God 'intends for us to have great sex,' minister says Desert Vista Church's pastor plans series of sermons on intimacy; it's a growing trend Kate Nolan The Arizona Republic Sept. 30, 2006 12:00 AM
SCOTTSDALE - Mark Einersen insists it's what God wants.
"He intends for us to have great sex," said Einersen, lead pastor of Desert Vista Church in Scottsdale and creator of "Pure Sex," a series of Sunday sermons he plans to give at his church.
"God is the one who designed sex, and one of his first instructions is to enjoy sexual intimacy," Einersen said. "But how do we enjoy it to the utmost?"
Based on common perceptions of Christianity, one might suspect the Desert Vista preacher is changing teams, perhaps planning a meet-and-greet with hellfire and damnation.
In fact, Einersen, 36, gives expression to a new sexual frankness emerging from pulpits across the nation.
According to David Neff, editor of Chicago-based Christianity Today, the international magazine for evangelicals, sexuality has been on the rise as a topic of sermons for 20 years, with interest spiking in the past few years.
A 2005 survey by his magazine indicated that 44 percent of churchgoers wanted to hear more sermons about sex.
Neff says the shift comes with a general increase in sermons that provide practical wisdom for living.
"People feel that the old sexual expectations were clear, and it was clear when you were violating them. Now it's hard for people to know what's expected of them," Neff said.
The culture's general loosening up about sex has made it a more palatable topic for the pulpit, said Brian Larson, another editor at Christianity Today.
Einersen and other pastors say they are trying to rescue sex as a Christian topic. His Assemblies of God tradition considers Scripture the true word of God.
He says people mistakenly believe scriptural views of sex are all negative and only mass media celebrate it.
"But the Bible speaks a whole lot about sex. When you see that, you can see the kind of passion that God wants. We're not going to say people should be prudes and not have sexual fantasies. Sure, I'd rather look at a six-foot blond with beautiful legs selling me a car than a guy," he said.
While the title of Einersen's first sex sermon, "The Greatest Sex You'll Ever Have," sounds like an ad from the back pages of a men's magazine, its content will stop considerably short of endorsing pornography, homosexuality or sex without marriage. Einersen plans to draw heavily from Song of Solomon, a book of the Bible that chronicles a seduction. Subsequent talks will address specific sexual themes.
Einersen's won't be the Valley's first Christian sex series.
The non-denominational Superstition Springs Community Church in Gilbert hosted a similar series a year ago and recently completed a five-week run on marital sex.
"It was the hottest, steamiest series we've ever done in church. It was really well received," Pastor Mark Connelly said of the marriage series.
Like Einersen's, his interest in sexual topics is a response to what they both say is a pop culture saturated with sexual images.
"God has a perfect design for all things, and that includes physical intimacy in marriage. And if we don't step in, that opens the door to the Hugh Hefners of the world to define sexuality," Connelly said in reference to the founder of Playboy.
Another benefit: Church attendance rose from 1,200 to 1,500 during Connelly's recent sex series.
Sexual sermons clearly capture public attention. A church in Durham, N.C., is also offering a sex series and last month put up a sign proclaiming, "Sex: Sundays in October." Within days, the sign was stolen. A church spokeswoman said it wasn't clear whether the perpetrator was for or against the new practice.