Preachers' Daughters Exclusive: Cast Talks Overcoming Daughters' Rebellion
Some people may stereotype children of church leaders as wild and rebellious, but now the Lifetime docu-soap "Preachers' Daughters'" is giving viewers an inside look at how men and women of God handle such behavior in their homes.
In the second episode of "Preachers' Daughters'," the Cassidy, Elliott, Coleman and Koloff families each deal with their daughters rebelling against their preacher parents' wishes in different ways. For Megan Cassidy,17, it is not easy adjusting to the pressures of her father Pastor Jeff Cassidy's new position as an associate pastor at Lake Bowen Baptist Church in Boiling Springs, S.C.
Megan soon finds herself in hot water after she showed up to church hungover following a night of underage drinking and partying. After she tweets about her dilemma, Pastor Cassidy decides to discipline her by taking away her cell phone and laptop while cautioning her about the backtalk he was receiving from her.
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Although Megan denied engaging in underage drinking after being chastised by her father, Pastor Cassidy told The Christian Post that his own past left him equipped to handle the situation. The Pastor is a former heavy metal musician with a history of substance abuse and told CP about the importance of communication in order to keep children out of trouble.
"I tell (my kids) 'I wrote most of those rules and things that you're trying to get away with, been there done that. So I can see things in you that raise my suspicions because I know exactly what you're trying to do,'" Pastor Jeff told CP. "We've been very open. If you're not talking about this stuff in an open manner and you're just hiding things, you're going to get run over by that freight train and not see it coming and it's going to be tough."
Megan admits that she did not always make the best decisions when the cameras were rolling, but having to be open with her family ultimately made them closer.
"As you'll see on this show sometimes I don't really think through situations before I act and that's why I end up getting in trouble," Megan told CP. "I think when we were filming our family got a lot closer. When you're forced to face issues like we were, it really makes your family stronger because everything is out in the open."
For Tori Elliott, 22, everything seemed to be out in the open when she let her father know that she wanted to go to a pool party and did not plan to slow down her excessive alcohol consumption. Pastor Kenny Elliott of Bethel Seventh Day Adventist Church in Grand Rapids, Mich., attempted to identify with his daughter who moved back in with him after being evicted.
Instead of harshly chastising his daughter, Pastor Elliott explained the importance of leaning on God and scripture instead of turning to alcohol to deal with her issues. Still, cameras followed Tori to the pool party where her 16-year-old sister watched in disapproval as she consumed excessive amounts of alcohol while partying.
Tori told CP that it is hard watching herself scenes like that, while some parts she does not even remember.
"Right now the hardest part is reliving some of those moments. I feel like I'm still there sometimes with some of those emotional moments and I get caught up in that and I get really sad because it is really fresh," she admitted to CP. "I was so messed up when they were filming, I don't even remember. It was a real eye opener like 'whoah drinking isn't so good Tori.'"
Still, Tori thinks some good came from showcasing her partying with television cameras rolling.
"I'm happy the cameras were there so I could see how big of a fool I was making myself look," she said.
Adam Reed, the show's executive producer, makes it a point to bond with the talent that he works with and respects the families featured in "Preachers' Daughters" for living their imperfect moments for the world to see.
"To Tori and Megan and their families' credit, they're such a complete open book and really wanted to show for lack of a better term the blessings and curses of being a preacher's family," Reed told CP. "..I respect and love (each family) for what they've done not only for the show but I truly believe if people stay and watch the entire series from episode one to the end, they are going to be transformed as our girls become transformed throughout the course of the season."
The Colemans and Koloffs did not watch their children party excessively in the second episode, however they dealt with a battle of their daughters' wills which did not always align with their own. Kolby Koloff, the 17-year-old who splits her time between her divorced mother and father, Victoria and Nikita, pleads with her preacher parents to let her live her dream to go to college and pursue fashion.
Although it seems her mother is more supportive of her decision, Nikita refuses to help financially unless his youngest daughter pursues one year in ministry after high school. The debate with her father causes tension in the Koloff family, and while Victoria admits her daughter is not perfect she is confident Kolby won't be drinking excessively in front of cameras.
"You're not going to see Kolby drinking and doing any of that kind of stuff. People say 'Oh it's cause you watch Kolby.' No it's not," Victoria told CP. "It's because my girls don't do that kind of stuff. That doesn't mean that they're better than anybody else on the show, that's just not who they are."
Pastor Ken Coleman of City of Refuge Pentecostal Church in Joliet, Ill, witnessed his daughter Taylor, 18, lie and sneak out of her house to meet boys against her father's approval during the first episode of their Lifetime show. During episode two of the second season, Pastor Coleman changes his approach and attempts to keep his daughter away from bad boys by setting him up with a youth pastor who happens to be a family friend.
Although Pastor Coleman's coaxing just seems to make Taylor want to rebel more, he spoke to The Christian Post about the show motivating him to tweak his parenting style. While Pastor Coleman still remains strict with his daughter, he admitted to be working on giving her more space to make her own decisions.
"..I have to be more open with Taylor. She's growing up," he told CP. "It's a challenge but I have to understand she has to make the mistakes. I made them, everyone makes mistakes. If they're saying they don't make mistakes they need to look at the scripture again."
