TULSA, OK — Seven members of the Grace Community Church youth group set out to film a fifteen-second TikTok comparing their 2016 selves to their 2026 selves last Sunday morning, only to accidentally leave the camera running for the duration of Pastor Gene Hadley’s entire forty-seven-minute sermon on the book of James.

The video, posted to the account @blessedbunch2026, has since accumulated 4.3 million views, 680,000 likes, and a comment section that one religion reporter described as “the most theologically engaged discourse TikTok has ever seen.”

“We set the phone up on a hymnal in the lobby to get the before-and-after shot,” said Kaylee Brennan, 17, who organized the video. “Then we went to sit down and just forgot about it. The angle happened to catch the entire sanctuary through the open doors.”

“I have been told I am now an ‘influencer.’ I do not know what that means, but I have been trying to influence people toward Christ for forty years, so I suppose the shoe fits.”

Pastor Hadley, 63, who does not own a smartphone and refers to all social media as “the Facebook,” was informed of his viral status by his daughter over a Tuesday lunch. He has since gained 780,000 followers on an account he cannot access because no one can figure out the password to Kaylee’s phone.

Youth pastor Derek Lund, 28, is taking full credit for the video’s success despite arriving late to the service and having no involvement in its creation. “I’ve been saying for years that we need to meet people where they are,” Lund told reporters. “This is exactly what I meant.”

At press time, the phone had died at 2% battery during what viewers confirmed was the altar call.