Lessons Learned at the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame

I'm in Cleveland for a Puppet Ministry Summerfest. Since I had a little extra time this morning I decided to visit the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame. It was pretty cool, though there were some disappointments...No photo rule!?!?? How un-rock n roll can you get?

The museum houses a lot of classic instruments and memorabilia such as costumes and stage props. One of the things that was interesting to note about so many of the outfits that rock legends wore in concerts, in videos, and on album covers is that they really don't look all that impressive up close. You can see the flaws. You can see that they're made out of the same junk your wardrobe from Wal-Mart is made of.

The Hot Dog you see above hangs in the loby of the Hall of Fame (which is the only area where photos are allowed), it was used in concert by the band Phish. When you look at it from above you can see inside the bun and I noticed that it's made out of some of the same materials I've seen many a puppet prop made out of.

This all got me thinking that we always hear that those of us in children's ministry and puppet ministry can't compete with what the entertainment industry puts out. Why even try, right? Wrong!! Guess what, they work with the same materials we do. Same scrap fabrics, same goofy looking sequins, same spray paint, same chicken wire. The only difference is that folks like Beyonce and Prince are nuts enough to pay millions for it.

Baby Preacher

Here's one for all my children's ministry friends who are workin' in the nursery...

Children's Church Coolness: Newspring Church

About a week and a half ago I was in Anderson, SC for One Way Street's Greenville/Anderson area Puppet Ministry Festival. I decided to stay a bit later than I normally would to visit Newspring Church, who have their main campus in Anderson. It just so happened that the day I was visiting was the first Sunday for their new children's facility. Some cool folks from Kidspring gave me a tour of the facility. Check out some of the photos.

World's Most Interesting Olivetians

Recently, Olivet Nazarene University had a bit of an election on their website. People were invited to vote for the "World's Most Interesting Olivetian," that's what they call their alumni. Amongst those nominated were the folks that started One Way Street, Dale and Liz VonSeggen. Well, in a landslide, these puppet people won. Here is the video that was presented at recent festivities at the school. Congratulations Dale and Liz!

The Dangers of Erase Boards in Childen's Church

This was the sign that says what the snack will be outside of one of the pre-school rooms at church last night. When you think about it, the word "Goldfish" by itself would be pretty strange to someone not familiar with North American culture.

Kidology U

This weekend I got to back to my "sweet home Chicago," to be a part of the 10th anniversary Kidology U conference. It was fun to be a part of this event for the first time, and to get to visit some family in the process. Karl Bastian and the gang and Kidology have a great passion for kids ministry and for equipping other children's pastors. Here's a few photo highlights.

My friend Alan Root took care of the praise and worship duties. You know that part in the Bible where it says to "always be joyful," Alan's got that verse nailed. He's one of the happiest guys I know.

Karl Bastian is the brain trust behind Kidology.org. Here he is during the opening session. His workshop that was to follow had a cooking theme, thus the outfit.

The first two days of the conference featured some intensive leadership labs. I can't think of anyone better suited for teaching those kind of classes than the man you see pictured above... Bro Jim Wideman!

A highlight of the conference for me was finally getting to see a Kidz Blitz event in person. It was slightly different than the real thing since it was pretty much an all adult Kidz Blitz, but it was still pretty wild. Above is Roger Fields, the man behind Kidz Blitz.

Here's Karl Bastian competing against his sister in the donut eating challenge at Kidz Blitz. You're supposed to eat the donut off the hook while blindfolded without it falling off. But, after starting, Roger Fields had Karl's sister remove her blindfold and take the donut off the hook...unknown to Karl.

I-Fest 2008

I'm really behind on updating everyone on this year's I-Fest, The International Festival of Christian Puppetry and Ventriloquism. One Way Street sponsors this conference every year and it takes a lot of work. Every year is a challenge, but this year we knew going in there were going to be some big issues to deal with. So I'm really feeling bad I haven't updated the blog world on how well the conference went. Mainly I'm feeling bad because the awesome week we had was result of the fact that God came through big time. He's faithful 100% and we want to give Him all the glory for a great week!

Our theme this year was "Fully Committed," and God displayed that He was fully committed to his children throughout this incredible week. Between construction on the college campus which eliminated the normal cafeteria from use, and the challenges of the economy and the impact of gas prices...we wondered at times how we would pull off this year's festival. Fact is, we didn't...God did!

