mis-information. At this point, Jeremy is innocent until proven guilty.

Further Update: Despite Jeremy's presumed innocence, he did work in the Junior High Youth Group, and he did have young boys spend the night. Perhaps this is all a misunderstanding; perhaps not. That said, if your child attended YO, City Bible's Junior High Youth Group anytime in the last ten or so years, you might want to ask them about their relationship with Mr. Thompson.

I just finished listening to the latest Faith Harvest sermon and since I can't break it down as well as JP, I'm just going to share some of the highlights. Basically, what I learned about Faith Harvest.

Sermon Highlights 

-Frank starts off telling the congregation he's going to teach us how to give? (This is good. Because I was home-schooled. So I'm excited to find out about this "giving" concept. )

-I really want to be a great giver. (Frank told me tell someone; so I'm telling you.)

-The sin of stinginess is keeping me from being a great giver. (This is actually true.)

-God wants us to be liberal and generous people. (Unless, of course, that liberalism involves supporting Gay Marriage. )

-God isn't El-Cheapo. He's El-Shadhai; the Great Provider. Frank claims some people see God as El-Cheapo. (This is called a strawman argument. State a false position and then knock it down. The point is, I don't know anyone who thinks of God as El-Cheapo. Seriously, I've never head that in my life before.)

-When you serve God your life will get better. (Unless your name is Job from the Bible.)

-Frank tells the congregation, "You're a special person." (So, I've been told. Thank you.)

-Frank and Sharon started giving to the poor 30 years ago. Before they new the scriptures that said you should give to the poor. He believes in giving to the poor because it means God will bless you. He sounds truly impressed with himself. As though, this is something special. (Yeah Frank, it's called empathy.)

-Frank gives examples of how he and his wife helped people. They used to pick out a single mother, not a single father, to bless. According to Frank, the single fathers can take care of themselves. (I apologize to everyone for my language, but what an asshole.)

-He doesn't like talking to people about their offerings. (Then please explain your 14 week tithing sermon marathon that drove half the congregation away.)

-Sometimes your seed it tested. It doesn't always just work automatic. But if you keep sowing your seed. It will eventually happen. (Snort. I think he means, Keep giving me money, even if you remain poor. God will eventually bless you.)

-Kevin Federline is from Pendleton Oregon. (I didn't actually hear this from Frank. But at about this point in the sermon I got bored and started cruising through Perez Hilton and found out that K-Fed grew up in Pendleton. Amazing. I did not know this. But seriously, this explains a lot.)

-Jonny Appleseed is like the Messiah. (Frank actually did say this.)

-Frank puts a dollar amount on Faith, Great Faith and Miracle Faith. A Faith Goal is $650,000. A Great Faith goal is beyond $650,000. A Miracle Faith Goal is a million dollars. (I almost admire him at this point. He clearly doesn't care what the Bible says. He's just making it up as he goes along. )

My conclusion: You know what, if you're dumb enough to believe this, then you deserve to lose your money. Read the Book of Job people. Seriously, read the Book of Job.

Update

FICM gives us a quick illustration of what Miracle Faith and One Million Dollars might look like:

"ONE MILL-YEE-YUN DOLL-ARSSSSSSSSS!"