Impastor: Confessions of an Angry Preacher's Wife

If you are a TVLand watcher, as I used to be, you have recently been slammed with adds for a new program titled Impastor. It falls under the "American Comedy" genre.

This "entertainment" is about some guy who is pretty much the anti-pastor who takes the identity of the real deal and brings his immoral self in to lead a church. Sounds hilarious, doesn't it?

Why would this make me angry?

Maybe because I have been a pastor's wife for 34 years and what Hollywood feeds America isn't remotely close to the truth of our lives. My anger began a couple of years ago when Lifetime (Dear Christian sister--this is NOT the network for women) ran "Preachers Daughter," an insult at best.

Maybe I am angry because as America laughs, there's a small part of the brain that takes this information and files it under "truth."

Perhaps  I'm irritated at the story line that portrays church members as stupid.

Yes, fuming at the very idea that our Christian walk is reduced to a joke.

No one is laughing when a young mother and father try to breathe while their infant is rolled into surgery.

It isn't funny when my husband is called on Christmas morning to come to the hospital to help a family as their daddy dies.

It's no joke when he pours himself into the church family because he has a deep love for them, whether they return the affection or not.

It isn't amusing when preacher's kids, who did not choose this life but were born into it, are held to a standard they cannot live up to.

There is no chuckling as a sermon is prepared, knowing that eternity for the listeners hangs in the balance.

The world wants you to lose all respect for pastors in our society. Hollywood wants you to question the authority of the Scriptures and at the same time look at your pastor questioning his motives. The world wants to take the examples of those who have tripped up, messed up and fallen and hold them up as the norm.

I'm not placing my husband or any other pastor on a pedestal. There's no room up there for a human, it is for our Creator alone. But I will tell you that my pastor's heart is pure. I know him better than any other person, I know this life better than the producers of programs for TVLand ever could.

Mixed in with the heavy responsibility of leading and caring for the Bride of Christ, is the thrill of lives changed. A child who opens his Bible, a young dad who makes the commitment to bring the family to church, a senior adult couple who remain faithful through hardship, the excited college kid who is bringing her friends to Jesus, and a near-divorce marriage is restored--these are just a few of the super great reasons to stay the course.

Why does my husband, or any other pastor, stay in ministry? Obedience to God on the calling of his life. As his wife, I am called as well. I could not handle being a pastor's wife if God didn't prepare me early, call me clearly and provide for me daily.

So, what's it to you?

Well, first of all, pick up the nasty remote and turn the one-eyed-monster off.  Don't allow the world to feed you and your family garbage under the guise of entertainment.

Pray for your pastor.

Respect your pastor.

Speak highly of your pastor.

Support your pastor.

Teach your children to appreciate the pastor.

Wait a minute...

I do hear some laughter...

Until we take God seriously and allow him into our family rooms and what entertains us, the joke is on us.

Satan is laughing.