The Pure Life Alliance Story
For Men Only (FMO) started on the Westside of Portland Oregon because a men’s ministry leader at Sunset Presbyterian Church knew the issue of sexual addiction needed to be addressed. Sunset’s men’s ministry leaders felt they needed to initiate a program that would help men deal with the issues of sexual addiction. One of these men had a book called Pure Desire, by Ted Roberts in his reading pile. At the time, Ted was the senior pastor of East Hill Foursquare church in Gresham, Oregon.
Program Development
In July of 2000, Scot Oja the men’s pastor at East Hill met with eight men’s leaders from Sunset. It was this group of men who first envisioned a sexual purity ministry. The idea was to have East Hill mentor Sunset so we could replicate the effective ministry they had been doing. Much conversation and planning was put into a workshop at Sunset’s yearly men’s retreat that October. Scot Oja was to teach the session for men who “had a sense of victory” and felt as though they could lead others out of addiction.
Eighteen men met that day at Camp Kuratli in Estacada, Oregon. Over the next couple of months, ten men agreed to be trained in For Men Only weekly groups at East Hill. At the end of 2000, these men met as an FMO sexual purity group and received additional training from Scot Oja.
During February 2001 Sunset hosted an FMO Seminar. An event with the sole purpose of educating men about sexual addiction, recovery and joining weekly groups that were to start meeting on Sunset’s campus. 54 men attended that first FMO seminar; 24 men joined the three existing groups. Sunset’s FMO ministry was born.
During the fall of that year, three women leaders from Sunset decided to pursue a similar training for women with East Hill’s Betrayed Heart ministry. This ministry addressed issues specifically related to women in relationship with men struggling with sexual addiction. Each week they would join18 other women at East Hill in true engagement with a women’s journey. Out of this training came Sunset’s Betrayed Heart ministry; the first 12 week module was offered starting January 2002. This class equipped women to understand themselves and their men allowing them to live healthy and safe lives in relationships. These modules ranged in size from 12-25. Now more than 130 women have come through these support classes.
God Causes the Growth
Since the FMO weekly groups have always been open to all men, men from various churches on the Westside of Portland began attending these Sunset Presbyterian groups. It didn’t matter what church they were from; all that mattered was that they were willing to engage in a journey toward purity. Over time as the groups grew and multiplied, the leadership of Sunset’s FMO ministry took on a very ecumenical flavor. The small group leaders of this Sunset based ministry were actually members of a dozen other churches. Soon our non-Sunset to Sunset leadership ratio was 60-40 respectively.
As these leaders and many men from these various churches began to know what real freedom from sexual addiction meant, they would go to their own church leaders saying, “How come we don’t have a ministry for sexual addicts? We need one!” With a potential leader for a much needed ministry sitting right in their office most of these pastors jumped at the idea of getting involved.
By late fall of 2004, FMO had become a growing, intra-church ministry. 15 groups met weekly at six different churches, with roughly 26 FMO coordinators working with almost 120 men. And it was still a part of Sunset’s men’s ministry.
During the fall of 2004, the FMO ministry was working diligently to upgrade our web presence. So was born www.formenonly.org, a resource that has been seen and used nationwide. This website represents the essence of the weekly sexual purity groups. It not only leads men through self-discovery but gives them valuable information about their own journey of sexual addiction. Furthermore, it allows individuals to contact a monthly coordinator for the purpose of getting connected to a weekly group.
During the summer of 2003 some early conversation had taken place regarding moving out from under Sunset Presbyterian Church’s arm to develop an independent organization. These ideas and thoughts were shelved for almost two years, and still the FMO & Betrayed Heart ministries grew.
An Intra Church Ministry
With the resignation of Sunset’s Men’s Minister, Blake Williams in February 2005, came a renewed believe that perhaps now was the time to rekindle old dreams of an independent ministry. On April 21 2005, an e-mail went out to individuals who had lead in this ministry for three or more years. It was an invitation to consider what next steps were needed. Ten individuals met together to pool not only their vision, experience and networking but also their expertise.
Pure Life Alliance’s (PLA) first board meeting occurred April 27, 2005. Discussion included everything from staffing to fundraising, vision and strategy to the steps required to become a 501(c) (3) organization. During the following six weeks, this group of people heard God call them to move ahead in developing this nonprofit organization.
At the time there were eight churches involved, 18 weekly groups meeting, and almost 35 FMO coordinators. The Betrayed Heart Ministry for wives was renamed during this time as well, becoming known as A Hidden Hurt (HH). Its curriculum was also changed, to A Woman’s Healing Journey, written by Marsha Means.
PLA was organized with two clear established programs, FMO and HH. Some future programs might include: a sexual addiction program for women, youth, and/or a consulting module to assist churches in dealing with sexual addiction in their leadership.
Today, PLA’s Executive Director (Blake Williams) together with the PLA leadership team guide more than 45 coordinators who lead 24 FMO groups and four HH groups that meet weekly at 12 local churches. We look forward to the future as this ministry continues to grow. We are deeply indebted to the Lord Jesus Christ and the local churches that make up this network of purity.