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RELIGION/Siic C^atloRe $at
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Stripper’s past is key to so-
called women’s evangelism
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RIVERSIDE, Calif.-
Heather Veitch is not your
typical evangelical Christian.
The 31-year-old married
mother of two visits one strip
dub a month, paying for lap
dances so she can talk to the
strippers about God.
The Web site for the min
istry she formed with two
other women—JC’s Girls
Girls Girls—features glam
our shots of the three that
were taken by a pom film
director.
The three attend pom con
ventions, where they pass out
Bibles wrapped in T-shirts
that read Holy Hottie.
Veitch’s approach is based
on experience; In the 1990s,
she worked as a stripper and,
she says, acted in a handful of
soft pom movies. She plays
up her sex appeal because
adult industry workers relate
to that, she said.
‘T understand the culture of
these girls They respect
that.” said Veitch, whose
work has received national
and international media cov
erage.
In a posting on the min
istry’s Web site, Veitch said
she was a successful Las
Vegas stripper but inwardly
feared that her lifestyle was a
ticket to hell.
She began attending
church, became a Christian,
went to beauty school and got
married. A year ago, she
began reaching out to sex
industry woikers.
She has an ally in Matt
Brown, her pastor at Sandals
Church of Riverside. The
1,700-member Southern Bap
tist congregation is contribut
ing $50,000 to her ministry
this year,
“What good would it do to
send the ‘church lady to an
erotica convention?” Brown
said. “She’s going to get
laughed out of the building.”
Vritch said she doesn’t keep
track of how many strippers
they successfully reach. Ulti
mately, she and Brown hope
to offer alternatives, such as
college scholarships, to
women in the sex industry
But Veitch doesn’t think the
women should have to quit
their jobs before entering a
church.
“What we say to that is, T)o
we ask gluttons to stop eating
too much before they come to
church?”’ Veitch said. “Sin is
• sin.”
Her ministry partners
include a part-time first grade
teacher and a stay-at-home
mother.
On the 'Net:
httpiUjcsgirlsroml
Pastor supportive of gays to end
performing civil same-sex marriages
VIE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASHEVILLE - An
Asheville pastor says he will
no longer perform civil mar
riages for the state because
North Carolina denies homo
sexual couples the rig^it to
legally marry
The Rev. Joe Hoflfinan, pas
tor of First Congr^ational
United Church of Christ,
announced his decision in a
Sunday morning sermon.
‘'When I sign that piece of
paper for marriage, as an
agent of the state, I give (het
erosexual couples) about
1,100 rights and privileges
that gay and lesbian couples
do not get,” Hoffinan said. ‘T
believe in equal rights for all
people. As a minister, I was
participating in a system that
was unjust.”
Last year, the 1 million-
member United Church of
Christ announced its support
of gay marriage, becoming the
first m^jor U.S. Christian
denomination to do so.
But Hoffinan said his deci
sion was personal and didn’t
necessarily reflect the stand
of his 200-member church.
‘T hope it will prompt peo
ple to think,” Hoffinan said. ‘T
hope they vsdll question what
this is all about. I think for
heterosexuals, it will be a
small inconvenience to have a
religious ceremony and then
get it legalized. But I hope it
calls attention to the great
iiyustice that people who are
gay and lesbian live with
every day”
I
Urban
2006 Whitney M. Young, Jr
Awards Dinner
March 10,2006 6:30 -11:00 p.m.
Charlotte Convention Center
Honoring:
Gloria Pace King Michael Marsicano
United Way
of Central Carolinas
Foundation
For The Carolinas
Entertainment by Party On The Moon
VIP Sponsored tables of eight $2,000.00
Other sponsorship opporhmihes available
Tickets $150.00
For information call: 704-894-0250
Register onhne at www.urbanleaguecc.org
Infoimation that is always on line,
24 hours a day
www.thecharlottepost.com
Clatlotte
like the generations who came before them,
this family treasures good times together.
Di.scoverinj! our past helps us uiidersttuid wlio we are today.
The (k)ca-(k)la (k)mpany celebrates the "Secrcl Formula"
that makes up each of us.
^ Gempantf
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PBS.
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A»ring on PQS r 2006
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