Come Sunday

Yesterday I watched a thought provoking new documentary on Netflix called Come Sunday.

It’s quite a story about a Pentecostal preacher named Carlton Pearson who was, at one time, one of the most famous preachers in the Unites States.

He was a man with incredible authority and close connections in very high places throughout the pentecostal movement. He was personally mentored by Oral Roberts.

The interesting part of the story happens when Carlton begins to ponder one of the beliefs he’d been preaching for 20 years.

The belief that if people didn’t do a certain thing, prescribed by the direction of the church, they would go to hell.

One night he was watching a news report about the Rwandan genocide, and thinking about all many thousands of people, including children, who were being slaughtered and he realized that per his current belief system, all those people were being sent straight to hell.

He wrestled inside with this question and after many tears and prayers came to a new belief that was contrary to the one he’d previously been a crusader for.

Thomas Paine once wrote, ‘It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself.’

Carlton was faced with a choice.

He could continue preaching a message he no longer believed in, and deal with the inner turmoil and angst that was sure to come, while maintaining his following, influence and lifestyle….

or,

Follow his heart and share what he believed to be the truth, and risk losing his following, influence and lifestyle.

What would you do in a situation like that?

Come Sunday the story of Carlton’s choice.

It’s a story of questions & courage.

And whether or not you agree with Carlton’s conclusions, it’s hard not to admire any soul on a sincere search who has the courage to follow the uncomfortable directions their search for truth seems to give them.

Leadership is easy when you’re singing with the choir but what do you do when the song of your soul tells you to sing a different tune?

Maybe that’s the essence of the choice we’re all faced with, that’s so beautifully illustrated in Carlton’s story, Come Sunday.