Renowned gospel singer and preacher Deitrick Haddon is adding another job to his resume: TV star! He's is one of six mega-pastors featured on the new Oxygen show, "Preachers of L.A.," premiering October 9.
Deitrick recently opened up to toofab's Lawrence Yee about everything from heeding his higher calling to his haters. Check out their candid conversation below:
toofab: You're the son of a bishop and an evangelist. Was it inevitable that you would become a preacher?
Haddon: I was pretty much groomed to be a minister in our church, and to ultimately take over the church in Detroit. My dad is a bishop who has a lot of churches all over.
toofab: Was there a moment that you heard the call?
Haddon: When I was 10 years old, God spoke to my heart. He said I was supposed to teach people and preach and sing the gospel. That day, I went to my mother's room and told her what I felt and what I heard in my heart. She said, "Well, we'll put you up and if you're really called to preach we'll see what happens!"
toofab: Were you nervous when you did you first sermon, are you still nervous?
Haddon: I was absolutely nervous. I made it through, but it wasn't my best. It was from that experience that I realized it's not easy. This is serious. It's not just something that you do for fame and glory -- you really have to know your stuff. You have to know the word of God and you have to know people. From that point on I took it really serious.
toofab: What's the hardest part about being a preacher?
Haddon: Trying to be perfect for people. Preacher are heroes to people. We're supposed to be the ones to have the solutions to every single problem, we're not to have any things that we're dealing with, we're not supposed any weaknesses. That's the hardest part for preachers across the board. We're almost trapped in this prison of perfection.
toofab: What can we expect to see on "Preachers of L.A."?
Haddon: You should expect to see it all. The guys are brave enough to let people in on how they handle their business ventures, how they handle their family, how they handle their crises, what they drive [laughs], where they're living. I commend these guys to be that brave. Preachers are kinda like public enemy No. 1 in this generation because people have been victims of bad leadership and mismanagement.
toofab: There are some critics that haven't even seen the show yet. How do you respond to those people who call the show "counterfeit Christianity"?
Haddon: It's not wise to come to conclusions on anything before you've experienced it for yourself. I know the trailer gives off a certain image but it's just a trailer to get the buzz going. Everybody's talking about it. But I don't like when they're like, "they're pimps in L.A." I don't think that's fair, I don't think people should put the stereotypes on L.A. If there's a bad preacher in L.A. there's a bad preacher in Alabama.
Hopefully the show will dispel that whole thing about L.A. preachers getting all caught up in Hollywood. These are just men who are attempting to do what they were called to do. They happen to be in Los Angeles.
toofab: Any competition between the preachers on the show?
Haddon: [Laughs] There's always competition between preachers! Everyone wants to see who has the most members, whose church was the biggest. As for competition on the show, you'll just have to wait and see what happens.
Be sure to catch the series premiere of "Preachers of L.A.," October 9th on Oxygen.
