Clergyman Ministers With a Song in His Heart

“The Phantom of the Opera,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Fiddler on the Roof”--not the sort of fare you would expect in church.

But the minister at Camarillo United Methodist Church has performed excerpts and belted out songs from these and other popular Broadway musicals.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with worship being vital, enjoyable and perhaps even entertaining,” said James Decker-Mahin, who has been the minister at the Camarillo church for four years.

Apparently, the congregation agrees with “Dr. Jim.”

Out of a membership of 970, a usual Sunday worship draws about 475 people. But on Sundays that excerpts from a musical are performed, to the accompaniment of a choir and band, attendance nearly doubles.

Janet Lindgren, a church member for more than 20 years, said she keeps coming back because she likes the way Decker-Mahin ties theology to show tunes.

“It’s a way of appealing to a segment of our community that might not feel comfortable in a traditional church service,” Lindgren said. “But when they hear familiar music, they’re able to get the message in a different way.”

More than 850 congregants attended the March 28 performance of the rock-flavored “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”

Jason Bautista, 17, who played Joseph, has participated in the church plays for the past three years.

“The church family brings us together,” Jason said. “You don’t have to worry about gangs and drugs when you’re involved in the church.”

He described his participation as uplifting.

“I couldn’t imagine doing this kind of stuff anywhere else except in the church, because the church is a home away from home for me,” Jason said.

That is the effect Decker-Mahin wants the performances to have.

“It seems to me that these musicals are burning bushes and that we can find God in them in very dynamic ways, particularly because they have common denominators,” Decker-Mahin said.

“You say ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ and people automatically know what it is about,” he said. “If we can then take those stories and find biblical truths and practical applications to them, [worship] to me is a wider, more vital experience.”

About four mini-versions of Broadway musicals are performed each year. “One Hundred Percent Chance of Rain,” a rap version of Noah and the ark, is scheduled for Aug. 2.

Decker-Mahin and his wife, Lynn, will perform “The King and I” the third week in August.

“In the ‘King and I’ we’re talking about different cultures and other issues that are very contemporary,” Decker-Mahin said. “It also has some great male chauvinist pig stuff in it . . . and Mrs. Anna is the ultimate hooped-skirted feminist who makes things clear about what love is.”

Decker-Mahin began his singing career at UCLA, where he received a bachelor’s degree in psychology. As a member of the choir, he sang at the White House before then-President Nixon and the chancellor of West Germany.

He started the concept of sermonizing through Broadway musicals nearly 25 years ago as an assistant minister in Capistrano Beach. The congregation needed a multipurpose room and one of the ways they raised money for the building was through summer plays.

“Then I realized that they were great music, great stories and great parables and decided they were very much usable inside the worship experience rather than always having to set them up as the difference between secular and sacred,” said Decker-Mahin, who received his doctorate from the School of Theology in Claremont.

After 11 years in Capistrano Beach, Decker-Mahin moved to a church in La Mesa, where he performed mini-versions of Broadway plays for eight years.

He says he’ll continue the Broadway musicals throughout his career.

“In a television culture, one of the things that is appropriate is to demand the attention of the congregation,” Decker-Mahin said. “This is a way of saying we have something special--pay attention.”

FYI

Camarillo United Methodist Church’s next musicals are “One Hundred Percent Chance of Rain,” a rap version of Noah and the ark, scheduled for Aug. 2 and “The King and I” scheduled for Aug. 16. The church is at 291 Anacapa Drive. Call 482-4312 for more information.