College Chapel
Thursday, April 2, 9:50 a.m. in Whitley Auditorium
Speaker: Al Staggs, performing artist
Music: Josh Carswell ’11, vocalist
Al Staggs holds a B.A. from Hardin-Simmons University, an M.R.E. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, a Th.M. from Harvard Divinity School and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. In the spring of 1983 he was honored as a Charles E. Merrill Fellow at Harvard with major emphasis in Applied Theology under the direction of Harvey Cox.
Al discovered his performing abilities when he began to impersonate famous comedians for his high school classmates and teachers. Following a stint in the U.S. Army as a draftee he turned his attention to obtaining the necessary education for service as a minister.
During the period of his post graduate studies he was increasingly drawn to those individuals in recent history who had devoted their lives to justice and peace concerns. After two decades of working as a parish minister he came to terms with the fact that his real passions related to performing and to working for peace and justice.
Twenty years ago Al combined those two passions by writing and performing a one-person play that takes his audience into the prison cell of the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. A few years later he took the step of leaving the pastoral ministry and began a career as a full-time performing artist, adding characterizations of Clarence Jordan, Archbishop Oscar Romero, Thomas Merton and Walter Rauschenbusch to his repertoire of programs. He finds great satisfaction in bringing these notable figures to life and sharing their relevant messages with audiences throughout the world.
Staggs will also present “the Legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer” at 7:30pm on Thursday evening in Whitley Auditorium