Dating and Desire Podcast

Does body count actually matter when you’re deciding whether to date someone? For many Christian singles, the number of people someone has slept with can feel loaded with meaning. It can bring up questions about faith, sexual compatibility, trust, comparison, and whether someone’s past tells you something important about who they are today.
Lauren and Bridgett explore why sexual history does matter, but a number may tell you far less than you think. Two people can have similar pasts on paper and have completely different relationships with their sexuality now. And someone with little or no sexual experience isn’t automatically more prepared for healthy intimacy than someone whose story looks very different.
So if body count isn’t enough information, what should we actually be paying attention to? This conversation looks beyond the number toward sexual integrity, the stories and fears we bring into dating, and how two people can begin talking honestly about the past without letting shame or judgment take over the conversation.

Watch this episode on YouTube

If something in this episode resonated with you, here are two ways to go deeper depending on what you need:

🩷 Work with Bridgett
You don’t need more rules. You need a deeper understanding of your sexual desire.If you still feel confused about how to navigate dating without shutting down or crossing your boundaries, Bridgett helps you build sexual self-trust and honor your values
→ ⁠⁠⁠ RECLAIM Cohort⁠⁠⁠
📓 ⁠⁠⁠Free Guides and Ecourse⁠⁠⁠
→ ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠
→ ⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠  

💙 Work with Lauren
If you’re feeling unsure what to do next— whether that’s meeting people, choosing who to pursue, or trusting your judgment in dating, Lauren helps you move forward with clarity and confidence.
→ Work with Lauren
📔 Get the free guide ⁠⁠⁠Dating Apps Don’t Have to Be Confusing⁠⁠⁠
→ ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠
→ ⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠

Have more questions?
Email us at datinganddesirepodcast@gmail.com

Can you actually stay friends with an ex, or with someone you’ve hooked up with? A listener question gets Lauren and Bridgett talking about what happens when a romantic or sexual connection ends but the other person is still part of your church, friend group, workplace, or everyday life. Rather than giving one rule for every situation, they talk through what matters: how serious the relationship was, how intertwined your lives became, what kind of connection you’re hoping to have now, and whether staying close is actually helping either person move forward.

They also get honest about the ways “let’s just be friends” can mean very different things. Sometimes friendship is genuinely possible. Other times it becomes a way to stay emotionally attached, keep receiving scraps of connection, or avoid accepting that the relationship has ended. Lauren and Bridgett talk about giving your heart enough space to reset, resisting the pressure to choose sides after a breakup, and why churches need to become places where people can date, break up, grieve, and still belong to the same community.

The conversation gets even more complicated when the relationship began with a hookup, a fling, or another sexual experience. What were you actually looking for in that connection? Were you longing to feel chosen, close, wanted, or known? And if you decide to remain friends, what boundaries would help that friendship actually become friendship instead of a quieter version of the same relationship? This episode is less about finding a universal rule and more about being honest about what you want, what the relationship really is, and whether the way you’re staying connected lines up with the life and love you ultimately want to build.

WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE

If something in this episode resonated with you, here are two ways to go deeper depending on what you need:

🩷 Work with Bridgett
You don’t need more rules. You need a deeper understanding of your sexual desire.If you still feel confused about how to navigate dating without shutting down or crossing your boundaries, Bridgett helps you build sexual self-trust and honor your values
→ ⁠⁠⁠ RECLAIM Cohort⁠⁠⁠
📓 ⁠⁠⁠Free Guides and Ecourse⁠⁠⁠
→ ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠
→ ⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠  

💙 Work with Lauren
If you’re feeling unsure what to do next— whether that’s meeting people, choosing who to pursue, or trusting your judgment in dating, Lauren helps you move forward with clarity and confidence.
→ Work with Lauren
📔 Get the free guide ⁠⁠⁠Dating Apps Don’t Have to Be Confusing⁠⁠⁠
→ ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠
→ ⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠

Have more questions?
Email us at datinganddesirepodcast@gmail.com

Cedric Dale Hoard, mental health therapist, spoken word artist, and author, joins Lauren and Bridgett to talk about the messages Christian men often receive about desire, lust, masculinity, and relationships. Drawing from his work with men and his own experience, Cedric looks at how purity culture can leave men ashamed of attraction or afraid of desire without helping them understand what may be happening underneath it.The conversation gets practical about what healthier dating can look like. What do you do when someone you like is not ready for physical affection? How can a man say no to sexual attention without feeling weak? What is the difference between attraction and lust? Cedric talks about emotional regulation, boundaries, vulnerability, and learning to express disappointment without turning it into pressure or manipulation.They also talk about male friendship, loneliness, and what happens when men begin to let safe people really know them. For men who want to date and love well, this episode offers a way to move beyond shame without pretending desire does not exist. And for women who care about the men in their lives, it offers a fuller picture of the emotional work many men are doing to become healthier partners, husbands, fathers, and friends.
WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBESHOW RESOURCESThe Head & The CrownAnchored In LightCONNECT WITH CEDRIC HOARDWebsite: https://cedricdalehoard.comInstagram: @cedricdalehoard
If something in this episode resonated with you, here are two ways to go deeper depending on what you need:

