Donny's Ramblings

Many of you have heard all of this stuff in previous videos. Watch anyway and tell me if you notice the weight loss…

(thanks Chadwick)

While in Fort Wayne, Indiana for Porn and Pancakes a few weeks ago the Indy Channel in Indianapolis interviewed me. I have no idea whether or not the full story will ever be available online, but take a look at the trailer:

Donny and XXXChurch on the Indy Channel – Click Here

Let me know what you think…

TIPS ON MAKING THE VIDEO WORK: I had a problem getting the video to work for a second. I ended up having to click the black area a few times, then clicking the play button after that. It finally worked.

By the way – this will be a very busy week: I’ll be speaking at a conference in Michigan on Thursday and Friday, then flying back here to speak at another Porn and Pancakes event (this time in Redding – my hometown). I love it.

According to this article, tomorrow night “Porn and Pancakes” will be featured on the CBS Evening News With Katie Couric. I have no idea if I’ll be in the footage or not, but the story should be good, no doubt.

The footage was shot just a few weeks ago (I blogged about it here).

That’s pretty much how I’d describe what happened with the Anderson Cooper story last night.

I had a feeling that might happen. After hyping it in the blog I was thinking, “Wouldn’t it be funny if they cut me out completely?” Sure enough…

I know Craig is disappointed too. Anderson Cooper sent an entire team to town, they shot a few hours of video, and what ended up making the cut was a fraction of what was filmed. Yeah, I know, that’s normal.

In addition to filming the entire Porn and Pancakes event, they had a sit-down interview with Craig after the event. Not a single bit of that interview was aired.

Craig emailed this morning. Katie Couric wants to sent a team to the next Porn and Pancakes event later this month. Maybe her cutting knife won’t be as sharp as Anderson’s.

From: XXXCHURCH
Date: Apr 2, 2007 6:51 AM

We just got word that the segment that we shot for “360″ with Anderson Cooper will be on this week. They are doing a two night feature, starting on WEDNESDAY NIGHT, called “What is a Christian?” The segment was shot at a Porn and Pancakes with Craig Gross and Donny Pauling last week in Illinois. They also caught up with the XXXChurch team that is currently at the Miami porn show. Should be a good little piece. We heard we are on THURSDAY’s show but watch both nights just in case.

- Craig

EDIT TO ADD: Craig just emailed me (I’m typing this on Tuesday night at 11:45pm Pacific Time) to let me know that our segment is indeed on THURSDAY night.

On March 16th I received an email from Craig Gross asking if I was available this coming weekend to attend a Porn and Pancakes event in Illinois. He’s been speaking with the producer of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360º show.

“Donny, he’s interested in talking with you about XXXchurch, your past, and your current transition out of porn. I told him there is a good chance you will be at the event next weekend.”

Yep, I’ll be there. I just finished packing. The scary thing is that I picked out my own clothes.

No, I don’t mean I got them out of the closet and put them in my bag. What I mean is: I just got back from JC Penney, where I purchased the outfit I’m going to be wearing.

All. By. Myself.

If Belinda was still around she’d tell you what a scary thought that is. When shopping for clothing, we used to go into a store, where I’d pick something up and start heading toward the check out register. She’d take the item of clothing out of my hands and put it back on the rack, replacing it with something she found more appropriate.

Tonight I was on the phone with a friend from Chico. She called as I was pulling up to the mall. I tried describing what I was picking out and she said it sounded good.

“But you don’t understand… I need a woman to tell me if this stuff looks good together, and more importantly, if it looks okay on ME.”

“I just saw you a couple days ago. Your clothes were perfect on you.”

“That’s because A WOMAN picked them out. This time I’m picking this stuff out myself. That’s the scary thing!”

The sales clerk told me it all looked great, but that’s her job. How good a sales clerk would she be if she told customers they shouldn’t spend a dime on the outfit they’ve brought to her counter?

So if y’all see me on CNN looking really funky… well, now you’ll understand why.
—
PS: click here and check out my pastor’s new blog

If you’re from the Sacramento area feel free to join me at Capital Christian Center (Highway 50 and Bradshaw) this Sunday, February 25th, for Exodus from the Dirty Little Secret in any of the three morning services: 8am, 9:30am or 11:15am.

I’ll be in town Saturday afternoon (today). Email me (see email link above) for my cell phone number if you’d like to meet up.

Last weekend I was invited by Nathan Edwardson, the pastor of a new church called The Stirring, to share my story with his congregation.

Nathan’s church has grown rather quickly here in Redding to the point where two services are needed each Sunday evening. The congregation already numbers several hundred people in total.

What To Expect on the Audio File:

Nathan speaks for a few minutes, then has me come up and share my story, and then closes the service with some final words. It was a great time. When I spoke I quickly summarized my life as a porn producer, my surrender to God, the hell I went through when losing Belinda, and what God has done in my life lately.

Click here to listen.

The Drew Marshall Show, billed as “Canada’s Most Listened To Spiritual Talkback Program”, interviewed me live on the radio on October 21st. Today they finally released the recording of the show on their website. Click here to listen to it. You can stream it off the website on that page, or download it to your computer.

Then click on that little envelope icon down there next to the comment link and email this post to everyone in your address book.

This Saturday I’ll be a featured guest on The Drew Marshall Show, a Canadian talkback program. He has a very impressive list of former guests (scroll down the page I just linked to), and I feel honored to have been asked to participate this weekend.

If you’re not able to hear it live it looks like he archives past shows, so I’m sure you’ll be able to download the program soon. If you are able to listen live it looks like you can call in and talk with us.

The announcement can be found on this page. Times listed are EST. Adjust accordingly.