The evangelical pastor’s show, Hello Saints, seeks to build bridges between religious groups that have at times been bitter enemies.
(Hello Saints) Pastor Jeff McCullough’s YouTube channel has amassed 60,000 subscribers and nearly 7 million views.
Jeff McCullough took a trip to Utah in 2020 and it changed his life.
No, the evangelical pastor did not convert to the state’s predominant religion, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and he did not launch a virulent campaign to explore what some consider the heresies of Mormonism. Instead, he felt a divine calling to start a YouTube channel, called Hello Saints, to, as he puts it, “fight criticism with curiosity.”
“Most of my Christian friends haven’t said very nice things about people in the LDS Church,” McCullough says in his introduction, “and I don’t really like that.”
So the 43-year-old Hope Chapel minister in the Bible Belt, who calls himself a “recovering Mormon,” set out to explore the beliefs and practices of the Utah-based faith, eager to build bridges between this church and evangelical Christians.
McCullough now lives in the Beehive State and has produced more than 90 short videos comparing and contrasting “the lifestyle, culture and beliefs of Mormons and mainstream Christianity,” including questions like these: Are Mormons- they Christians? What do Christians and Latter-day Saints agree or disagree about?
During his journey to familiarize himself and his audience with this unfamiliar faith, he attended General Conference, attended Sunday services, read the Book of Mormon, and visited a Latter-day Saint temple.
Her Hello Saints channel, which operates on a nonprofit basis and primarily appeals to Latter-day Saints, has 60,000 subscribers and nearly 7 million views. He is currently organizing a su virtualmmit featuring interviews and presentations from Latter-day Saints and evangelicals on topics ranging from Jesus and marriage to politics and heaven.
On this week’s show, McCullough discusses his online efforts, his approach and what he hopes to accomplish.
Listen to the podcast:
