The History of the Fellowship of Christian Puppeteers
For more than 50 years, the Fellowship of Christian Puppeteers has brought together people who believe that puppetry and the creative arts can be powerful tools for sharing the Gospel.
What began with a small group of Christian puppeteers at a national puppetry festival grew into a national fellowship, an annual conference, regional fellowships, and a community of people who have encouraged one another in ministry across generations.
This is their story.
1970–1974: An Idea Takes Shape
The story of FCP begins with Bob and Bev Cipperly.
Around 1967, Bev, a Sunday School teacher, began experimenting with puppets in her
classroom. Her husband, Bob, an industrial engineer, joined her in learning the art. Because puppetry was not yet widely available as a ministry resource, the Cipperlys learned largely through trial and error and books from the library.
Then, in 1970, two experiences changed their understanding of what puppetry could be.
The Cipperlys attended a Puppeteers of America Festival at the University of Connecticut. Around the same time, an Australian minister visited their New York church and demonstrated the use of puppetry to communicate Gospel truths.
Together, these experiences sparked a passion for using puppetry as a ministry tool.
The Cipperlys continued attending Puppeteers of America festivals. In 1973, at the festival at Michigan State University, they met Bob and Sue Dolan, a couple from Florida attending the festival during their honeymoon. The two couples discovered a shared faith in Jesus Christ and a shared desire: Christian puppeteers needed better opportunities for training, resources, performances, and fellowship.
The idea that would become FCP was beginning to take shape.
The 1974 National Puppeteers of America Festival was held August 7–11 at Tulane University in New Orleans. Among the many performances and workshops was an unusual problem: no one was willing to lead a workshop in religious puppetry. Instead, a discussion room was provided.
Approximately 40 Christian puppeteers gathered to talk about their goals, their ministries, and their desire for training that would help them become more effective in using puppetry for Christian ministry. From that meeting, the Fellowship of Christian Puppeteers emerged.
Bob Dolan became the group's first secretary, keeping a list of people interested in workshops and training. The original list of those attending the Tulane meeting was eventually lost. A later reconstruction identifies a number of people who may have participated, including Bob and Bev Cipperly, Bob and Sue Dolan, Bill and Marion Duvall, and many others.
1975–1979: A Fellowship Begins
The new fellowship grew almost immediately.
Before the next Puppeteers of America Festival in 1975, the fledgling FCP mailing list had grown to 304 people in 36 states, along with members in Canada and a missionary in Africa.
The Fellowship published newsletters and continued connecting Christian puppeteers who wanted to learn from one another and improve their ministries. Bob Dolan, who had helped establish the Fellowship at Tulane, served as president from 1976 through 1979.
The organization had begun with a room full of people who wanted to learn how to use puppetry for the Gospel. It was quickly becoming a national community.
1975: Roland Sylwester - The Puppet and the Church
One of the people who helped shape the early philosophy of Christian puppetry was Roland Sylwester.
An art teacher in Lutheran schools in California, Roland and his wife Verna established the Marionette Theatre of the Word. Roland developed elaborate puppetry productions designed not merely to entertain, but to communicate Biblical truth.
At the 1975 Puppeteers of America Festival at Lindenwood Colleges in St. Charles, Missouri, Roland led an intensive study group called “The Puppet and the Church.” The five-day study group covered everything from script selection and puppet construction to performance. Roland demonstrated hand, rod, and symbolic puppets as ways of dramatizing Bible stories, parables, and Christian principles. The material was significant enough that attendees received a booklet, portions of which would later be shared through the FCP newsletter.
Roland's influence extended far beyond that one workshop. He gave more than 1,500 performances over more than 25 years, created 15 puppetry films, and wrote two important books: Teaching Bible Stories More Effectively with Puppets (1976) and The Puppet and the Word (1983). For many years, these were among the few resources available in church libraries specifically addressing puppetry as a ministry.
His productions became part of the FCP tradition as well. Puppet companies at FCP conferences performed their own adaptations of his works, including his Reformation trilogy and The Hammer and the Pliers.
