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It's Easter week at Wayman Daycare Center in Chicago, and Big Mama the Clown is entertaining inner-city children with puppets, balloons, magic tricks, and songs—the usual tools of the clown trade. But in the midst of the hokey-pokey and other games, an important message is coming through to the preschoolers.

Summoning a James Earl Jones baritone, Big Mama uses props like animal masks and a 12-foot rainbow-colored scarf to tell the story of Noah's Ark.

"Remember," she tells the kids, "we come in all colors, but God is love and he loves you too."

Marie Smith-Terrell (a.k.a. "Big Mama") is a gospel clown. Performing for kids from 3 to 93, she employs clown gimmicks to present Scripture and lessons about serving God.

A balloon figure of Christ on the cross may seem inappropriate to some, but to Marie and gospel clowns like her, it's a way to reach children whose attention is often monopolized by hip-hop music, video games, and other pop-culture distractions.

"You're not doing it just for the young, but also for adults who are young at heart, who cannot be reached by traditional ministry," Marie says.

Clowning for Christ
Tony Jones, a former corporate executive who devoted himself full time to gospel clowning in 1991, estimates there are anywhere between 20,000 and 100,000 Christian clowns in the U.S.

	"Big Mama has a sweet spirit, a heart of gold. I fell in love with her the first time I met her. Her spirit shines right through." —Bubba Sikes

"Clowning is an art form, and a lot of people don't learn to do it correctly," says Jones, who runs a camp for aspiring gospel clowns in Georgia. "They think it's just putting on a costume. But if we're going to do it for God, we've got to do it better than anybody."

Marie's former life as an executive secretary for the University of Chicago hardly set the stage for her current vocation. About ten years ago, when she was 44, she donned a Halloween-store clown costume to entertain underprivileged children at a block party in her South Side neighborhood. She was such a hit that the kids began waiting for her to come home from work.

"What was important to me was to see the joy on young people's faces," she says. "It wasn't just clowning but getting through giving back."

The gospel part came when Marie realized she could use her newfound influence to convey a positive message. A divorced single parent, she had never performed professionally but had studied art.

"All of the creative things I had done as a hobby came into play. After that, any time there was an event in our neighborhood, they asked me to dress up. So I decided I should get some training."

Marie learned proper clowning technique at Mooseburger Camp, created by Tricia Bothum, a longtime clown for Ringling Brothers.

"I like storytelling best," Marie says. "If you don't get interaction with the children, then sometimes the message is lost."

She got her training in gospel clowning at "T 'n' T for Jesus" camp in Toccoa, Georgia, outside Atlanta, sponsored by Tony Jones's Clowning for Christ ministry.

"They show you how to get a message across without losing your audience," Marie says. "Gospel clowning isn't for everyone. It's not easy to do, and you have to be willing to make mistakes."

Adds Jones, "If you start off by learning the art of clowning, and bring it into the Christian realm, you can become an excellent Christian clown."

From pain to laughter
Like Jones, Marie left behind a more secular, self-centered world.

"I grew from this experience," Marie says. "I had been a very career-minded, stiff-necked person, and I brought up my kids the same way. I found out that life is too short."

In 1991 Marie was literally on her deathbed after she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

"One morning after the children had gone to school, I thought I heard singing in the house." A breeze came through her room and flipped the pages of the Bible on her nightstand. The pages stopped at Matthew 6, and Marie read these words: "The lilies of the field they toil not and neither do they spin, and even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these."

At once, she felt God asking her, "What would make you think I wouldn't take care of you?" Then she got up from bed, cooked dinner for her kids, and resolved that she would not die from cancer, not yet. "I decided I was gonna do right by my Creator," she recalls.

Her cancer went into remission but returned in 1993. So far, Marie has had eight operations. Steroid medication caused her to balloon to nearly 300 pounds and left her with diabetes and legally blind in one eye.

"I decided after the last operation that if I was able to get off that table, it would be for Christ," she says. "I found that maybe I could talk to children, so I asked God to give me the words.

"Believe me, when I first put on a clown outfit, I felt foolish. People laughed at me when I got on the bus." But it didn't deter her, and today she laughs about it too.

Whether performing in churches or at nonreligious events, her act always carries the universal message to love one another.

"You don't have to be preachy," she says. "That's why my program is received so well, because it's not blanket but customized. Kids have fun with me."

She finds 4- to 8-year-olds her most receptive audience. "After 9, 10 and 11, in this society, there's such a change. There's such peer pressure. We grownups often have no idea."

Marie considers J.T. "Bubba" Sikes, one of the country's best-known gospel clowns, her mentor. "He is all about having fun, but in a way that glorifies God, not himself."

A former naval officer, Sikes answered a full-time calling to Christian clowning in 1989 and is now a traveling instructor.

"It's just exploding at the seams with people who want to show their faith in a fun and light way," says Sikes, who's based in Orange Park, Florida. "The message we're trying to get across is the Christian life is an exciting, joyous one."

He says Big Mama has a "sweet spirit, a heart of gold. I fell in love with her the first time I met her. I saw that this woman was here to learn. Her spirit shines right through, and she can inspire somebody else."

Marie, Sikes adds, represents a rarity—an African American Christian clown determined to stick with the craft.

"We realized one reason for the low numbers of African Americans [in Christian clowning] was that children don't see many black clowns. So I teach African American clowns not to completely cover their skin with makeup, because black children need role models in the clown world."

Inner-city kids are easier to reach through Christian clowning than those more privileged, Sikes believes, "because they don't take things for granted. When we pull up our van in an inner city, we have the kids' attention instantly. They are so hungry for attention, and they want wholesome activities. Clowns transcend every barrier there is."

While Marie's disease is in remission now, she still gets treatment to keep it at bay and adheres to a strict regimen of diet and exercise that has helped her drop 70 pounds.

"You have to get on with your life and try to make it meaningful," she says. "My mission is to get the gospel to as many who will hear it, in a fun way. Christians don't laugh enough, and we live in a time when laughter is so important."

A Christian Reader original article. Katherine Hutchison is a writer in Chicago.

Editor's Note: For information about Clowning for Christ ministry, call 1-706-557-9821 or visit www.clowning4Christ.com.

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