{"id":10435,"date":"2026-03-13T18:05:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T18:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/strongermarriages\/?p=10435"},"modified":"2026-03-13T18:05:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T18:05:49","slug":"texas-pastor-josh-howerton-challenges-cohabiting-couples-to-put-a-ring-on-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/strongermarriages\/2026\/03\/texas-pastor-josh-howerton-challenges-cohabiting-couples-to-put-a-ring-on-it.html","title":{"rendered":"Texas Pastor Josh Howerton Challenges Cohabiting Couples to \u201cput a ring on it\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Lakepointe Church \/ YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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 \u201c3 Things that Will Kill Your Marriage.<\/a>\u201d\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019 General Social Survey (GSS) from 2014 to 2018 found that 37% of self-proclaimed \u201cfundamentalist\u201d Christians stated that sex before marriage was \u201calways wrong,\u201d while 41% said it was \u201cnot wrong at all.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

Speaking to those in his congregation who were caught up in ungodly relationships, Howerton made a challenge. \u201cIf you\u2019re living with somebody that\u2019s not your spouse, you\u2019re sleeping with somebody that\u2019s not your spouse, or you\u2019ve actually already started a family and had kids with somebody that\u2019s 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,\u201d he said. \u201cPut a ring on it and enter into a covenant with a person that you\u2019re already acting like you\u2019re in a covenant with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several weeks later, Howerton revealed that couples had responded to the challenge. \u201cWe never want to look down on somebody unless we\u2019re giving them a hand up. We called people who realized they were living outside of God\u2019s design and they were like, \u2018Man, we want to repent and honor God with our lives to step forward and put a ring on and get married and honor God,\u201d he said. He presented the couples to the congregation from the altar, where they received a standing ovation. \u201cThese people aren\u2019t gonna be judging you,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re gonna be cheering you on as you step forward into obedience to Jesus Christ. Welcome to Team Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 \u201c3 Things that Will Kill Your Marriage.\u201d\u00a0 The pastor shared research that showed couples who attend church together are 50% less -likely to get divorced…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":10438,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nTexas Pastor Josh Howerton Challenges Cohabiting Couples to \u201cput a ring on it\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After a Texas pastor challenged couples to stop cohabiting, 52 couples stepped forward for a mass wedding to honor God and begin marriage.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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