In my last sermon before I went on vacation, I told the story from Luke 7 about the sinful woman who crashed the Pharisees’ dinner with Jesus and honored Jesus by anointing his feet with her tears when she saw how Simon the Pharisee was publicly shaming Jesus (read Luke 7:36-50 if you have no idea what I’m talking about).  Near the end of that passage, Jesus says “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven– for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”  This incident is just one of many where, in the end, the proud religious man is challenged and the “sinner” is shown love and compassion instead of judgment and condemnation.

 Wouldn’t you know it, on that very day I was preaching came a modern day example that was really intriguing.  It comes out of North Columbus, Ohio, where a church called New Beginnings Ministries exists in the same town as a strip club called the Fox Hole.  According to the local news, the pastor and many from his church have for the past four years been rallying outside the strip club to try to shut it down, preaching at patrons with bullhorns and even taking pictures of license plates in the parking lot and posting them on the church website (you can read about it here). 

On August 8th, however, the strip club turned the tables.  As people showed up for the morning service on Sundays, they were greeted by strippers from the Fox Hole, who set up on the lawn outside the church with their own homemade signs, protesting the way the church has been treating them (you can see the news report here).  Needless to say, the reverse protest only served to raise the levels of hostility between the church and the strip club.  The pastor and his congregants were no closer to embracing the women of this strip club, nor was the strip club any closer to embracing the God of New Beginnings Ministries.

What do you think?  Is the behavior of New Beginnings Ministries really the way Jesus would want His church to handle the situation?  Their goal has been to shut down the strip club, since it is not a place that is glorifying to God.  Nothing wrong with a church having that goal.  But their methods – protests, shaming patrons, disparaging those who work there – has only served to communicate to the people associated with the Fox Hole that the Christian God is a God of judgment and condemnation.  In doing so, they bring to mind Jesus’ words in Matthew 23:13 - “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.”  What would have happened if, instead, the church sought to shut down the club through loving the women into the Kingdom, through showing them a God who is better than anything they could find in the world of adult entertainment?

Well, maybe this would happen:  One woman – Sherri Brown from The Rock Church in San Diego, heard about this story and decided to do just that.  Together with a friend who God had saved out of the adult entertainment industry, they went to Ohio to visit the women of the Fox Hole.  This is what they had to share (courtesy of xxxchurch.com):

DAY ONE

Just wanted to send an update on the Ohio strip club outreach. After much prayer, we felt the Lord calling us to spend all weekend with the girls. We arrived at the club at 12:30am and were met outside by the local church protesters. We said, “hi” as we passed them to enter the club, but didn’t communicate any further. We were greeted at the door by the girls and they welcomed us in with open arms! There are a total of 7 girls who work there (but only 6 were present). They brought us into the dressing room where we spent the next 2 hours sharing Jesus’ Love with them!!! They were sharing the pain they were experiencing through this church and telling us disappointing things that have been said to them.

We continued to let them know that God loves them and that is not the heart of Jesus. Surprisingly enough, they were totally open to hearing and receiving all we had to say. We thought that they were probably so turned off by the church that they might cringe at the very mention of Jesus…. but it was quite the opposite. These precious women were hungry and told us that all of the hateful things said to them didn’t seem like something God “who is suppose to Love them” would say. The girls thanked us repeatedly for coming and were very touched by the gifts, love, & gesture…. this outreach was MORE than amazing!! It was a total God-thing!

We established great new friendships with the girls and they realized that the Love of Jesus was a gift for them! Tomorrow night we will be returning with dinner for the girls. We are planning on being there from 7:30-9:30pm Eastern time (4:30-6:30pm Pacific time). Please pray during this time because we are certain something even bigger is going to happen!! After leaving the club, God pressed upon our hearts to offer them the free gift of salvation (now that they have received His Love). We are so excited to see what God is going to do; we can’t wait to go back!!

