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St Jude GPAC GBC VBC GBC VBC May 5 May 5 June 8 June 15
MARK AND BEN LANE PRACTICING pUppETS bEFORE A SHOW MAY 2013 QUARTERLY VOLUME 1

Greenfield Center June 16 St Jude AWANA (GBC) June 16 June 17

SPEAKS
A Name fit for a Team
After reforming the GBC (Germantown Baptist Church) puppet team, Ben Lane knew they needed a new name to get things rolling. During one of their first meetings, Ben had all of the members suggested names. There were many good ideas but one name stuck out from the rest. Hands Held High was suggested by Hannah Nelson. Ben Lane along with the rest of the puppet team agreed that it is a beautiful representation of how we are actually raising our hands to God in worship as we raise our hands to perform with the puppets. Along with the name Hands Held High, Ben came up with a scripture that embodied the puppet team as a whole. The scripture is Hebrews 12:12. The scripture in Hebrews is a requite of a scripture in Isaiah. They refer to lifting up arms and strengthening knees. Wow, what an image of a puppeteer, a person on their knees and needing help to hold up their weary arms during the shows They also use H3 for short.

THE PUPPET

H3 DURING A SHOW AT THE CREATIVE MINISTIRES FESTIVAl

GERmANTOWN BApTIST CHURCH 9450 POplAR AVE. GERmANTOWN, TN 38139

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

A Handy Tale Member Spotlight A Common Bond Creative Ministries Festival Upcoming Events 2 4 5 6 8

A Handy Tale:
Past meets present
Germantown Baptist Church (GBC) is a widely known church in the Germantown, TN area. It is known for its large Christmas productions, great youth ministries, and many out reach programs. Recently a church member, Ben Lane, had an idea of creating a puppet team to minister to all age groups and bring together a group of young people with the CAROlINE bURGES WITH lAmbY same goals and aspirations. The puppet team would cater to any age group, teaching the word of God to all who would listen. He wanted the team to be like a family, each member coming to the team with a purpose and a hope to minister. He wanted each member to feel comfortable with the group as a whole and to know that no matter what; the team would have their back, good or bad. Ben soon found someone who shared his passion, Mike Gresham, another church member who wished to start a puppet team and create a great out reach program through the youth within the church. Both men have done puppets in the past. Ben was part of a puppet team in college that was a ministry to the campus. Mike also did puppets in previous churches. Each of them knew the impact a puppet team can have on those around it and both knew it would be a great asset to Germantown Baptist Church. With that in mind, they both presented their ideas to the church and gained permission to start a puppet team under the authority of the youth ministry. Upon gaining permission, Ben and Mike set out to find team members with a passion for sharing Christs story and puppets. They found a small group of kids ranging from 5th grade to 12th grade. Together they all formed the original puppet team S.P.A.C.E, Students Passionate About Christs Example in 2009.

On Saturday, the puppet team called Cookes Crew from Cookes Memorial Methodist Church in Pontotoc, MS. took the stage bright and early and put on quite a show for the audience. The team did a number of popular songs including Fishers of Men, Everybody Praise Now, Beep Beep, and Old Time Religion. Each of these songs were performed in black light with incredible props and great technique. The members of Cookes Crew then came together at the end, with the lights back on, to perform to I Am Redeemed by Big Daddy Weave. Each team member came out one at a time holding a sign, which told of that members personal issue and on the back how Christ has helped them through each and every one of their issues. The performance was very moving and had quite a large impact on the audience. After Cookes Crew took the stage, the visiting teams broke up into groups and attended round two workshops from Advanced Puppetry to The Ins and Outs of Signs.

 Hands Held High (H3) Next the Creative Ministries held a comfrom GBC, with their petition between three teams, Puppets for performance of Victory Christ, CREW, and Holy Hands Ministry in Jesus, took home a Team. This competition was open to any silver award.
form of theatrical performances including puppets, dowel rods, and sign language. The winner, Holy Hands Ministry Team from Parkway Baptist Church in Hernando, MS won the Peoples Choice award along with a silver award with their sign language performance to the song Redeemer. Puppets for Christ from Boulevard Baptist Church in Southaven, MS did a dowel rod performance to Arise My Love and received a silver award. CREW took home a silver award for their human video of sign language and dowel rods to Praise You In The Storm. Peace, Love, and Puppets, a fairly new team from Mississippi, took home a bronze award for the puppet improvisation titled Grandpa doesnt want to go to Church. The festival was a great success for Hands Held High (H3) and GBC. It was their first time to host a festival after reforming the team in the last few years. H3 plans to host many more in the future.

Spotlight:

Mike Gresham
Mike Gresham has been involved with puppets for about twenty years now. It has truly been a blessing for me to be able to share the gospel through puppets. Hearing the laughter of people is what makes it so special and knowing that what Im doing will hopefully bring someone to Christ. Mike tells of one specific gentleman that has truly been a big influence to him in the past couple of years, Ben Lane.

Ben and I have been working side by side for years teaching high school and middle school students how to minister through puppets and going around the Memphis area sharing the gospel of Christ through puppets. On Wednesday nights, Mike works with Sandy Savage, the preschool ministry at Germantown Baptist Church, doing skits and puppet shows for our preschool age kids. This has truly blessed my life, I love those little ones so much. I can honestly say that puppets are a big part of my life and one that I will always cherish.

