Movies bring people of all backgrounds together like few other events. People talk for weeks about a movie they love. We want to provide talking points to help you take those conversations with family and friends to a deeper, spiritual level. Starting from this common ground, you can find opportunities to share your own faith experience with others. Check out the questions at the end.
Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul
R • 2022 • Comedy/Satire • 1 hour 42 minutes
Starring: Regina Hall, Sterling K. Brown, Austin Crute, Nicole Beharie
——–
By Andrew Wood
Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul is painful to watch on several levels. It’s a depressing mockumentary of a fallen megachurch pastor and his wife attempting to rebuild their church after a sexual scandal. Though the church is a cult of personality more than a real ministry, the viewer sees glimpses of hope in people who find hope and faith through it.
Loosely based on the story of Eddie Long, a disgraced megachurch pastor in Atlanta, Honk for Jesus follows fictional Pastor Lee-Curtis Childs and First Lady Trinitie’s rise and fall as leaders of a charismatic Baptist megachurch. The church’s work in the community, including a youth center and paying off the county’s debt, is offset by the leaders’ lavish lifestyles, which they portray to the congregation as signs of God’s favor. Having dismissed his board of deacons, Childs has no accountability for his actions.
Lee-Curtis loses most of his congregants when it is revealed he had sexual relationships with several young men, whom he tried to bribe to keep their silence. This doesn’t stop the Pastor and First Lady from making ambitious plans for a carefully staged comeback on Easter Sunday. Tellingly, Trinitie says to her husband: “We need peace so you can get back in that pulpit and preaching and get me back on that stage.”
Grasping for ideas, the two take to the roadside, holding up signs to try to attract attendees for their grand reopening. Trinitie’s humiliation is complete when Lee-Curtis convinces her to wear whiteface and mime clownishly at the side of the road. (Incensed previous congregants verbally abuse her.)
The movie has some comic moments, such as when Trinitie says, “We tell people to come as you are . . . but God don’t like ugly.” These are few and far between, and the film strains to earn its designation as a “comedy.” Viewers may be offended by pervasive profanity throughout and a rather explicit sexual scene.
This movie is more anti-hypocrisy than anti-Christian. Corrupt church leaders are revealed to be shallow and cynical, yet with moments of sincerity and genuine struggle with faith peeking through. Trinitie’s struggle as a wife pressured on all sides to remain married to an unfaithful and controlling spouse creates some poignant moments.
Despite the entire depressing scenario and the way these leaders try to manipulate it, at the grassroots, God is at work. At a key moment in the movie, a sanitation worker tells Childs how much his ministry meant to him: “My old lady brought me to your Easter service a few years back and I been a different man ever since. . . . I know you’re a good man, Pastor Childs, and you’re gonna keep doing them good things God tellin’ you to do and keep inspiring guys like me. I believe that.”
The scene brings to mind something Paul wrote about those who preached Christ “out of selfish ambition, not sincerely.” He could still rejoice, “What does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached” (Philippians 1:17-18).
Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul is a reminder not to put our trust in people but in Christ. It can also be a reminder that, despite the world’s smoke and mirrors, Christ continues to transform real people’s lives every day.
_ _ _
If you’d like to engage with others on topics raised by this movie, try some of these questions (seeing this film is not a prerequisite):
- How has the public disgrace of church leaders over the years affected your faith? What effect has it had on the receptivity of your family and friends to the gospel?
- How can churches (and individual Christians) prevent the kinds of corruption and abuse this film satirizes?
- As Christians, what support should we offer to spouses of unfaithful men (or women)?
- How do you think churches should advertise? What kinds of advertising are too gimmicky or degrading for what we represent?
- If someone you care about is loyal to a corrupt church leader, how would you talk to them about that?
- Can a pastor be restored to ministry after a significant lapse of morality? What would have to take place to show that his repentance was sincere?
Andrew Wood, a former missionary to Ukraine and associate professor at Nebraska Christian College, is a freelance writer.
0 Comments