What exactly IS Dan Wolfe's "Comedy Crusade for Christ?" In a single sentence, Dan Wolfe's "Comedy Crusade for Christ" is a multi-night outreach event that combines his skill as an Illusionist, Humorist and Evangelist to reach both young and old alike for the cause of Jesus Christ. Since starting his "unique" Ministry in 1991, Dan has ALWAYS been a favorite guest speaker for Revivals, Crusades and all types of evangelistic events. Seeing how well his visits were received, Dan began to formulate an entire five-night curriculum based solidly on the Gospel and integrating the Magic, Comedy and FUN he had become known for. In 1996, Dan turned his creation loose and it became an INSTANT HIT! Actually, the program was something of a surprise. Although kids have always enjoyed his presentations as much as the adults do, Dan isn't a "Children's Minister." It was his first try at writing material SPECIFICALLY for kids. But then, Adults started coming to Bible School when they heard he was appearing. Many times, the BIG "kids" outnumbered the LITTLE ones! He was reaching ALL ages at the SAME TIME! AWESOME! In subsequent years, Dan re-wrote the program to appeal to the adults as well. It became even MORE popular. Then he began getting requests to present this remarkable event beyond the usual June-July-August VBS Season. The humor and inspiration from the original VBS concept was distilled down into a powerful, easily hosted, multi-night event that could be presented throughout the year. "Comedy Crusade for Christ" was born! For the new Season, Dan has cooked up a whole HOST of new magical effects, object lessons, comedy routines and a few original stage illusions that would make even David Copperfield take notice! However, he refuses to tell us what they are. He simply smiles, raises that eyebrow of his and assures folks that this year's Comedy Crusade will be most most exciting series of Concerts yet. Although the three-night Crusade is available as a year-round event, the extended five-night version is still extremely popular. VBS Coordinators claim that the biggest advantage to using it as an alternative to the traditional Vacation Bible School is that it’s just so DARNED EASY! We believe you'll agree that this HAS to be one of the easiest to host, most effective and FUN Vacation Bible Schools your Church has ever had! Imagine! There’s no teacher prep time, no messy craft debris, no complicated curriculum to figure out and very little leg-work on the part of the hosting Church! All that’s necessary is to send out a few flyers, promote the event and lay out a few cookies. That's it! A potluck dinner takes more effort than that! How many of THOSE has your Church hosted in the past year? Dan acknowledges that the tightrope any program of this type must walk is to provide enough "pizzazz" to keep people interested (and coming back each night), but not enough to obscure the message. According to those who’ve experienced it over the years...he’s done it! "And just what IS the message?" Evangelism, Christian nurture and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, of course! Themes include "Who is Jesus?", "What did He do?", "What is sin?", "How does Jesus get rid of sins?", "Who is Satan?", "How does he make us sin?", "What is Faith?" , "How should we live as Christians?" and most importantly, "How do we get Jesus into our hearts?" Each message builds on the one from the night before. There is also enough of a recap at the start of each Concert so that people who may have missed previous nights won’t feel lost! "What is a typical Crusade like?" The opening segment runs about 55 minutes and includes some astounding Gospel magic and illusions, comical object lessons, bible stories and audience participation. Basically a lot of fun stuff to accompany the teaching. "A spoonful of sugar," you know? Next, there is a short intermission, about 20 minutes or so, for visiting the restroom, stretching the legs a bit and refreshments...cookies, coffee, etc. This break also allows Dan to recuperate from the first half (he'll NEED it!), rearrange the platform and change the scenery for the second half of the evening. If being presented as a VBS alternative, the kids are coached at this point on a short memory verse for a contest during the second half. This is the ONLY thing "Teachers" need to prepare for. Adults aren’t eligible for the various contests during a VBS...sorry. After the intermission, everyone is ushered back into the sanctuary for the second half. If presented as a VBS, it begins with three contests: THE VISITOR CONTEST -- Special prize each night for the one who brings the most visitors...encourages kids to bring their friends. THE OFFERING CONTEST -- Boys against the girls. No prizes...just "bragging rights." After all, charity is it’s own reward. VBS Offerings go toward whatever the