Roland died in 1998, but his influence continued through his books, productions, and the generations of puppeteers who learned from him.
As Bill Scott noted in the 2023 FCP newsletter:
“Much Joy!”
Those were the words Roland wrote when signing his books for Bill.
1976: Bill Scott Finds FCP
Bill Scott encountered FCP through Bill and Marion Duvall at a national Sunday School convention in Philadelphia during the 1976 Bicentennial year. The Duvalls were founding members of FCP, and Bill Duvall had served as FCP's first vice president.
The Duvalls invited Bill and his wife to their home, where they opened their puppet trunks and introduced them to FCP, the Puppeteers of America, and the local puppetry guild. Bill joined all three organizations in 1976 and would go on to serve FCP for decades—as a conference registrar, vice president, president, past president, chaplain, workshop leader, and mentor.
His story is an example of something that would become a defining characteristic of FCP: one generation of puppeteers introducing the next generation to the ministry.
1980–1989: Building an Organization
During the 1980s, FCP grew from its beginnings as an informal network into a more established organization. Leaders such as Bill Duvall and Jackie Kemp helped shape the Fellowship during these years, while the organization continued developing its membership, newsletter, chapters, and national conference. The decade was an important period of establishing the structures and identity that would carry FCP into the following decades.
In 1988, FCP held its 14th annual conference at Alderson-Broaddus College in Philippi, West Virginia. What had begun fourteen years earlier as a small gathering of Christian puppeteers had grown into a national conference offering training in moving-mouth puppetry, marionettes, wire techniques, scriptwriting, object lessons, choreography, juggling, balloon sculpture, blacklight techniques, and more. Clowning, mime, drama, and ventriloquism were also part of the program. Among the participating groups was One Way Street, along with Christian puppetry organizations from across the country. Bob and Bev Cipperly served as conference registrars, and the conference included national competitions in several areas of puppetry and performing arts.
By this point, FCP was no longer simply a group of people looking for resources. It had become a national community of Christian puppeteers, connected by a shared commitment to ministry through puppetry and performing arts.
1988: Patsy Coffin Finds FCP
For Patsy Coffin, FCP became part of her life in 1988.
She and a friend had begun using puppets in Sunday school after attending a Sunday school teachers' convention. They each purchased a puppet and began teaching themselves. Her friend eventually discovered FCP, and they attended their first conference in 1988.
Patsy later laughed that when they arrived, they discovered that almost everything they had taught themselves about puppetry was wrong. But that was exactly why FCP was valuable. Patsy remembered the instructors as approachable and willing to share what they knew. No one treated their knowledge as secret.
What she remembered most was:
"The friendliness, the family atmosphere."
That sense of openness and fellowship would become one of the themes repeated by FCP members across generations.
1990–2001: A National Fellowship
FCP entered the 1990s as an established national fellowship. Tia Sutton, Marilyn Watkins, and Terri Isaacson were the presidents during this decade. The National Conference continued to be the center of FCP's ministry, bringing together hundreds of puppeteers for training, performances, fellowship, and encouragement.
Conference attendees packed the 1,000-seat auditorium at Trevecca Nazarene College in Nashville, Tennessee, in the mid-1990s. The conference featured guests such as Psalty the Singing Songbook and Gerbert (Andy Holmes).
Over 400 people attended the 1996 national conference at Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where 80% were first-time attendees. The theme was “Celebrations” and it was the first year to offer performance workshops giving people a hands-on opportunity to learn a variety of crafts and perform at the closing celebration.
At the 1997 conference at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, 300 people attended, with workshops covering puppet construction, blacklight, talking props, and other techniques. Performances, praise and worship, and programs for children and teens filled out the week. By then, the conference represented much more than puppetry alone, with ventriloquism, clowning, creative movement, and other performing arts becoming part of the program.
The conferences themselves continued to demonstrate what made FCP distinctive. The 1999 “Weaving a Kingdom Tapestry” conference brought together workshops, performances, worship, construction, children, teens, and fellowship. FCP remained a place where people from different parts of the country and different kinds of ministries could learn from one another, encourage one another, and return home renewed for ministry.
