The 1st Annual Christian Jugglers' Conference - by Jesse Joyner

Greetings fellow Christian jugglers,

If you missed the First Annual CJA Conference in Lexington, Kentucky this past summer, then we hope you can make it next year, because we had a great time. We had a little over 30 people (including family members), which is a good turnout considering our entire membership list was 66 at the time. Since then, our membership has grown to almost 90, and I expect that number to increase as we continue to spread the word about the Christian Jugglers’ Association.

The Conference started out with worship on Friday night, July 11th. David Cain played the guitar while we sang “Lord I Lift Your Name on High.” Some people juggled during the singing. Then David gave a presentation on the history and different types of Christian Juggling. On Saturday, we had a day full of workshops and open gym time. Nathan Dorrell taught people how to use the diabolo in ministry routines. David Cain taught some folks how to use plate spinning in ministry routines. He even brought out his new toy – the boomerang, which he managed to get stuck on the top of the heating vents in the auditorium we were using. There were probably 10 people helping to try and get the boomerang back down somehow – which they succeeded in doing. Grace Bidgood ran a “woman power” juggling workshop and did whatever women jugglers do when they get together.

On Saturday night, there was a showcase of Christian Jugglers. Anyone who wanted to perform a routine could come and share that with the group. Tim Elder started out with his Creation routine, which is very creative and clear is its message. Chase Martin managed to pull off a one-high back-flip out of three balls. The amazing Hodge brothers dazzled us with lots of objects combined with not many years of life on this earth. Jeremy Stanley did some great ball work to the tune of “Made to Love” by Toby Mac. His brother, Jeffrey, put to work his newly learned skills in plate-spinning from the conference.

On Sunday morning, some of the attendees spread out into local churches for ministry outreach using juggling. We visited some seven churches that morning and then we all convened for lunch at Ci Ci’s Pizza. That was the end of the conference, but some people stuck around for the IJA Festival the very next week. It was there that we got to have a CJA meeting in the middle of the week. We had an abbreviated version of the CJA conference, giving people the opportunity to share ministry routine ideas with one another. Check out the video below of the CJA Conference recap by Kevin Smith.



The real success in this CJA conference comes in the form of training and equipping jugglers to use their juggling skills to further the Kingdom of God. This may be tough to measure in the immediate, so I would love your feedback if you went to this conference. Let me know how this affected you in terms of equipping and encouraging you to use juggling as a form of ministry. I personally like knowing that I am not alone in this "pioneering" type of ministry. Just the fellowship alone can be encouraging.

The thing that sticks in my mind from the conference was something David Cain said in the opening session on Friday night. “It’s about the message,” he said. That sums up Christian Juggling. We can entertain all day long, but if what we are doing does not bring glory to God, then we are like a "banging gong or a clashing symbol." Furthermore, Paul Arneberg reiterated with me the fact that pursuing excellence in our craft (even without words) can bring glory to God as well. So, it's about the message - both the spoken and the unspoken message. Let us always point to the Lord for all that we do in the art and sport of juggling.