Texas Pastor Josh Howerton Challenges Cohabiting Couples to “put a ring on it”
March 17, 2026
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.
