Sheila Wray Gregoire

Sheila Wray Gregoire is a prominent author and speaker who is committed to improving the way marriage and sexuality are addressed within the evangelical community. Since 2003, she has devoted her career to discussing marriage and family, with a particular focus on sexual relationships since 2010. However, throughout her years of experience, she has noticed a troubling trend: recurring issues within evangelical marriages that might stem from bad advice rather than a lack of knowledge.

Love & Respect

In January 2019, Gregoire embarked on a mission to delve deeper into the source of these problems. She read “Love & Respect,” a popular evangelical marriage book, and was appalled by what she found. The book portrayed sex as a male need, implying that women were not designed to require sexual intimacy in the same way. Statements such as “If your husband is typical, he has a need you don’t have,” exemplify the outdated and harmful narratives promoted in some evangelical circles. This perspective, which largely disregards women’s sexual needs, prompted Gregoire to act.

The Great Sex Rescue

Determined to address these misguided teachings, Gregoire, along with her daughter Rebecca Gregoire Lindenbach, a psychology graduate, and epidemiologist/statistician Joanna Sawatsky, embarked on an extensive research project. Together, they conducted the largest study ever on evangelical women’s marital and sexual satisfaction, uncovering several damaging teachings about marriage and sexuality. The results, detailed in their book “The Great Sex Rescue,” reveal that many commonly accepted evangelical doctrines might actually be detrimental to healthy sexual relationships within marriage.

Mutual respect

Gregoire’s mission is rooted in a belief that Jesus came to give people life to the fullest, as outlined in John 10:10. She is determined to shift the evangelical narrative from one that often mirrors the destructive forces of the thief to one that represents the nurturing guidance of the Shepherd. Her call to action is clear: it’s time to rescue the evangelical conversation about sex and transform it into a dialogue that promotes mutual respect, intimacy, and fulfillment for both partners. Through her work, Gregoire seeks to bring about the Great Sex Rescue that so many evangelical marriages desperately need.