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At Tribal Council, you mentioned there was a lot of faith on your tribe. Talk about that.

I said that really as a compliment to those guys. There really wasn't a lot of faith on my tribe. Everyone is going to say they believe in God, especially when there's a pastor around. But based on the language, innuendos, and the sexual comments and all that kind of stuff, it was very obvious to me that I definitely was not in a Christian tribe by any stretch of the imagination.

But there have been a lot of Christians competing on reality shows like Survivor and Amazing Race. Why do you think that is?

Mark Burnett wanted Survivor to be, "What if an airplane went down and 16 people survived?" So he wanted a cross section of American people. Certainly, America is primarily a Christian nation. For us to hide back and deliberately not be seen would be a mistake. I wish the reality shows would have 50 percent of Christians on them.

The problem comes when people get on there and say weird stuff like Vecepia did, like, "It's okay to sin, you just ask forgiveness." I don't think she meant to say it the way it came out. I don't think the Christians are doing a bad thing or giving a bad testimony by getting involved in reality shows. I think you just have to watch how you handle yourself while you're on the show.

How has your church reacted to you being on the show? And since you were voted out?

Everyone was totally happy I was doing that. They couldn't believe they voted me out so early. They all thought I was doing a good job. There was one person who thought I shouldn't get involved in Hollywood, but you will always have that.

Are there any further Hollywood opportunities coming out of your exposure?

Not that I know of. If they want me on Hollywood Squares I would be happy to go. But I am going to make sure my dignity as a Christian shines forth. I am not going to do anything to embarrass Christ or the church. I will take advantage of whatever opportunities they bring up, but I will point it all to the Lord.

What did you learn from playing the game?

We were not able to have any contact with our families from the time we left to when we came back. So the main thing that I saw was how much I love my family and how often we take for granted the few moments we spend with them. When I was away, I wrote down a whole list of things I wanted to do with my kids.

Another thing that really struck me was the level of paranoia that everyone on my tribe lived in. I am not used to being around paranoid people. We have an incredible staff at the Harvest who are very confident and qualified. To be thrust into a tribe of people that were very paranoid and worry about their own fate was not something I was really prepared for. It boils down to learning to understand where a person is coming from.

Todd Hertz is assistant online editor for Christianity Today.

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September (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46