Naked as Created The Pastor Jim Moore Story – Review

This independent faith based film was recognized at the 2026 Film Threat Award This!. Some scenes were filmed on location at Shangri La Ranch Family Nudist Resort.

Synopsis

Naked as Created… As God Intended is the inspiring true story of Pastor Jim Moore. One night after a business meeting the host and his wife, inform the young pastor and his wife that the hosts sister and her family are “nudists” and would the pastor and his wife help straighten them up and talk them out of being nudists… The pastor quickly agrees but needs time to prepare a full Bible study on the subject, so they have proper “ammunition” to straighten the nudists up. It was after diving into the world of nudist and the Bible’s word on the subject, that Pastor Jim’s life would change forever. This is the story of that life changing turning point.

Naturist Interest

The naturist interest I this film might seem like it is a given but like many films of this type that isn’t the case.  This film is less about nudism or naturism and more about how Christians particularly conservative Christians struggle with nudity in general and social nudity specifically. In the end I think this feels more like a film Christianity and nudity that tells a story of Christian nudists, rather than a naturist film. The specific theological focus of the story supercell and and all other philosophical perspectives.

Story

The story in this biopic is a deeply personal one.  The struggle and trauma of Jim Moore coming to grips with his disconnection from the church despite his deep faith comes through on film. despite is a compelling one, it highlights several things about conservative Christianity in the United States. For one thing it begs the question of how much hypocrisy exists in the conservative Christian church. To the credit of the writers, they don’t shy away from the conflict between the no public nudity Christian types and their Christian nudist brothers and sisters. Outsiders to the Christian conservative community may well ask, “If this is how they treat each other how will they treat me? To director Mark Savage’s  credit there is little of the usual strategic placement of objects to obscure full frontal nudity. While there is not an abundance of nudity, in the scenes where it is present there is no covering up.

Acting

The cast of mostly first time feature actors do a good job with the story. Christopher Michelli does yeomans work with the lead role as Pastor Jim Moore. Writer Tim Chizmar plays a believable creepy character who is “magically” redeemed. As is a reporter character played by Keight Leighn. Authors Dan Hawkins does believable job as the editor of a trashy online sensationalist blog who will print anything to get clicks. The standout among the cast for me is Rachel Moore who convincingly play Pastor Moore’s spouse, partner, supporter and rock through thick and thin.

Production

Not much to quibble about in the overall production. There were a few spots that seemed overproduced. The audio at  beginning of the film seemed to suffer from some post production overuse of effect. It may have been a post production re-recording of dialog but it sounded hollow and echoey. In some of the scenes the lighting seems overly bright and artificial. I could do without the soundtrack. I would have preferred a few renditions of appropriate hymns instead of the syrupy “heavenly” sounding background music. These are minor production issues do not take away from the overall production impact.

Conclusion

Conservative Christian nudists (who from my observation make up  the majority of nudists today) will love this film. It speaks to their lived experience and struggle trying to reconcile nudism and their Christian faith. Progressive Christians may enjoy it but may be turned off by the overt proselytizing. Non religious or spiritual naturist won’t find much to engage with in the film unless the are taken by the aforementioned proselytizing and convert. If you are someone who has had negative experiences with the conservative Christian community or other streams of the Christian faith or just the Christian church  in the past you may one to give this one a pass. You may find it too triggering. If you are a part of the conservative Christian community and struggling with your church’s take on social/public nudity, this film seems tailor made for you. Especially if you are part of a couple. The recommended viewing audience for this film is definitely the Christian nudist community.