Comedian keeps the laughs coming
By Ruth Schenk | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
It’s good to laugh—even in church.
Southeast member Tim McClendon used humor as a family pastor in California. He now uses it as a professional comedian at comedy clubs, churches and events around the
United States. At Southeast, he uses it to interact with parents and 2-year-olds in suite E of the Preschool Ministry.
Children’s Volunteer Abbie Malone watches it unfold each week.
“Put Tim in any area of the ministry, and he’ll make it fun for everyone else,” she said. “He has a gift for putting everyone at ease and making it fun to serve. He’s hilarious without
trying.”
He banters with visitors and plays with the little ones. Tim’s one-liners keep the volunteer crew laughing.
To male volunteers checking in to teach for the first time, he might say, “Real men wear smocks.”
To nervous parents bringing their children to childcare for the first time, he may say, “My first priority is your child’s safety. My second priority is to make sure I get animal crackers.”
He makes funny faces or falls down to make children laugh.
“I’d bring is a lawnmower if it would keep little ones calm,” he said.
A new mission field
When McClendon isn’t managing a suite of 2-year-olds at church, he isn’t sitting on the sidelines. As a decision guide, he counsels those who go forward after worship services to
accept Christ. As a vocation, he works with churches as a consultant on safety issues. He takes gigs as a stand-up comedian at retreats, church functions and the Comedy
Caravan.
With a degree in pastoral counseling and seven years as a family pastor in California, comedy is a different calling.
Full-time mission work always was in the McClendons’ minds.
Tim and his wife, Jenny, are passionate about ministry and seeing people accept Christ. The young couple now believes that they have found their mission field in the world of
comedy.
McClendon is billed as a clean, G-rated comic, often sandwiched between acts that are not so clean. But if anything has shocked him about professional comedy, it’s that so many
in the business are willing to talk about God.
“The world of comedy is so accepting,” McClendon said. “They think it’s fine I’m a Christian. They think I’m a freak, but they think it’s fine. Just a few days ago, I sat with a guy for two
to three hours, going back and forth about religion. I was the first person he met who actually believed in the creation story. He was absolutely dumbfounded that I really believe
God created the world.”
The first time Tim performed in town, he opened his act with jokes about his dad being a pastor and his life growing up as a pastor’s kid.
There were no laughs for five minutes.
But when he finally got off stage, a couple of veteran comics who had been in the business for 25 years, told him that his writing was really good and encouraged him to continue
even though that crowd didn’t get it.
Well, they’re “getting it” now.
McClendon doesn’t use heavy-handed evangelism, but he does weave faith into his work. He talks about growing at a Christian camp in the San Bernardino Mountains in
California, where his dad knew nothing about child labor laws.
“When kids are born, normal dads think about baseball games,” McClendon tells audiences. “My dad looked at me and saw unlimited sermon illustrations. When most kids get in
trouble, they get timeout. When I got in trouble, I got a sermon with three points and a conclusion.”
Tim got a degree in counseling from Liberty University in Virginia and was a family pastor in California for seven years. There, he kept crowds laughing while honing comedy
rooted in biblical truth.
“Sometimes we think it’s not appropriate to laugh in church, but that may be because so much comedy is negative. But we can be funny in a positive light, and we can use humor
to teach a lot of truth,” he said.
The McClendons left ministry in 2007. By then, they’d grown the children’s ministry at the church they served from 17 kids to more than 200. They were busy with outreach activities.
Then Jenny had a miscarriage, endured temporary paralysis with Bell’s Palsy and had her back go out. Prayer brought no immediate answers or relief.
“We’d grown far from God by serving but not worshiping him,” McClendon said. “In a completely broken moment, I asked God if we could leave ministry. My first thought was to
come back to Louisville because of Southeast. We’d attended the church while I was studying at Southern Baptist Seminary. We knew that this church would point us to Jesus,
and we would not get in the same trap of serving without worshiping.”
Those first few months away from ministry after leaving California brought a strange new territory for a time, but it also was healing.
The McClendons watched as volunteers embraced their daughter, Molly, in the Preschool Ministry. Eventually, they began volunteering.
Diane Mansfield, in the Preschool Ministry, said the McClendons are master encouragers for staff and volunteers.
Sometimes they send a handwritten note. Other times it’s a pat on the back or one of Tim’s famous one-liners.
“We are so grateful they’re part of our team,” Mansfield said.