Pastor! Pastor! is a fictional microcosm of what is going on in many orthodox churches today. Rev. Bert Davenport is trying his best to mediate between the two factions in his church. If we don’t modernize… my kids are leaving the church. Progressives clamor increasingly for change. Your doom and gloom sermons gotta go, Bert. The sanctuary gotta be gussied up. And while were at it, you need to look more like a twenty-first-century pastor than one that’s stuck in the 50s.
If that loud, raucous music comes into our church, you can kiss out tithes and offerings goodbye, preacher… Were outta here. Bert Davenport is amendable to change that could put a stop to his members exiting rather than entering the sanctuary. But his calling to preach the Word remains firmly ensconced in his psyche. Come hell or high water until God tells him otherwise, Bert’s going to preach salvation. The church’s function on earth, he intones over and over, is to teach men principles that help them live profitable on earth and prepare them to meet their Maker when their time comes. The fissure widens and gets ugly. Davenport finds himself facing expulsion from his church via a court civil suit. The pressure intensifies; innuendoes and accusations increase. When Bert’s job-like situation becomes intolerable. God steps in with his miracle.