The National Conferences reflected the creative spirit of the organization, with themes including Turn Up the Heat in Murray, Kentucky, in 2000, and Treasure Island at Bethel College in Mishawaka, Indiana, in 2001.
Yet behind the large conferences, FCP was already facing challenges. In a 1999 newsletter, the organization's leaders acknowledged that membership had been low for several years and that the Fellowship had experienced financial losses from the National Conference. They also recognized that resources and conferences for puppetry and performing arts ministry were far more widely available than when FCP began in 1974, affecting attendance at both state festivals and the National Conference.
The challenge facing FCP was therefore not simply how to grow, but how to remain relevant as the world around it changed. Its leaders reaffirmed the organization's original mission and began looking toward the future, asking how FCP could best meet the changing needs of people in puppetry and performing arts ministry.
2002–2009: Change and Transition
FCP entered the new century with a growing network of regional fellowships and a National Conference that continued to draw hundreds of Christian puppeteers from across the country. Ronnie Tesseneer served as president from 2002 through 2005, while the National Conference was held at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina, in 2002 and 2003. By 2002, FCP's records listed ten regional fellowships, the largest number documented during this period.
In 2004, the National Conference moved to Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, where it remained through 2006. The conferences brought together puppeteers for workshops, performances, fellowship, and ministry training. A 2006 article in Eastern Mennonite University News described a conference with 78 different classes, covering everything from black light, shadow, and balloon puppetry to blue-screen technology and sign language puppetry. More than 100 FCP members attended that year's conference, while the organization had 600 registered members nationwide.
The article also captured something important about FCP's approach to ministry at the time. Gary Gramlich, then president and conference director, explained that Christian puppeteers increasingly needed to master a variety of styles and techniques to reach different audiences. FCP's conferences were helping puppeteers expand beyond traditional puppetry and incorporate new creative approaches into their Bible-based ministry programs.
In 2006, Gary and Ann Gramlich led the conference, which was presented as a “Family Reunion.” Gary served as president that year before resigning in 2007 as increasing demands from his ministry work made it difficult to continue. Dieter Maucher succeeded him, and the National Conference moved to Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina, beginning in 2007.
2004: A Young Puppeteer Finds FCP
For 12-year-old Kristofer Sommerfeld, his first FCP conference was unforgettable.
He had joined a puppet ministry only months earlier when the team traveled to the Fellowship of Christian Puppeteers' 30th-anniversary conference at Eastern Mennonite University. He did not know what to expect.
His “little puppet-loving self” was in heaven.
The conference was crowded with hundreds of attendees. Kristofer remembers that if people did not enter the auditorium early enough, they sometimes had to stand in the back.
That week, he met one of his childhood heroes: Dale VonSeggen, founder of One Way Street.
As a child, Kristofer had admired One Way's puppets and resources. To him, One Way was "the top dog." He asked Dale for his autograph.
Dale took a business card and wrote:
“Kristofer, may God give you a vision of the ministry you will have. Follow the one way street. — DLV”
Kristofer still keeps that card framed in his office.
Twenty years later, the words carried special meaning. God had indeed given him a vision for ministry, and he would eventually find himself literally following One Way.
2010–2015: A Difficult Season
By the beginning of the 2010s, FCP was facing serious challenges.
Attendance had declined significantly from the large conferences of earlier years, finances were strained, and the organization was struggling to maintain the large campus-based conferences it had held for many years.
The 2011 conference was held at James Madison University, but unexpected expenses associated with the Virginia conference added to FCP's financial difficulties. The following year's conference at Juniata College had to be cancelled when registration fell to about 80 people, below the 100 attendees required by the college's contract.
In the midst of this difficult period, a new generation began stepping into leadership. Kristofer Sommerfeld became vice president in 2012 and soon found himself helping to keep the organization moving forward. In 2013, with only a few months to prepare and very little money available, he took over as conference director and began looking for a different approach. Rather than returning to an expensive college campus, he found a home for the National Conference at Broadfording Christian Fellowship in Hagerstown, Maryland, where FCP could gather at a fraction of the cost.
