KENT KRIEGSHAUSER/The Register-Mail

The Rev. Paul Bickel of First Church of God in Galesburg shakes hands with one of the puppets on "Caraway Street" in the church gym. The puppet ministry program has been revived after a 10-year layoff.

Puppet show Bible stories return

Church revives ministry for kids after 10 years

Saturday, January 6, 2007

By CIGI ROSS

The Register-Mail

The puppet show, "Caraway Street," uses human actors and puppets to personify Bible principles for children. The program is designed to entertain them as they learn Bible stories and Christian morality.

"Every program will try to teach morals, teach fairness, etiquette, truth and other lessons," said Ben Sieg, church moderator.

The church has three years of scripts and plans to conduct the program during Sunday services. The scripts are targeted to reach the children and apply to situations they may experience, like bullying.

"We want the kids to be able to absorb the message on their level," Sieg said.

The set is made of plywood and has been painted to resemble a city street, including a taxi and phone booth. There are several windows and holes in the set for the puppets - similar to Sesame Street characters - to pop out of.

Episodes are performed by four or five actors and puppeteers and block parents help keep the children focused. Twenty funny characters will appear on the set, including Captain Goodguy; Myrtile Smirch, telephone operator; Max, the taxi driver; Dr. Magical; and Luigi Fruitinelli, fruit and vegetable man. Among the 24 puppets used are Gertrude the tomboy, Truenella the southern belle and Cosgrove the county bumpkin.

A new episode will be performed each week in a fast-moving format aimed at keeping children's attention.

The church began the "Caraway Street" program in 1986, but after a 10-year run church members had trouble keeping it going. The set went into storage, where it was dug out about three years ago.

"We thought about doing it for a while," Sieg said. "But it was going to be a pretty good size undertaking. We needed to just do it."

So the sets were repainted in bright colors to catch kids' attention and the puppets were dusted off and their clothes were washed.

"I felt we needed to beef up the children's program," Sieg said.

He thought because of the success they saw with the program before it would work with a new audience of children. Sieg said the program attracted around 50 children a week.

"Many children came to know Jesus Christ as their savior because of this program," Sieg said.