Evaluating Pastors in Documentaries: A Biblical Perspective

Here is my confession: I love documentaries. Wow! It feels great to get that off my chest. Yes, I watched Trainwreck’s “Poop Cruise,” and will most likely never go on a cruise again. I was obsessed with “America’s Team” about the Dallas Cowboys. As a Cowboys fan, the contents were bittersweet. Sweet because players like Aikman, Smith, Irvin, and Sanders were guys I grew up watching. Bitter because the Boys have not won nor stepped foot inside a Super Bowl since 1995 (this is our year Cowboys fans to go all the way).

Well, Netflix got me again. The number one T.V. show in the U.S. was a documentary titled, “Death of the Pastor’s Wife.” As a pastor, this documentary piqued my curiosity. I also had a hunch this show was going to make people in ministry, the church, and Jesus look bad. And I was right because negativity sells in a culture like ours. Have you ever seen a documentary on Adrian Rogers or Billy Graham? Nope. Faithful preachers and Christian evangelists are bad for the entertainment business, but I digress.

We all have our opinions as to what may have caused her death. Conspiracy theories thrive on unsolved cases and unexplainable events. However, some people might see this as a mark against Jesus Christ, Christianity, or those God calls to serve him in ministry. I want to argue why I don’t think that is the case. My prayer is that these thoughts would help you think about this documentary from a biblical worldview.

Avoid Lumping Every Pastor into This Documentary

Our culture is filled with the negative categorization of people. For example, we experience a bad dentist, so we assume all dentists are terrible. We sit under a mean teacher and logically deduce that all teachers are malevolent. We see a police officer abuse his authority and assume all police officers exploit their power over others. We would do well as a society to allow an individual’s character to be the primary judgment for our opinions.

The same holds true for pastors and this documentary. In fact, I think this T.V. series highlights faithful and true pastors–both who they are and our need for them. A church member who watches “The Death of a Pastor’s Wife,” and goes, “My pastor is not like that at all” illustrates you probably have a good and godly pastor. We would do well to not classify all pastors as the same, but the bad ones draw attention to the good ones. In other words, documentaries like this do not set nor are they the standard for pastoral ministry.

The Character Differences between Faithful and False Teachers

Jesus warns his disciples, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits” (Matt. 7:15–16). Bible readers ask the text, “What are these fruits?” Second Peter 2:2 provides an answer. Peter wrote, “Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed” (2 Pet. 2:2). To put it another way, one of the many fruits of a false teacher is that they will use their position to satisfy the passions of their flesh. The pastor in this documentary was plagued by sexual sin and affairs.

Faithful pastors fulfill and live out the qualifications of 1 Timothy 3:1–7 and Titus 1:5–9. One of those qualifications is marital faithfulness (for those who are married) and sexual purity (for those who are single). In fact, the guy in the documentary would have been disqualified from ministry after his first affair. Does this mean the title is misleading because he doesn’t meet the qualifications from Scripture? I think so, but you can make your own decision. I think documentaries like this do not harm the office but rather highlights the virtues of those who are faithfully serving Christ and his church. Again, if you have a faithful and qualified pastor, a documentary like this should cause you to thank God for him.

Another Reminder to Pursue Holiness

I don’t know this guy personally nor have I ever heard of him until this documentary. One of my own vices is I see the worst rather than the best in people. Allow me to try and push against my disposition for a moment. Maybe he set out to be a good pastor. Perhaps he desired to remain faithful to the end. Yet, he gave into temptation and the lust of the eyes and flesh, which led to his fall. He’s not the first nor will he be the last. May this be a reminder to those in ministry that we must pursue Christ each day. We need to sit in a posture of repentance. We need accountability. We need to remember that we are a child of God before we are servants of the Lord.

This documentary kept bringing to my mind Paul’s words in 1 Timothy 4:16, “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” Pastors should spend time in God’s presence. We would do well to pursue holiness. We are required to lead out of the overflow of our time with God. Let this show be a reminder that when you let your guard down (even for a moment) you could be the next documentary on Netflix. Even more problematic is that we hurt people, distort the message of Christ, and hinder others from coming to the fountain of grace.

Allow me to conclude with this: God’s grace is greater. The gospel can save anyone who puts their faith in Jesus Christ and turns from their sinful says. He can redeem all the people in this documentary including the pastor and his current wife. The gospel says that no one is out of reach of God’s mercy, forgiveness, and grace. Jesus came to save sinners, to seek the lost, to ransom a bunch of dark hearted people to himself. To put it another way, there is more grace in Jesus than sin in you.

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