At the One Way Street website you can check out the "Virtual I-Fest" reports that we sent out to our customers a few weeks after the event. It gives you a chance to check out some of the highlights, see some of the new products that were introduced, and download some free workshop audio as well as the audio for the morning devotionals. Here are the links:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

I wanted to share a few photos of my own as well. It was a great week!

Ventriloquist Tony Borders with his buddy Gladly the Cross-Eyed Bear (read that one again, always loved that name) opened up the festival on Monday night.

Here's Dave Privett and his buddy Milo from PlaySoup teaching one of the many puppet manipulation workshops.

Carrie Murphy was a One Way Street intern with me waaaaay back in 1993. Here she is teaching some advanced choreography. She also directed this year's Puppetry Dream Team.

Ella Havell from the UK and her team, Smile Puppet Ministry, shared during the International Night program on Wednesday.

Philip Haught is co-directing our One Way Street Ministry Team this summer. He picked up a new character at I-Fest, Sammy the Shark.

Brian Cockerham was a Louisiana State Trooper until a few years ago when he felt the call to go into full-time ministry at I-Fest. Now he travels all over with his ventriloquist partners. He was a featured performer on Tuesday night.

David Hellyer from the UK was another one of our international guests. David is an amazing puppeteer and puppet builder. We were thrilled to have him share in some of the workshops this year.

The one and only Amy Harder teaches on the finer points of Stretch-a-Belly puppet choreography. She ought to know how to do it, she invented the things.

The One Way Street Ministry Team performed once in the evening program, once in a showcase without curtains, and served as conference assistants throughout the week.

This team came all the way from Puerto Rico, and shared a performance on International night.

An I-Fest tradition is the Mystery Puppet Building Challenge. Teams are given a mystery ingredient they must build a puppet out of by the end of the day. This year's ingredient...Duct Tape!

Evangelist Mel LaMar is not only an accomplished ventriloquist, but also an amazing juggler. This year his daughter Ali joined in the act.

Friday night featured a performance by the P.O.W.E.R. Company puppet team, which is the team I grew up on. It was actually the final performance for the team under the direction of Christy Watkins. I got to present a special award to Christy for over 25 years of commitment not just to her team, but to helping train many other teams around the world. I cried like a baby.

This is the final moment from the Puppetry Dream Team's performance. This year's performance was based on a Christian children's book called The Squire and the Scroll. The author's husband and daughter were even able to attend.

The whole festival was fantastic...and like I said, God deserves all the glory. I've many more photos posted over at my Facebook page. In fact, I'm adding new ones all the time. So if you're a facebook user, send me a note, I'll be your friend...no big woop. Speaking of Facebook, we've also created an I-Fest fan page over there, so you can join all the other I-Fest fans and see videos, take part in discussions, and experience a whole bunch of puppet ministry coolness.

Puppet Ministry at TheWayWeSeeIt Blog

Ryan Frank is the man behind Kidz Matter which publishes the awesome new children's ministry resource K! Magazine. He blogs about children's ministry along with Jim Wideman and Evan Doyle over at thewayweseeitblog.com. He's also the children's pastor at his church in Sweetser, IN and our One Way Street Ministry Team had the opportunity to minister at his church last Sunday night. Ryan wrote a great post about their visit which also talks about how to have an effective puppet team in your church. Go check out the post here.

Christian Ventriloquism in the New Jersey Star-Ledger

This afternoon my cell phone rang...nobody calls my cell phone on Sunday. The number listed was coming from New Jersey, well I only know one guy in New Jersey, it had to be ventriloquist pal Doug Nearpass.

A few weeks ago I had received a call from a reporter asking about Doug and his ministry. Apparently Doug was going to be featured in an article that is about intersting people in New Jersey. A few weeks later I was with Doug at one of our puppet festivals and he told me more about the article. Well, today the article appears both in the paper and online...here's a link: I am New Jersey - Doug Nearpass

It turns out I am quoted a few times in the article, and they actually got it right. Doug is pleased with the article and so am I. Often reporters think doing a story about a Christian puppeteer or ventriloquist would be interesting, but they often try to take a humorous angle. I mean, it's weird enough that we play with puppets, but that we tell people about Jesus with them is just icing on the cake, right? Anyhow, this article is well written and presents Doug and his ministry in a very respectful way. Go check it out!

Puppet Ministry on the Children's Ministry Talk Podcast!

"Children's Ministry Talk" is a great podcast produced by Dick Gruber and Jason Rhode that covers all areas of children's ministry. The most recent episode, posted today, is on puppet ministry, and I was thrilled to be their guest on the podcast along with Puppetrylab.com brainchild Amy Harder.

