More than 50 unmarried, cohabiting couples got married in a joint ceremony at a Texas megachurch, just weeks after being challenged by their pastor to be obedient to Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Josh Howerton is the senior pastor of Lakepointe Church in Rockwall, Texas. On February 22, he preached a sermon titled “Three Things That Will Kill Your Marriage,” focusing on God’s design and purpose for marriage while laying out some hard truths.
At the end of the sermon, after making a plea for couples who were heading toward divorce or committing adultery to repent, he issued a challenge to unmarried couples in the congregation, encouraging them to act on the Lord’s call:
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, put a ring on it, and enter into a covenant with a person that you’re already acting like you’re in a covenant.
Howerton revealed that in a few weeks, the church would hold a mass wedding ceremony across all eight campuses, and anyone interested should contact them.
You can sign up. We got people who are going to walk with you, counsel you, help you, and then we’re going to get you married.
We’re going to throw a big party. And guess what your church family is not going to be doing? These people aren’t going to be judging you. They’re going to be cheering you on as you step forward into obedience to Jesus Christ.”
Around 80 couples signed up to be married, and all met with pastors to be vetted and for the church to get a sense of their situation.
Of those 80, around 30 were counseled away from marriage; either because they were unequally yoked with their partner, the relationship was deemed unwise, or the couple needed to undergo pre-marital counseling first.
Many were ultimately advised against proceeding at that time.
Howerton told us in a statement :”The couples we married were largely couples who had either A) already started families together by having children out of wedlock, B) had been sinfully living and sleeping together for a long time and had been “functionally married” before they found Christ… .things like that.”
Two weeks later, the church held a celebration, with nearly 1,000 family members, friends, and church attendees present to cheer them on. The couples brought rings, wedding dresses, and suits. The church provided photographers, flowers, worship music, and wedding cake.
While some have been critical of the ceremony, asking questions like, “What kind of church has that kind of fornication problem!?” the reality is that Lakepointe has more than 30,000 people at varying stages of their Christian walk, from aged saints celebrating 70 years of marriage to 20-year-olds with two kids attending for just their fourth time.
The fact that this many felt convicted after hearing a forceful, powerful sermon about their sin and were then moved by the Holy Spirit should be a cause for celebration, not an opportunity to nitpick imagined grievances
Well done Lakepointe.
16 responses to “TX Megachurch Marries 52 Unmarried & Shackin’ Up Couples in Joint Ceremony”
This is another repercussion of the “seeker sensitive” movement which most of these people were brought up in. There is no Biblical truth. I know many couples like this. What the women don’t realize is that the divorce rate among shack ups is even higher than the national divorce rate for those who didn’t shack up first. Men have been taught to have an unpaid whore and women have allowed it. He doesn’t really respect you because he hasn’t had to lay down his life for you (metaphorically speaking). Dr. Laura said this several years ago. It was a harsh description, but very true. Will be interesting to see how many are divorced within 5 years. If a man wanted to marry you, he would have.
She was close, but not quite there. Betraying the fact that many women also are just in it for themselves, think it’s all about them, what a man can do for them. The world is full of such Cinderellas. Her reasoning essentially pits men and women against one another as if it’s some sort of contest, which should sacrifice the most for the other. That’s not what it’s about.
Men and women must both sacrifice and deny themselves, for their children. That’s what takes the most sacrifice, and that’s why it’s important. That’s what it’s about. It’s not about which should be sacrificing and which shouldn’t. Both should.
If the house is on fire, wife and kids are inside, who’s he supposed to risk his life for first? His children.
Dr. Laura only told half the truth. The truth is that young women need to find a man who will not only say NO to himself, but will also say NO to his wife. Just as Adam should’ve.
That half truth, just the women’s side, could lead young women to believe any man who says no to them wouldn’t lay his life down for them. And that’s nowhere near the truth. It’s pretty much the fact that He is the one putting his posterior on the line, that also puts him in leadership. Otherwise, He’d be her slave. Right. If he’s got to put his life on the line, then he should have the final say. That’s how it works – the created order.
