NEW MINISTRY
Last week, I had a little birthday party, where i invited many of my closest friends to share in a night of what I hoped would be a lot of laughter. Fortunate for me, my wish came true. I’ve always felt that laughter is truly the best medicine. it came make anyone feel better, and can help one forget even the worst of memories, even if it’s only for a short period of time. If the right thing is said to make someone laugh, then that will create a new, positive memory that the person can relive whenever they need a good laugh. I know this to be true, because every time I want a good laugh, I’ll simply think of a funny scene in a movie or recite some lines or reenact a piece from said movie with some friends, and I always find myself laughing all over again.
Well, if laughter can be so addictive, and can bring back memories that are so positive, then why can’t it be used as an educational tool? This is what I was thinking about the other day. I’ve always felt that God has chosen me to try to spread His Word to others. Ministry therefore has always been a big part of my life. So far, I have worked as a peer leader in a High School Youth Group (SpiritFire), a family ministry for families with teenagers (Encuentros Familiares), a Catholic archdiocesan momement for youth and young adults (Encuentros Juveniles), a young adult group for young Catholics not associated with a parish (For Christ’s Sake), two different parish Young Adult Group (SpiritAlive and Crossroads), a radio show (Fast Forward), and a family ministry for kids with young children (Impactos). Along with that, I’ve also been a eucharistic minister, a lector, and I’ve been the coordiantor for my parish carnival each of the past two years. So, am I taking advantage here to show off what I’ve done, to look superior, to make a reader feel insignificant. HARDLY! As I said I’ve felt like I’ve been called to do these things. I’ve just been answering a call. I’ve also felt like as time has passed, my needs and the ones of the people around me have changed, and therefore where I’ve ministered has changed also. Well, now I find myself in a situation where I feel it’s time to see how else I can minister and where it is that i am needed, and at the same time I’m looking to see how the Lord wants me to help. And it seems to me that the path the Lord is taking me in is to go out and teach people about God… through laughter.
For some time now, I have been totally intrigued by the topic of improvisational comedy. I was first introduced to it as ministry at a workshop called LIFE camp near San Antonio that i attended with Dania, my wife, when she was the campus minister at St. Brendan High School. Two of the leaders of the camp were part od an Improv Troupe, and used their expertise to evangelize to the high school students attending. It was great. it also made me think, “I can do that.”
Fast forward to 2004… I was at a body shop for my wife’s minivan that had a broken piece. As I waited, I was surfing online for some form of entertainment so that I can get some tickets to a musical or something for Christmas to give to Dania. instead i found a site about Improv and where to take classes. This struck in such a way that I wound up signing up for a class. Then, I signed up for a second class. Then, a third. At the end of each course, I had to do an improv performance to “pass” the course. During my last class, I performed twice. The first time was a street performance in the middle of Miracle Mile in the heart of Coral Gables (FL) to unsuspecting passersby. The second time was as part of a show hosted by the main Improv Troupe in Miami, Just the Funny. The exhilaration I felt in perfroming was incredible. I promised myself that I would do it again. So I decided to try out for Just the Funny. I thought that my audition went well, but I didn’t get a call back initially. i gave up on the idea of performing. Then four weeks later, I got a call back for a second audition. Excited as I was, I felt like it was no longer the right time, and let the moment pass.
Fast Forward again to 2006. For some unknown reason, my brother and I are asked to be in charge of folklore at a retreat we are working on. Usually folklore requires the leaders to lead the participants in song. One major problem… my brother and I can’t sing. We have trouble humming! So, we needed to figure out a way to entertain the people and spread the notion of unity and comeraderie as Church. We decided to be funny (or to try to be anyway). We thought of a number of different ways to do this, when suddenly it hit me… do a little Improv. Well, the date came, and I gave my brother a few pointers and we jumped in and did it. It was a great hit. Not only that, we were told by the coordinators that it was the best folklore they had witnessed yet! Hey maybe we were on to something. So, some weeks back in another retreat, we made a repeat performance. Again, it was a great success. Was God telling me something?
I’m still not sure about the answer to that last question, but I am definitely interested in searching for one. It was then that I decided to have a party with Improv as a theme. All who came had to participate in some capacity. Suggestions would be made by all, and some would have to jump in and perform. It was like “Who’s Line Is It Anyway?” in my family room. It went great. There was a lot of laughing, and we all had great fun. Upon hearing of its success, many of those who couldn’t attend asked me when we were going to do it again. A couple of the people there also wanted to know if we could get together from time to time just for kicks because it was so much fun.
Which leads me to now. I want to domore than just get together and do this for kicks. I believe this could be a learning tool for those who want to learn more about God. In the least it could be an invitation to find out more about our Lord and our Church. I decided to find out more about this as a ministry. What I found out was this. There are a number of Christian Improv acts around nationally. This was great news. There were very few Catholic Improv acts in existence. This news was good and bad. It was bad news because it meant that Improv was not being used in a manner that could be useful to our Church in many places. It was good because i felt that it meant that it would be an opportunity to jump on and do the Lord’s work in a new and alive way.
Now, I truly believe that doing this would work. The tough part is selling this to others so that they can join me on this quest. (The toughest sale will be to my wife and our three, soon to be four kids). If I can show that this would be something that would be in everybody’s best interest spiritually, including my own, then I think that we will be on our way. So today is day one. With God’s help I will find my troupe and my support. Then we could go out and spread God’s word one laugh at a time.
PRAY FOR US!!! As promised my mission statement will be coming soon!!!