For those of you wanting to read the next chapter in my interview with Ted Haggard, do not despair! I promise, it will get here. The reasons I haven’t yet released it are rather boring, but there ARE reasons. Just stick with me for a few…  it’ll be worth the wait.

Today I’d like to share some TV footage with you. If you watch TBN, you’ve undoubtedly seen Breakthrough with Rod Parsley, as I’ve been told it’s one of their top three programs.  In April of this year, I received an email asking if I would be interested in appearing on the show.  At the time, I’d never heard of Pastor Parsley, so I searched Google for information about him and the show.  What I found from that search led me to believe that Rod is very… hmm, how do I describe this… “televangelist”, and to be honest, some of the things I found reminded me of my childhood and could easily have turned my stomach, but I chose to look for positives.  And there were plenty of positives to be found once I landed in Columbus, Ohio to meet with his staff and begin filming.  Positives such as this morsel:  did you know that Rod Parsley’s World Harvest Church has a team that attempts to be amongst the first on scene helping when natural disasters strike?  Tidbits like that ensured my heart remained soft towards Rod’s ministry.

Rod Parsey's "Breakthrough" Studio

Besides… the people there treated me like an absolute KING.  I was put up in a decent hotel room, had an “attendant” that anticipated my every need, and didn’t meet an unfriendly person during my entire stay.  The experience was beautiful!

But I had to wear a suit (which I found, still brand new, for $7 at a Salvation Army thrift store – Yes, I said SEVEN DOLLARS)!  Fortunately they didn’t require a tie.

Although we’d only planned to film one show (actually, half of one show – the other half to be shared with another guest), upon discussions with Rod and his staff I was asked if I’d come back the next morning for another filming.  They felt there was so much that needed to be shared, the original time allotted just wasn’t going to be enough.

In the first show, after Rod Parsley’s opening segment he and I speak for awhile, then the second half of the show is spent talking with Pat Trueman, former Chief of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Criminal Division, U. S. Department of Justice – a man who used to argue in front of the Supreme Court.  He speaks about how there are anti-porn laws already in existence that simply aren’t being enforced.  If you’ve been a long time reader of mine you know it is my opinion that legislation will never change hearts, and only education done with a big fat dose of Jesus’ Love can do so.  That being said, many of you will undoubtedly find Pat’s segment interesting.  I know my mother definitely did!

Here’s a Rebroadcast of that first show, shared with permission of Rod Parsley:

Click To Play

For the second show, Rod had Debbie Stacy, the Director of his Center for Moral Clarity, do an in depth interview with me.  My segment takes up the majority of the show, and there are no other guests.

Here’s the second show:

Click To Play

Even as I write this article, I’ve been direct messaged on twitter to let me know TBN is re-broadcasting one of the shows today.  It’s been on several times in the last month, so I am assuming feedback has been positive.  I’ve received emails from around the world from people who have seen it.  What a small world we live in!

Let me know what you think!

Here’s what I did…

TO WENDY

My first prank began with an email I received from my son’s mother. She wanted to know if I’d bring copies of the photos I’d recently taken of our boy out by the river. They were great photos, if I do say so myself.

All morning I’d been wondering what to do to her for April Fool’s day. This was my chance.

I replied, “They were all accidentally deleted.”

“That’s lovely,” she responded.

To which I finally answered, “It is also April 1st and I’ve been wondering what my April Fools joke on you would be. Thanks for the opportunity. Yes, you can have the pics. ”

———-

TO THE REALTOR (and my mom)

The guy I pay my rent to every month is a local Realtor. He’s a pretty good guy and knows my “story”. When I dropped off my rent check on his desk I called his voicemail and told him it was there. I also told him it would be the last rent check he’d receive from me. I asked him to give me a call back because I’d come into some money and wanted to talk about this great house on the outskirts of town I’d seen a few days ago while out walking.

When he returned my call I told him that the company who purchased my porn sites a few years back had done so in payments. I explained that I’d received the last payment today and wanted to buy the house I’d mentioned to him. Prior to the crash of the housing market, the property in question was priced at a little over a million dollars. It has now been reduced to $700k. I asked if he thought we could talk them down another $50k ’cause if so I could buy it for cash. He then explained to me that it would be a much wiser decision to purchase a less expensive house for myself and then buy a few fixer-uppers as rental properties. We talked for quite awhile, discussing property tax rates and various other things.

Finally I told him, “I didn’t expect to receive this check until the middle of the year, in June or July. But today’s April Fool’s day and it arrived early.” With that, he knew he’d been had! We both had a good laugh over it (and for the record, no such payments are ever going to be made – the sites were paid for in full when I sold them nearly a year before surrendering my life to God).

I repeated a very similar conversation with my mom. She fell for it too.

———-

I’d like to hear your stories, too. What did you do? Who’d you trick? What was their reaction? Comment away!

I’ve been thinking a lot about it and I’ve come to the conclusion that I really loved making a living by ruining lives. I’ll keep this short: I’m going back to producing porn and my business will be bigger and better than ever.

(Don’t freak out, people. Take a look at the date: it’s April Fools. I’m actually heading out the door to go to church.)

Not funny, you say? Ah, well… at least one of us is laughing. Lighten up.