When I moved to Greenville, I wanted to do my Bible character monologues in local churches. There are probably more churches per inch in Greenville than anywhere on the planet. Maybe not, but you know what I mean.
First, I started to see if anyone else was doing the same thing. No need for competition. I found a man in Easley, SC who did that sort of thing, so I contacted him and made an appointment to talk with him. We met at the Barnes and Noble in Greenville. He ordered coffee, and I ordered tea. If you read my story about coffee and eating beans in the third grade, you know why I don't drink coffee. We talked for about an hour about churches, and which ones liked Drama. He said that his wife handled all of the promotion and booking. Since I didn't have a wife, I would have to do that all myself.
I started looking around at how I could promote myself. When I graduated from seminary, there were only four of us in the Southern Baptist Convention to did Religious Drama. Now it was 2008, and a lot more people were doing it, so I had to find a way to remind people who I was. One saying in the Theatre is that you are only as good as your last performance. I don't consider doing my monologues as "performances", because the focus is on me and not the message, but you get the point.
It dawned on me that the South Carolina Baptists have a monthly publication called "The Baptist Courier". It goes out to individuals and churches in South Carolina and beyond. I thought it would be a perfect avenue to promote me to those who might want me to come to their churches for my presentations. It would consist of me doing a monologue and sharing my testimony. I was also available for workshops to teach others how to do church drama.
I made an appointment to visit with the editor of the Courier. I had known him since my days at Anderson College. His name was Don, and he had been on the staff at the school. When I walked into his office, we caught up on old times and then got down to business. I told him what I wanted to do, and the interview went on for a couple of hours. I told him about my experience, and about being the first person at my seminary to graduate with a degree in Communications. I told him about the film and TV work that I had done, and the people I had worked with. We talked about my doing puppet shows in other cities and towns related to Vacation Bible Schools. We talked about my parents and their work in churches and the denomination. I thought it couldn't hurt that my father had been in denominational work, because I knew there were some pastors who would have remembered him. After the interview, Don asked me if I wanted to go to lunch with him.
We left the office and headed to a nice restaurant. When we got our food, he asked me a question that just about floored me. He asked me if I was gay. I immediately said no. He said he didn't think I was, since he had seen me with girls at Anderson, but he said he had to ask. He said that there would be pastors who would wonder why a 55 year old man had never married. I told him that I had never married, because I was too focused on a career. Also, because I never had found the right girl. That last part was a lie. I had found the right girl, but circumstances made it impossible to move forward. At any rate, he asked the question I had been asked before throughout my life, and the answer was the same.
We got back to his office, and he asked if I would provide pictures of my work and a head shot to be used in the Courier. I came back two days later and dropped off that material on a disc to be used in the article. Don said the story would appear in the next issue. The next month came and no article. I called and was told it would be in the following month's issue. I waited another month and then no article about me. I went to Don's office to inquire why it hadn't run. He told me that the editorial board felt that they shouldn't run an article promoting me, because if they did, they would have to have articles about all dramatists. I told Don that they have articles about specific preachers or missionaries in the Courier. What's the difference? He then said that he was worried that if any conservative pastors questioned my marital status, rumors could start, and they could lose readership and advertisers. So, because I was a 55 year old unmarried man, I could not get any article written about me in a Baptist publication. I was stunned. I had graduated from the largest seminary in the world. I had done work around the Convention. My father was a pioneer in the Southern Baptist Convention. My mother had written Sunday School lessons for the Southern Baptist Convention. I had an uncle who was the Director of the Florida Baptist Convention. I personally knew many giants of the faith. BUT, because I had never been married...
This incident kind of put me off of church work. I know I could have tried the Methodists or the Presbyterians, but my experience and love had been in the Baptist church. I carry around a wedding ring on my keyring from the play "Blithe Spirit" that I did at Anderson in 1973. I then wore that ring in Europe to ward off guys that wanted to mess with the girls on the trip. Maybe, I should have worn that ring and lied that my wife had died in a horrible airplane crash. But you know me? Mr. Honesty. I have never been willing to lie to get a job. I guess that's why I have never taught Theatre in a Christian college. I have never wanted to compromise my beliefs to get a job. Instead of wanting to do church work in Greenville, I gave up and decided to hang out and watch TV. Not very fulfilling, but at least no one was spreading rumors about me. Their loss.
