CLARKS GROVE -&160;Storytelling has not always been Al Cooper’s thing.

Thursday, March 14, 2002

CLARKS GROVE -&160;Storytelling has not always been Al Cooper’s thing.

Although he’s a pastor now, with years of experience as a preacher and teacher, his background is in civil engineering. In that context, public speaking always meant lots of facts and logical analysis. There was a time when he probably never would have imagined that some day he would be telling &uot;tall tales&uot; and being encouraged to keep doing it.

But telling tales has become an important part of his life – as something he does because of his calling as a pastor, but also because he just thinks it’s fun.

Cooper tells stories about anything and everything – from adaptations of stories from the Bible to humorous stories about himself and his experiences to stories that are out-and-out lies. His family and friends are mostly supportive, but within limits, he said.

&uot;The closest thing to resistance would come if I tried to tell stories about my family. I learned quite quickly that I could do that only with permission,&uot; Cooper recalled.

Cooper grew up with a father who loved staging theatrical events, even though he was also a civil engineer, and Cooper’s childhood was filled with opportunities to perform in skits at his church, or to participate in dramatic readings arranged by his father. But the process of transforming from someone who simply enjoys telling stories to a bona-fide &uot;storyteller&uot; was gradual, and actually began as a way to make his preaching more dynamic and personal.

When he was serving a church in Portland, Maine, he was introduced to a type of preaching called biblical storytelling. He started out with the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke and got an enthusiastic response. From that beginning, which consisted mainly of memorizing biblical texts, he’s broadened his method to include telling stories about his own experiences.

Locally, Cooper has been involved in storytelling since he started serving as the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Clarks Grove. The first year in the community, a couple from the church invited him to attend the Stories from the Heartland festival. He liked it so much, he joined the local storytellers guild, the Heartland Storytellers, and has performed every year since. Cooper also serves on the board for the festival, which is now called the Minnesota Storytelling Festival.

While he is having more fun telling &uot;tall tales&uot; and other stories that focus on entertaining audiences, he still believes in creating tales that convey his values to those who are listening.

&uot;Right now I’m likely to do anything, so long as it’s consistent with my faith values,&uot; said Cooper. He believes that stories are one of the ways we bring meaning to our lives.

He remembers being concerned about the family of a woman who had had a difficult life and was estranged from her church and some of her relatives. She hadn’t wanted to have a funeral. But at a family gathering after her death at a home belonging to one of the woman’s children, Cooper began telling his own stories about the woman. Soon nearly everyone there began to tell stories of their own, allowing the grieving process to begin, he said.

Currently, one of his favorite regular audiences is the junior high class at First Baptist’s Vacation Bible School program. For that group, Cooper enhances biblical stories by telling them from alternative perspectives. He remembers getting the attention of the youth by telling the story of Jonah and the whale from the perspective of the angel in charge of God’s special effects department.

He’s finding that storytelling is taking up more of his time. Besides his congregation and the Heartland Storytelling Guild, Cooper also performs at the Freeborn and Mower County fairs, during the Chapel time at Hollandale Christian School, at Toastmasters and Rotary meetings, and for the local Kiwanis club.

&uot;It’s a portable skill. I can take stories with me wherever I go,&uot; Cooper said.