Multi-speaker YouTube discussion advising pastors on launching Pure Desire/sexual integrity groups. Speakers emphasize that the ministry is supported by a team offering training and resources so pastors don't need to create a new ministry from scratch; that pastoral endorsement and visible, repeated announcements are important for adoption; and that peer pastor referrals and connections help leaders envision how groups work in their context. The conversation notes average attendance frequency as a reason to repeat announcements to reach more people.
The conversations I'm having with pastors, as soon as I say, like, hey, we have a team to support you.
Yeah.
Like, oh, I don't have to launch another ministry.
Yeah, for sure.
Wow. Like, we have Ashley and Rich and all the other groups team, like here for training. Like the group leadership training, sexual integrity, one on one, like, all of its stuff is packaged in position to where you don't even have to reinvent the wheel. Like, hey, we got your support. We got regular meetings, trainings for your leaders. Like, we're here. This, you're not alone in this. And they're like, oh, wow, like, how do I sign up for the church membership?
Yeah.
And so that part is really awesome. Just to see pastors go, I'm not alone.
Yeah, you're not alone. We're here to help. Yeah. I think there's a reality too, in a lot of churches, and whether this is right or wrong, that could be the topic of another podcast. But in a lot of churches, unless people hear it from up front and sometimes unless they hear it from the pastor, until then, it doesn't really matter.
Right.
It's not really a big deal in the church. And. And I think we get that that's true. Because when something does matter to the church, it's like every service, all the people on stage are talking about, hey, don't forget coming up, this new discipleship thing or this new class or this new opportunity, and everyone goes, oh, this really matters. And if the only time we hear about like sexual integrity type things or pure desire groups is kind of these hushed tones or really small little blurbs in the bottom of the bulletin that says something. And so as a pastor leader, you don't have to be leading the groups themselves, but I think it really matters that you feel comfort with what's happening, that you can champion it, that you can talk with support about, man, I believe these are life changing. And I'm so supportive that our church has these and that will just open doors for other people. And so I'd say if you're not there, you know, my other suggestion would be to talk to other pastors that have these groups in their churches. And we'd be glad to provide some phone numbers and contacts, say, hey, talk to some leaders. We'll even find some in your denomination that are doing this and ask what impact it's having on their people, on their culture. Because I think I know, for me, until I heard it from another pastor, I had a hard time really seeing how could it work in my church right so it's one thing if a church member is like, oh, we need these groups, we should do it. And I remember a couple of times with ministries I didn't really know about, I would go talk to a pastor friend and say, hey, have you ever worked with so and so, have you ever done this ministry? And if they said, oh, yeah, we loved it. It was so good for us. Well, man, all of a sudden I'm thinking about it like, oh, maybe we should do that. And if that's where you're at as a leader, I think that's great. We trust peers for recommendations. So talk to another pastor. And like I said, if you need a phone number, we'll connect you with something you could talk to and just say, what impact did this have at your church?
Yeah, I'm. I'm envisioning the guy on stage who's announcing, and we have a potluck next week, and then we have sexual integrity next weekend. Okay. And then back to the story.
Let's all that really fast voice at the end of radio commercials when they have to share the legal stuff, like.
The small print, the fine print stuff. Absolutely.
That's how we deal with the integrity.
Oh, my gosh.
Our groups.
Another thing I would say on that too, you know, if you look at the statistics. Statistics, it's between one and two times every month that people, on average go to church. And so, you know, you may say it from the stage on one weekend, but you might be missing three quarters of the people who are normally there.
Yeah.
Like at any given Sunday. And so I think that we need to make sure that we're doing that in a consistent basis. That it's like, okay, week one and week three, we're gonna say something, and then next month it's week two and week four, we're trying to make sure we're catching people. Because if it is that important from the front, you have to consider not everyone's there.
Yeah, I know. As a pastor, if it mattered to us, we said it three weeks in a row. Yeah. Because we're like, that will catch at least a majority of our people three weeks in a row.
