ST. LOU FRINGE - HERETIC: EULOGY FOR A CHRISTIAN EXPAT

My friend Kevin Bowman has a long history with the Fringe. He served as technical director for several years but had a story in him he wanted to get out. Our executive director, Matthew  Kerns, urged him to put it to paper and thus Heretic came to be. Kevin was raised in an evangelical fundamentalist church and, being an excellent speaker, was steered into preaching. It became a career but with time, over-commitment, hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance destroyed his marriage and almost destroyed him. He left his past and started a new life. The story was told with tenderness and roaring humor..          

Brad, Servant Of The Lord

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I was cruising the riverfront late yesterday afternoon looking for images when my eyes were grabbed by a most unusual sight. A man stood on the stage under the Arch and just above the Mississippi, clad in pure white winter clothing, as if wearing arctic camouflage. He was standing in a posture similar to military parade rest, holding a mostly white flag. I had to meet him.

What was his name and why was he there? He said I should call him Brad, Servant of the Lord, and that he was standing there for the Lord Jesus Christ, available to pray with anyone who requested prayer. The Lord had spoken to him and he would be there, under the great monument along the mighty river, on Sundays from 10 to 4 until the Lord told him otherwise. And winter is coming.

He gave me a copy of a letter he had folded into his pocket, telling a touching story of how he came to his faith through the recovery from cancer of someone close to him. Inside the paper was a crisp dollar bill. The note contains the words In God We Trust and they were circled with a pink highlighter. I'll put in in one of the Salvation Army fund-raising kettles that are found in front of all our big stores at this time of year.