Joe the Baptist

Ventriloquists' dummies are generally manipulated for cheers and paychecks. The Rev. Loyd Corder, 37, of the Southern Baptists' Home Mission Board, has been using ventriloquism since 1942, but his art and his dummy, Joe the Baptist, are dedicated to religion.

Ventriloquist Corder and Joe average 70,000 miles a year, making the rounds of Baptist churches and organization meetings in 19 states. Among Baptist young folk, the large-eyed Joe is as popular as Charlie McCarthy ever was. His master finds that the ventriloquist's dialogue approach is a strikingly effective way of driving home his sermon messages.

Last week Baptists Joe and Corder, working out of their Atlanta headquarters, gave sermon performances as far away as Shreveport, La. Sample dialogue:

Corder: Now Joe, if you were going to be a foreign missionary, what kind of foreign missionary would you rather be?

Joe: A foreign missionary on furlough.

Corder: I know, but I mean would you rather be appointed for China, Japan, Africa, or where?

Joe: I reckon I'd rather be appointed for China.

Corder: Why?

Joe: They couldn't send me over there.

Corder: You know we have a lot of Chinese people in this country.

Joe: Yeah, too many of them.

Corder: Well, I don't see how you could be a missionary to China if you're not willing to associate with Chinese.

Joe: Well, then, I won't be a missionary to China. I guess I'll be a missionary to--Africa.

Corder: I'm glad you're interested in Africa. You know we have 15 million people of African descent here in this country.

Joe: Yeah, I wish they'd all go back to Africa.

Corder: Now Joe, the fact that somebody happens to have a different color of skin, or speak a different language, doesn't mean that he's inferior.

Joe: Maybe he's not inferior to you, but he sure is to me.

Corder: That's a mighty strange attitude.

Joe: No, it's not at all strange. There are a lot of people who have that attitude.

Corder: But what I mean is that it's not a Christian attitude.

Joe: Maybe it isn't Christian, but it's a church-member attitude.

Corder: Well, ah, Joe, I don't think I'd say that if I were you.

Joe: I know you wouldn't say it. You'd be afraid to say it...

Besides using Joe the Baptist to point up such ticklish Christian problems as race relations, Corder draws a lesson from the fact that Joe can do nothing by himself. Says he: "We are all like Joe ... All of us depend on God for all that we do. Without God we cannot amount to much, but if we let God take the controls of our lives and speak through us, then we can amount to something ... I hope that God has talked through me and through Joe."

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