GALVESTON — The congregation of Bridge Community Church welcomed a rather large blue visitor at its morning service on Sunday.

Photo by Jennifer Reynolds

A University of Texas Medical Branch employee walks past the National Porn Sunday Elephant outside of Bridge Community Church Sunday in Galveston. The 25-foot inflatable elephant is a part of a campaign to confront issues surrounding pornography.

The 25-foot inflatable blue elephant displayed outside the Baptist Student Center at The University of Texas Medical Branch was part of a Christian movement to confront pornography in America.

The pachyderm serves as a symbol of pornography in the church, or the “elephant in the pew,” said J.R. Mahon, pastor of XXXChurch.com, which spearheads the National Porn Sunday movement.

According to XXXChurch.com, 47 percent of Christian families say porn is a problem in their home, and 40 million people look at Internet porn daily.

XXXChurch.com was founded five years ago to battle the multibillion-dollar porn business in America, Mahon said. Church pastors attend pornography shows and pass out Bibles to participants, in an effort to help actors get out of the business, Mahon said.

XXXChurch.com pastors also travel to churches across the country, prompting conversation in the church about the problem of pornography, he said.

The giant blue elephant is an attempt to draw attention to National Porn Sunday set for Oct. 7. Galveston was the third stop on the elephant’s 20-city tour, Mahon said.

“We need to turn people’s heads and use big language and outrageous methodology to get public attention,” he said. “We make no excuses or apologies for that.”

Bridge Community Church’s culture pastor Kel Vaughan said while most of his congregation thought the elephant was “kinda funny,” the message remained very real. Pornography affects the family. By addressing it in the church, pastors are taking a proactive approach to reinforcing family values.

“We believe, especially in the church, that we have a responsibility to maintain high values and help families love each other,” he said. “The thing about porn is that it takes away from families … Instead of whining and complaining about (the loss of family values) like so many do, we’re trying to take a positive step.”