Black Faith in the Rainbow: Becoming Bishop Troy Lavor Sanders

This is a story of journey, spiritual journey guided by God, the ancestors, Christianity and African religious traditions. It is a complex story told through dramatic documentary story telling, historical reenactments and engaging archival footage. The story of an African American singing and preaching phenom who was nurtured by church. A church that embraced him, loved him, gave him the front seat in the church because of his gifts but then rejected him because God created him as a same gender loving African American man. This is a story of surprising faith hiccups and loving acceptance in the midst of rejection. A story that shows the love of God as manifested in a person and people who have had to fight to hold onto their faith. This is the story of one of the most prominent young leaders in the African American church today, Bishop Troy Lavor Sanders.

Troy Lavor Sanders was born and raised in the rural town of Denmark, South Carolina, a place he refers to as the country. In a small Baptist Church he was nurtured and spoke his dream to his Sunday School teacher that when he grew up he wanted to be a pastor and professor. The teacher immediately called the pastor of the church to that Sunday School room and from that day forward the pastor mentored the young boy. Troy was eight years old when he uttered his dream aloud. His gifts were obvious to the pastor and the church. Troy was the star of Sunday School, Youth Sundays, Easter Plays, he could sing, pray and preach. He was the boy preacher. The prodigy, the upcoming, the one everybody saw having a bright future in the life of the church.

At the age of thirteen Troy moved to Atlanta and joined the holiness church. It was here the turn begins, he rises to the top of the holiness preaching circuit, goes to Bible College, graduates valedictorian of his class. Off to seminary where he earns two masters degrees from the Interdenominational Theological Center. He is on his way up. Making his living as a revival preacher, preaching over forty revivals per year, earning a very comfortable living. While on this wave of success he couldn’t hold the secret everyone knew any longer. He shared with his biological family and church family the he was a same gender loving Black man. After sharing who he was his world came tumbling down. His invitations to preach revivals began to get rescinded, date after date was canceled. In one year he went from preaching over forty revivals per your to zero.

How do you maintain your faith in a God and a church that has rejected you and your gifts. Gifts that were so obvious that the church had fully supported, celebrated and affirmed. You hadn’t lost the gifts, you simply spoke out loud many suspected and many knew. Troy told them how God had created him. Troy had to wrestle some difficult faith questions. His life takes twist and turns as he tries to make sense of his faith journey. After years of struggle he finds an inclusive church were LGBTQ+ Christians were welcomed, but this didn’t seem right to him. He had to deal the theology that rejected him and also infected him. He had to deal with the toxic embedded theology of his upbringing. His journey would not be easy but it would be persistent. He would persist, find his way, serve as executive pastor of an inclusive church before starting his own ministry / church.

This documentary travels back to Denmark, South Carolina where it all began for Troy. Talking to friends, family members and members of his childhood church. The church elders and leaders who championed the young preacher talk about how they saw him than and how they see him now. His parents are central to the story and you meet them and hear how they dealt with the son God gave them. You walk with Troy from that Sunday school room in Denmark, South Carolina to him being consecrated a bishop in 2023. The story continues as he lives into the first year of being bishop looking back and talking to that little boy who had the courage to announce, “I want to be a pastor and a professor.”
Runtime: 46 minutes
Director: Ralph basui Watkins