Mike Rimmer had a lengthy chat with US rock band BARLOWGIRL and found spiritual maturity behind the squeaky clean image.

I observe that I think it's going to be difficult for a guy to pluck up the courage to date them. In the first place they're in a cool rock band and secondly they have this huge spiritual stance on purity and ministry responsibilities. Is there a danger that despite their indubitable charms that they might be actually scaring guys off? Alyssa responds, "Well if they're scared off then they're not the one!" Lauren adds, "That's what we always say! People always go, 'What if they're scared off?' We're like, 'Well then he's not it.' And that's the thing too. We want whoever God has for us. It's got be God-ordained. It's God's purpose, God's plan. God will encourage the man if he's supposed to be the one, God will be pushing him forward." Becca laughs, "When it happens it'll be over every newspaper and every radio station: IT'S ABOUT TIME! And then we'll tell the story."

These days it feels as though I'm meeting a lot of girls who are desperate for a boyfriend. I know there are Christian girls who even date and go out with non-Christians because they're so desperate. Thinking about them, it seems as though BarlowGirl are on a completely different planet. So I'm thinking about people who are reading this and say, 'It's all very well for BarlowGirl. They're out there and they're playing on stage and they're famous. But what about poor little so-and-so who's in a job or at school or whatever and has got a few friends at church who wants a hand to hold and wants to be loved?'"

Lauren is honest, "We'd like a hand to hold and to be loved too. I mean it's not like this is more fulfilling than anything else in the world, you know? It's not. This is a hard journey." Becca adds, "A couple of years ago I really thought that I had to be married to be defined in my life. That I was living half a life until I met my husband or had a boyfriend. It was seriously plaguing my life and that's all I thought about. And God began putting on my heart, 'Becca you will never understand the love of a husband unless you know the love of your heavenly Father.' Marriage is such a wonderful thing. God has that I think for most people because it does signify his relationship with the Father, Son and the Spirit. Marriage is the only thing on this earth that resembles that. But if you can't understand the love of the Father then you won't understand the love of a husband. And on the days when your spouse doesn't like you or you have those fights, who are you going to turn to then? Or when you get old and you're not as attracted to each other anymore because the physical appearance is changing or whatever, what are you going to turn to? You need to have the foundation of the love of the Father above all."

Alyssa agrees, "The thing is, we put so much emphasis on dating and relationships in society today. It's all about who's with who. Even in the celebrity world so it's saturating our minds that that's normal and that's what we have to do. I think we have to change our mindset a little bit. We have to think a little bit differently. We really have to look at dating and see why do we need that? Why do we need somebody else in our life to define us? Do we not know who we are? And most of the time it's no, we don't know who we are. So we think we have to find somebody else to tell us who we are. So we have to change our mindset a little bit in that area."

This is a really hard concept to grasp because most Christians reading this right now are sitting in a Western culture where dating is pushed. Although it's slightly different in the UK to what it is in America it's still prevalent that everybody's running around trying to find a girlfriend or a boyfriend. Alyssa's response is strong. "Yeah everybody's doing that but what is God saying to YOU in your life? What is God saying? Does he want you to date? That was the thing that he had us question in our life. He said, 'Girls, everybody dates but is that something that I have for you in your life?' And studying and praying about it, we realised that God said, 'No. I don't want you to get your heart broken by different people in your life.' Because that's all that really happens. You get in these little mini marriages and then you have little mini divorces when you're unsatisfied with this person in your life. And you're unsatisfied because that's not the person that you're supposed to be with. I'm not saying that when you're married that you're going to be completely satisfied your entire marriage but you're going to have that foundation of love and knowing that you're supposed to be with each other."

She continues, "So that's what God said. He said, 'Girls, your hearts were never made to be broken so keep them whole and keep them pure for when it is time for you to get married.' So that's what we're doing. And yes, you're going to get persecution and yes, people will make fun of you. People make fun of us girls all the time! And you know, it's hard. And it's embarrassing. And it's hard that they don't 'get you'. But you know what? It's okay for people not to get you. It's okay not to be popular in areas sometimes. We were doing this before we were even in a band. So we were uncool and we didn't pay any attention!"

To give you an idea of how much BarlowGirl are away from the cultural norms in the USA and UK, I ask them whether they've ever had a snog. There is some confusion as I have to translate the word into American for them. "No," says Lauren, "Never been kissed. Never even held a guy's hand except dad!"

So, just in case you were wondering, the answer to the above question - how do you date a BarlowGirl is you make friends and hang out with them in a crowd of friends. And then you decide which one of them you like! After all, there is a choice of three! So then you have to go and talk to their dad. But the very best way is to make friends with a BarlowGirl. Becca shares, "We always have said, we want to marry our best friend."

The emphasis is on friendship for the girls. "Friendship is so overlooked in a relationship," confesses Alyssa. "That needs to be the foundation." Lauren observes, "It's all so physical right now." Becca adds, "If a relationship is built on the physical, when the times get hard there's nothing to fall back on. Friendship is so, so important. So that is our goal; friendship first. And then if God desires anything else then it'll move forward."

We're nearly at the end of our chat but they've got one last thing to confess. "There's been a lot of guys that we've been attracted to," shares Lauren, "and we're like, 'This guy is amazing!' We'll always go, 'Okay girls, heads up on this one. I like this one." Becca laughs, "Dibs on that one!" They all laugh and Lauren continues, "Dibs on that one! Right! Instead of doing the whole dressing up for a date, pretending thing, we'll say, 'You know what? Why don't you come out? A group of us are going out to a movie tonight. A group of us are going out to dinner' .and you start to see this person in groups and it's amazing how quickly you get to know things about them. You watch them interact with guys. You watch them interact with girls."

Becca warms to the subject and adds, "And your mom. You see how they treat your mom and how they treat your dad. It's like, I know you a lot better than I would have if we'd done this exclusive 'I'm pretending-you're pretending' relationship and then I find out these things about you six months down the road and I start to hate it. You see it right away. Things come up in a friendship and a group setting that you would never see because it's comfortable."

Alyssa shares, "So it's been cool because for every single one of those guys that initially we've said, dude I would date him. We've done the friendship thing and a couple of months down the road go, glad I didn't date you! I have a great friendship now but you're not the one for me and I know I'm not the one for you. But there wasn't this heartache. And we have a great friendship."

Our time is up and the sisters are itching to get out and see some more of London. I warn them to behave themselves when they visit the Tower of London. I explain that we used to lock criminals up and execute them in the Tower of London! Alyssa jokes, "If BarlowGirl only has two people on the next album, you'll know why!" Tonight they're really excited because they are going to see a production of Mary Poppins. I guess that'll be alright so long a they don't return to America with Dick van Dyke style cock-a-nee accents. I wish them a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious stay in Europe and head up the stairs out of Wesley Owen.