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HELM entertains again with ‘Saturday Night Live’-style report (7/30/09)
By Kevin Phipps, DisciplesWorld contributing writer
INDIANAPOLIS (7/30/09) — In Portland, it was a game show. In Fort Worth, it was ‘Disciples Idol,’ and in Indianapolis – IT’S THURSDAY MORNING LIVE!!! Higher Education and Leadership Ministries (HELM) continued its tradition of presenting its report to the General Assembly in an imaginative and collaborative way.
Beginning with a ‘look alike’ of HELM President Dennis Landon, a not-so-veiled reference to Sarah Palin and Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live, Landon began by going off the script. “Normally the show begins with a 20-minute monologue, but since we’re behind, let’s start the show.”
The next scene was a group of Disciples students talking about the ministries of HELM. One of the characters was the ‘Know It All’ who was able to name all 17 colleges and seven theological seminaries in reverse alphabetical order, all 25 recipients of the T.A. Abbott Award, the 145 campus ministries, the 57 students who have been a part of the HELM Leadership program, and the 69 seminarians who participated in March 2009s Seminarians Conference. It was a little more difficult for Know It All to talk about next summer’s Campus Leaders Gathering to be held at Texas Christian University; however, she was able to name all the residence halls at TCU.
Musical entertainment was Allison Enari, who presented an interpretation of Gnarls Barkley song, “Crazy,” but with new lyrics — about leadership.
The final scene was a takeoff on the cheerleaders from Saturday Night Live. Cheerleaders Tom Calvert-Rosenberger and Alexis Westerhausen led the General Assembly in cheers like “I say Christian Church, you say Disciples of Christ.” The final cheer was the General Assembly chanting H E L M.
Brad Lyons, director of communications and program officer for HELM kidded “the production costs were at least $6.” HELM did not disappoint those who always look forward to their report.
