RMCNews with Erik Stenbakken and Leandro Bizama – Loveland, Colorado … Several dozen Campion Adventist Church members and Campion Academy students attended a 5-part video series entitled, New Freedom to Love, February 8-11. “After producing the original content more than four years ago, it was an honor and privilege to present it at the Campion church,” said Erik Stenbakken, host and producer of the series.

According to Leandro Bizama, associate Campion Church pastor, the church’s Evangelism Council and Family ministries worked together to provide the five-video series to our church members, community, and students. “Several parents, couples, young adults, and students came to the meetings. Personally, I saw it as a way to start a much-needed conversation in our church, school, and family,” Pastor Leandro said.

“Everyone in Loveland makes a big deal about Valentine’s Day, so we thought this would be a good time to try to start a conversation about the subject of love, sex, and porn,” he added.

Even though there was a lot of information and having a frank conversation about porn is not easy, the resource is useful in bringing awareness and talking about important subjects.

The seminar’s web page provides astounding statistics about the problem of pornography today: there are 68 million internet search queries for pornography each day and the top five porn sites in the world have a combined 17.73 billion visits per month. The pornography scourge affects 77% of Christian men ages 18-30 who view porn at least monthly. Thirty percent of pastors report they have visited a pornography site within the last 30 days, and the average age of exposure to porn in the U.S. is 11 years old and dropping.

The video content, created by North American Division of the Church, was made to be a stand-alone workshop that anyone can run, and it worked just as designed! Erik presented a short intro to each section, then ran the video for each of the five main presenters. The presenters included Mike Tucker, Faith for Today and Mad About Marriage TV series speaker on marriage and relationships; Bernie Anderson, pastor, speaker, and coach for men; Dr. Celeste Holbrook, Christian Sexologist and speaker for women; as well as Troy Beans, speaker and coach for youth/young adults.

“After each of the sessions, I had at least one person come up to me and say something like, ‘I’m so glad our church is doing something about this!’ ”

“Another attendee expressed surprise and said they were ‘glad that the material was presented in such a positive way. No shame. Focusing on God’s ideals,’ ” Stenbakken added.

Two “Grow Groups” were formed at the same time as the workshop was held. One group is tackling addictions in general and using a specially organized version of Ellen G. White’s Steps to Christ, which flows parallel with the 12-step recovery programs of today. One group was formed to support and grow men through sexual addictions. Both groups are led by local members.

Campion Academy students attended three of the five sessions and were very attentive and focused. “How focused, you might ask? During Mike Tucker’s presentation there was an audio glitch, and we could see Mike talking, but no sound. Immediately, the Campion students called out, ‘Stop! Pause the video! Go back! Fix it!’ They *really* wanted to hear what Mike was saying about how to live a life with true love and relational fulfillment.”

After the meetings, the church offered two small groups as a follow up, one following the Steps to Christ Recovery Edition, which combines the 12 steps of AA recovery programs with each chapter of the book, and the other, designed specifically for men to find support and accountability using the 7 Pillars from the Pure Desire ministry.

—RMCNews with Erik Stenbakken and Leandro Bizama.