Church designates. THE MEMORY VERSE CONTEST -- T-shirts are given away each night to two winners. These become coveted prizes by the end of the week! Those who don’t win them have opportunity to purchase them at the end of the week. Then comes what has become the highlight of the Crusade; a nightly appearance by Dan’s world-renown tramp mime character, "The Amazing Earl." Earl’s portion serves as a kind of "wrap-up" of the evening's message...done in a unique form of silent comedy. Generally, Earl tells a favorite Bible story, an original parable or tries to figure out what everyone already learned in the first half of the program. The light hearted repetition of the original message presented in a completely different form serves to indelibly set the message in the minds of the congregation. First, they’ll see the transformation of Dan into "Earl" that has become so classic. Next, Earl launches into his antics and uses them to gently but effectively drive the message home. After Earl has finished, Dan steps out of character to give a brief application for the message, a closing prayer and end with an altar call of sorts. It is NOT a "walking-down-the-aisle" kind of thing, that’s not Dan’s style. (Who wants to say, "I got saved by a guy in a Tramp outfit last night!") However, the invitation to accept Christ is CLEARLY given. A counseling room may be set up for those who have made a decision and wish to talk with someone about it. The number of counselors you’d need depends upon your expected attendance...and the movement of the Spirit, of course. "How long is the event?" The standard "Comedy Crusade for Christ" runs three nights with about two hours each night....perhaps a bit longer with larger groups and all the logistics of getting them from place to place during the intermission. It is also available in four and five-night formats for use as a VBS alternative. (The event takes a bit of effort on Dan's part to set up and tear down. It’s really not practical to use this event for anything less than three nights.) The Crusade runs a little over two hours each evening. We generally begin at 6 or 7pm and finish by 8 or 9pm so folks make it home at a decent hour. As with everything, this can be flexible to fit your particular Church’s needs. The event MUST be held on consecutive nights. (Yes, we've had requests to do one night a week for five weeks. Can't tie up the schedule like that...sorry.) Regarding which nights of the WEEK to hold the event, there are advantages to different formats: Midweek programs - By starting on a Monday, they won’t interfere with other regular evening Church services in the community and allow folks from other Churches to attend. Sunday Evening start - The first session being an evening Worship Service. This schedule lets people see what it’s all about and tends to draw in the curious. Midweek through Saturday night - This allows a real push for attendees to visit your Church the following Sunday morning for your regular Worship Service. (Sneaky, huh?) "What about promotion?" Once a signed contract is returned to our office, you will receive a booklet giving ideas for promotion, plus reproducible materials, news releases, photos, flyers and bulletin inserts, etc. to aid in getting the word out to other Churches and the community at large about the event. These materials are also available on the accompanying CD-ROM. "How much space do you need?" A BUNCH! And the more the better... When setting up for a Crusade, a free-standing stage set is erected which helps create the mood for the programs. Although it packs small, the set is quite sizeable when erected. The full set requires at LEAST twelve feet of overhead clearance. As far as floor space, we require a minimum of fourteen feet of width (more is better) and like to have at least twelve feet from the front edge of the platform to the back wall. Again, more is BETTER! Some sort of raised platform area is preferred...otherwise some of the visuals may be lost to the back rows who will be straining to see through a sea of heads. Ideally, there should be no solid altar rail across the front of the performance area that would hinder access to the platform. Dan uses a LOT of volunteers from the audience for his illustrations and they need to be able to get up and down quickly. What's described is the "ideal" environment, but our set is designed to be modular. This makes it fairly flexible and it can usually be reconfigured to fit your particular situation. As a rule, the sanctuary is our preferred place to set up. This seems to actually help with the behavior of any kids in the audience. The few times we've set up in a gymnasium or fellowship hall, there were slight discipline problems with some younger attendees. That's not entirely the kid's fault; a gymnasium is (in a child's mind) associated with running around, playing