It's my first time being on a podcast, so check it out! You can subscribe to the podcast through services like iTunes, and here's a direct link to the podcast at childrensministrytalk.com: Puppet Ministry Principles and Practices

Thanks Dick and Jason for the opportunity to be on the podcast! It was fun!

Loss of Imagination

I just read a very interesting little blog post over at Mark Batterson's blog Evotional.com. Mark is one of my favorite recent authors. I'm on my second read of his book "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day."

Anyhow, he spoke at an event called "Awaken" where each speaker was only given 10 minutes to share. He decided to speak about "one of the greatest dangers we face as leaders." Here's what he had to say:

"Neurological studies have shown that over the course of time, there is a cognitive shift from right-brain to left-brain. And if we don't find a way to stop the shift, memory overtakes imagination. We stop creating the future and start repeating the past. We stop innovating and start imitating. We stop doing ministry out of imagination and start doing ministry out of memory."

Oooh, that hurts. I've certainly been guilty of looking at a new opportunity to share a puppet program and thought, "Hmm, what can I do that won't require me to make any new props, or plan any new choreography." Or thought, "These kids have never seen me perform such-and-such before, I'll just do that." God may be presenting me with new opportunities for innovation and imagination, and I opt for the easy route. Ouch, ouch and double ouch Mark!

Read the full post here.

Ray Comfort Slams Children's Ministry

From time to time I'll listen to the Way of the Master radio program streaming over the internet as I work on other things. It's kind of odd because I really don't care for the program very much. The Way of the Master is famous for being the ministry that former "Growing Pains" star Kirk Cameron is the face of. Ray Comfort is the gentleman with the New Zealand accent that you often see with Cameron, and Todd Friel is the host of the radio program. Evangelism is the main focus of the ministry. Comfort is especially known as being a proponent of open-air evangelism. While the radio program does devote some time to evangelism, much of the broadcast tends to center on being a Christian watchdog. In other words, pointing out everything that's wrong with everyone else's ministry. In general, I find this kind of stuff to be counterproductive to the cause of Christ, and that's why I don't really care for the program.

Now that I've said all that, I'm going to do pretty much the same thing and point out a problem I have with a statement that was made on the program. As someone who works in children's ministry, this statement caught me completely off guard and I felt it was important to offer it up for discussion.

During hour 1 of the March 20, 2008 program (hear it for yourself here) Ray Comfort and Todd Friel called a man named Mickey at the request of a family member. Mickey is not a believer and, for the record, was expecting the call. Through the course of the conversation, it is revealed that Mickey actually grew up in a Baptist church and accepted Jesus at the age of six, but has since stopped believing in Christ. This eventually led to the following quote from Mr. Comfort:

"So God has given light to every man, you're without excuse, Mickey. What you've got to do is surrender and say, "Judge, I fling myself upon your mercy." Say that to God. And then God can forgive your sins because Jesus took your punishment. That's what you're supposed to learn when you're at a Baptist church. It's something you seem to have missed out on. Probably because you gave your heart to Jesus when you were six years old and had no understanding of what sin was."


As I'm sure you've figured out, it's that last sentence I'm having trouble with. What exactly is Ray Comfort saying? Is Mr. Comfort actually suggesting that children have no understanding of sin, or even worse, that they can't truly be saved at a young age because of it? In my experience, I've found the exact opposite to be true. I think children have a far better understanding of sin than most adults do. I mean, when my kids do something wrong they know it. I don't need to tell them and they don't need to tell me. I can see it in their eyes. I can see it in their posture. As we grow older we learn to make excuses, we learn to justify our sin.

You've probably heard the famous passage in Matthew 18:

He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

I think part of what Christ is pointing out here is that understanding of sin that children have. The folks at WOTM are big on their belief that people come to Christ when they understand their sin and their need for a savior. And you know what, they're right about that, but to suggest that kids don't have that understanding is ridiculous. The Jan/Feb premiere issue of K! Magazine has fantastic article by my friend Alan Root that explores a similar issue, whether or not kids can understand the concept of being "born again." Alan sums up the article with the following:

"The point is kids can understand the basics of our faith better than adults can. Why? They don't have our baggage. They arrive fresh and full of trust, with a curiosity that is satisfied with God's short answers."

I hope and pray that Mr. Comfort simply mis-spoke. I must admit, I'm having a hard time giving him the benefit of the doubt. I'm curious to hear some thoughts from my children's ministry friends on this one.

