nicole beharie

Lee-Curtis Childs pastors a megachurch. Or he did until he did something scandalous. Now, he wants his flock back in

In this satire of Southern megachurch culture and its prosperity gospel, Regina Hall is the pragmatically loyal wife of an egomaniacal, philandering pastor, played by Sterling K. Brown. Atlanta’s Wander for Greater Paths Baptist megachurch lost all but faithful five of its 25,000 followers after Pastor Lee-Curtis Childs (Brown) was exposed in a sexual misconduct scandal. So now he and his chagrined First Lady wife Trinitie (Hall) have embarked on a miscalculated comeback strategy, relying more on publicity than prayer.

Sterling K. Brown and Regina Hall are the Pastor and First Lady of the Wander to Greater Paths congregation. They have it all. A huge home, clothes, cars, cash and tens of thousands of followers. Joel and Victoria Osteen are jealous. But it’s not all fancy hats and hallelujahs. A scandal forces the church to temporarily close and the two spiritual leaders must fight to rebuild their flock.

In a thriller cleverly hidden within the satin robes of satire, writer/director Adamma Ebo questions morality, marriage, and the power of a message. Adamma Ebo is sharp with her pen and with the camera, taking the story of a disgraced megachurch pastor and his wife to the brink of absurdity but always with an edge of truth. Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul. isn’t a morality play but the dissection of two characters who worship at the altar of fame but refuse to allow their labors to be more than vain.

To overcome a scandal, a viral pastor and his wife hire an up-and-coming festival filmmaker to revamp their image with a cinema verité documentary. Their goal is to refill their megachurch with its previous 25000 parishioners. But, it quickly becomes evident that Lee-Curtis and Trinitie are out of touch with reality. Based on writer-director-producer Adamma Ebo’s short film of the same name, Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul. is gloriously biting satire to the nth degree.