ABSTRACT
Established in 2005, “Life” is a suburban church with an almost entirely white membership, yet the lead pastor is an immigrant from the Middle East. If theater is the metaphor for managing self-impressions preaching is the quint-essential site for attaining role legitimacy for evangelical pastors. As an ex-Muslim ethnic Pakistani who was born and raised in Kuwait, Pastor Sameer Khalid does not “fit” into southern culture, and he did not convert to Christianity until he was enrolled in college in the United States. By consistently associating “terrorist” with ‘Middle Eastern” and “Muslim,” Sameer pulls himself into association with white Christians and pushes away ethnic and religious “others.” Although Pastor Sameer appears to struggle and occasionally blunder as a foreigner in American culture, he regularly combines his status as both an immigrant and an ex-Muslim to present himself to the congregation as a unique and superior religious resource.
