Christian Jugglers' Association Newsletter Blog: 2009

Hello all!

Exciting things are happening in the Christian Jugglers' Association as we head into this new season of Spring. As Christians, we get to celebrate Spring as the season of Lent, which is the period of days leading up to Easter. During this time, we get to reflect on the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. I wrote a Biblical study on Paul's resurrection creed in 1 Corinthians 15 on my personal blog. Check it out by clicking here and let me know what you think.

About a year ago, the active membership list of the Christian Jugglers' Association was somewhere around 60 or 70 people. Since then, we have almost doubled in size, as our current membership roster lists 139 people. While the economy is in recession, the Christian Jugglers' Association is rapidly growing! Maybe one reason is because there is no cost to join. On that note, we do have money in our organization's account, which helps to fund the hosting of our website and the few costs we have for running the Christian Jugglers' Conference each July. Keep telling your friends and family about our organization, as we are open to all skill levels (even people who do not know how to juggle, but might like to learn how). All people need to do is send in an e-mail to christianjuggling at gmail dot com (spelled out to avoid spam) and indicate that they want to join.

Finally, I want to close my remarks with an important issue for Christian jugglers that came up in my phone conversation with Dana Tison a few weeks ago:

To be both a juggler and a Christian can look a lot of different ways. Let's take something like art, for example. One artist who is a Christian can paint a wonderful city skyline or fruit still-life, while another artist who is a Christian can paint an image of the empty tomb following the resurrection of Jesus. Is one work of art more "Christian" than the other? Is one artist better at proclaiming their faith through their art than the other? No and no. Similarly, we are no more or less spiritual with our art of juggling whether we use our juggling as an allegory for Christian messages or not. As Christians who are also artists/athletes in the field of juggling, we ultimately glorify God through pursuing excellence in our craft.

Dana said that when he ministers in churches, he will perform his juggling act, and then close with an explanation of the Gospel message without juggling anything. Furthermore, Dana will perform with excellence on secular cruise ships, and then perhaps later find himself in a casual conversation with a cruise ship patron that turns spiritual. I, on the other hand, usually present the Gospel message throughout my juggling routine, using objects to represent various characters or things in Bible stories. Is either way more holy than the other? No way. Remember Eric Liddell in Chariots of Fire? He would run his heart out (and glorify God by doing so) and then speak with interested people about his faith after he was done running.

I want to also add that being a Christian Juggler doesn't mean you have to have a polished juggling routine so you can either share the Gospel during or after your show. Remember, the key word here is excellence. You can be a hobbyist juggler and glorify God through doing your very best (whatever level that is) at the art of juggling. People notice excellence, but God is ultimately your only audience. It is every Christian's call to share the news about Jesus Christ, through both word and deed (which is the Great Commission - Matthew 28:18-20). But Jesus also spelled out the most important commandments, which are (1) love God with our whole beings and (2) love others selflessly.

This coming Lent season, think of ways that you can (1) glorify and love God through simply learning a new juggling trick or practicing something challenging (He sees your effort) and (2) help someone else with the selfless love of Christ (such as patiently teaching someone else how to juggle or making a someone sick in bed smile because you juggled 3 balls for them).

-Jesse Joyner
President, Christian Jugglers' Association
Lent 2009

Having a resume of international juggling medals and cruise ship gigs is not what primarily identifies Dana Tison. Though those are accomplishments about which he should be proud, you can tell from the following interview the few things that matter most to Dana Tison - faith and family.

Jesse: Tell us your name and a little bit about yourself (family, career, where you live, etc.)

Dana: I’m married to a wonderful woman from Buffalo, NY (Donelle) and we have two kids: Ethan (11) and Michaela (8). We live in Charlotte, NC and are involved at Hickory Grove Baptist Church. Currently my wife home-schools the kids and does some balloon-twisting on the side at restaurants or fairs or VBS or wherever she happens to be hired. I perform a comedy/juggling/unicycling show on cruise ships and at various churches around the country.

