Dave’s Introduction of Dr. Ted Roberts at the Ten Year Anniversary Party
423 Ten Year Anniversary Party
November 9th, 2019
“I am so thankful for 423 men and women. The impact Dave and the team are having on the church is astonishing. People are being set free. Lives are being transformed. Thank you all so much for being a part of this vital ministry!”
“So thankful for all your good work over the years!”
“Dave, so incredibly grateful for the work of 423. Congratulations on ten years of providing such a needed platform for life change. So proud of you my friend!”
This month, we are celebrating ten years of sexual recovery ministry at 423 Communities. Is it really possible? Just yesterday, or so it seems, the leaders of our church and I made plans to launch a sexual addiction group for young guys who were flooding the prayer rooms seeking help in their battle with porn at Solid Rock in Tigard. Who would have thought that just one decade later, 1,500 people would join 423 Men, 423 Women, 423 Young Men, and 423 Parents? Today three-hundred and fifty people meet weekly in about thirty-five sexual recovery groups at twenty partner churches in four states… Oregon, Washington, Tennessee, and North Carolina. We just started our newest 423 Men group with an over-full roster at Ekklesia Church in Eugene, Oregon, and in late January, I am heading to City Church in Evansville, Indiana by invitation to launch groups there.
Friends, none of this would have been possible without the support, inspiration, and example of one very influential person in my life. Dr. Ted Roberts fanned the flame of my enthusiasm to help other men.
My sexual addiction nearly killed me. It took me to such a dark place I considered ending it all, and would have it weren’t for five little reasons… Christina, Emily, Eric, Julia, and Stanford, my five children. Divorced, broke, homeless, and living in my car; I was as lost as any man could be. My coping mechanism was bad sex: strip clubs, pornography, masturbation, and random sex with willing women. I was on a death spiral. I needed help and I knew it.
I found that help at Pure Desire Ministry in 1998 and enrolled in a Pure Life University featuring the man you are about to hear. Dr. Ted instantly became my model, someone to emulate, a man with integrity, compassion, and competence. Since that time…
Ted was my guest speaker at Every Man Conference at Wildhorse Canyon Camp
Ted and his wife, Diane, led Sexy Christian Seminar at my invitation when I was the Men’s Pastor at Sunset Presbyterian Church. (By the way, Ted and Diane, my dearly departed wife and I LOVED your presentation about fifteen years ago. Adonica and I laughed and cried our way through your seminar and the rose became a constant symbol of the expression of our love until the day she died just over four years ago. You know what I’m talking about.)
Dr. Ted with Diane to speak to our 423 Leaders about eight years ago, while Diane spoke to our pastoral staff of women
Ted brought his son Bryan to meet with our leaders here at the church about six years ago.
Dr. Roberts Counseled me in-person and by phone as I have sought and needed his help through the years.
In the Bible, Jude commanded early church leaders to “have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire” (Jude 22-23). That was Ted Roberts for me… He saved my life, snatching me from the grip of Satan and the fires of hell. He picked me up, cleaned me up, and set me up to help others just like he helped me.
I give you now, the man who taught me everything I know about sexual recovery in the local church, Dr. Ted Roberts.