The Legend of Sperry McGerk

The town of Odyssey has celebrated Lieutenant Sperry McGerk for a hundred years - the brave Civil War scout who rode off with the townspeople's treasure to save them from Confederate raiders and was never seen again. But when Whit tells Renee the legend for her Imagination Station project, he reveals the truth: McGerk was no hero, and no soldier at all, but a con man swindling towns on both sides of the war. Then, hiding in a cave with his stolen loot, McGerk meets a runaway slave named J.C. Chrisom, who believes the fake uniform is real... and runs into the open to draw the soldiers away, dying so a "Union soldier" can escape. Haunted by the stranger who saw something in him worth saving, McGerk is scarred by a cannon shell, led to Christ by a hospital chaplain, and quietly returns every stolen treasure. He even settles in Odyssey under a new name - Reverend Isaiah Newman, the town's first pastor - leaving his confession hidden under the church floorboards. Renee finally sees it: the con man became a new man, and her redemption story is ready to build.

Found on Club Season 4 Album 62½ · 13 episodes

The run See every episode

2 of 3 0814 One More Name In Nazi-occupied Warsaw, a social worker and her secret network risk everything to smuggle Jewish children out of the ghetto - but one desperate mother's choice puts a little girl beyond their reach.

3 of 3 0815 One More Name With her secret jars of names at risk and the Gestapo at her door, a woman who smuggled children out of the Warsaw Ghetto must face the ultimate test of her trust in God.

0816 A Perfect Testimony When a visiting missionary kid's miraculous testimony wows the church class, one girl scrambles to manufacture a miracle of her own while a boy goes looking for fear in all the wrong places.

0817 Unfair Game When a fierce basketball rivalry erupts between an American teen and his gifted Filipino opponent in Manila, an apology proves far harder - and matter far more - than winning the game.

1 of 2 0818 Swept Away When weeks of relentless rain push Trickle Lake to the breaking point, the people of Odyssey must race to evacuate before their town's century-old protection fails them.

2 of 2 0819 Swept Away As a failing dam threatens to send a wall of water into Odyssey, Eugene and an unlikely dive team race underwater to find what's blocking the only way to save the town.

0820 The Legend of Sperry McGerk When Whit challenges Renee to build an Imagination Station adventure about redemption, he shares the layered legend of a Civil War hero whose story is far more than Odyssey ever knew.

0821 Angels in Horsehair A day at a rescue-horse farm brings together a woman haunted by a riding accident and a chain-wearing foster boy convinced he's unlovable - until the horses begin their quiet work.

1 of 4 0822 There and Back Again A friendship-building trip to New Zealand takes an unexpected turn when Whit, Jason, and Wilson cross paths with a familiar face hiding a secret and a stranger who can't remember her own.

2 of 4 0823 There and Back Again While vacationing in New Zealand, Whit and Jason set out to unravel the mystery of a dazed young woman who gave a false name, vanished from the hospital, and carries a crochet piece stitched with a single strange word.

3 of 4 0824 There and Back Again A retired pastor's chance reunion with an old seminary classmate in New Zealand leads to an unforgettable hike - and a story that shaped a nation's faith.

4 of 4 0825 There and Back Again A vacation in New Zealand turns purposeful when Whit, Jason, and Wilson try to reach a young woman drawn into a manipulative group - armed with little more than a rare Maori Gospel and a mother's last words.

1 of 2 0826 Find a Penny Fresh from his honeymoon, Wooton returns to Odyssey with no memory of the past three weeks - and no idea where his new bride Penny is.

Featured characters

Minor characters & crew 8 more roles

8 supporting roles

Mayor (a) Jim Meskimen Sperry McGerk Fred Tatasciore General J. H. Morgan Jack Murphy Leroy Bob Smithouser Army Chaplain Jim Meskimen Jeecey Chrisum Keston John Mathias Collins Nathan Hoobler Female Townsperson Actor Unknown

Made by

Chris Anthony Host Phil Lollar Writer · Director Jonathan Crowe Sound Designer Nathan Hoobler Producer Dave Arnold Executive Producer

The story

Read the full synopsis 3 min

At Whit's End, Mr. Whittaker asks Renee to build her first Imagination Station adventure around the theme of redemption, and he offers her a story from Odyssey's own past: the legend of Sperry McGerk.

The tale begins during the Civil War, when a Union scout named Lieutenant Sperry McGerk gallops into Odyssey with terrifying news. General John Hunt Morgan and a thousand Confederate raiders are only hours away, the telegraph lines have been cut, and no help is coming. McGerk proposes a desperate plan: the townspeople should load all their money and valuables into a wagon, and he will personally drive it out to Morgan under a flag of truce, hoping the bounty will convince the raiders to spare the town. The people hail him as a hero and pray for his safety as he rides off. Morgan does bypass Odyssey, but no one ever sees McGerk again, and for generations the town celebrates the brave lieutenant who made the supreme sacrifice.

Renee loves the story, but she can't see what a flawless hero has to do with redemption. That, Whit says, is because there is much more to the legend: the celebrated lieutenant was a complete fraud. On the hundredth anniversary of the raid, college history students uncover an old photograph of McGerk wearing a Confederate captain's uniform and posing with Morgan's own staff. As Whit tells it, Morgan had noticed McGerk's talent for playacting and sent him ahead of the army in a stolen Union uniform to frighten towns into handing over their riches. When McGerk worries about being hanged as a spy, Morgan dryly replies, "Then I strongly advise that you not get caught, Captain."

But even that isn't the whole truth. Years later, new evidence reveals that McGerk was never a soldier for either side. He was a con man from San Francisco who saw the whole war as one big moneymaking scheme, swindling towns in both the North and the South and hiding his loot along the way. The proof comes from a journal discovered under the floorboards of Odyssey Community Church after a small fire, a journal written in 1866 by the church's first pastor, Reverend Isaiah Newman, and containing McGerk's full confession.

The journal tells what happened after McGerk left Odyssey with his biggest haul yet. Caught in a storm, he shelters in a cave to hide his treasure, only to find a Confederate patrol closing in outside. Hiding in the same cave is a runaway slave named J.C. Chrisom, the man the patrol is really hunting. Believing McGerk's uniform makes him a true Union soldier fighting for the freedom of his people, J.C. refuses to keep hiding. Declaring "Time for me to be a man," he runs out into the open, drawing the soldiers away so McGerk can escape, and is shot down. McGerk tries to confess that he isn't who J.C. thinks he is, but it is too late.

Haunted by the stranger who died for him, McGerk runs blindly through the countryside and stumbles into the middle of a raging battle, where a bursting cannon shell disfigures his face forever. In a Union hospital, he pours out his anguish to a chaplain, who answers with Jesus' words about greater love, laying down one's life for a friend. When McGerk protests that J.C. didn't even know him, the chaplain replies that Chrisom must have seen something in him worth saving.

Then Whit reveals the journal's final secret: Reverend Isaiah Newman was Sperry McGerk. Led to Christ by that chaplain, he trained as a pastor after the war, took a new name, and spent months returning every stolen treasure to the towns he had cheated. He settled in Odyssey, where no one recognized his scarred face, and the townsfolk mysteriously found their watches, silver, and money quietly returned. Though he never found the courage to confess face to face, hiding his story under the church floor instead, he spent the rest of his life serving the town. As Whit observes, "even forgiven people aren't perfect." Renee finally sees the redemption in the tale: the new man became Newman, a con man remade into a new creation. Still a bit skeptical about the faith behind it, she nevertheless declares the legend perfect for her project, and she and Whit get to work.