CHRISTIAN COMEDIAN MEETS WITH SC STUDENTS

SCOTT CITY -- As a teen-ager, Mike Warnke got rid of all his records, books and stylish clothes in an attempt to make his Christianity stronger.

"I had all these ideas about holiness and they were all external," he said during a meeting of the Impact Bible Club at Scott City High School Wednesday. "But the harder I tried, the harder I failed. I wasn't listening to the Lord."

Warnke, clad in blue jeans, a black turtleneck, denim jacket, and green ball cap, looked more like he was attending classes than offering spiritual advice to the students.

"I'm just like you," he said in an interview following the meeting. "I'm not special; I'm just Mike."

Warnke's down-to-earth attitude is part of his popularity, especially with students. "I'm able to be more intense with them," he said. "I can say things to them that I can't say to an adult because they are more in tune with what's going on than the people who are in a rut and routine. You can be more edgy in a good way. Besides, I have a lot of grandpa vibes in me anyway."

With long, graying hair and an earring, Warnke, 49, doesn't fit the stereotypical image of a grandfather. But he does look like a comedian, which has been his career for the past 20 years.

Warnke, a Christian comedian, learned about his talent almost by accident.

"I started doing my testimony in the '70s when, if you hadn't murdered anybody, then you didn't have a testimony," he said with a laugh. "I have a really horrible testimony but it is really depressing." So Warnke livened it up with some jokes.

"People got more blessed by the jokes than the testimony," he said, adding that he was never known in high school as a class clown. "I was the class cut-up but I was in trouble all the time."

While serving in boot camp, Warnke accepted Christ. He served six and one-half years in the Navy and was stationed in Vietnam.

"I had been through the occult and drugs. Everything you think of to do wrong, I did it," he said. "The real problem with drugs isn't just that it's bad for you; it's just physically dangerous because you can't make a rational decision."

And rational decisions have baffled Warnke from the start of his Christian life. Whenever he got off track, Warnke always felt guilty. "I thought God would send me away," he said. "But God's not looking for excuses to exclude you; he's looking for excuses to include you."

Although Warnke's visit to Scott City was initiated by a local pastor, he met with several high-school students after the club dismissed.

The Impact Bible Club has been meeting at the school for about two years, said Chad Bles, a senior who leads the group. The club has no faculty sponsor.

Randy Morse, pastor at First Assembly of God Church, decided to call Warnke after reading a newsletter article about him.

"I thought I'd just call and see what it takes to book him," he said.

There were no open dates at the time but things changed when Morse called the next week. He talked to Warnke's wife, and added his name to the list for consideration.

"I guess I have the gift of gab and ended up talking to her about my former church," he said, adding that he's only been in Scott City for about two years.

That conversation about reconciliation and forgiveness is probably what led Warnke to call, Morse said. "The next day, Mike called me personally and he said `Hey, brother. do you know who this is?' I knew I'd heard this voice on tape before."

And six months later, Warnke performed two concerts before an audience of more than 200 at the First Assembly of God Church this week.