🩷 Work with Bridgett
You don’t need more rules. You need a deeper understanding of your sexual desire.If you still feel confused about how to navigate dating without shutting down or crossing your boundaries, Bridgett helps you build sexual self-trust and honor your values
→ ⁠⁠⁠ RECLAIM Cohort⁠⁠⁠
📓 ⁠⁠⁠Free Guides and Ecourse⁠⁠⁠
→ ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠
→ ⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠  

💙 Work with Lauren
If you’re feeling unsure what to do next— whether that’s meeting people, choosing who to pursue, or trusting your judgment in dating, Lauren helps you move forward with clarity and confidence.
→ Work with Lauren
📔 Get the free guide ⁠⁠⁠Dating Apps Don’t Have to Be Confusing⁠⁠⁠
→ ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠
→ ⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠

Have more questions?
Email us at datinganddesirepodcast@gmail.com

Being single for a long time changes the way you build your life. You learn your routines, make your own decisions, carry your own responsibilities, and often become very good at doing life on your own. Lauren and Bridgett talk about what happens when you genuinely enjoy the life you have built but still want someone to share it with.

They get honest about the good and hard parts of long-term singleness, from knowing yourself well to carrying the financial and mental load alone. They also explore what can happen when independence becomes hard to give up, when preferences start turning into requirements, and when dating feels harder because you have spent years building a life that already works.

If you have been single for years and wonder whether you have become too independent, too selective, or just tired of trying, this episode is for you. How do you stay open to love without putting your life on hold? How do you make room for grief when dating hurts? And how do you keep taking small risks when you do not know how the story will turn out?

WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE

If something in this episode resonated with you, here are two ways to go deeper depending on what you need:

🩷 Work with Bridgett
You don’t need more rules. You need a deeper understanding of your sexual desire.If you still feel confused about how to navigate dating without shutting down or crossing your boundaries, Bridgett helps you build sexual self-trust and honor your values
→ ⁠⁠⁠ RECLAIM Cohort⁠⁠⁠
📓 ⁠⁠⁠Free Guides and Ecourse⁠⁠⁠
→ ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠
→ ⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠  

💙 Work with Lauren
If you’re feeling unsure what to do next— whether that’s meeting people, choosing who to pursue, or trusting your judgment in dating, Lauren helps you move forward with clarity and confidence.
→ Work with Lauren
📔 Get the free guide ⁠⁠⁠Dating Apps Don’t Have to Be Confusing⁠⁠⁠
→ ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠
→ ⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠

Have more questions?
Email us at datinganddesirepodcast@gmail.com

Dr. Camden Morgante, psychologist and author of Recovering from Purity Culture, joins Lauren and Bridgett for a conversation about dating after deconstruction and what it looks like to rethink the beliefs you inherited about faith, sexuality, and relationships. Drawing from both her clinical work and her own purity culture experience, Camden offers a hopeful reminder: you do not have to have your faith completely figured out before you can date, connect, and keep discovering what you believe.

The deeper tension is that purity culture often promised certainty. Stay pure, follow the rules, find the right Christian spouse, and a good marriage would follow. When that formula begins to fall apart, dating can feel confusing. Together, they explore how to move beyond the pressure to make every date a potential marriage, loosen rigid ideas about the “perfect” Christian partner, and approach dating with more curiosity, self-trust, and room to grow.

For anyone recovering from purity culture while still wanting faith to remain part of their dating life, this conversation offers a way forward without simply replacing one rulebook with another. What to pay attention to… is whether your relationships are helping you grow in honesty, wisdom, safety, mutuality, and connection. Healing is not about getting every belief or boundary perfectly settled first. It is about becoming more free to date, discern, and love with integrity.

WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE

SHOW RESOURCES
Book: Recovering from Purity Culture by Dr. Camden Morgante

CONNECT WITH DR. CAMDEN MORGANTE
Website
Instagram: @DrCamden

If something in this episode resonated with you, here are two ways to go deeper depending on what you need:

🩷 Work with Bridgett
You don’t need more rules. You need a deeper understanding of your sexual desire.If you still feel confused about how to navigate dating without shutting down or crossing your boundaries, Bridgett helps you build sexual self-trust and honor your values
→ ⁠⁠⁠ RECLAIM Cohort⁠⁠⁠
📓 ⁠⁠⁠Free Guides and Ecourse⁠⁠⁠
→ ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠
→ ⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠  

💙 Work with Lauren
If you’re feeling unsure what to do next— whether that’s meeting people, choosing who to pursue, or trusting your judgment in dating, Lauren helps you move forward with clarity and confidence.
→ Work with Lauren
📔 Get the free guide ⁠⁠⁠Dating Apps Don’t Have to Be Confusing⁠⁠⁠
→ ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠
→ ⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠

Have more questions?
Email us at datinganddesirepodcast@gmail.com