Jesse: How did you get into juggling?

Dana: I was bored one summer day in 1980 when I was nine years old. Remembering seeing my grandfather juggle three oranges in our living room, I decided on a whim to learn how to juggle. After learning to do three tennis balls in about an hour, I did nothing else with juggling until two years later when I was eleven. I met some jugglers (The All-American Mini Circus, including Rick Schnitker, Chuck Bollinger, Daniel Anderson, and later Mardene Rubio) who told me about the Baltimore Jugglers’ Association which met every Monday night. Once I started attending there I was hooked!

I began attending every IJA convention I could starting in 1983 (Purchase, NY) until the fall of 1987 when I started college and began walking with the Lord. I attended less conventions from then on since my faith became a bigger priority in my life than juggling.

Jesse: How/when did you become a Christian?

Dana: I became a believer at about five or six years old through the witness of my parents. I prayed every night for two weeks that Jesus would come into my life because I knew that without Him I’d go to hell when I died. So I understood that He died to pay for my sins. However, I did not learn to walk with the Lord until I went to college in 1987. Within my first week or so of college, a close juggling friend, Kathlyn (Lyman) Toney, who attended Towson State University with me invited me to attend the weekly meeting of Campus Crusade for Christ. When I went I was amazed to find about 80 college students all excited about Jesus! They were singing songs and celebrating the Lord. I was amazed. In my previous experience at a seemingly dead Methodist church (which my family and I had abandoned when I was about 13), I never saw such excitement.

I think it was the following week that I got involved in a Bible study and I had a wonderful four-and-a-half years of fellowship, learning, and training through many meetings, conferences, summer mission projects, etc., related to Campus Crusade for Christ.

Jesse: What got you into using juggling as a ministry to others?

Dana: Well, once I started to walk with God it seemed very natural to try and use my talents for the King of kings. I did perform a handful of times in Campus Crusade related outreaches at Towson State University and on summer mission projects and during witnessing in Daytona Beach, FL over spring breaks. But for the most part I avoided performing since I always got so nervous beforehand! I was always introverted and was very concerned that I would drop all over the place in front of a crowd.

But after joining Campus Crusade for Christ staff and transitioning into the Andre Kolé Ministry (Andre Kolé is a world-renowned illusionist who has been using his talents for the Lord for about 45 years now), I began to use my juggling more in ministry. I opened for Andre Kole’s 80 shows during the school year of 1994-95 with a ten-minute juggling/comedy act. That was my first taste at any regular performing, though I had done a handful of shows at churches through the years.

After graduating seminary with a Masters of Arts in Theological Studies at the International School of Theology (Campus Crusade for Christ’s seminary, which has since closed its doors), I started to sense that the Lord wanted me to use my juggling full-time. So my wife and I began praying about that and after almost two full years of prayer we made the leap from Campus Crusade for Christ staff to try and make a career out of juggling. I wasn’t pursuing ministry-related performances solely or even primarily, but I certainly would’ve welcomed them. Rather, I was pursuing cruise ships as my main focus. My reasoning was that I would be able to provide for us as a family by performing once or twice a week on the ship and would have a lot of free time to study and prepare myself to go for a Phd in theology or some related field of study. I thought I would end up teaching as a professor in a seminary. But once I started performing and God began giving me many evangelistic opportunities at churches along with cruise ship performances, and I started to see how many folks I could share the gospel with on the cruise ships one-on-one, I began to think that God wanted me to stay in this career longer than I originally thought.

I’m not sure if I’ll ever end up going for the Phd in the future, but He certainly is giving me many opportunities to serve Him where I am right now.

Jesse: Tell us a memorable juggling story you might have.

