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Rev. David W. Peters was given a unique assignment: to travel to a growing suburb in Austin, Texas, USA and persuade the young people there to join him in starting a church.
David is an Episcopal priest and former Marine. His videos were intended to bring the people of Austin to religion. But they made David the star of a Tik Tok app that most people his age still don’t understand.
David Peters Tik Tok account
The good work he did is known as “church planting.” This is not easy, especially in a divided country, and in an age where organized religion is considered suspect. Modern problems require modern solutions, and Peters hit one of the most modern.
Church planting with TikTok
Inspired by the success of a young local veteran he has known for a long time, the priest turned to making videos on TikTok.
Piters has combined Tik Tok trends with what he calls his brand of “church” humor. The result is a strange, heady mix of old and new, sacred and silly.
In the most popular clip, Peters sorts through church vestments, jumping up and down in dresses as the soundtrack of “Another Day in the Sun” from the movie “La La Land” plays, and the words “Hot Priest Summer” flash on the screen. On Tik Tok, the video has 2 million views and 216,400 likes.
In another video, he gently pokes fun at the people who offered to write a bestseller, not stupid, but enlightening treatises on God and PTSD.
“There are a lot of funny things in the church,” says DavidWPeters. “When I was in the Marine Corps in Iraq, many years ago, some of the funny situations came at the crucial moments. Such is the Church. Humor is a way to remind us that not everything stays the same. There is shadow in Death Valley, but there are also moments when we are at the springs of living water.”
This humor is light, kind, touching. For example, Peters’ video with the hashtag #bottlecapchallenge. A meme in which users recorded themselves kicking the cap of a bottle in all sorts of ways: roundhouse kicks, noses, hands. The contribution of the priest is precious. He opened the lid of the bottle with a censer of steaming incense.
Of course, David gets a certain degree of feedback, mostly in the form of rude jokes. He thanks the largely welcoming and supportive audience he found on the app during his mission.
“I don’t have an office. I go where people are… I try to speak their language and be a listener. In the videos I made for TikTok, I tried to use the language of the society I was in. Which is like learning a new culture. If you show respect and listen, you will learn a lot.”
The key to popularity on TikTok is sincerity. Users are encouraged to film themselves as they really are, whether it’s lip-synching or a challenge.
Priest David Peters believes that social networks will make the appeal of people to the religious community accessible.
“Gone are the days of just walking into a church, “Oh, nice building, let’s go.” The Church must go where the people are – this was bequeathed by our creator. Tik Tok is the only way to go beyond the walls. As a priest, I’m going to take God to places that need him and that I can be.“.