It’s about responsibility. It is just and right that whoever makes the decisions should bear the responsibility for those decisions. And the reverse is true, whoever bears the responsibility should make the decisions. Men lead, therefore bear the responsibility. Men bear the responsibility, therefore lead.
If he’s got to put his life on the line, then he has the final say. That’s just, right, and perfectly fair.
… followup to the post I accidentally posted in the wrong place below …
It produces conflict like muslims produce. They call the shots, but then hide behind the women and children, expecting everybody else but themselves to bear the consequences. It’s the same rejection of God’s created order. One foot in, one foot out.
That’s the difference, and it’s a major difference. By God’s order, a man calls the shots, AND bears the brunt of the responsibility and consequences. And it is because he bears the responsibility and consequences, that he calls the shots.
Just as Adam should’ve …
It follows, if men are out of line (the worldly and wicked form of patriarchy), then the answer to that is not to subjugate men, as the feminists would do, but rather to hold men accountable. Men calling the shots is not the problem. The problem is men shirking responsibility.
Young women need to find a man who will not only deny himself, but will also deny them if necessary and when there is good reason, and who will take responsibility for his decisions.
Run from this church !!!!!
“You’re living with somebody … You’re sleeping with somebody … you’ve actually already started a family and had kids with somebody that’s not your spouse.”
By all means forget about church discipline…Paul was just kidding when he wrote 1 Corinthians 5:
“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.[a]
6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
9 “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church[b] whom you are to judge? 13 God judges[c] those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
Yep, nothing is said about what was done about those who were advised not to marry, why they were advised not to marry, and whether or not the reason is in accordance with scripture. Nor do we know what was done about those who did not repent. That said, I also understand the joy and praise about this, because it’s about 1001x more than any other churches are doing. I’m not sure many, if any, churches have done anything like this in the past half century. It’s long overdue. But you’re right, one step back toward the straight and narrow isn’t enough, and God’s word is clear on that fact. We either follow it and obey Him, or we don’t. There is no in between.
Decisions have consequences.
Young people these days are stuck sort of halfway, one foot in with the created order, and one foot out.
And so what happens then is that you have one making decisions that affect the other, expecting the other to bear the consequences. Too many young women want to be in charge (that’s one foot out), but also want men to bear the consequences (one foot in)
That doesn’t work. It produces conflict.
So she not only needs to find a man who tells himself NO, but also be willing to accept him telling her NO.
Sorry, I posted that previous comment in the wrong place. It was supposed to be in response to Susan.
“Well done Lakepointe”…?!
This staff writer is VERY lukewarm…
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I’m guessing that “she” is Dr. Laura. I quoted a small portion of what she says on the subject. She actually would strongly agree with your point. Women are not taught to value themselves and have become narcisstic due to social media.
Could be. I don’t know anything about her. I don’t know that it’s a matter of not valuing themselves as much as it’s a matter of having the wrong values. They’re evaluating themselves based on the world’s standards, and not God’s standards. Many of them overvalue themselves to the point they just about believe they’ve taken God’s place. Right. And that is not fixed by turning inward, becoming even more focused on oneself. It’s a matter of accepting the value that God has given them. To first understand how much He values them, and that His commandments are not grievous. It’s not their own opinion that matters. It’s His opinion that matters. (which is true for all of us). It’s the resultant discontent produced by those wrong values (often relativist and baseless) that leads to that “narcissistic” behavior (essentially to judge others by those wrong values, where relativist to impose their own values on others, in an effort to assert their own value). This is why psychology has failed to do anything much but make matters worse over the past century, and where God’s word never has failed, and never will.
Josh Howerton is a very false teacher who platforms heretics and defends other false teachers and also teaches that Jesus commmands us to tithe today