The FAMiLY Leader Foundation’s Church Ambassador Network held its second annual “Do Food Fair” at the New Life Center in downtown Des Moines on Friday, June 7, 2019. This year’s speaker, Pastor Luke Hukee, came from Walnut Creek Church in Des Moines to address pornography use in America and how to help people break the addiction.
The Do Good Fair started in 2018 after pastors met with members of the executive branch and needs were expressed within the state’s foster care system. After praying for the governing authority, pastors and the Church Ambassador Network team felt that they needed to do more.
The Church Ambassador Network came up with the idea to start a conference – or “fair,” as it’s called – to equip churches to address crucial topics facing Iowa’s communities. The fair specifically highlights ministries and churches that are effectively meeting community needs and encourages others to learn from them and do likewise.
Thus, Iowa’s foster care system became the topic of the first annual Do Good Fair last year, and pastors and churches were given the opportunity to learn about preventative foster care from the Safe Families ministry and hear a presentation on “The Theology of the Poor” from Pastor Philip Herman of Highland Park Community Church in Des Moines.
“So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” – Galatians 6:10 (emphasis added).
The community naturally looks to the Church in a crisis, which is why churches need to be educated and equipped to help in the community’s time of need. The Do Good Fair prepares churches to be ready.
This year’s topic at the Do Good Fair is a perfect example of a crisis: the rampant pornography addiction in America. It is a problem not just in the wider society, but in the Church as well. It is a difficult subject to address, but Pastor Luke Hukee of Walnut Creek Church spoke boldly, giving churches ways to teach, ask, listen, and “kill” pornography addiction in the Church.
Hukee takes into consideration the magnitude of the problem, but does not let it be an excuse not to act. To make a change, he argues, we need to begin with the Church.
Denise Bubeck, deputy director of the Church Ambassador Network, said, “This year’s Do Good Fair was truly a blessing. It was great to see pastors and leaders come together to focus on an issue that is so difficult to address. Pastor Luke Hukee gave the startling statistics of pornography and how it is affecting people in and outside the Church. But what I found to be most encouraging in Pastor Luke’s presentation was the need for the Church to come alongside those struggling with pornography with community and accountability.”
Hukee, along with Christina White and David Langley, also from Walnut Creek Church, discussed at the Do Good Fair the “Set Free” groups their church has implemented for men and women struggling with pornography or similar lustful desires.
Charles Daugherty from Serve the City in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, attended the Do Good Fair. He’s using the information he learned when meeting with denominational leaders throughout Iowa to address the pornography addiction epidemic.
“If we try to individually [do this], we will do nothing,” Daugherty says, “but if we can work together, we can solve this situation.”
Pastor Hukee told TFL, “It’s important to uncover pornography use, but I think our response needs to go deeper. We need to figure out why or where pornography addiction stems from and then do something about it.
“Christ has given His body, the Church, to actually help those who are enslaved to their sexual sin,” he said.
“The Church has to wake up,” said Do Good Fair attendee Matt Moeckel. “If people care about sexual slavery or human trafficking, you have to care about this.”
Pornography addiction has become an epidemic in America, but is often accepted, even embraced, by the wider culture. Change, therefore, must begin in the Church, and it begins when pastors and church leaders are informed, equipped, and teamed together in mutual encouragement – the very purpose of the Do Good Fair.