Dana: All performers collect funny stories and mishaps. I don’t have that many that I can think of at the moment. But in March I remember flying into Fort Wayne and having a horrendous show–at least from my perspective. Actually, I was supposed to fly into Ft. Wayne but ended up flying to Indianapolis instead due to a cancelled flight out of Atlanta. My host at the church picked me up (a two-hour drive) and it took us three-and-a-half hours to drive back to Fort Wayne due to a horrible snow/ice/sleet storm. And did I mention my luggage didn’t arrive? Fortunately I had 2/3rds of what I needed for the show, but that other third was kind of important! So as we drove slowly and carefully through the storm we tried calling around to people in the IJA roster from around Fort Wayne to see if anybody had a unicycle, clubs, knives, etc. for me to use for the show.

To make a long story short, we arrived at the high school where the show was to be five minutes after the event was supposed to begin! There were many factors that were threatening to undermine the show: we were rushed; I didn’t have all of my props and had to borrow some; I didn’t have time to work with the sound/lights tech to help her figure out my cue sheets or to test the lights, CD, and microphone; the sound/lights tech was a 17-year-old who didn’t have much experience; my hands were freezing from bringing in all my stuff across the parking lot and sidewalk through the snow storm and into the High School; etc.

I quickly tested some clubs and a unicycle someone brought, changed my shirt and shoes, and then we had to begin. With the exception of the perfect two-minute opener and the almost perfect 3-minute closer with my rings and subsequent gospel illustration, the rest of the show seemed pretty bad to me. At first the mic. sounded terrible–so right after my two-minutes of club-juggling a sound guy took two eternal minutes to mess around with the microphone transmitter in my pocket to try and fix it. Despite his efforts, for the first half of the show the sound of the microphone was not loud enough for the front half of the audience to hear over the music (found out later the speakers in the front had been turned off for a choral event earlier in the week–the judges wanted to hear the choir sing with no amplification–and no one turned them back on).

Here was another mishap: I had loaded all the props into a trunk that somebody had brought and placed it on a piano bench out on stage. And in the middle of the show when I went to slide the piano bench forward for a particular routine the bench’s legs caught on a piece of the hardwood floor that was sticking up slightly, which catapulted the trunk and everything in it forward onto the floor. I just started cracking up! And the audience did too. (For anyone who is just beginning to perform and hasn’t learned this yet–always have fun (or at least look like you’re having fun) no matter what happens. The audience will be happy as long as you are.... and if you’re upset, they will be upset)

Another mishap: When I finally start to ride the unicycle I like to make it look like I’m totally out of control, which wasn’t too hard since the tire was almost flat–felt like the whole stage was covered in mud. As I was pretending to be out of control and got near the prop case on the piano bench I realized that I was a bit more out of control at that moment then I intended and I made a split-second decision to try to play up the chaos by duplicating the knocking over of the prop case while comically falling off of the unicycle. I figured it would be funny since I had already knocked the case over previously. So I tried that, but all I managed to do was to knock over a few things off of the prop case onto the floor while I landed on the floor which made at least one lady that I saw in the audience grab her mouth in horror! I instantly realized that I had totally convinced this woman (and perhaps others) that I couldn’t actually ride the thing and I was in mortal danger!! Argh. I wanted them to know that I was kidding. So I determined from that moment onward to show complete and utter expertise on that unicycle to drive home the point that I meant to knock into the prop case! I also realized as I got back up on the unicycle that I hadn’t considered where I had put those brand new, sharp hatchets that someone had bought at a hardware store for me! Were they up on top of that case still or had they fallen down to the ground almost decapitating me or had I put them on the ground when I was done? I had no idea . . . and still don’t. Thankfully no limbs were lost! But that incident is a great reminder of why one should never try brand new ideas without having practiced and thought it out first. (Not that I had much of a choice with this show–I was forced to juggle hatchets and clubs and ride a unicycle that I had never tried before.)

So after doing the rings and sharing the gospel presentation, I was so happy to get off of that stage. I shook my head about it all night . . . I was amazed at what a poor show I had done. Most everything was out of my control, but it was just frustrating that it caused the show to suffer so much.

