Pastor's late-night comedy show draws mixed reaction from viewers

A late-night comedy talk show hosted by Pastor Jeff Durbin has drawn mixed reactions from viewers, with some praising it for its attempt to engage the culture for the gospel, and others wondering whether such a program is necessary for an already overly-entertained society.

"Next Week With Jeff Durbin," launched by the Arizona-based group Apologia Studios on Facebook Live on Aug. 1, has been touted as a show that aims to "take apart every political news headline and moral failure that occurs in this country weekly."

The premiere episode has already been viewed at least 73,000 times and has drawn various responses from the viewers.

"It was Christian entertainment that didn't disappoint. Finally!" one commenter wrote, according to Christian News Network.

"Love the show! Love how you are brave enough to tackle the stupidity 'out there,'" another one said. "It gets Christians up off the doormat, and gives them something to reply to others with, you know, so we don't all feel alone in our thoughts," the commenter continued.

However, not everyone was pleased with the launch of the show, with one commenter expressing his concern about crude jokes in one of the segments and another questioning the necessity of the show with regards to the church.

"I get Christian comedy etc., though I'm not quite sure this show or any like it for that matter was overly necessary [or] needful in our already overly entertained culture, which has leaked into our generally distracted American Church," one commenter remarked.

Durbin, who has been branded by the New York Post as a "hipster pastor," has defended the crude jokes on the show, saying he believes that the Bible's prohibition on coarse jesting applies only to situations when someone is making jokes favorably about sin, not against it.

The first episode featured a news segment that discussed the firing of Trump Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci for his crude language, as well as the concerns about a recent article in Vogue magazine that reportedly teaches youth how to engage in sodomy.

In the second episode, the host provided commentary about the supposed "first pregnant man." Dr. James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries also appeared as a guest to discuss epistemology, atheism and the negative ramifications of eradicating God from society.

According to a news release, Chris Wineland, a former writer for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, serves as the show's head writer.

Apart from the new show, Apologia Studios also operates the End Abortion Now project. Through a fundraising campaign, the group has raised over $200,000 in donations, which will be used for a proposed "media flood campaign" for the project.