This is the email update i recieved from Tara Chavarria about PnP from last Saturday…
I was recently back home in California visiting my Dad and when I was explaining Porn n Pancakes and what we are doing in Steamboat when he asked me:
“why don’t you just mind your own business and let people just do what they want?”
It struck me as an odd question and it stumped me for a couple of days, I really had to think about it. Maybe we are too pushy, maybe people want to be left alone, maybe we just imagine all the problems around us…..lame questions to have right before we are hosting a community wide event to address a very hard topic!
This weekend God has given me a couple of confirming thoughts and situations to show me that He does not want us to just mind our own business and there are people that don’t know where to turn, that live with incredibly HUGE secrets and that just experience life as a constant chaotic, damaging struggle!
Saturday morning Sk8 Church hosted, with local churches sponsoring, Craig Gross from xxxchurch for an event called porn n pancakes. We had over 120 men show up to learn about or get help for pornography. We had 9 different churches (Holy Name Catholic, Church of Christ, Steamboat Christian Center, Euzoa Bible Church, Evangelical Free, Anchor Way Baptist, St Paul Episcopal, Sk8 Church, & Concordian Lutheran) bring people from their congregations and the feedback we got was awesome! Guys were stoked to be at an event that was addressing a really sensitive issue. It was so cool to see believers from all different churches fellowshipping together to support each other. It definitely was more church crowd than we expected, but that is where the statistics say there is the biggest struggle so it was good! Craig Gross is a great speaker that talks so openly about not hiding our addictions. He had a friend there that shared his story.
His friend was an elder and regular church goer for years but secretly caught up in pornography and sexual addiction. It tore his life and family apart for years and he told of all the heartache and struggle he put his family through. Then his 13 year old son got up and told about what it was like to go through all that and what it was like to have a dad that was into porn and adultery. It was so powerful! With the help of Jesus the family is back together, the dad is free from addiction AND he and his wife counsel couples that are struggling with porn and adultery! God is so AMAZING!! It made me realize that anyone of us could be that caught up in addiction and if we all minded our own business it just stays secret and festering.
Galatians 6:1-2 “Brothers, if someone is caught up in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you may also be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
Another close friend of ours spoke about his long struggle with pornography. We had no idea that such a good friend lived with that secret! His testimony was incredible and he also attested to the fact that without Christ he would not be free from his addiction! So powerful!!
There is nothing in the Bible that says: mind your own business, fence you and your family in, keep to yourselves, No it tells us to love our neighbors, carry each other burdens, restore our brothers, confront in love! This weekend I saw the relief and the gratitude on the men’s faces when they could talk, laugh, pray about and just be together talking about the tough stuff. It has bolstered my resolve to follow Christ’s example of loving others more than myself. Of not worrying about my comfort, but reaching out to those who have no comforter! It strongly goes against our society, but I do not want anything to do with the standards our twisted world has set! They suck!
Buck did the rest of the speaking and I might be a little biased but I thought he was the best!! I realized what it is that makes him so special: He cares more about other people then he does his own life and his own comfort and it motivates him to want to reach as many people as he can with the restoration and hope of Jesus Christ! When we meet a kid and start working with them we often find ourselves involved with the whole family. There are probably a lot of times when they would rather be left alone, but we are persistent and keep loving them. I wish there would have been someone that didn’t mind their own business when I was growing up.
My parents struggled with drugs and alcohol, pornography was (and still is) very accepted, my brother is serving a 20 year prison sentence, my sister had her first child at 15, and most of you know my own road has not been easy. I always wonder if there had been a ministry/family that just converged on my whole family and dealt with the rejection, pushed through it, and loved us and walked with us no matter what, maybe things could have been different. Most of you know I had an adoptive family do that with me, and that is why I am here today, but the rest of my family still struggles.
All that to say that Porn n Pancakes was awesome and I am so thankful that we don’t mind our own business! God is going to use it to do great healing in a lot of lives! That is about all the detail I can say without comprimising the anonimity of the event! Thank you for your prayers and for supporting us! Go into your neighborhoods, small groups, work places, starbucks, schools where ever and ask the hard questions, ask about marriages, kids, porn, sex, work etc etc be specific and don’t be afraid of rejection-there is no level of rejection that should stop us from loving our neighbors, carrying each others burdens-asking the tough questions. More often than not we don’t have the answer, but we always have prayer and we can always listen! Thank you again for walking with us-we couldn’t do this without you.
We will have an update and some photos of the speakers (not the people there) on our website soon! www.christforlifeskatechurch.com
In Christ,
Tara Chavarria
Christ for Life Sk8 Church
“Reaching the Youth; Stretching the Church”
www.christforlifeskatechurch.com
I can honestly say that it was worth almost swerving into oncoming traffic at 750am because of tiredness… and almost dying countless times while being completely exhausted on the way home at 4pm…
the testimonies impacted me the most… hearing a 12yr old young MAN explain what it’s like to be in a 7 yr long divorce because of his daddy’s issue- woah.
I never want to do that to my family.
Posted by obedientson 
, Christian Hosoi, Tom Geilfuss, Lance Mountain, and many others. At the show, Pro skater Josh Harmony (Toy Machine, Fallen, RVCA) played original folk songs and covers that were all about his faith in Christ.
, drove 17 hours straight, worshipped, did bible studies on Isaiah, discussed the conference, laughed about all of Marks crazy stories and slept.
black crow becoming White Dove 