A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Pulpit: Local Pastor Emerges as Stand-Up Comedian
He’s a rarity, that’s for sure. A guy who’s equally at ease while preaching from the Bible in a church or delivering a punch line at a comedy club. That’s right, State College’s Jonathan Weibel is both an ordained pastor and a professional stand-up comedian. Appropriately enough, he jokes about his curious combination of professions. “I fly a lot,” says the clergy comic, “and one of the first things someone says to you on a plane is, ‘What do you do for a living?’ If I want to talk to them, I tell them I’m a stand-up comedian. And if I’m tired and don’t want to talk to them, I’ll tell them I’m a Baptist evangelist.” Weibel has served in Christian ministry for nearly 40 years. The last 30 years have been spent in the Centre Region, where he’s planted three new churches and served as lead pastor, worship pastor or youth pastor at State College Alliance Church, Penns Valley Community Church and Centre Church. He first got my attention in work that was unrelated to stand-up: serving as the director of Front Yard Mission , a movement designed to bring genuine Christian love to neighborhoods. But then I heard
