By Kathy Athearn

Pastor Josh Howerton recently made headlines for delivering such powerful, counter-cultural messages at Lakepointe Church that they’ve had life-changing, societal impact.

On February 22, Howerton started his message by playing a video of a young couple, Colton and Kaylee, who testified about being “Christians in name but not in how [they] lived.” They were living together and, during pre-marital counseling, their counselor told them, “We can get you married right now, or you guys can live in separate houses.” That is when the couple became convicted and decided they wanted to get baptized and married. So an hour after they were baptized, they got married.

After hearing Colton and Kaylee’s story and listening to Pastor Howerton teach from God’s word about the sacred design and purpose of marriage, 52 couples who had been living together immediately decided to get married.

What had these 52 couples learned? Howerton explained that when the Pharisees questioned Jesus about marriage, he answered, “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” God created marriage to be a lifelong covenant that is not to be taken lightly.

As Christians, God has called us to glorify Him in our relationship with our spouse. In his letter to the Corinthian church, the Apostle Paul wrote, “[D]o you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

In addition, Paul explained to the church in Ephesus that the covenant relationship between husband and wife reflects the covenant relationship between Christ and the church, as we are members of his body:

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”

If Gen Z Christians begin to take marriage as seriously as God designed it to be, they can start to rebuild the foundation of a strong society: the fundamental building blocks of marriage and family. As sociologists have found time and time again, intact, two-parent families decrease rates of mental illness, poverty, and crime.

In addition, by revitalizing a marriage culture and establishing stable, close-knit families, Gen Z can set an example for the rest of the world, reflecting the beauty of God’s grace and truth and draw others to Him.

Dr. David Closson, FRC’s director of the Center for Biblical Worldview and author of “Biblical Principles for Human Sexuality,” is also heartened by the 52 couples who decided to get married after listening to Howerton’s biblical message. He told The Washington Stand, “This is an encouraging example of what can happen when the church clearly and compassionately calls people to align their lives with God’s design for marriage. In a culture that often normalizes cohabitation, it is powerful to see couples take meaningful steps toward covenant commitment. Marriage is not merely a social arrangement, but a sacred institution established by God, and pastors play an important role in helping people understand its significance.”

In addition, Closson urged pastors to walk alongside couples throughout their marriage, saying, “Moments like this highlight the need for ongoing discipleship so that couples are equipped not just to marry, but to build Christ-centered marriages that endure. This kind of pastoral leadership is a needed reminder that truth and grace must go hand-in-hand.”

Kathy Athearn is a correspondence writer at Family Research Council. She studied Political Science and Religion at Hope College, was a Witherspoon Fellow at FRC, and is passionate about helping Christians contribute a biblical worldview to the public sphere.

This article originally appeared here.