Ed Young, pastor of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas, and son of Ed Young, longtime pastor of Second Baptist, Houston, caused quite a splash last week with his "Seven Days of Sex" errr... progr... uhhh... stud... errr... series. The younger Young is sometimes referred to as "Ed Young, Jr.," but technically he's not a junior (different middle name than dad's). Ed Young, the younger, is but one of a generation of young, hip, primarily non-denominational, megachurch (or megachurch wannabe) pastors. You may recall this strange video he posted of himself last year. And this one.
The Dallas Morning News story.
The first sermon in this series can be seen here. It's entitled, strangely and appropriately enough, "Leaving Lust Vegas - Toilet Water." Instead of a pulpit, he had a real toilet in the middle of the stage upon which he plopped his open Bible.
The idea for this... series... didn't originate with Ed Young. A.R. Williams, pastor of World Overcomers Church in Memphis, the mostly black megachurch that built this monstrosity, delivered a similar... performance... almost a year ago. You can read the whole story here and here.
Here's the scene:
"Members of World Overcomers were shocked on last Sunday morning when they entered the place where they assemble to worship God. In the pulpit was a queen-sized bed draped in burgundy and gold.
"Members were wondering why the place that normally Pastor Alton R. Williams preaches the word of God from had turned into a large bedroom, when he entered wearing a robe and pajama pants with his Bible in hand. The lights are dimmed, mood music is playing. Williams at this point lies on the bed reading from the Songs of Solomon.
"While still reading the Bible his wife Sherrilyn enters the sanctuary wearing a long red-feathered, seductive-fitting gown. Mrs. Williams very seductively walks across the pulpit-turned-bedroom and sits on the bed next to her husband. She closes his Bible and begins to rub on him, and then lifts him from the bed and very passionately embraces and kisses him. Pastor Williams, whose Sunday morning freak session is designed to save marriages, tells the women in the congregation, 'This is how to keep your husband so the Hoe don't get him.'"
Kinda makes you wonder how low these "pastors" can go!
Ed Young's blog provides more interesting reading.