Thank you Newsstand Studio at 1 Rockefeller Plaza for providing a place for me to record this episode for y’all! No more Brooklyn closet recording!!!

 

Welcome back to the That’s What He Said series, where I ask men all the questions you’re DYING to know. Last week, we took a short break with the series so I could address the sex scandals that have been exposed recently in the evangelical church. It’s a hard conversation, but it’s one we need to be having. You can take a listen here.

 

This week, I’m sharing the conversation I had with Ben Stuart a while back. He is the pastor of Passion City Church DC, but before that he ran a college and singles ministry. Basically, he has worked with a lot of young single Christians. DC is one of the loneliest cities in America and people longing for connection come to his church to find it. We do a deep dive into the question “Where are all of the single Godly men?” plus how you can have a healthy dynamic in male/female friendships.

 

Where are all of the single Godly men?

• There are two levels to this question: physically where are they… and why are they not pursuing me?
• He notes the social implications of technology has changed the dating scene. People are losing the personal connection and ability to socialize in person.
• Only 12% of single women were asked out in the last year.
• “I know great men that are running in the world, and if you get running in a healthy direction, you’re going to see them out there.”
• There can be a blame shift that happens when we lament that there are no guys out there.
• Around 10% of women ask men out every year—they want to be pursued!

 

How can you have a healthy dynamic in a male/female friendship?

• Friendship is possible, but it’s important to ask yourself and the other person what friendship really means.
• “If you say, ‘I want to be friends,’ but any other person’s presence makes you feel threatened… you don’t want to be friends. You want possession.”
• Long term, is it worth spending all of your energy on male friendships? When you get married, would you husband be comfortable with them around?
• Are we too busy getting all of our micro-needs met by several guy friends to have our needs met by one romantic partner?
• “Decoupling commitment and sex damaged both. We lost both.”

 

Resources

• Keep up with Ben on Instagram at @ben_stuart_.
• Hear more from Ben on the Passion City Church DC Podcast and YouTube Channel.
• Check out Ben’s new book Single, Dating, Engaged, Married: Navigating Life and Love in the Modern Age.
• Read Cheap Sex by Mark Regnerus.
• Read A Return to Modesty by Wendy Shalit.

 

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