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There is a godly remedy to the kind of marital tragedies caused by spousal infidelity we’ve been reading so much about lately – The Junebug Café.
The first Saturday of every month at 5 p.m., Michael Lewis, pastor of Redeeming Hearts Outreach Center, transforms.
The ordinarily ‘Dapper Dan’ shuns his domestic gear for a yellow hat, orange mosaic vest, and a multi-colored turquoise tie. His normal, well-spaced smile sports a wide gap, and on his affect-free face hangs taped-together eye glasses that look like they could have been made from Coke-bottles.
Meet Mr. Junebug Wilson, lead character of the Junebug Café, a one-man show that employs humor, the anointing, and question and answer.
In the café, created by Lewis two and a half years ago, the Duke Ellington graduate tackles the issues of marriage and other relationships in a way as non-threatening as Mother Nature’s little junebug creatures.
Offered once a month at Lewis’ church, visiting couples watch the show in an intimate setting of candlelight and refreshments. Lewis also brings the show to other settings, ministering to marriage ministries and other church groups in the metropolitan area.
“He was awesome —hilarious,” said Pastor Christopher Starghill, Minister of Fellowship over the Marriage Ministry of New Macedonia Baptist Church in Washington. “The biblical principles stuck to all of us as we enjoyed his creative presentation. Five principles: Affirmation, quality time, gift of giving, service to one another, and physical touch…. He is so gifted as a comedian and teacher of God’s Word.”
The Junebug character was created years ago when Lewis was a youth pastor at Heart to Heart Christian Center International. For years, Lewis traveled with the show, performing wherever he was invited.
It was only after he’d begun his own church five years ago, that he was prompted to create the café and give Junebug a home.
“When I became a full-time pastor, it was a little much to build the foundation of the church and still minister to other churches; and I was trying to develop our ministers in the church. I don’t know if it was my wife who said, ‘Let’s start here, and then build from here’ but we decided to make it in-house, romantic, table for two, so the couples could really enjoy going out.”
The evening provided by the church is a cost effective date night. The show, with its romantic atmosphere and light refreshments, is free. The church takes up a love offering instead of selling tickets.
When the café travels, as it does throughout the metro area, Lewis negotiates a fee for services. Lewis’ goal is to take the Junebug Café around the country, while setting his church apart as a community theater, attracting young people to work with lighting, sound system, video, and as performers.
Lewis credits the café’s success to the assistance of his crew, Zenobia Broadnax, Acquanetta Newson, Ruby N. Broadnax, his mother. At the end of each performance, he introduces his wife of 27 years, Markeete Lewis. The couple has three children.
“Women come up to me and say how the ministry has blessed them,” said Mrs. Lewis, who, in addition to supporting her husband’s café, is the church administrator and a mentor to women.
“One of the things that Junebug would say is that reconciliation is a powerful tool. God reconciled man back to himself as an illustration of the love we should have one for another,” Mrs. Lewis said. “Keep it simple. If Tiger Woods is on the road a lot; as you travel along the road, you have to make pit stops. If at all possible, why can’t that pit stop be at home? Senior pastors can raise up sons to pastor their churches in other states so that they can maintain their relationships at their home churches. As Junebug would say, ‘What’s wrong wit you?’”
The Junebug Café is located at the Redeeming Hearts Outreach Center, 8900 Edgeworth Drive, Unit B, Capitol Heights, MD. Tickets are available at Jesus Bookstore in Suitland, MD or at Battle’s Bookstore in Washington, D.C. Contact Redeeming Hearts at 301-336-3540, or www.june-bugscafe.com.
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