DAY 2

We do believe that we are suppose to talk to the pastor (as of now) because God can change things around through Love. Please pray for wisdom and discernment and that every word spoken out of our mouths is only from the Lord and not our flesh. We want to bring the heart of Jesus to this pastor and to the church as well. I thought that we were here for the girls, but maybe God wants to use us to help bring His Love to the church as well. Thank you very much, as always, for your prayers and support!!

Tonight is one of the greatest nights in our lives!!!! We brought pizza to the Foxhole for the girls and also brought some for the church protesters too. The church was not there when we arrived so we left their pizza in the car. We went into the club and were blessed by flowers & cards from the girls!!! We had such a wonderful night with them. God spoke into us and then we spoke into them. It was so not us, which made it very supernatural. Two of the precious girls gave their lives to the Lord and a few rededicated their relationship with Him!!! Yea God!!! We just LOVE these beautiful girls with ALL of our hearts and pray a special blessing on them and their families.

When we left the club, Pastor Bill and some of the men from the church were there. We were so happy to see them and give them the pizza that we had brought for them. We were able to share with them a little about our ministry and the heart God has given us for HIS precious daughters. They were excited about us being there and the Lord gave us a really special heart for these men… it was the same heart He gives us for the girls!!! We just loved them! He gave us a chance to pray together and pray for Pastor Bill which was a huge blessing! Pastor Bill invited us to their church tomorrow and is going to allow us to share what God can do through HIS LOVE and AMAZING GRACE for the entire service!!!

We are so excited!!! We invited the girls from the club into the church to be there as well, and prayerfully they will accept and the heart and LOVE of Jesus will not only transform the church & the girls, but the community as well! Praise God for what HE is doing and continues to do!!!

DAY 3

Praise, Honor, and Glory to God for what HE DID IN WARSAW OHIO TODAY!! Anny & I were invited to speak to the church this Sunday at The New Life Ministries Church. We were met by our beautiful new friends from the Foxhole Strip Club. We exchanged huge hugs and were so excited to see them again. We also got a chance to meet the strip club owner Tommy and give him a gift! We invited the girls into the church to listen to the message God had given us to give to the church, but said that they did not feel welcomed in and as much as they wanted to go inside, they didn’t.

Anny and I showed up with nothing but the Holy Spirit and the Love of Jesus and were able to share our testimony, stories, and hearts with this beautiful church. God Rocked the House!! Tears were flowing, repentance, grace, and forgiveness was taken place, and the Heart of the Father and His Love was being released to His Church. After Anny prayed an amazing prayer, we invited the church to help CHANGE THE FACE OF CHRISTIANITY by standing with us and truly LOVING God’s Beautiful Girls just as Jesus would. The entire church stood with us and God was PLEASED!!!! There was an overflow of the Love of Jesus onto His people, who were now ready to take that same Love and pour it into their community beginning with the precious dancers.

As the church left the building, they became Jesus in Flesh and the Love of the Father poured out all over these girls as they began to Love them, hug them, and seek forgiveness from them!!! Our Sweet Lola was broken and afraid to trust the church. Pastor Bill Hugged her and held her and promised with all his heart he was not gonna fail her. He prayed for her and it was AMAZING!! I saw my beautiful Lola Smile from ear to ear for the very first time!!!

This whole community was touched and reached today because they received the message Jesus had for them, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Pastor Bill and Strip Club Owner Tommy allowed the Love and Grace of Jesus to heal their relationship and they made peace with one another! They are going to have lunch on Wednesday! Praise be to God and we give Him all Honor and Praise for what HE DID here in Warsaw Ohio this weekend!!! The VICTORY HAS BEEN WON!!! THE WAR IS OVER!! PRAISE OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!

The above testimony only represents the perspective of one woman in the situation, but even if 75% of it is true, then it is a beautiful reminder of how much more powerful love and compassion are than judgment and condemnation in overcoming evil and bringing people to God.  Now go and do likewise in the name of Jesus.

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