I headed to the water fountain after I was done and some woman who was watching her toddler out in the hallway told me what a good job I did. I was like, "well, I hope it was good!" She just stared at me quizzically. Then that same scenario happened again with another woman on my way backstage–she told me how good the show was. I was surprised and figured they were just being "nice."

When I got backstage again and started packing up my things and putting away the borrowed props, the host was on stage and had me come out there again and asked them to give me some applause. So I walked out there and to my absolute shock they all stood up for me! What!? I guess that confirms it . . . these people in Fort Wayne don’t get out much! Either that, or the show was much better from an audience’s perspective than from my perspective. (That interpretation would fit in nicely with why those two women gave me compliments after the show and didn’t understand why I questioned their assessment of the show.) I guess I was more disappointed than they because I was comparing this show to what I normally am able to deliver; but they had nothing to compare my performance to.

So why did God allow such a crazy performance? Who knows. But perhaps there was a reason for it. Maybe somebody needed to hear the gospel presented from a weaker/faulty vessel, rather than through a polished vessel. If so, then I’m glad to do a poorer performance than usual.

"To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some. " (1 Cor. 9:22)

"Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Cor. 12:10)

Jesse: What juggling feats are you working on right now?

Dana: There’s nothing in particular I’m working on right now. I’m just sort of trying to maintain my juggling abilities and especially the tricks that I perform in my shows. Of course I also work on some things that are harder than what I perform so that the tricks I perform seem easier. So tricks I like to work on now are 7-up pirouettes with 7-balls, a 4-up pirouette out of a 6-ball shower, 9-rings. But I must confess that I’m not as motivated as I once was to get a lot better. When I have "free time" I’m much more interested in serving at my church, reading theology, and playing with my kids.

One trick that I’ve really enjoyed performing is a 5-up pirouette out of 7-balls. I try it probably during 90% of my shows (whenever my juggling doesn’t feel quite up to par or when the lighting is particularly bad or if a cruise ship is rocking then I won’t try it). When I do try it, I’m usually successful . . . but not always.

Jesse: What is your favorite Bible verse/ part of the Bible?

Dana: That’s a really hard question! I have many favorite parts. I like Ephesians, Galatians, parts of Exodus, etc. One of my favorite verses is 1 John 2:28 which I’ve long had as part of my "signature" on email: "And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming."

I love that verse because it reminds me of what my priorities should be in life. It reminds me that when Jesus comes back again that I need to be living in such a way that I’ll hear Him say "well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your master." I want to be able to shout and yell and rejoice when I see Him coming on the clouds of heaven rather than "shrink away in shame at His coming." We all know the feeling of shame associated with sin in our lives, so that verse really helps me stay focused and motivated to obey Him each day.

I also love Colossians 3:1-2, " If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth."

Jesse: Do you have any stories about people who have been impacted in their faith by your juggling?

Dana: I wish I did. I’ve received emails telling me of hundreds of people that have allegedly put their trust in Christ as a result of my being at a particular evangelistic event. Only God knows how many of those are genuine commitments. But I don’t get to see the "rest of the story" and how people live after praying a prayer of salvation or re-commitment.

Hopefully the Lord will allow me to be encouraged by some cool stories once I get to heaven.

Jesse: Do you have any other weird talents?

Dana: Other than juggling and unicycling and comedy . . . not really. I’m a "one-trick pony." :-)

Dana Tison lives with his wife and two children in Charlotte, NC. You can read more about him by going to his website at www.danatison.com

Christian Jugglers' Association Newsletter Blog

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Help a Fellow Juggler

Thursday, February 26, 2009

CJA Newsletter #47, Spring 2009

President's Message

2nd Annual Christian Jugglers' Conference - July 11-12, 2009, High Point, NC

Interview with World Champion Dana Tison

The Main CJA Website

Christian Jugglers' Association Member Sites

Blog Archive

Mission Statement