February (Web-only) 2000

ARTICLE TOOLS

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It happened when he was in fourth grade. Clay Crosse was at a friend's house hanging out after school. Crosse said he remembered the events of that afternoon like it was yesterday. "My friend's dad had these magazines and we looked at them. It was amazing to me. It was shocking. I was just a kid, and I knew that I wasn't supposed to be looking at this stuff, but I did," Crosse said.

That afternoon, visions of pornography were burned into his eyes, and more than 20 years later, the popular Christian musician discovered his ministry and his relationships were becoming clouded by a sin that he kept hidden from the world. Now, Crosse said it's time to share his struggle with pornography to the body of Christ.

"It's been heavy on my heart," Crosse said in an interview with Baptist Press. "I'm not the kind of guy who can be a public figure and put on a happy face when something is so pressing on my heart. So I just want to be honest."

Dealing with pornography is not an easy topic to address with believers, especially when it involves one's personal struggle, Crosse said. And while he wasn't addicted to porn, Crosse said it is a problem that many men deal with—and one that can be overcome "with God's strength and support in our lives."

To understand how God released Crosse from his secret sin, he said it was important to understand his story from the beginning.

Crosse grew up in Memphis, Tenn., in a Christian home. He accepted Christ at the age of 13 in a Southern Baptist church and was active in his youth group through high school and college.

"My parents were very strong believers," Crosse said. "So I can't say it wasn't because I didn't have strong people in my life, because I did."

I was talking to a friend the other day and he was ...