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Greg Laurie: When Reaching Souls Isn’t Worth the Risk

Orginally published on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 at 8:25 AM
by Todd Rhoades

When young pastor Matt Brown announced he was supporting a ministry for women in the sex industry led by an x-stripper, he was expecting applause. Instead, he got cold stares and an e-mail inbox filled with angry letters. At issue was Heather Veitch, an x-stripper turned evangelist. She looked too much like a stripper and was leading Christian women into the dark world of strip clubs for so-called "outreach." Capturing it all, was documentary filmmaker Bill Day for his new film "The Pussycat Preacher."

“Most Christians know that Jesus spent time with prostitutes and tax collectors because that is where the word was needed. But believing the ideal is one thing and living the reality is another,” says Day.

“If we all took a vote on being Biblical versus being respectable , we would all vote for Biblical,” says theology expert Professor Sarah Sumner PhD from Azusa Pacific University in the film. “But the reality is many churches are more concerned with respectability.”

Pastor Greg Laurie from mega-church Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside was one of pastors who didn’t believe Heather’s method of winning souls was worth the risk. He warned Brown to stay away from Veitch.

“When a Pastor you look up to tells you something like that it’s scary,” Brown confesses. “I’m a pastor and I am supposed to love people. But I didn’t love strippers. What Heather did was she birthed that in me and my congregation.”

Instead of backing away from Heather, Pastor Brown put up $50,000 of church money to support the ministry. But in no time at all, a rumor got started that the $50,000 was being used by Brown to buy lap dances for himself. Brown suddenly found himself on the verge of losing his church facility housed on the campus of Southern California Baptist University.

For her part, Heather Veitch claims she is winning souls and that is what matters. For evidence, she has the documentary which shows a number of strippers making their first venture into church. “Now comes the hard part,” Heather smiles.

Day says the film is not rated but very ‘’PG’’ It has no nudity or offensive language.

It will be available on DVD, pay to download , or ‘’watch free’’ with advertising at the film website http://www.pussycatpreacher.com starting Feb 15.

SOURCE...

FOR DISCUSSION: How do you determine that someone looks “too much like a stripper” to support (or too much like a drunk, or too much like a homosexual, or too overweight, or too anything? Where do you think we should draw the line? And when is it too much of a risk when reaching people who need reached?

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There are 26 Comments:

Posted by Tony Scialdone

Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 3:55 PM

PT:

I’ve questioned nobody’s integrity. I have questioned the consistency of your position, which is the nature of any disagreement. You think I’m wrong, and I think you’re wrong. I have no problem with that. I don’t think I’m going to change your mind, and I doubt you have anything to say that will change mine...but I hope you join me when I say that I’m open to the possibility. Instead of trying to sway you, I’m concerned about the thousands of people who will read our comments. I want to make sure that they’re able to read a somewhat reasonable response from someone who disagrees with you, or with me. I’m not worried about you, I’m worried about those less informed than you.

-------------------------------

>> Yet, isn’t there still an element of interpretation and application that is unavoidable? Isn’t that what you also are doing?

Certainly. I’m casting doubt on your interpretation...not on Scripture itself. I have no problem with anyone disagreeing with my interpretation, either.

>> Jesus’ having dinner with a large group of people (including some ‘sinners’)...[can’t] be considered analogous to hanging out in a strip club!

Eating a meal with someone was a statement that you identified with them. The Pharisees were very prudent about those with whom they identified. They were wrong, obviously...and I believe you’re making the same error. You seem to suggest that Heather is sinning by hanging out in a ‘sinful place’ with sinful people, which is - in my opinion - awkwardly similar to their comments about Jesus when He ate with the less desirable in their society. Our purity isn’t compromised by our environment.

I’ll quote Jesus again: it isn’t what goes into a person that makes them unclean, but what comes out of a person. Heather isn’t sinning by being around sinners while they’re sinning, or by seeing naked people...that’s what’s going IN. The operative question is “what’s coming OUT?”. It’s her testimony about Jesus Christ that’s coming out. I find it difficult to fault her for that, and impossible to call such actions sinful without also knowing her heart, which I do not.

I’ll close by quoting from Philippians 1 and asking a final question...and I’ll silently read your response without comment, giving you the final word:

“It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.

Even if you doubt Heather’s sincerity, it seems that her work is of great benefit. Paul rejoiced that Christ was preached regardless of the motivation.

Are you able to rejoice in the same way?

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