games and SCREAMING! On the other hand, the Sanctuary is associated with behaving quietly, listening and learning about God. There has never been a single discipline problem when we've been set up in a Sanctuary. Even if we do get a little "rowdy" once in a while... NOTE: As an outreach option, the event could be held in a local hall, theatre or school auditorium. People who normally wouldn't set FOOT in a Church...or in another DENOMINATION'S Church...attend more easily if the event is held on "neutral ground." "What ages is the Crusade geared to?" EVERYONE! "Comedy Crusade for Christ" works best with people aged six through ninety-six. That's the oldest we've ever had...and she LOVED IT! On the other end of the spectrum, Pre-schoolers can occasionally present a problem. After all, you can't get a three-year-old to sit still in front of a TV for five minutes...much less in CHURCH for an entire hour! They way we've handled our Kindergarten and Pre-K visitors during VBS Sessions is this; bring them in for the opening program and let them enjoy as much as they can take. (You may be suprised! Dan can be QUITE entertaining...) When they've had all that they can handle, they can be quietly dismissed to a separate classroom so as not to disturb others who are deeply engaged in what is going on. Then bring them back in later for the second half of the program. That way they still get to participate in the Contests and they'll get to see Dan's mime character, "Earl." We've NEVER had to take them out during Earl's segment. They LOVE HIM! "Does it REALLY interest the adults as well?" ABSOLUTELY! Recalling the first time the program was ever presented, the hosting Church decided to bring it in just for the kids and schedule a "grown-up" Bible Study at the same time. By mid-week, the teachers confronted Dan with their frustrations. It seems that the big people were sneaking out of the Bible Study to see what was going on in the sanctuary...and staying! They enjoyed it so much that they never went back to their class! This by the way, was back when the event WAS geared specifically for kids. Now that it's been "adult-ized" a bit, the adults often outnumber the kids...at a VBS Program! Dan's "Comedy Crusade for Christ" is a ministry event that the ENTIRE family can enjoy...TOGETHER! Recently during an intermission at a VBS, Dan asked a thirty-something couple if they were enjoying the program. She responded, "Yes! Definitely! The only way I could enjoy it more is if there weren't any kids here." Dan was taken aback and asked, "Don't you like kids?" Her husband answered, "We love kids. It's just that they get all the good seats down front and WE have to sit all the way in the back." That pretty much speaks for itself. "Sounds Great! But what's all this going to cost?" Gee, I hope you didn't flip to this page FIRST! It would be nice to know what the price is FOR, wouldn't it? :o) Well, the cost varies. Travel expenses, airfares, lodging and mileage are different for every location...you know how it is. Something else to consider is the simple fact that in presenting the opening and closing programs each evening, it can mean up to ten HOURS of actual on-stage performance time. That's a BUNCH! Not to mention all the necessary preparation, rehearsal, insurance, licensing fees, etc... Dan also brings in a sizeable stage setting for the sanctuary to set the mood, plus magic tricks, illusions, costumes and comedy props galore...most of which are one-of-a-kind and custom built SPECIFICALLY for the Comedy Crusade. Unfortunately, none of it is cheap. Also, remember that if you're planning a Crusade during VBS Season, the cost of gasoline and lodging ALWAYS skyrocket during the Summer months. A cheap hotel room runs about $50.00 a night, but in the Summertime the EXACT same room can easily be TWICE that! If only we could hold VBS in the Spring or Fall. (Actually, that's not a bad idea! No vacation schedules or little league sports to contend with...and the word of mouth during a school day could be amazing for attendance! Definitely something to think about... ) Because of all the variables involved, it would be foolish to put a concrete, "one-size-fits-all" cost figure here. After all, you could be reading this in Uruguay! To obtain a no-obligation quote for bringing the Comedy Crusade to your area, just contact us at: D. Wolfe Entertainment One Mystic Manor Drive Clarington, PA 15828-0092 Phone: 814-752-2941 Email: quote@dwolfe.com You will undoubtedly have other questions that have not been addressed here. Please feel free to contact us. Rest assured that if we don’t know the answer, we’ll have Dan make up something interesting! Please pray about it, ask God for His direction and let us know if Dan Wolfe's "Comedy Crusade for Christ" sounds right for your community. We look forward to hearing from you!