For one of its first forays into unscripted television, Amazon has shot a pilot of a talk show featuring celebrity youth revivalist pastor Judah Smith and his ministry, Churchome—famously attended by Famouses like Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, and Ciara.
Variety reports that the show will be called The Big Talk, and is described as “a talk show that discusses the meaning of life instead of plugging a movie or book.” Can’t wait. Smith will sit down with some of his famous flock to discuss the big questions, likely as part of Smith’s plan to bring his specific brand of Christianity to a larger audience. That brand, for those unfamiliar, is a diverse and hip sort of Christianity—a swaying congregation of hypebeasts and indoor scarves, praising Jesus.
Like Hillsong’s Carl Lenz, a figure so compelling that he and his church were at the center of a GQ profile earlier this year, Smith boasts Justin Bieber as one of his church’s more famous members. Smith is also the chaplain for the Seattle Seahawks, which explains how Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson and Ciara, the woman who patiently waited until marriage to have sex with her very attractive husband, are involved. Smith’s home church, Churchome, is based in Seattle, with an outpost in Los Angeles.
Smith is less well-known in mainstream religious circles—Lentz’s propensity for wearing Supreme and oversized aviators sets him apart—but his mission is similar to his less hip peers: to spread the gospel. Churchome, which used to be called City Church, recently changed its name to more accurately reflect the mission. “As we look toward the future, we feel God clarifying our direction as a church,” the church’s website reads. “For many years God called us to be a city. Now we believe he is also calling us to be a home.”
Since you are legally obligated to be charismatic if you’re a youth pastor, Smith is, but I’m not sure if charisma alone is enough to get me through a talk show about the “meaning of life instead of plugging a movie or book.” Especially since, if you think about it, isn’t church just a long plug for a book called the Bible? Really makes you think, man.