Preacher Aims for the Funny Bone
By Ken Garfield
On Faith

The Charlotte Observer, June 13, 2003

So who wouldn't want to meet a lawyer-turned-preacher and standup comic who's been called a cross between Matlock, Billy Graham and Ellen DeGeneres?

Pour yourself another cup of coffee and let me introduce you to a Charlotte native who has found her home in a Manhattan pulpit on Sunday morning. And in smoky comedy clubs on Saturday night.

Her message, says Susan Sparks, is the same in both:

Laughing our way to God.

From court to church

Sparks, 40, is either eclectic, brave or delightfully nuts. After asking her one question and coming close to writer's cramp trying to keep up with her answer, I vote for all three.Born and raised in Charlotte, the daughter of Herb and Ann Sparks grew up in First Baptist, graduated from Myers Park High in 1980 and then put it into high gear. She graduated from UNC Chapel Hill in 1984, finished Wake Forest law school in 1987 and spent a decade as a corporate trial lawyer. That's when she decided there was more to life than clients, courts and singing country music in clubs in Atlanta, where she lived.

"Trial law during the day," she says, "Patsy Cline at night."

After spending a year trying to find herself -- she backpacked across 23 countries -- Sparks was drawn to a life in ministry. But not your average ministry. She graduated last month from Union Theological Seminary in New York, where the title of her thesis hinted at her next adventure:

"Humor and the Sacred: Laughing Your Way to Grace."

Connecting through humor

Yes, that's Sparks serving as pastoral assistant at Madison Avenue Baptist in Manhattan, a congregation of 125 at Madison and 31st Street.

But that's also her on stage at clubs like Don't Tell Mama and Standup NY, talking about Southerners, Southern Baptists and how can you practice loving your neighbor when your neighbor is a telemarketer. And how is it, she wonders on stage, that Southerners can make 18 syllables out of "Hey?"

The comedy thing is more a calling than a career. But whether she's inspiring laughter through a sermon or some shtick, Sparks believes humor is sacred. It promotes intimacy and honesty, she says. It's a remedy for a church world that sometimes loses its joy in the seriousness of liturgy. And it brings people closer to each other and to God.

Worshippers want to laugh, she believes. Comedy club patrons want to think. Why not satisfy all the customers?

"We can laugh with God and not just each other," Sparks says. "God has a wonderful sense of humor. We can laugh as well as cry with God. We can bring it all to the altar."

So now you know why one colorful preacher learned to surf on her last vacation, then came home and preached a sermon on the importance of sharing success with others.

Sparks called the sermon, "Hang Ten For Jesus."

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To learn more about Susan Sparks and her ministry and comedy, visit her Web site: www.susansparks.com.