Meet Patterson: Puppet helps Peters Township pastor reach young audiences
From Howdy Doody to Lamb Chop to Miss Piggy, puppets and their shenanigans rate high in the eyes of children.
That also goes for Patterson, the freckled friend of the Rev. Jeff Vanderhoff, pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in Peters Township.
When Patterson and Pastor Jeff, as everyone knows him, would pay one of their periodic visits to the church’s preschool, it always was a special day for the youngsters.
The Rev. Jeff Vanderhoff hosts “Children’s Chat” with the assitance of Patterson the Puppet.
It was for the pastor, too.
“Once they stopped coming to school, I missed that,” he said. “And I thought, you know, they have so much uncertainty in their lives right now. Maybe they would enjoy seeing Patterson again and seeing me do some lessons.”
And so he started “Children’s Chat,” a live stream that he posts weekday afternoons on the church’s TrinityUMC Facebook page.
“As pastors in churches, when we have a preschool, we’re often looking for ways to bridge between the preschool and the church,” he said, “and I thought this would be a good way to do that.”
Vanderhoff has plenty of experience as far as entertaining folks. His hobby is magic, and about 15 years ago, he added Patterson to the supply of props for his shows.
“I use him to represent the children’s perspective,” he said. “I also use him if I ever need to play a trick on someone or poke fun a little bit. I don’t poke fun at him. I have him poke fun at me, because the kids identify with him.”
Since launching “Children’s Chat,” the pastor has addressed a variety of topics, the COVID-19 pandemic included, of course.
“I do try to be reassuring,” Vanderhoff said. “I talk some about how life is very different or uncertain right now, but I want them to have hope that it will get better again and to trust that things will improve.”
He also teaches some adult concepts in a way children will understand. For example, he demonstrated the meaning of potential by using an eminently familiar prop.
“I had Patterson talk about how much he wanted to play with a balloon, and so I started out with a deflated balloon and talked about how boring that was. And then Patterson taught me how to blow it up, and once you blow it up and tie it off and bounce it around, then it’s fun to play with,” Vanderhoff said. “That was my lesson on potential, that a deflated balloon isn’t much, but it has the potential to be very fun.”
The streaming presentations, which are new to the pastor, are receiving a positive response.
“We’ve gotten quite a bit of feedback from people who are sharing the videos, letting me know how much they appreciate it and how the kids look forward to it every day,” he said.
Also new to him are the weekly worship services that have been streaming since March 15, just after Trinity’s coronavirus-related closure.
“I’m very grateful for people who know how to do this. We have a young couple in our church,” he said about congregation members Craig and Kristin Anderson, “who have really taken the lead on this. They run all the tech, and I pretty much just have to get up there and preach.”
He also cited music coordinator Dan Lutes for incorporating the element of song into the virtual service.
As for his messages since the start of the pandemic, Vanderhoff said they have included “Reassurance, but also the reality of suffering and the reality of difficulties.
“But I always couple that with the hope of resurrection, with the hope of new life and with the hope of a better, brighter future.”