Hi, friends. Welcome to Javujuli. This is Julie Slattery, and thanks for joining me today.

Let me remind you that Javujuli is a listener-supported podcast and an outreach about

then-again receive a ministry dedicated to reclaiming God's design for sexuality.

Hey, based on recent studies, between 23 and 40 percent of American Christians are single,

widowed, or divorced. And I think a lot of churches are missing a healthy and

holy view of singleness. While we can all agree that marriage is important,

could it be that we often esteem marriage more important than singleness?

Well, my guest today is going to address that he is pastor and author Sam Albury,

and he's been on Javujuli with me a few times now, and I feel like every time I talk to Sam,

he speaks so candidly and passionately, both about God's design for sexuality,

and how we practically live that out, regardless of our relational status.

In this episode, Sam and I talk through what singleness and contentment looks like for Christians,

and we discuss his book Seven Myths about singleness. Now, if you're married, please do not skip

this episode, because I really believe it's important for all of us to have a healthy theology

of marriage and singleness. So lean into my conversation today with Sam Albury. I know it's

going to bless you. Well, Sam, one of the things I love about your ministry is that

you are really highlighting the importance of talking about singleness, not just as a temporary

state where we're waiting for you all to find somebody, but the dignity, the calling of singleness,

the importance of the singles in our church, you wrote a book several years ago called Seven Myths

about singleness. Did I get that right? You did, yes. All right, cool. How long ago did you write

that book? That came out in 2019, so because that was pre-pandemic, it feels about 30 years ago,

wow. Yeah, I thought it was a long time ago, and part of the reason I thought that is because

...