I've been busy with church shows this fall, and one of my favorite was at the North Baldwin Baptist Church, in rural Maine.  Will Kindred is the pastor there, and has been a friend of mine for years.  His wife, Lucy, is one of Sue's closest friends as well.   On the one hand, Will is pretty conservative (King James version only, for example) but in other ways he can be a surprise.  (Giving up a Sunday evening service for a juggler, for example.)

After a wonderful potluck supper - what is it about Maine Baptists where they have meals for EVERYTHING - the service began.  No singing, no announcements, nothing but the Supreme Court Jester.  I intentionally planned a lot of juggling, and routines that I don't do often.  I opened with my Back-Masked kazoo routine, which got a huge laugh and broke the ice immediately.  After that, I did my three ball routine to Mahalia Jackson's "When the Saints Go Marching In" - a standard in almost all of my shows.  From there, it was a mix of familiar and more unknown routines.  I did my balance board routine to "Standing on the Promises of God", which I don't do often.  To be honest, at 62, I'm a little inconsistent with this routine in practice, but it was flawless in the show.

I was especially please to include two of my favorite routines.  Early on in the show I did "Mary and Marty", a juggling routine about the sisters, Mary and Martha, who hosted Jesus in their home.  I closed with "Judgement Day", a routine that goes back to the late 1980's, as has been rewritten multiple times.  It was shelved for many years until I recently rewrote it again, and I think it's my favorite version.  Given the theme, and general lampooning of American-Christian pop culture, it is a routine that only works in venues that are mainly church families.  It worked well in Baldwin.  To be honest, I was a little concerned about this one in such a conservative congregation, but, like their pastor, they can surprise you.  They loved it!

Thanks, Pastor Will.