Sup Juggalos,
First I would like to say Happy Anniversary to the Fellowship Of Juggalos, we have been around for five years. Five years ago I was sitting alone in a Navy barracks room, away from my Family as a geo-bachelor. It was my first time in Virginia as a Juggalo. You see the Carnival found me in New Jersey when I was stationed on USS Detroit AOE-4 and where I lived at Juggalos were sparse and few and far between. I had lived in New Jersey for about 5 years and I knew that eventually I would get stationed in VA. Well it just so happened that wife at the time wasn't ready to transfer yet, so I was there by myself. The Ninjas that I knew at the time and myself included were going through some hard times and I really didn't know how to deal with it and I didn't know where to turn so I turned to the only thing I knew "my last resort". I turned to my faith. Now understand that I say "my last resort" because at the time I was only a Fair-weather Faygo friend when it came to God. I didn't really speak to him just to speak to him. I spoke to him only when I needed something. And once again here I was down on my knees praying and "needing something". I asked what could I do to help them… to help with the personal problems and spiritual problems and the answer I received was quite simply "Love Them". A simple answer to a complex problem. I was ordained by Universal Life Church Sept 11th, 2002.
I started as a Minister for the Va Beach Chapter of Church of the Dark Carnival. Some ninjas have the first few sermons that I wrote with COTDC. I thought to myself that if Psychopathic could say hey screw the Industry we're going to do things our way with our label, then with so many ninjas jaded by the Mainstream Church why couldn't we do things our way? Why couldn't we share in the freedom of religion and the freedom of choice and worship? Why couldn't we be protected by the same Constitutional rights that others enjoy? Mind you that this is all prior to the drop of the Sixth. So we encountered some problems along the way. COTDC and I had some disagreements (no disrespect towards them) so I felt I couldn't continue our mission under the same name because that would be disrespectful. I remember that I racked my brain trying to come up with a name for this new Church. Carlitos was waiting for me for my first sermon at the Zug Izland Wraith Release Party. I was nervous as any man could be speaking in public for the first time. I had bought some extra tickets I figured it would be a great way to break the ice. I went down the line handing out tickets to ninjas who didn't have any and I was pulled aside by Georgie and he was like 'Yo there's this ninja from Oregon who came here on a bus with no place to sleep or a ticket'. So he took me to him and I was like 'Do you need a ticket?' Here you go homie. This grown ass ninja started to tear up. We managed to hook him up with a ticket and a place to stay for the night. You see I've never heard Juggalos be spiritual at this point and when I gave my sermon about how I didn't want to see us become a dysfunctional family and talked about faith. Where ninjas we're once carrying on before a concert which they usually do, there was silence. They actually listened. This ninja that I gave a ticket to stood up in front of a crowd of 200 people and said 'I had no ticket, no place to sleep, just my bag and a bus ticket back to Oregon, but I knew that God would provide, I am a Christian Juggalo and I'm proud of it.' There was a loud WOOP WOOP from the crowd and I never felt more confident in what I was doing in my life. Now Carlitos had been waiting patiently for the name of this new Church. I had seen a church while I was driving around that had letters Fellowship Of Christ. I thought, well I can't call it that because not every Juggalo is Christian, and I can't make it a Pagan Church because I'm not Pagan and not every Juggalo is Pagan. So besides the different religious backgrounds and philosophies, how could we have a place of worship that focused on the real life problems faced by every Juggalo and was more into Cultural and Spiritual Awareness instead of Segregation. What could we call a church that didn't focus on who's right and who's wrong and gave people choice, gave people freedom instead of telling everyone they were going to hell every 5 minutes. What did we all have in common? Duh, we were all Juggalos. So thus Nov 4th 2002, the Fellowship Of Juggalos was born.