The move to Broadfording marked a significant change for FCP. The organization was operating on a much smaller scale, with attendance generally in the range of 40 to 60 people during 2013–2015, but the smaller gathering also allowed FCP to continue its conference tradition. Kristofer also began rebuilding some of the organization's infrastructure, creating a new website when the Fellowship could no longer access its previous site. FCP was entering a season of rebuilding, with its leaders finding new ways to keep the Fellowship's ministry and community alive.
2016–2024: Renewal and a New Generation
By 2016, FCP had reached one of its lowest points. Only about 20 people attended the National Conference that year, and longtime members wondered whether the organization would continue.
Longtime member Patsy Coffin recalled attending the conference that year. She remembered Jeff Smith describing those who remained as “a remnant.” At the time, Patsy wondered whether she might be attending the final FCP conference.
“When I came to conference that year, I thought, ‘This is the last year.’”
Despite the low conference attendance, those that came said FCP felt like family. Kristofer Sommerfeld stressed that keeping that feeling of family was important.
“We have to keep fellowship as the focus. It’s up to us to be welcoming to new people.”
Kristofer Sommerfeld became president and began working with a new generation of leaders, including Gabriel Galdamez, to rebuild the organization. Marketing efforts increased, conference attendance began to recover, and by 2019 nearly 160 people were attending the National Conference. Kristofer remembers standing before that crowd and realizing that, even with 150 people, the conference still felt like a family reunion.
COVID-19 brought another major challenge, forcing the 2020 conference online and the 2021 conference into a hybrid format. FCP continued through the disruption and celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2024, with Gabriel Galdamez serving as president.
The anniversary also provided an opportunity to look backward—to the people who established the fellowship and to those who carried it forward.
Longtime leader Bill Scott reflected on what FCP had meant to him.
For Bill, some of the most meaningful moments were not necessarily the workshops or leadership positions, but the opportunities to encourage people who were struggling to convince their churches that creative arts could be legitimate Christian ministry. As a conference chaplain, he counseled and prayed with people facing discouragement, church conflicts, and the challenges of keeping ministry teams together.
One of his most memorable stories involved a puppet made by Bev Cipperly. While between churches, Bill learned that an older woman from his former congregation had died. He took a land puppet Bev had made to the funeral and used it as part of his remembrance of the woman. Years later, someone who had attended that funeral told him it had been the most meaningful funeral service she had ever attended.
For Bill, that story illustrated something fundamental about FCP:
Creativity can communicate God's love in ways that words alone sometimes cannot.
More Than Puppets
FCP began because a small group of people believed that Christian puppeteers needed somewhere to learn, share, and encourage one another.
Over the decades, that vision grew. FCP became a place where people could learn how to build puppets, write scripts, perform, teach, create, and minister. But according to the people who have been part of it longest, the most important part was never simply the techniques.
It was the people.
Bill Scott described the fellowship as a place where creative people could support one another in ways that their churches sometimes could not. He recalled people calling one another during times of crisis, sharing techniques and materials, and encouraging one another to remain faithful to their calling.
Linda MacAuslan, who attended her first FCP conference in 1985 and eventually attended 39 conferences, experienced that support firsthand. During one difficult season in her church, where her puppet ministry was struggling to gain support, a directors' workshop at FCP gave her team both practical guidance and much-needed encouragement. Years later, she still remembered that experience. For Linda, FCP had become “my family,” a place of rejuvenation and encouragement in ministry.
And that is perhaps the thread that connects the 40 people who met at Tulane in 1974 with the people gathering at FCP conferences today.
The technology has changed.
The puppets have changed.
The way people find resources has changed.
But the need for fellowship, encouragement, training, and a community of believers who understand creative ministry remains.
As Bill reflected on FCP's future, he hoped that the organization would continue producing resources, sharing knowledge, preserving performances, and—above all—serving one another.
Fifty years after that first meeting, the fellowship continues.
