Helen of Troy


SYNOPSIS
Small-town southern church. The well-loved, decidedly moderate pastor and his wife are struggling with fertility, and all the instability that will produce…. even as he’s being courted to head up a new, far more conservative megachurch, and all the personal compromise that will entail. As their world both contracts and expands, they will be faced with unsettling mirrors, unsettling decisions, and an unsettling journey through what it means to call oneself a person of faith today. 



EXCERPT

 BOB 
You are a blessed man, Reverend. No kids yet?

 TROY 
We’re working on it. 

BOB 
As two loving young people oughtta be. All in the Lord’s time. So…. by now…. you might be guessing why I’m here. 

TROY 
Me? 

BOB 
Why not? 

TROY 
You’re building the biggest church in the whole state. 

BOB 
Exactly. A beacon. A crossroads. A new center for American evangelism. We need someone fresh. Authentic. Passionate. Someone who’ll be there to guide us into a whole new era. I respect your approach. I like seeing you up there rattling the tree a little. It doesn’t do any of us any good to have congregations full of sheep. They need to think for themselves, embrace their faith with their hearts and their minds. 

TROY 
That’s very kind.

BOB 
Not at all, Reverend. It’s honest. You are truly a man of the Lord, in the best possible sense of that phrase. 

TROY 
But. 

BOB 
The Keep isn’t gonna be a sweet little chapel in a sweet little country town. It’s gonna be smack in the middle of the action. The Pastor is most like gonna find himself under a microscope a whole lot of the time. The man who leads this congregation is gonna have to be comfortable with that. He’s also gonna have to…. how shall I put it…. lean a little less toward the center than you do. 

TROY 
As in…. 

BOB 
Let’s just say your constituency will probably be more…. mainstream. 

TROY 
It’s not like this town lives on the cutting edge. 

BOB 
But again: it’s a small town. You grew up here. They know you and trust you. And given all that, I’d still imagine you’ve had to put it some real time and sweat to lead them to the liturgy you’re using. Am I mistaken? 

TROY 
No. 

BOB 
You’ll be moving from what — 200 families? — to several thousand. Brave new world. Your friend Ric here says you could be our man. His opinion carries a lot of weight. He says you’re smart, flexible, capable of seeing the big picture. 

TROY 
Define “big picture”. 

BOB 
The needs of the church. The needs of evangelical doctrine on the world stage. You wanna play in the majors, that’s what it’s all about. 

TROY 
And the needs of the congregation? 

BOB 
In my experience, if you follow the word of God closely, the two are inseparable. Question is: do you think you’re our man?