For me, as a Christian, it was probably the nature of a church scandal and how it showed the impact of a scandal a church without actually showing much of it. Let me explain. The documentary doesn't show us the reactions of the people who attend the church to the revelations about Pastor Reinke. For the most part, they are kept out of the picture. It puts us in their shoes.
It lets the revelations about his extra-marital affairs with other men hang there along with the fact that he has been permitting men to stay at his church, and sometimes at his house. Some of whom had not only criminal records but were sex offenders. As a result we look back on his entire endeavor with his church with different eyes. Our reactions are probably not too different from those in his church and his own family.
For most of the film we think he is just a kind-hearted pastor trying to help his neighbor, as Jesus instructed, albeit one with a few flaws. But his adultery casts a doubt on all of it. Was it ever really about helping the poor, we ask. Probably. But we do wonder. Just as it would’ve been the case had he been helping women and gotten one (or more) of them pregnant.
The movie is one I would recommend to fellow Christians. It shows the humanity of pastors, who are often expected to be held up, with the fact that they are also sinners often forgotten.
Overnighters. Dir. Jesse Moss. Jay Reinke. Drafthouse Films, 2014. DVD
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