Colonial Avenue Pastor Uses Puppets in Ministry
 

By Joel Turner
Cave Spring Connection,  January 2004

On a recent Sunday morning, Nomed tried to get the children at Colonial Avenue Baptist Church to focus on Thanksgiving as a day for turkey, not as a day for thanksgiving. Nomed is an Irish troll who is always trying to lead people astray with bad advice and temptation to do the wrong. He is a charmer with an Irish accent.  Nomed has horns on his head and he has a barbed tail. His name spelled backwards is demon. Rev. Jeff Scott, senior pastor of Colonial Avenue, kept trying to persuade the children to consider Thanksgiving as a day to give thanks to God for their blessings.  But Nomed would have nothing of it.  "It's turkey day," Nomed declared. "It's a day for eating turkey and watching television while the ladies are cooking and cleaning."   The children loved the interchange between Nomed and Scott.

        Each Sunday, the children's lessons at Colonial Avenue Baptist are both entertaining and instructive because Scott uses large, ventriloquist dummies in his ministry.  Scott has a cast of 12 compelling characters that he uses with the children because he has found the characters help him underscore his lessons. He is an accomplished ventriloquist who believes it is a creative way to enhance his ministry.  "They provide an opportunity to bring joy, as well as teach a lesson," he said. "The lessons often sink in better with them."  Scott said he knows he has been successful when the children began talking to the large puppets.   "Every child has a favorite," he said.  Scott's cast of characters are varied:
    • Tex is a fun-loving donkey with a goofy voice and a favorite of children of all ages.
    • PJ is a drowsy, lazy bear who is little on the slow side. He likes something yummy to eat.
    • Major Dale E. Payne (USMC-Retired) is a grumpy old soul who serves as greeter in his church.
    • Ida Clair is a soft-spoken, senior Southern Belle who is something of a gossip.
    • GooGoo lives in the closet and under the bed. He loves to eat stinky shoes and dirty clothes.
There are other characters, too, including Dexter DuFis, Nutsy and Theophilus Mess, Ph. D. Theophilus is an absent-minded New Testament professor who comes from a big Italian family.  Scott said he rotates the characters each week so the children don't tire of a particular character. "The character that I use depends on the topic in the lesson."

    He  has been using the ventriloquist puppets in his ministry for nearly three years. He has taken courses in ventriloquism to perfect his skills.  Ventriloquism requires intense concentration, he said, because one has to create a distinct voice for each character, move the puppet's mouth, pay attention to the audience and keep up the pretended conversation.  "You have to process it all in real time," he said.  Ventriloquism is a diminishing skill because there are only about 3,000 ventriloquists in the United States, he said.   Scott has also taken his dummies and ventriloquism to retirement homes, elementary schools and civic club meetings. He has found that the dummies are popular with elderly people.  "Many senior adults can remember Charlie McCarthy from the days of radio," he said.  McCarthy was the impish, top-hatted dummy who was created nearly 70 years ago by Edgar Bergen, a ventriloquist.  The Charlie McCarthy Show was a top-rated radio program that ran from 1937 through 1955. Bergen and Charlie made their feature film debuts in The Goldwyn Follies in 1938. They went on to appear together in eight more films between in 1938 and 1948.
    Scott keeps his puppets on chairs and suitcases in his office, which he has named "Merryheart." The name is taken from Proverbs 15:15, which reads in part: "for merry hearts, life is a continual feast."  A merry heart is a constant theme for Scott, his wife and their two children. Their Web site, which is www.4merryhearts.com, says that folks who cultivate a sense of hope, humor and faith have longer, happier and healthier lives. People with merry hearts can find the joy despite any circumstances.  "We believe that God wants people to have a merry heart that will enable us to live life to the fullest. After all, Jesus said, 'I have come that you might have life and live it more abundantly.
    Scott's ventriloquist dummies are a favorite of the preschoolers at Colonial Avenue Baptist. When the children walk down the hall, they look into Scott's office and want to talk to the characters.  Scott has a mailbox outside the door to his office, where the children can drop in notes for the characters. The mailbox is named for Rosco, a church mouse and one of the characters.  Scott said each character cost about $500. Mary Taylor, who lives in Salem, made some of the characters.  He said 12 characters are about the maximum number that he can use easily in his ministry. "You have to create a unique voice with a unique accent for each character."
    Scott has been pastor at Colonial Avenue for five years. He earned his doctoral degree at Baylor University and has more than two decades of pastoral experience.  Scott is an adjunct professor of religious studies at Radford University, where he teaches courses in church history and introduction to religion. He has written dozens of articles on children's ministry, church and state issues, church history, in addition to a book entitled, "Does Your Child's World Scare You?" He also enjoys gospel magic and Christian comedy.

[photo and article thanks to Joel Turner and the Cave Spring Connection!]