Flying Flapjacks and a Rubber Chicken

It is hard to believe that I have been living at the Lampost Theatre Co. for over two months! I still remember the first few days clearly. Shortly after I arrived, a group of high school students arrived from Chicago for a three-day drama retreat. I lead a few activities and sat in on the training sessions to learn things such as how to use drama in ministry and the “Ooga-chaka” street drama.

After the drama retreat, my first official job was to tear apart an old, ugly booth so it could be reupholstered and used in the coffee shop. As I began to pry off the hundreds of staples that held the dusty maroon fabric on the old, but still sturdy wood, the reality of my new situation began to sink in: I am living in an old funeral home with seven other people who I hardly know trying to create a space where college students will come and deepen their relationship with God. Add in a low budget and working together as a team in almost every area of life and I felt like I had stumbled into the ministry equivalent of Trading Spaces meets The Real World. I was also thinking, “Why did they have to put so many staples in this booth?”

That covers my first four days at the Lampost. Here are a few highlights of the next 75 days: I have met many students, including several international students through the concerts, campfires, and other events that we have held. Every Monday night small groups and Bible studies from several different ministries have used our space to meet and have enjoyed free pancakes and fellowship with each other during and event we call “Flying Flapjacks”.

In October we performed dramas at The Barn and at Main Event. The Barn is a once a year gathering of several youth groups from the Parkersburg area. Main Event is a weekend retreat for college students around the Midwest. It was at Main Event that I was able to fulfill my life-long dream of rapping in front of 1,500 people. (Actually, that has never been a dream of mine, but if God is able to use a silly skit for His glory then I will become even more undignified than this.) Among the many lives affected at Main Event, Bora, one of the international students from South Korea, accepted Christ!

So here I am, and after ten weeks finding a rubber chicken in the middle of the floor or a drawer marked “body parts” seems as normal as rain. (Perhaps I should clarify, the drawer marked “body parts” is for fake noses and that sort of thing.) Soon I will begin rehearsing my part as the Bishop in our upcoming Christmas Drama, “Frankincense, Myrrh & Fool’s Gold”.