CYBERSPACE – Hip and modern reverends Craig Gross and Mike Foster’s never-ending obsession with the adult entertainment industry has taken on a new marketing angle: distribution of 10,000 copies of a contemporary translation of the New Testament, entitled The Message and packing a cover that announces that “Jesus Loves Porn Stars.”What’s not to love?
The unique form of evangelizing will be assisted by NavPress publishers, which has made a verbal agreement to distribute copies of the publication at three porn conventions, according to the 30-year-old Gross.
The three conventions whose attendees the young founders of XXXChurch hope to save will be Erotica LA, to be held in June, Gay Erotica NY, to be held in October, and the Adult Video News Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas, to be held in January of 2007.
The selection of NavPress came after the American Bible Society (ABS) reversed its decision to work with XXXChurch when the two groups could not reach an agreement about the book’s cover. Although the ABS agrees with the XXXChurch goals, it felt that the cover was not appropriate, given the message within The Message.
When the ABS decision to remove itself from the project was announced by the Los Angeles Times in April, NavPress, Zondervan, and Thomas Nelson each offered to themselves as replacements, according to Gross, who said that the ultimate decision about who to partner with was based upon price and logistics.
Ironically, when NavPress found out about the innovative cover design, it also had a moment. “…our excitement quickly gave way to surprise when Craig mentioned that he wanted the cover of the Bible to say ‘Jesus Loves Porn Star,’” he explained.
The company’s nervousness abated once the minds of its representatives “flashed back to the words of Jesus himself, and we quickly realized that Jesus probably would have loved that phrase,” Wilson admitted.
The pocketbook will include a short introduction, including information including “Does Jesus really love porn stars? Absolutely. Now that may go against what you thought about Jesus but it is true. You see, Jesus loves porn stars as much as he loves pastors, soccer moms, liars, thieves, and prostitutes. In his eyes, we are all the same. We’re all just people in need of a savior who can come into our world and fix our messed-up lives.”
Stickers reading “Jesus Loves Porn Stars” regularly run out during porn conventions, according Gross.
An MTV ad created by the two men was yanked when the Little People of America complained about its use of a dwarf and the line “Porn stunts your growth.”
