Teens Share God's Love Through Puppetry

Teenagers from a Des Peres church are using puppets to share God’s love in the community.

For six years now, high school students at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church have flocked to the puppet ministry, called H.I.S. (Hands in Service) Puppeteers. They practice regularly and travel to churches and nursing homes throughout the St. Louis area to praise God and share his love through puppets, music and dance.

Jamie Striler, 17, of Kirkwood, is one of them. A senior at Lutheran South High School, she has been a member of the puppet troupe for four years.

“I like just watching the children getting excited to see the puppets and laughing,” she said. “There’s lots of crazy-looking puppets. They’ll pop up and (the kids) get really excited.”

Striler says puppeteering can be hard work – one hand operates the body and mouth of the puppet, the other manipulates the two rods that make the puppet’s arms move. All this, while kneeling behind a curtain and holding the puppet overhead, makes every show a workout.

“If I really wanted to complain I could say sometimes it hurts your arms,” Striler said. “Some of them are kind of heavy.”

The leader of the puppet group is Becky Hohenstein, 55, of Fenton, a kindergarten teacher and assistant principal at . She is impressed with the high school volunteers, some of who were in her kindergarten class years ago.

“Every single one of these high school kids is involved with something else in their high school,” she said. “But they are here because they want to be. They see it as a ministry.

“They are so into it. They really make these puppets come to life.”

Hohenstein started the puppet ministry six years ago at the suggestion of her pastor. A group of puppeteers from another church had come to perform, and it looked like fun. She already used puppets in her classroom and in Sunday morning children’s messages.

Members of the congregation “adopted” puppets that first year to help pay for the first group of 70-some puppets. The men’s club provided a trailer for storage and transportation. Other church members provided talents and materials.

The first year, 14 high school students learned how to put on a puppet show. Each year, as members graduate, new students take their place.

The troupe’s collection of puppets has grown to about 150, including life-size puppets that are attached to black suits the performers wear.

Some of Striler’s favorite puppets are the furry, neon-colored monsters because they like to dance with wild abandon.

“They’re really fun,” she said. “When they dance, their fur kind of flies all over the place. There’s no limit to their dance moves.”

Hohenstein recruits her family and others to help her write or adapt a new script each summer for the year ahead. In the course of an evening, they record all of the voices. They put together half a dozen songs with vignettes in between to share a message from the Gospel.

This year’s show is called “A Taste of Forgiveness” and features Chef Louie, who can’t seem to get past a restaurant critic’s negative review.

“He’s not a very good chef and he has a hard time with that,” Hohenstein said. “He has trouble forgiving people but by the end he’s teaching other people to forgive.”

For more information about H.I.S. Puppeteers, go to the group’s Facebook page.