Today’s Speaker – Nate Larkin

Nate Larkin knows the pressure to live up to a public persona. He knows what it’s like to have a secret that can destroy a career. He knows what it’s like to quit. And He knows what it’s like to find healing, deep friendships, and hope. Nate has a story that unfortunately too many people can relate with. 

He was the perfect role model growing up. Everything looked great on the outside. But inside Nate, a battle was raging. He married Allie on his graduation day and soon enrolled in Princeton Theological Seminary. He graduated from Princeton with a major in Preaching and was awarded the Preaching Prize. Within two years, Nate was the senior pastor for a new non-denominational church in South Florida. Observers saw a wise and godly man of God, dedicated to church and home. But Nate’s religious persona was crumbling from the inside out. After just five years in the ministry, Nate made the choice to quit. An obsession had developed into a virulent addiction to pornography and commercial sex. His decision to abandon vocational ministry was driven primarily by private despair about his moral failures and the fear of public exposure.

Eventually, Nate and Allie moved to Franklin, TN. After years of praying, fasting, pleading, and repenting in private, Nate finally found help for his sex addiction—in the form of authentic friendship and the safety of a 12-step recovery group.  As he worked through the 12 steps, Nate began to see life differently. Nate finally understood why a 12-step group had accomplished what solitary prayer and fasting could not. God designed the Christian life as a team sport! As he began to live in this new model of Christianity, Nate’s circle of friends expanded to include a large group of men with different weaknesses, addicts and potential addicts of every description, united by a common faith and a need for real companionship.

So in 2004, several of these friends formed a mutual aid society for Christian men called the Samson Society. Within the safety of the Samson Society, honest friendships have taken root and men are finding new power in their faith. Nate, who drafted the Society’s charter and designed its first meeting format, has written a book about his experiences entitled Samson and the Pirate Monks: Calling Men to Authentic Brotherhood, which was published by Thomas Nelson in February 2007. (He is also the author, with Darrell Waltrip, of Sundays Will Never Be the Same).

As of 2012, more than 250 local Samson Society groups are functioning in the United States, and others have started in other countries. A social networking website has been established to connect men who do not have access to a local meeting. Nate loves talking to men about their need for community and how they can overcome struggles together.

 Website: www.SamsonSociety.org

You’ll Learn 

• How to know if you have a sex addiction
• The key to overcoming sex addiction
• How to help a spouse struggling with sex addiction

It Starts With Attraction Ep. 029:  Overcoming Sex Addiction  with Nate Larkin