Supporting Pastors and Churches
Before It Begins
Protecting Pastoral Purity Through a New Partnership
The enemy does not take days off — and neither does his assault on the purity of God's people and their leaders. That's why I'm excited to announce that the South Central Ohio District has entered into a groundbreaking new partnership with Before It Begins, bringing free, practical resources directly to you and your congregation. These resources will help you avoid the pornography trap, and find needed deliverance if you’ve fallen into that snare.
The blood of Jesus has secured our freedom. But freedom must be walked out — and that walk requires intentionality, accountability, and the right tools. This partnership exists to put those tools in your hands.
Whether you're looking to protect your own integrity as a pastor, equip your congregation for battles they may not even know they're fighting, or get ahead of issues before they take root — Before It Begins has resources designed for exactly that.
I especially want to encourage every pastor to explore their Pastor Protection Program. Those of us in leadership carry a unique target on our backs. Protecting our purity isn't weakness — it's wisdom. And it is stewardship of the trust our people have placed in us.
Please take a few minutes to review the full list of available services below. They are yours, at no cost, as a benefit of this district partnership.
Eddie Estep
District Superintendent, South Central Ohio District
The Threat
Pornography has grown to be a $100 billion industry and our children are being indoctrinated into an ideology of oversexualization and gender-confusion where 30% of all teens report they are exposed to pornography at school on a regular basis and 20% of youth identify as LGBTQ. 75% of Christian men and 40% of Christian women report that they are viewing pornography at least occasionally, while 82% of Christians say no one is helping them in their struggle. AI-driven pornography is accelerating addiction, distorting identity, and deepening isolation at a scale the Church has never faced before.
It is not a coincidence in Romans 1 that the first act of a society that suppresses the truth and fails to give glory and honor to God is to turn to sexual perversions of all types. It can feel like we are living in such a society today. Put simply, today’s world is filled with sexual images, temptations, and unbiblical views of sex and gender that are actively shaping and often harming our leaders, children, and communities.
At the same time, many adults—including parents, leaders, and pastors—are working to discern how to faithfully shepherd others and reflect the heart of God in these complex situations, often without clear guidance or support. Not to mention the increasing needs for pastors to diligently guard their own hearts and protect their own purity in the face of an increasingly sexualized world. Barna surveys indicate that 67% of pastors have struggled with pornography at some time in their life.
The Opportunity
Yet within this crisis lies a profound gospel opportunity. In an increasingly sexualized world where pornography is running rampant, we have a unique opportunity to provide a powerful witness to a world in desperate need—calling people to walk in holiness, set apart, and in stark contrast to the patterns of this world, while partnering with God to rescue His people from bondage to pornography and addiction.
Similarly, the rise of unbiblical sex and gender ideologies represents one of the most significant opportunities in our generation for the Church to step forward—not only to protect and guide its own people, but to lovingly engage those who do not yet know Christ with clarity, compassion, and hope. Today, many individuals who, having formally embraced any number of unbiblical sex and gender ideologies, and seen the fruitlessness of these beliefs, are ready to be shown a different way, but will the Church be ready for them?
Meanwhile, parents feel overwhelmed, individuals are searching for identity and belonging, and pastors are increasingly faced with complex, real-life situations that require both wisdom and support. As a result, much of the Church’s response remains reactive—stepping in after identity confusion, relational wounds, or spiritual disconnection have already taken root—rather than proactively forming healthy, God-centered identity before these challenges begin.
We need a better solution, Before It Begins!
Services
Available to you as a result of this groundbreaking partnership
This partnership enables you to access to everything you need to promote a culture of holiness and biblical sexuality in your church and community including:
Free Programs
Protect our Pastors
Resist Sexual Temptation and Sin
(100% confidential and complementary for limited SCO pastors)
Our church and ministry leaders often experience greater attacks from the enemy and have greater consequences for moral failure. Therefore, the core of our partnership is Before It Begins’ Pastor Protection Programs—designed to help pastors resist sexual temptation and find freedom from pornography Before It Begins to take hold or deepen. These programs provide proactive, relational, and spiritually grounded support for those seeking to protect or restore their identity in Christ. Pastor Participants are paired with a Before It Begins Pastor Advocate (who are pastors themselves) who walk alongside them through regular meetings (zoom or phone), offering accountability, prayer, and practical guidance. For those in deeper bondage, Before It Begins provides a structured restoration process that includes goal-setting, progress tracking, spiritual formation, and crisis support. Before It Begins even offers marriage restoration support for spouses impacted by pornography. Since 2019, Before It Begins has restored over 200 pastors from sexual sin, with all reporting a deeper relationship with God, a greater understanding of how to overcome temptation, and a meaningful increase in overall wellness. Before It Begins’ approach is both preventive and restorative—helping pastors not only break free from destructive patterns, but also grow in a deeper relationship with God, greater self-understanding, and lasting transformation.
Discounted Access
Protect children and Invest in the Next Generation
Children are today’s targets for sexually explicit, deviant, and destructive images and messages. The culture, through all forms of media and even public school curriculum, often seeks to indoctrinate children with unbiblical sex and gender ideologies that can cause irreversible damage. To protect our children from these threats, Before It Begins offers workshops and other resources to equip parents (as well as grandparents, uncles, aunts, and youth workers) to more effectively raise kids that will pursue God’s heart and design for our sexuality and gender.
Equip the Church
Promote a movement of holiness in your church and evangelize a generation with the beauty of God’s design for their identity.
Protecting the Church
Complimentary access to:
- Before It Begins webinar and workbook: How to Create a Culture of Biblical Sex and Gender in Your Church.
- Digital promotional assets to utilize within the local church.
- The Before It Begins Anonymous Hotline to receive counsel on how to address and respond to sex/gender/pornography-related issues and situations that arise in the local church.
- Before It Begins presentations to local church leadership / elder teams.
Discounted access to all of Before It Begins’ Local Church Programs as well as:
- Personal Protection Programs for the church’s entire leadership team!
- Events, workshops, trainings, and other digital resources
- Before It Begins offers numerous events, workshops, and trainings on a myriad of topics related to sex and gender for pastors, missionaries, ministry leaders, parents, and the church at large.
Identity Evangelism & Discipleship
Before It Begins offers programs to equip pastors and church communities to engage today’s cultural realities with both truth and love—while advancing the gospel through both evangelism and discipleship. Before It Begins’ trainings provide a clear framework for how to relate to those who do not yet know Christ, and how to walk alongside believers who are navigating identity questions. This helps churches move from reactive fear to confident, relational engagement that leads people toward Christ and deeper transformation in Him.
Cultural Engagement
Before It Begins also equips churches and families to engage the broader culture with wisdom, clarity, and conviction. This includes helping them understand and respond to the messages shaping identity in their communities—such as public school curricula, emerging technologies like AI, and broader cultural trends—while also empowering them to be a faithful and redemptive presence to those who do not yet know Christ.
Confidential Contact Information
Access all programs included in this partnership
beforeitbegins.org
info@beforeitbegins.org
(805) 507-5511
Pastor Ed Schutte
