Preachers' Daughters Exclusive: Self Proclaimed 'Good Christian' Jayde Gomez And Preacher Dad Talk Temptation
Jayde Gomez reads her Bible, is creating her own devotional and prays daily, but the self-proclaimed "good Christian" wasn't beyond facing temptations with eight girls
picked to live in a house in Cabo, Mexico, to film Lifetime's "Preachers' Daughters."
The hit network docu-series, may have taken nine girls to Cabo to do missions work in the third season of the show, but it also presented the daughters and granddaughters of preachers with the temptations of partying, drinking and sex. In a promotion for the third season of the show, Lifetime's Preachers' Daughters Twitter account questioned if Jayde, 20, would uphold her morals on the show where she seems to stand out as the good girl among some rebellious pastors' kids.
"Jayde is quite the angel. Will Cabo make this good girl go bad?" the twitter account questions.
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While she seems more disciplined than some of her co-stars on the show, the Lakeland, Florida, native admits that she had to learn some lessons about handling temptation while filming her experience on the missions trip.
"Being on my own without my parents there to guide me, it just helped me learn how to handle temptations and things like that," Jayde told The Christian Post. "It definitely built mine and my dad's relationship, it helped me build my relationship with God, and it helped me learn and grow into the woman that I am today."
Jayde comes from a strict family upbringing where she was sheltered at home. Her father, Pastor Chris Clark, is used to being active in every detail of his daughter's life, including checking her text messages. The preacher admits it was not easy to let his daughter live in a home with eight other girls that may be more interested in partying and drinking than reading their Bibles daily.
"What I'm going through and I think even my wife [is going through] is letting go of our child. I've been really having a problem for a long time," Pastor Chris admitted to CP. "We've raised Jayde the best we can and I know she puts God first, but my struggle is letting her go. She's my baby girl and she always will be."
Still, allowing his daughter to be placed in a situation where temptations were more prevalent than those she faced in her everyday life helped the preacher with the process of letting go.
"It helped me especially seeing how Jayde handled a lot of situations. There are some things that she did and that she learned from but ultimately we're really proud," Pastor Chris told CP. "It really helped me as her father to begin that process of letting go. She built a lot of trust when she was down there."
Although Pastor Chris is proud of what he has seen from his daughter on television, he does not want people to believe his family is perfect either.
"When we're home, that's kind of ... that's our safe zone. We have our problems, not that we want to mislead people at church, but we go through the problems and peer pressure like everyone else," he told CP. "But again because of the position, we have to come across as if we have it all together. It's hard for people to realize we face the same temptations and troubles as every other family."
Still, Jayde has a strong spiritual foundation that keeps her rooted in her Biblical principles while defying the stereotype that all preachers' kids are rebellious. The 20-year-old takes pleasure in reading the Word and staying close to her parents which she believes other young adults can do, too.
"I definitely think staying in church and being in a Bible or devotions book group really helps. Become involved in a church or college career group and stay involved with those friends that keep you on the right track," Jayde suggested to CP. "One thing that's helped me too is being close with my parents. I always get advice from them or talk to them. They always have advice to give to me because they were my age at one point and they know what I'm going through."
While it is important for Pastor Chris to encourage his kids to read their Bibles and devotionals daily, he believes parents serving as living examples for their children is equally important.
"Some parents are just 'Jesus this and Jesus that' shoving it down their children's throats," he told CP. "I think there's a way to do it, that we can treat our children in a way that we can show if our faith is real or not."
It seems Jayde has followed the example modeled by her parents' faith. Still, she insists that being a good girl does not mean she cannot have fun as a young adult.
"A lot of times people think that being a Christian is boring or you can't have fun being a Christian because you have to be good all the time," Jayde told CP. "But that's just a really big misconception about Christianity and I feel like God wants us to have fun, of course in a safe way."
Jayde and Pastor Chris will appear on Lifetime's "Preachers' Daughters" season 3, Friday, at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The show is produced by Thinkfactory Media.
