Brittni De La Mora used to be a porn star, then she saw a big, unorthodox sign at an adult entertainment convention, declaring, “Jesus loves porn stars,” and things began to change.
It was those four words that ultimately led De La Mora to where she is today: the incoming leader of XXX Church, a parachurch organization dedicated to helping people leave the porn industry and overcome addictions to pornography.
Traveling to porn conventions around the country, De La Mora told Faithwire during a phone interview this week, she became accustomed to seeing protestors, many of whom were eager to condemn her. It wasn’t long before she started believing them, convinced she just wasn’t “good enough for God.”
“What I think the church gets wrong is Jesus calls us to be ‘fishers of men’ and I think that people forget how to use bait,” De La Mora said. “Like the triple X in front of ‘church’ — it scares people. The slogan, ‘Jesus loves porn stars,’ it scares people.”
“If we didn’t have this radical slogan,” she continued, “then we wouldn’t be fishing people in. We would have no bait.”
De La Mora is herself a testament to the success of XXX Church, founded in 2002 by Craig Gross, who stepped down from the ministry this week as he plans to focus more on his latest endeavor, Christian Cannabis, a controversial initiative aimed at fostering dialogue about pot use within the Christian community.
The former porn star entered the adult entertainment industry in 2005. She was introduced to XXX Church at a porn convention two years later. Thanks in large part to the seeds planted by Gross’ ministry, De La Mora became a Christian in 2008.
Not fully understanding what her new faith meant, De La Mora briefly re-entered the porn industry. But soon thereafter left completely, when, on a flight to Las Vegas, she felt prompted to read Revelation 2:20-23, a passage about the sin of sexual immorality and idolatry.
In the New Testament verses, Jesus rebuked believers in Thyatira who had tolerated a woman who claimed to be a prophet but was deceptively leading people “into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.”
“When I read that Scripture,” De La Mora recalled, “it was the fear of the Lord that really just came upon me and I felt this grace as well from the Holy Spirit, saying, ‘Brittni, this is not the life I have for you. The life I have for you is going to overflow with so much joy, so much peace.’”
De La Mora went on to say she felt God telling her he would “bless your life like no man ever could” if she quit the porn industry altogether.
Once she made her decision, De La Mora reached out to XXX Church, whose staff helped her as she began transitioning out of the world of pornography and into a life of ministry.
For years, De La Mora and her husband, Rich, whom she married three years ago, have wanted to work in some capacity for XXX Church. They had no idea, she said, they would one day be handed the keys to the entire organization.
Gross said in a statement of his own that, during a time of prayer earlier this year, he felt God telling him to give XXX Church to the De La Moras, describing what the Lord has done in De La Mora’s life as “nothing short of a beautiful miracle.”
“She knows the Bible inside and out and is an incredible depiction of redemption,” he added. “It doesn’t surprise me in the least that God is calling her here. Three years ago, Brittni married Rich, a pastor she became friends with after she left the industry. Rich comes from a family of ministers; he has a compassionate heart and loves XXX Church.”
Trapped in sin, we often try to run from God. The best thing to do, though, is to run toward him, De La Mora said.
Sexual sin creates a vicious cycle — a timeline plagued by shame and guilt, but that’s not from God. According to De La Mora, it’s “Satan’s tactic to keep you in isolation.”
“Don’t be afraid to run to God,” she implored. “God has his arms open wide to you; he is waiting for you to run to him.”