In Praise This, Pastor James “PG” Goodman confuses everyone when he calls himself a pastor because he doesn’t carry the look of one. It is later revealed that there is a story behind his transformation.
Pastor James “PG” Goodman introduces himself to Bishop Headley, who knows almost every pastor in Atlanta, during a round of the National Praise Team Competition.
PG runs the church where the Oil Factory comes from, and it turns out that Bishop Headley hasn’t heard of him. PG’s style of dressing and the tattoos on his body clearly make him stand out from other pastors.
PG says that he never planned to be a pastor, and that’s why there are tattoos and his whole life story on his body. People might not have heard of PG, but he doesn’t leave a good first impression either.
The Oil Factory improvises during their performance at this competition and embarrasses themselves, along with PG and his wife, Natalie, who came to support them.
PG’s never-give-up attitude
After that embarrassing loss, a year later, when Sam arrives at the Oil Factory, PG overhears her talking about how crazy he is to think that they will win.
Sam spent time on stage with the Oil Factory, and she has already predicted that the Oil Factory is not winning any competitions. She makes remarks on the church’s building, as PG runs it in a place where there used to be an oil factory once.
PG approaches Sam and reminds her that God’s son was born in a barn too. PG shakes hands with Sam and assures her that everything is possible.
During the local competition too, PG meets and motivates his praise team, as they are aware that they are surrounded by people who hate them because of last year’s terrible performance.
PG’s backstory
At the regional praise team competition, Sam messes up by replacing the team’s music at the last minute. The team loses and falls apart. They only get a second chance because another praise team backs out.
PG gathers everyone to tell them the news and cheer them up. In order to do so, he shares how he became a pastor in the first place. Apparently, he stole a pastor’s car and got caught.
In exchange for not pressing charges, the pastor made PG come to the church every Sunday for three months straight. The first Sunday was PG’s first-ever visit to the church, but he somewhere knew that his life is going to change from that day.
That’s how he became a pastor. PG gave this example to let the members of the Oil Factory know that they are going to fail in life; they are going to make mistakes and mess up, and what matters is not giving up.
Keeping that in mind, the Oil Factory reenters the Nationals, enjoys their time, makes every dance to their song, and finally wins the competition. The team turned their fate around in a year and made PG proud.
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