NWCEC - Seattle

This weekend I was in Seattle at the North West Christian Education Conference (NWCEC). It was One Way Street's first time at the conference. I stayed busy with 3 classes, plus running our booth by myself.


Now I've taught at many conferences in the past, and often I've received some sort of goodie bag from the hosts. A few candy bars, couple cans of soda, a mug...stuff like that. Well I can honestly say this is the first time I ever received at sockeye salmon as a gift.

About 3000 people gathered at Overlake Christian Church. That's the church waaaaaaay off in the distance in the above photo. Believe it or not, this picture was taken at about the halfway spot in the parking lot. The parking lot is so big they have shuttle stops.

I got to see a lot of familiar faces in the world of children's ministry like Jana Alayra and Steven James, plus some new ones like New Zealanders The Lads. Their music is aimed at tweens. I couldn't resist picking up all three of their CD's.

Our good friends from Speed Stacks were just two booths down, which means I could hear the distinctive "cluck cluck cluck" of cups being stacked throughout the weekend. If I remember correctly, the young man in the red is the current world record holder for the cycle.

One of the best things about attending conferences is getting to meet new people. Most of the folks at this conference were from the Northwest, but there was a whole group that came over from Seoul, South Korea. This is me with Yi, Ki Doong, the leader of the group from N Friends. He said he hopes to have some puppet training in Korea some day. Perhaps we can get his group to come over to I-Fest sometime as well!

Son of Children's Church Coolness

I'm a little bit behind on blogging about my trip to Louisiana last weekend for our 17th annual Lafayette, LA Puppet Ministry Festival. Crossroads Church in Lafayette have hosted One Way Street every year and they are incredible hosts. Lafayette is one of my favorite places to visit. Everyone there calls me "Brother Todd" or "sir."

Marty Hoey, everyone calls him "Brother Marty," is the children's pastor at Crossroads and he is one amazin' cajun. When I first met him 14 years ago, he was serving God with all his heart as the maintenance man at the church. For the last 12 years he's been leading an amazing crew of volunteers as children's pastor. Take a look at some of the cool kids facilities they've got a Crossroads.

Even the hallways at Crossroads are exciting...

Now all the stuff is cool...but here's what any true children's ministry professional gets excited about...storage!!! Check out this resource room!

And I love the way they store the puppets!! Notice the little pictures by each peg so you know which puppets go where.

Brother Marty is all about investing in others. He has a great team and it's a thrill to see the exciting things going on in his ministry!

CPC Orlando

I just got back from the 2008 Children's Pastors Conference in Orlando, FL. As always, it was a great week of workshops, inspiring messages, and just getting to connect with some great friends. Here are a few photos from the week...

One Way Street exhibited at CPC once again, but this year we had a completely new design for our booths. Here is our marketing director, KJ Schmidt, going though part of the map with our good friend Bertha Grauman. Bertha just pitched in and helped, she's so awesome!

Here's KJ and Kristi with the finished booth. You can't see the whole thing, but it turned out really well!

Aunt Patsy from Jamaica is a good friend of One Way Street's who was at CPC this year. Patsy used to come to our Children's Ministry University years ago. She is quite a character, to say the least. She had a whole crew from Jamaica at the conference this year.

And while we're on the subject of old friends, let me tell you I just about got an arm rod across the face when these two turned around and spotted each other. This is Jeff Smith, founder of the dowel rod ministry technique and Gayle Elmore, she was the host of our Montgomery, AL Puppet Ministry Festival for many years. These two met at one of those festivals many years ago. Needless to say it had been awhile since they had seen each and they were quite excited.

If you are involved in children's ministry in any way shape or form you should consider it required reading to check out Jim Wideman's books. It's been my pleasure to get to know Jim over the years through our puppet ministry festivals. Jim and his daughter Yancy (not Nancy) were both at CPC, and I must admit I went to three of Jim's workshops this year...even some I'd been to before...he's that good!

Know how to impress your kids? Get your picture taken with the Go Fish guys!

Here's Dale VonSeggen and I with Karl Bastian, the brains behind Kidology. If you're not on Kidology...well get with the times man! It's a great place for children's ministry folks to share ideas. I'm excited to be a part of the staff for the Kidology conference in October, and glad to have Karl joining the crew at our Chicago area puppet festival next month.

My favorite speaker of the week was Wes Stafford from Compassion International.

Everyone loves the Stretch-a-Belly puppets!

Doug and Lee Nearpass are regulars at many One Way Street festivals. It was great to see them at CPC this year!