The relatively new and exciting field of Christian creative arts has taken off like, well, a clown in a runaway car.
So, if you’re looking for a way to express the creative side of your personality while glorifying God — then this type of Christian ministry may be the answer for channeling your creative juices.
It’s the ideal calling for anyone who has ever had a secret longing to try out clown makeup, wear costumes or talk to puppets, while also expressing one’s Christian testimony.
The Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM) acknowledges this popular and growing field through a yearly Creative Arts Festival weekend. During this weekend the campus of Shocco Springs Conference Center is turned into a playground of fun as experts are brought in to teach everything from puppetry, face painting and storytelling to interpretative movement, balloon art, clowning and drama. From senior citizens to junior high students, Christian creative arts offers something for everyone.
Such is the case with three unassuming north Alabama women, who by merely changing their attire, donning a wig and painting on some colorful stage makeup, transform themselves into outrageous clown personalities that defy their normal, low-key demeanor.
Willie “Blossom” Kelley along with her two sidekicks, Rita “Cookie” Rosson and Billie “Sweetums” Sylvester, have made quite a name for themselves in their community of Rogersville since joining clown forces in 1998.
The three, who are all members of First Baptist Church, Rogersville, came up with the name Saints ‘N Paints once they decided to start their clown ministry. Although the group started out with just three clowns, it has since grown to six in number.
Kelley, the brainchild of the clown troupe, said that after attending a national drama conference in Atlanta in 1997 she knew she wanted to start clowning. “It wasn’t until then that I had ever heard the words clowning and ministry used in the same sentence,” she said. Kelley invited a clowning ministry group from Decatur to her church to see what interest she could generate. Afterward she told Rosson, who had been a schoolteacher for 27 years, that she would make a great clown. Rosson immediately disagreed with her. “I just didn’t think I had that kind of a personality,” she said, recalling her answer to the invitation of, “Me, no way!”
Rosson said she went home that night and prayed about it. “The next morning I woke up and knew that the Lord had called me to be a clown and that my name would be “Cookie,” she explained.
All three Christian entertainers point out that one of the most important steps in becoming a clown is choosing the right clown name that best reflects the person’s personality.
Thus, Rosson took on the name “Cookie” because she loves to cook. Sylvester who is the secretary for Colbert-Lauderdale Baptist Association, became “Sweetums” because she has diabetes and Kelley adopted “Blossom” because “I knew God would let me blossom as a clown.”
Kelley recalled the first time her pastor introduced her at a function where she would be clowning. “He mistakenly introduced me as “Possum the clown instead of “Blossom,” she said with a hearty laugh.
Christian-oriented skits
The troupe, who writes its own Christian-oriented skits, tries to get the message of salvation across under the guise of its humorous antics. One such skit depicts “Sweetums” walking up to “Blossom” with a ball and chain wrapped around her ankle that represents being chained down with the burden of sin. Kelley (“Blossom”) recalls presenting the skit at a church retreat and then afterward, during a face-painting session, having a young girl ask her questions about being baptized.
“I realized she needed to talk to someone about the plan of salvation so I immediately took her to a counselor who could talk to her. As clowns, we never want to talk to children about salvation while we are dressed in our clown gear because we represent an imaginary person. We want them to discuss salvation questions with an adult counselor,” she explained.
“Clowning opened the door for us to present the gospel in a different way. We’re not making fun of it,” Rosson (“Cookie”) said. “God provides us with a sense of humor to present it in a different way.”
Each clown has her own special talent she brings to the troupe, “Cookie” is an accomplished storyteller as well as piano player, which is a big hit when they visit area nursing homes. “Sweetums” is a talented face painter, and “Blossom” learned the art of ventriloquism and entertains her fans with her sidekick, Jesse.
Another aspect of clowning is the art of balloon figures, which can be incorporated into ministry as well.
Jeff Wood, a member of South Crest Baptist Church in Bessemer, is an accomplished balloon artist and sculptures such figures as swords and fishing poles, which can easily be worked into Bible stories for children. Wood and his wife, Lisa, have a part-time clown costume and makeup business they run out of their home.
Doug and Lori Rogers of Vaughn Forest Baptist Church in Montgomery have been teaching the art of puppetry for a number of years. They hold workshops for churches interested in starting puppet ministries and they teach techniques such as puppet mouth and body movement, how to build puppet stages and creating puppet voices. “A great place to practice your puppet voice is in your car,” advised Rogers, who is interim minister of music at Hayneville Baptist Church and SBOM communications coordinator.
While clowning, balloon art and puppets have been around for a while, a new form of artistic worship has recently captured the attention of many churches.
Creative movement — a combination of movement, dance, singing and storytelling — has become a popular form of witnessing, especially with teenagers and young adults. There is a growing number of Baptist churches across the state that are establishing creative movement ministries not only as a form of worship but as a way of reaching young people who might not otherwise be interested in attending church.
“Creative movement through drama lets me show my love for God — it’s my witness,” said Clay Lovelady, a member of First Baptist Church, Ashland, and a member of the church’s youth drama group, Messiah’s Messengers. “Lots of kids have a hard time witnessing,” said the 19-year-old Lovelady. “This type of ministry is a good way for them to demonstrate their Christian faith.”
Creative Arts Festival set for March 8–9
In almost 2,000 years of church history since Pentecost, believers have expressed their faith in many ways: through prayer, corporate worship, music and even creative arts.
“In centuries past, the church has led the way with artistic expression,” said Keith Hibbs, associate in the worship leadership/church music office of the State Board of Missions. “In recent years, we’re seeing a fresh return to finding creative and artistic ways of expressing our faith.”
Toward that end, Hibbs has planned the annual Creative Arts Festival to be held March 8–9 at Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center in Talladega. “This retreat will help churches find ways to express their faith creatively for a culture such as ours,” he said.
Workshop topics will include drama, puppets, clowning, mime, interpretive movement, video production, multimedia and script development. Jere Cooper, media specialist at Lakeview Baptist Church in Auburn, will lead a conference where she will “talk about the art of presentation, rather than projection equipment — using projection to enhance a worship service, not detract from it.”
God has created people as “visual creatures. We live in a culture with 24-hour cable news, where we watch 120 TV channels as we play computer video games. We expect visual stimulus,” Cooper stated.
During Lakeview’s worship, Cooper explained, the projector “is never off during the service. Whatever image or text is displayed must be appropriate to what’s happening in worship at that time.”
Another conference leader, Jeff Smith, director of Salt and Light Ministries of Richmond, Va., said he wants “people to see options for communicating the gospel to a postmodern generation. We are fishers of men, and I want to help people find ‘sanctified bait.’”
Smith teaches interpretive movement using upper body movement with hand gestures based on American Sign Language. “Children and teenagers are wanting to move. When we try to shut it out of church, they’ll find other ways to express it.”
Carol Heier, drama director at Heritage Baptist Church in Montgomery, oversees the congregation’s Visions ministry — an adult drama ministry that involves “20-somethings” to those in their 60s and 70s.
“We don’t do drama for drama’s sake,” Heier said. “It is part of an overall plan to help open people’s hearts to the pastor’s message for the day and help them relate to what God has to say.”
Reservations for the Creative Arts Festival may be made online at www.alsbom.org/creative or by calling Shocco at 1-800-280-1105. (ABSC)
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