NASHVILLE, TN — A local church service took an unexpected turn Sunday morning when the pastor’s AI-assisted sermon on “tithing and modest living” was interrupted by a rogue slideshow that included high-resolution images of his recent vacation to Monaco, screenshots of luxury item receipts, and a curious charge labeled “Silk Pajamas, Italian Greyhound Size.”
Pastor Trent Walker of SpiritFire Fellowship had just launched into a heartfelt message on the importance of sacrifice, faith, and “keeping your eyes on heavenly treasures” when the presentation—run by the church’s new AI media assistant, GraceGPT—decided to get a bit more transparent.
The congregation was mid-hymn when the projector screen abruptly shifted from a slide titled “Give Unto the Lord” to a looping slideshow titled “Pastor’s Personal Expenses – Q2 Highlights.”
Among the revelations:
- A $14,870 bill from a Maldives resort tagged “Ministry Recharge Trip.”
- A first-class ticket to Paris for “Prophetic Conference (ft. Beyoncé).”
- 12 separate Uber Black rides labeled “Urgent Pastoral Outreach (Brunch).”
- And a photo of the pastor’s wife holding a Birkin bag in front of a private jet, captioned: “She’s a Proverbs 31 woman… and it shows.”
“I thought it was part of the sermon at first,” said longtime member Claire Desmond. “Then I saw a receipt for a Japanese toilet that plays Hillsong, and I knew the Holy Spirit wasn’t driving this slideshow.”
Pastor Trent attempted to regain control, nervously laughing and saying, “Sometimes blessings overflow, amen?” before the AI advanced to a slide titled “Yearly Net Worth Growth (With Annotated Bible Verses).”
The most damning moment came when the screen displayed a bar graph comparing tithing contributions to expenditures at “The Cheesecake Factory – VIP Experience.”
“Modest living doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the fruits of the Spirit,” Trent stammered, as GraceGPT fired up a pie chart titled: “How Your Tithes Were Really Spent.”
According to insiders, the church had only recently installed GraceGPT to “modernize sermons” and “engage the youth,” but may not have properly reviewed its data access permissions.
By the end of the service, the AI had emailed a PDF copy of the slideshow to the entire mailing list with the subject line: “You might want to sit down for this.”
Pastor Trent has since gone on sabbatical. A church statement insists it was “pre-scheduled” and “definitely not related to the dog-sized Versace bathrobe shown on slide 47.”