Joey to the World

Joey to the World is a dynamic conference for Christian Creative Arts performers, children's ministers, and entertainers. Some of the best in the industry come together to teach trade secrets, skills, and practical ways to present different performing arts. Although JOEY began as a convention for clowns and balloon twisters in 1994, today JOEY is much more than that. Our current varied instuction atracts performers of all trades. Magicians, Clowns, Comedians, Jugglers, Child Evangelists, Children's ministers, puppeteers, and many other joeys come together under one roof, for ONE purpose: To learn new skills that will be used for Glorifying the name of Christ by presenting the gospel message through creative arts.

History of Joey to the World:

JTTW began with an idea of Ralph Dewey. Ralph, a world renown balloon sculpting artist, decided it would be a good idea for Christian clowns to get together and share ideas. Ralph has written many books, with instructions for everything from beginner to advanced ballooning as well as clown ministry. In 1993, Ralph asked the Jesters for Jesus at Sagemont Church in Houston if they would be interested in holding a clown rally. In 1994 the first rally was held with very little advertising. That year there were 91 in attendance. Each year thereafter God just kept doubling the numbers, and it wasn’t long before Joey was a full-fledged convention…not just a rally. At one time there were approximately 600 attending and current numbers average between 150 to 200. Today JTTW is one of the largest and oldest conventions where one can learn the art of gospel clowning, magic, comedy, drama, balloon sculpting, facepainting, story telling, and more...

After a few years, Ralph excused himself from the planning of JTTW and placed it in the hands of a core committee of Kay Reed, Phyllis Bentley, John Sheffield, and Brenda Marshall. More recently the committee consisted of Phyllis (securing lectures and vendors) and Kay (receiving registration and acting as liaison with the church). The clowns of Sagemont’s Jesters for Jesus continued to volunteer their time to help make the conferences run smoothly.

After 18 years in Houston, Kay and Phyllis decided to give Joey to a new core committee in a new location. Moving to North Texas in 2013, JTTW will began holding the annual conference in the DFW area with a core committee consisting of Andy and Rhea Anderson and Brenda Marshall.

After the 2016 conference, the committee decided it was time to pass along the responsibility of putting together JTTW. The committe waned to place this treasure in the hands of someone who loves the Lord and understands the importance of the ministry aspect of JOEY. After some months of dialog and prayer, the committee chose Rafael Rondon "Bombín" who will operate JTTW under the umbrella of Creative Internationsl Ministries, Inc. A recognized 501c3 non-profit ministry registered in the State of Texas.

Bombín, as most people know him, has been an active part of JTTW for almost every year since 1999. He has thought hundreds of JTTS attendees with passion and love for the ministry. Rafael has served as an evangelist through clowning and magic for over 25 years accross the USA and at least a dozen other countries internationally. In all of those places he has shared the good news of Jesus Christ with the use of creative arts.

This conference has always been viewed as a ministry building endeavor. With that in mind, the cost to attend Joey has remained low enough for anyone interested to be able to attend. JTTW does not seek to be a for profit event, but a ministry training event.

Over the years, all of those producing Joey to the World have been committed to inviting some of the top Christian Entertainers in the USA to lecture and/or perform at the conference. The new administration plans to continue the commitment to quality education for those using creative ministries in their home churches and around the world.