“…found themselves cheered up and inspired by the content of the videos. The pastor spoke in simple, yet powerful words which Jesse felt related to them more than anything they had read in these past few weeks. The solution to their relationship trouble and was spelled out by the charismatic pastor, all plain and simple. “”I need to let go of the people who hurt me,”” Jesse thought. “”Someone out there knows my real worth.””
10 months later
The monthly subscription to Pastor Dave’s self-help program was money well-spent, Jesse thought. Despite losing touch with some of the people they thought to be the most important to them a year ago, Jesse had never felt such a sense of belonging as with Pastor Dave’s online community. “”How long did I waste failing to think about my truest, deepest needs?”” Jesse thought. Life was finally making sense again, and all of their problems seemed irrelevant next to that one big truth.
1 year later
Blocking Tara wasn’t easy, Jesse thought. But it was the right decision. Pastor Dave had been crystal clear: Tara was a misled, deeply distraught soul, who had been tricked by Pastor Dave’s many enemies into making up these nonsensical sexual harassment accusations. If only Mom could stop sending them articles about Pastor Dave’s alleged “”misconduct””! Mom was under the influence of the mainstream media, whose anti-Christian bias was obvious to everyone in Pastor Dave’s online community. Jesse didn’t want to cut ties with her yet, but Pastor Dave was increasingly worried about her harmful hold over their life and happiness. “”You don’t need to mean harm to be a toxic person, you know,”” he would say.
2 years later
“”Hi Tara,
Sorry if my contacting you after all this time is making you uneasy, I know I haven’t been a good friend to you. I was just, you know, wondering how you felt about Pastor Dave going to jail and all. I don’t mean to accuse you, I’m just struggling to make sense of all of this. It’s hard to believe, these days, I guess, so… I don’t know, how are you?””
Jesse looked at their screen, and then hurriedly erased the few lines they had written.
1 year later
This was one of the bad days, Jesse told themselves. Things would get better at some point. The idea didn’t have the ring of certainty it used to have. The world was a far colder, emptier place now that they saw Pastor Dave’s words of comfort as the scam they were. The habit started to kick in as they pulled out their phone. Jeremiah, Pastor Dave’s successor, had started making videos of his own. Jesse had watched a couple of them. They weren’t as inspiring without Pastor Dave’s charisma, and with better knowledge of his manipulation techniques. A notification popped up on Jesse’s screen:
“”Hi sweetheart,
I hope the new job is going well. I’m baking an apple pie for Sunday! Love you lots, Mom””
Jesse took a deep breath. They didn’t need Pastor Dave for things to make sense, or for the aching loneliness to subside, at least party. Things would get better, they tentatively thought.”
This story was submitted as part of the Oxford Pilot Phase of the Gen Z Role Models Project.
“…found themselves cheered up” (S105) © 2026 by The Gen Z Role Models Project is licensed under CC BY 4.0
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