Al Staggs-Bio

Al made a name for himself in high school with his ability to do impersonations. Shortly after graduation, he won the Arkansas State Sertoma talent show with his rendition of “Lucky Old Sun.” Drafted at 19, during the Vietnam war, Al was trained as a weapons expert, however, recognized for his acting and singing talents, he was fortunate enough to spend his time with the Army in Special Services touring and performing for troops.

Upon leaving the military and entering college, Al’s career plan was to pursue a career in acting. As a freshman, he won the starring role as Mack the Knife in The Three Penny Opera. Nonetheless, a call into pastoral ministry led to a changed course with Al pursuing seminary and chaplaincy training following college graduation with a degree in psychology. He served as youth, college, and young adult minister, music minister, and senior pastor in churches in Texas and New Mexico as well as hospital and hospice chaplain. Through short-term mission work in Latin America, he was drawn to pursue further studies and was chosen as a Charles Merrill-Fellow at Harvard Divinity School. During the completion of a Master of Theology from Harvard with the renowned Harvey Cox as his advisor, he became interested in Liberation Theology and in particular the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Al discovered that he was able to wed his call to the ministry with his love for the performing arts and in 1988 produced his first dramatic, one-man stage play, A View from the Underside: The Legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He has performed this play all over the United States, Canada, and Europe. He went on to subsequently add other one-person stage plays of notable Christian heroes to his repertoire including Clarence Jordan of Koinonia Farms and spiritual father of Habitat for Humanity, William Sloane Coffin, America’s modern-day prophet and former pastor of Riverside Church in Manhattan, Martin Luther, instigator of what was to be the Protestant Reformation, Walter Rauschenbusch, a key figure in the social gospel, and Archbishop Oscar Romero recently canonized and martyred priest from El Salvador.

Challenges in Al’s family of origin contributed to his interest in the field of psychology. Here again, his theological interests were able to intersect with his interest and training in psychology as well as his acting abilities. From this grew his ministry and production of The Laughter for Life Performance. Al is an advocate of Karl Barth’s statement, "Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God." Al is a member of the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor.

In 2008, Al published his first book, a collection of poetry entitled A Pilgrim in Rome: Cries of Dissent, accompanied by endorsements from Walter Brueggemann, Bishop John Shelby Spong, and Bill Moyers. Since then he has published four more books. These along with DVDs of some of his performances are available for purchase.