Shobo's blog

To be a "fool for Christ"

Friday, February 21, 2014

just wrote this for the MACA "Big Top"


And then what???

    Pearl, Shady and I like to think of new skits all the time, to help with our LAUGH clown Ministry. In the past 2 years of our existence we have accumulated over 30 different skits and try to customize each show to the needs of the church we clown at.  It’s a lot of fun to bounce different ideas off of “like minded goofs”. It helps the creative juices flow inside our minds when we ask “and then what ?”.  We enjoy coming up with different slants of some age old tested skits and to come up with some new ones. Being a ministry, we try to use bible stories that we all know and place them in a different light.
    During the past convention, both Randy Christensen and Al Greenwood, said that people retain about 10 percent of what is said to them verbally, but when you put actions to those words it jumps to 70 percent .  When you put audience participation in with it, it jumps to 90 percent.
     As clowns , we have every opportunity to not only tell a story through our actions, but have the audience remember it.  On the flip side, we can also bring a bad memory that will stay with them too, if we don’t do it right.  We have a very important responsibility to do it right, especially when we involve others in our act. Going to your Clown alley and sitting there to gain information or to  just be social with your fellow clowns is wasting your responsibility. Sorry but I said it! Going to a clown convention and not changing anything that you learned from the convention is throwing your money away.  Sorry but I said that too!
    For me, I like trying different ideas, different ways of doing things, and different outfits.  That may be just me, but my mind goes dormant when I just sit still and watch TV.  I’ve told some my Newbie friends in clowning to go to different Volunteer events and try doing something different to see the reaction of the people and see if you are comfortable doing it.  The same goes for your clown Alley.  Without doing something different, it becomes stagnate and is hard to recruit new members to the group

  Pricilla Mossebrger wrote a nice article in her newsletter called “nine secrets of successful clown alley’s “
They are;
 1 Focus on the positive. Support new clowns and make them feel welcome. Support old clowns and make them feel appreciated. At all costs keep the criticism and drama to a minimum. 
2.Set up your club to succeed. Keep rules to a minimum. If you want to ensure empty chairs at a meeting make sure you have a BIG list of do’s and don’ts and enforce them at all times! The question remains -- how DO you maintain a high standard in your club of appearance and performance? With kindness, classes, and encouragement. It is all in HOW you present the information that counts.
3.Support the leadership. With a positive attitude support the folks who step up to be president treasurer, and secretary. You may not want these positions, or have time to commit to them. So be as supportive as possible to the folks who do shoulder the responsibility. Volunteer for smaller tasks like setting up the meeting space, cleaning up after the meeting, making the coffee, bringing some treats. When was the last time you asked if there was something you could do to help? Don’t wait until meeting night to help on that night. Ask what can I do next meeting. What can I bring to the next event we are going to? Water and a cooler? No problem.
4.Divide the Load! Encourage division of tasks to lighten the load. If you can’t get one person to be your Education Director, then divide it up month by month. Maybe one person can bring in the talent for a couple of months but not all year. Schedule a big fun planning session for your club for the year to assign as many tasks as possible and create committees. Then be sure to follow up with these groups each month just to keep folks on task. Pizza Planning party anyone??? 
5.Don’t make a big deal out of ANYTHING! As much as you may be annoyed about someone who drops the ball, let it go and move on. We all have challenges and problems we may not want to announce to the group. Sometimes we just blow it. Let’s do our best to support one another. “Everyone is fighting some kind of battle; be kinder than necessary.”
6.Fun. Make sure your club has fun! Otherwise why are you doing it? Be sure to schedule in some fun time get togethers. Open your meeting with a silly improv or joke. Go around the room and have everyone share their favorite joke. Have folks tell what the best thing was that happened to them clowning recently. Do what you can to insert some fun in the meetings so they don’t become a great big “to do” list. How about a White elephant door prize for each meeting?
7.Support education. Bring in folks outside of your club once in a while to teach and share. The biggest club-killing mind set is “we have a lot of talented folks in our own club, why should we bring in anyone else?” (Especially if you have to pay them!) You do it because it adds a fresh perspective, it livens things up. People will hopefully be on their best behavior with a guest in attendance. Education may mean organizing a group to go to Mooseburger Camp or a convention. The idea is you will bring back new ideas and build a sense of teamwork to your club.
8.Teach a clown class every year. Advertise it in your local community education guide. Make your own flyers. Do it the same time every year and promote it all year! Keep track of the folks who say they are interested and remind them the class is coming up. Have the whole club involved in teaching the class. Everyone is good at something!
9.Promote your club! I know this is tough. Trying to find recruits can be difficult. But what is your club doing to promote itself? Do you have a flyer? Do you have club business cards? Do you have a club pin, or patch?  These are things EVERY club should have to promote their club and the wonderful things you do. They don’t need to be complicated. List your mission statement (why you exist and what are the core beliefs of your group.) Make sure to list what kind of events you like to do. Most of all -- have your contact information. Make sure the person who is the contact is reliable and willing to take on the task of calling folks back, getting the information to the club, and keeping on top of things. Put together a Facebook page or website. With today’s technology it is not hard or expensive anymore.
     I know that EVERYONE I have encountered in clowning has encouraged me in my walk to be a better clown. That is just one of the many reasons why I love the clown community. Helping, encouraging anyone and everyone to bring , if only the smallest of joy, to all in need.
Sometimes the older we get, we come to a point of “and then what”.  My prayer is for you to be encouraged and think.  Think of different ideas of doing what you love to do.  Think of different avenues you express your skill that God gave you.  Think of different ways you can practice those learned skills. Think of different ways to finish the question of “and then what???

Bump a nose,
Shobo