Fifty-two couples attended a mass marriage ceremony at a Texas megachurch after the pastor challenged them to give up cohabiting. Pastor Josh Howerton of Lakepointe Church preached a sermon entitled “3 Things that Will Kill Your Marriage.”  The pastor shared research that showed couples who attend church together are 50% less -likely to get divorced and 46% are less likely to commit adultery if they believe the Word of God is infallible.

Howerton turned to the issue of cohabitation, or living with someone, presumably in a sexual relationship, prior to marriage. While sex is traditionally understood within Christian circles as being only for within the confines of marriage, it is less commonly practiced that way. The Institute for Family Studies’ General Social Survey (GSS) from 2014 to 2018 found that 37% of self-proclaimed “fundamentalist” Christians stated that sex before marriage was “always wrong,” while 41% said it was “not wrong at all.” Of fundamentalists who had never married, 86% of women and 82% of men reported having at least one opposite-sex sexual partner since age 18.

Speaking to those in his congregation who were caught up in ungodly relationships, Howerton made a challenge. “If you’re living with somebody that’s not your spouse, you’re sleeping with somebody that’s not your spouse, or you’ve actually already started a family and had kids with somebody that’s not your spouse, and you right now are coming under the loving conviction of the Holy Spirit that you need to honor God, bend your knee to Jesus,” he said. “Put a ring on it and enter into a covenant with a person that you’re already acting like you’re in a covenant with.”

Several weeks later, Howerton revealed that couples had responded to the challenge. “We never want to look down on somebody unless we’re giving them a hand up. We called people who realized they were living outside of God’s design and they were like, ‘Man, we want to repent and honor God with our lives to step forward and put a ring on and get married and honor God,” he said. He presented the couples to the congregation from the altar, where they received a standing ovation. “These people aren’t gonna be judging you,” he said. “They’re gonna be cheering you on as you step forward into obedience to Jesus Christ. Welcome to Team Jesus.”