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How many American priests end up in their own reality show on British television? James McCaskill did just that when he moved last year from Pittsburgh to the town of Lundwood in England's South Yorkshire district. He was brought in to revitalize a church whose congregation had dropped below ten, and his turnaround efforts were filmed for one year by a camera crew. The results will air—under the name Priest Idol—in a three-part series in November on the UK's Channel 4. Nate Anderson sat down with McCaskill on a recent visit to the U.S. to talk about ministry and media.

Why did you take the job?

Stardom on TV [laughs]. No, I spent two years of seminary at College of the Resurrection in West Yorkshire, and the college there knew at some point I would enjoy coming back and serving the Church of England. I received an email in the summer of 2004 from the college, saying, "We know you want to come back, so quit your job, come over here, and we'll give you a flat so you'll have a base to work from and find a job." So I did. I was at a point where I was looking for something new.

The bishop of Wakefield had this parish of Lundwood, which had not had a full-time vicar for four years. It's a small parish by England's standards, around 6,000 people, and the church there was about to close. It was the last Christian presence in the community. My primary interest was in going someplace where I felt like the church could make a big impact.

What made you think Lundwood was that place?

It's an ex-mining village now suffering social deprivation, and the church is physically at the center of the community, and I thought it could be a beacon of hope in a place that's experiencing some darkness. So I agreed with it on paper; I was a bit shell-shocked when I actually saw the place.

In what way?

Well, I really had to think, did I need to come all the way from America to England for this? I could have stayed in Pittsburgh and had a similar experience. One of the differences, though, was the interest of the diocese to put some resources into this particular parish. You could go anywhere in the Western world and find similar problems, but you might not always have the support of the diocese.

Did having a film crew around change the way you approached ministry?

Yes, they pushed me into things I wouldn't have necessarily done on my own. For instance, there's a great scene in the first episode where they follow me into the Workingmen's Club, which is the local watering hole. If the club stayed open 24 hours, people would be in there 24 hours; it is just that sort of place. My first week there, many people from the village had heard this American was coming, and my first introduction to these people was walking in to the Workingmen's Club with this camera behind me. I was really embarrassed, to be honest. I didn't want people to have their first meeting with me and think, "Who's this young American in the limelight with his camera?"

How "real" were the events in the show?

For the most part, it was very real. But there was one time when a local community organization leafleted the village and the film crew had me knock on five, six doors, so they could film me doing that. In some ways, I think there's a real dishonesty in that, because the story is told in such a way in the episode to make it seem I went around knocking on a thousand doors—when the most I did was ten.

The filmmakers brought in a marketing firm to help you sell the church to the town. Was this a positive experience?

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November (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49