Nicholas H. Dean

AFA Journal/Engage magazine staff writer

March 2016 – Our culture has been besieged by a broken conception of sexuality, damaging countless relationships and lives in the process. Daniel Weiss, founder and president of Brushfires Foundation, recently shared with AFA Journal how the foundation is helping others reclaim and maintain godly, authentic sexuality.

AFA Journal: What is Brushfires Foundation and how did it get its name?
Daniel Weiss: The Brushfires Foundation is a Christ-centered ministry working to renew a Christian vision of sexuality, relationships, and the human person. We take our name from a quote by Founding Father Samuel Adams who wrote that “it does not take a majority to prevail, but … a tireless minority keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.” We focus our work on setting brushfires of freedom in people’s lives, especially in the areas of sexual brokenness.

AFAJ: What goes into a healthy understanding of sex and sexuality for the Christian?
DW: Many Christians view their sexual lives as completely separate from their spiritual lives or their faith in Christ. I maintain that these must be combined in order for us to understand sex rightly. People always get nervous when I talk this way, because they can’t imagine God’s love being sexualized.

But we must remember that our love is a reflection of His love. His love is not sexual. It is far beyond that. But it is infinitely intimate and self-giving. Jesus showed us through His Incarnation, His entire life on earth and especially through His crucifixion how God’s love involves a total gift of the self. This idea of self-gift is the context in which we should understand our sexuality.

AFAJ: How, then, would you define the concept of authentic sexuality for the Christian?
DW: I propose the following definition of authentic sexuality and a right Christian sexual ethic: Does this attitude, action, or belief image the love of God? If it does reflect or align with God’s way of loving, then it can be considered authentic. If it doesn’t, it is an inauthentic expression of love.

AFAJ: What present challenges exist within the church to threaten the Christian sexual ethic, and what challenges do you foresee for the coming years?
DW: The church finds itself right now embattled on every front with regard to sexuality. There are legal pressures regarding the meaning of marriage, there are strong social pressures to conform to the spirit of the age with regard to homosexuality and transgenderism, and there are the sad realities that many Christians no longer pattern their lives on the Christian vision of love.

These are major threats to the church today, and tomorrow’s challenges are going to grow straight out of these if we don’t begin addressing them openly, honestly, and compassionately, but also with truth, courage, and conviction.

Many church leaders don’t know how to talk about these issues or what to say, so they stay silent. This is the wrong approach because it opens wide the doors for the culture to evangelize the church. I suggest that this is why society looks the way it does right now. We’ve been evangelized by the popular culture that had no shame or fear in talking about sex.

AFAJ: How is Brushfires Foundation uniquely helping others heal from this sort of “sexual evangelism?”
DW: We are trying to work from the 50,000-foot view to see all the ways different aspects of sexual brokenness link together. We are also trying to cultivate a culture of vulnerability and authenticity among people who feel frightened, wounded, and alone. I keep coming back to Jesus on the cross. He went through the worst pain in the world and willingly put it on His back on the cross. If we hope to follow Jesus, we have to become comfortable dealing with deep human brokenness. This takes practice, patience, and time. We are trying to show people how this can be done.

We do that through our website, email newsletter, public appearances, consultations with church leaders, and partnering with others who also do great work in these areas. We offer a library of online resources on pornography, sex trafficking, authentic sexuality, help for parents in keeping the home safe, and more. We just launched our new prayer ministry, Pray Love Heal.

AFAJ: Could you share a little bit more about Pray Love Heal?
DW: Pray Love Heal is guiding a global response to sexual brokenness. People can come here to learn about various aspects of sexual brokenness and pray over them. We also receive peoples’ prayer requests and share them with our prayer teams. We started this because we began to really understand how much of the battle over sexual brokenness is spiritual. Of course there are mental and emotional wounds to be addressed, but it didn’t seem that many groups were taking the spiritual side of these wounds seriously. Paul tells us that the battle is not with flesh and blood but with the spiritual forces of darkness in the heavenly realms.

AFAJ: How have you seen this organization lead to sexual healing in the lives of others?
DW: I had been working with a professional for some time before she sent a separate email to let me know that her husband had been viewing pornography. As a wife, she felt shattered. She asked for prayer and support. I was able to guide her to some specific resources which immediately helped her and gave her hope.

Later, she shared that sometimes, [others] just being there and being available is enough to help folks like her. She let me know that she and her husband are working through things and that she is in a much better place because of the help we were able to give her.

I have many other stories like this, including the young man who approached us wanting to publish his letter of apology to the pornography performers he had viewed online. His letter struck a nerve and was shared broadly from our site.

AFAJ: How can readers get more involved and support the organization?
DW: People can connect with us by Facebook and online. If they have needs or questions, we have contact forms to allow for more personal communication. We love when people sign up for our email newsletter because we can offer more substantive content there.

In terms of support, I have always seen three basic needs for this ministry. Prayer support is the first and most important. Ours is a rescue mission of mercy. But this infuriates the devil. We are desperate for people to pray for God’s leading and protection over the work we are doing. The second great need we have is simply getting the word out about what we are doing. Our final need is for adequate financial resources. 

In all of these needs, there is one common theme – we are working to create a global community of people supporting one another, sharing their lives openly and honestly, and doing so without fear. I believe this is not only possible, but that it is at the very core of God’s heart. 

From Brushfires Foundation, The Heart of the Matter, is a compassionate Christian response to the devastation of pornography addiction. Watch for a review in the April AFA Journal.

▶ brushfiresfoundation.org 920-389-1871
▶ prayloveheal.org