Now I made a lot of mistakes. I was traveling into uncharted territory. Never was a Minister before. The only thing I had known about running anything was from what I had learned from the Navy. Never truly took charge of anything and having ownership of it. But the best thing about those mistakes was the lessons that was learned from them. I have written a vast amount of sermons, my Ministry has performed three weddings, two of them were done by myself. We have baptized countless ninjas into their faith and culture under the Carnival (whichever interpretation you may choose). We have met and spoken to all walks of Life. We've changed lives. We've brought a focus to ninjas that they didn't have prior to, the focus of Faith, the Focus of common goals, the focus of taking care of one another and betterment of their own individual lives. I wanted to share with my Juggalo Family and wanted them to want to share with me. I have seen Juggalos turn to Faith and it didn't matter how they interpreted the Carnival. I don't care, believe in Christ, believe in Philosophy, believe in Nature, but most of all I wanted ninjas to Believe In Themselves. I wanted to see ninjas take an active interest in their Family and Culture. I wanted to see ninjas take an active interest in their Faith.
FOJ has accomplished so much in the past 5 years. We have remained vigilant through the most trying of times. We have seen old faces and new. We have spanned across the globe and continue to open more Chapters as we speak. We have worked closely with our good friends and affiliates Juggalo Faith.com, Juggalo Care Package, MyJuggaloSpace.com and United Juggalo Fellowship to give something back to the Family that we love so dearly. The future is very bright. With FOJ's improved staff to include hard working members of Wicked Wyatt's MSN staff as well as various volunteers (our home girl Kim (Giggles) ). We continue to strive forward in a manner I have never dreamed possible. We should have tax exempt status by the end of 2008. We have merch, we have helped the homeless, we have given hope to those who had none. There is still so much more to do. I would like to see FOJ be as common as First Baptist Church. I would like to see ninjas be able to walk down the street with pride unharrassed because of their culture. I would like to see a bill board up on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel with a sign that has the FOJ Crest and says welcome to Virginia Beach home of the Fellowship Of Juggalos.
For some of you reading this it is a little difficult for you to fully capture what was going on in my head the Sunday that I had given this sermon. Some of you will no doubt to onto YouTube and view it for yourself and still be perplexed. Some of you may shame me for how I handled my emotions on that day. The Flyer at which was sent out to promote this event read "All Good Things Must Come to an End."
I have given up my children three times prior to this Deployment for the Navy. I had to give up my youngest son Demitri, knowing that I would not be able to see him walk or be there when he said Daddy for the first time. I had to give up my oldest son not knowing if he would embrace his Juggalo culture or follow the influences of his mother's secular mind state. Hoping that even though I only saw him once a month that he would still remember who his father is…. You know it's just like having a child, I had watch the Fellowship grow from a simple coffee shop meetup to packing ninjas in the living room to now we have to get a conference room until we can get a government grant to build a building. I have seen the metamorphosis of myself and others as we tip toe trying our feet for the first time to now taking strides of confidence and purpose. And as I said goodbye to my oldest of children, my first born, I reflected on how far they had come from needing my help "hold me, love me,… help me" to now being independent and saying "it's okay Rev… I can do it". And as I watched the grasp of her little hands, now much older, slip from mine to take on the world, the last bit of words I could give was "Stand Tall, Stand Strong and remember Daddy Loves You". You can call me a bitch for crying, you can call me soft for showing true emotion, but I have watched these ninjas grow up. I have laughed with them, held them in their rage, listened to them, and wiped away their tears and now they would wipe away mine.
The Virginia Beach/Norfolk Chapter of the Fellowship Of Juggalos has officially turned over. It is now in the capable hands of Rev. Batman and his staff. I look towards the future as I continue my duties as Presiding Minister and develop my Arch Minister's and my own staff so that we can share the good news of FOJ to places across the globe. Yes I still watch and I shall still preach and to some of you it will not even so much change. You will still get your sermons once a week from me, you will still see my face from time to time. FOJ is still in my comforting hands and I shall watch her grow like a seed. But as for Virginia Beach, as for my confident and long time friend Rev. Batman…. This shipmate, this Reverend, this brother, this father… stands relieved.
MCL
Rev. Last Rite
Presiding Minister, Founder
Fellowship Of Juggalos