A Common Bond:
An unexpected meeting
It was in high school for her. It was junior high for him. It all came together for them in college. The one thing they now have in common will bring them together for eternity. What is the common bond you ask? Puppets! Both of their sons were involved in the puppet ministry of Germantown Baptist Church (GBC) at young ages and still to this day enjoy the puppet ministries.

Ben reflects, The reason I was attracted to work with puppets, was Before college Sheryl Lane was a because it gave a way for a shy junior member of a local puppet ministry high student a way to come out of my in her high school years and Ben shell with the puppet, and it was so Lane has been involved in puppets fun. I did puppets in Mexico, at nursever since junior high and even ing homes, childrens hospitals, fairs, owned his own puppet named Mark. and even once on TV. I t has been a They both attended Baylor Univergreat was to reach out to people with sity where they found a puppet min- the love of God! istry that peaked their interest. Ben and Sheryl Lane met in the Baptist Ben was asked to restart the puppet Student Union Puppet Ministry at team at GBC, which in the past has Baylor University. They dated off had three different teams. I really enand on during their college years joy sharing the puppet ministry with and were married in December students and adults here at church. It of 1984. Ben would go on to start brings a lot of joy and satisfaction to puppet ministries in each church he the puppeteers and the audience. The would serve in as Youth Minister. future is unclear, but I think as long as Later, they would have two sons, and they can hold up their arms, the Lanes one would also be named, Mark, but will be holding a puppet! not after the puppet.
The puppet team holds regular practices every Sunday evening from 5 P.M. to 6 P.M. in the ROC at Germantown Baptist Church. Anyone is welcome to come and sit in or even join the team. For more information on the H3 Puppet Team, please contact Ben Lane at (901) 486-4750 or ben.lane@shelbyinc.com

MIKE GRESHAm
bEHIND THE STAGE

Creative Ministries:

New beginnings

S.P.A.C.E performed many shows at St. Jude, Hampfest, nursing homes, church events, and hospitals. The original team was a close-knit group dedicated to sharing Gods word and performing for audiences. The group slowly acquired more puppets and ideas through each group member contributing to making props, writing scripts, and coming up with new ideas. Soon they were doing black light puppet shows, which really impressed the crowds. After about a year, the team got a brand new stage that allowed for greater shows and more flexibility with height and lighting placement. About three years after the team formed more than half of the members graduated from high school and sadly moved away to college. After losing many of its essential members the team lost its enthusiasm and slowly died away. In 2011, Ben and Mike refused to give up on the dream of having a large and successful puppet ministry through GBC. They reformed the team after getting permission from the new youth minister who really promoted the team to the Sunday school groups and the puppet team gained a lot of new, young, enthusiastic members. The old team of just 7-8 members was replaced with a team of more than 15 members ready to learn the ins and outs of puppeteering and ministering through puppet shows. They renamed the group Hands Held High or H3 for short. Now with a larger team and support form the large youth ministry, H3 now has regular practices every Sunday and are performing for nursing homes, St. Jude, the Ronald McDonald House, and church events successfully spreading the word of God through puppets. The puppet shows are quickly getting bigger and better and the new members learn the puppet knowledge passed on to them by Ben and Mike. They are working on many new songs and props to better their shows. H3 has come a long way in such a short time and Ben, Mike, and GBC are very proud of the puppet team and look forward to a bright future.

ermantown Baptist Church (GBC) of Germantown, TN hosted a Creative Ministries puppet festival March 22-23. The company, Creative Ministries, provides workshops, conferences, festivals, and creative inspiration for puppets teams nation wide. They have a wonderful online store with hundreds of ideas for preaching the gospel through puppets. They sell hundreds of different puppets from black light puppets to finger puppets as well as puppet stages, black lights, CDs, puppet show idea books, and more. Creative Ministries goes through churches around the country and even internationally to host festivals and conferences to help raise awareness of the puppet ministry that has the incredible ability to reach many young people around the world and teach them of the story of Jesus Christ. Creative Ministries goal is to teach and equip as many churches and organizations as possible with the tools and knowledge to run a successful puppet ministry to reach out to the young people worldwide. Many local puppet teams came to the GBC hosted festival. The festival opened Friday night with a performance of Read It followed by individual workshops ranging from Black Light Magic to Developing a Successful Puppet Ministry. Later in the evening five teams competed in a song competition judged by the visiting teams. Each team had to pick one song to perform; the song could be regular or black light. The Friday night portion ended with each visiting team handing in their votes for whose performance stood out the most. The winning team was announced Saturday afternoon during the awards ceremony. The R.I.O.T (Righteous Invasion of Truth) Puppet Team from River of Life Church in Munford, TN won the Peoples Choice award along with a silver award with their performance of Excuses. The Puppets of Praise Team from Bethel Apostolic Church in Amory, MS took home a bronze awards with their song Crazy Noise. CREW (Christians Riding Eternal Wave) from First Baptist Church in Manila, AR with their performance of Voice of Truth in black light took home a silver award. Hands Held High from GBC with their performance of Victory in Jesus took home a silver award. During the festival, Creative Ministries had a large mobile store set up with new puppets, CDs, and much more for the visiting teams to see and try out for purchase.