Bonus Episode: Reflections on the Black Experience of Purity Culture

Pastor Curtis Allen joined Covenant Life Church in Gaithersberg, Maryland as a young Black man and after he joined the majority white church, he discovered the dating culture to be…different. From the overuse of the “guard her heart” mantra to rooms divided in half with all men on one side and all women on the other side. It was a world saturated in I Kissed Dating Goodbye courtship methodology.

This conversation was recorded years before the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd and the fresh wave of #blacklivesmatter protests we’ve seen around the world in the past weeks. But Pastor Curtis Allen’s words to us about his experience as a black man in a white church will give us all something to think about. From the ushers who wouldn’t give him a program to the weight of having to assimilate, Pastor Allen speaks honestly words that all of us need to hear.

This interview is a departure from our usual format. The audio you hear in this episode is Josh Harris interviewing Pastor Curtis Allen for the documentary I Survived I Kissed Dating Goodbye, a film made by our co-host Jessica Van Der Wyngaard.

Curtis Allen serves as the lead pastor at Solid Rock Church. He has been in ministry for 12 years. He has written two books “Education or Imitation” and “Does God Listen To Rap?”

Show Notes:

I Survived I Kissed Dating Goodbye a film by Jessica Van Der Wyngaard

Does God Listen to Rap? by Curtis Allen

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