Spirit at Work presents   Thursday, April 16th, 2009           12:00 - 1:30 p.m. Spirit on Stage: Humour and Disability with David Roche, Stand-up Comedian, Inspirational Humourist, and Author of The Church of 80% Sincerity: “the church of choice for recovering perfectionists.” How can we make our shadow side...                                     ...a gift to ourselves and others? Born with a severe facial disfigurement, he endured many surgeries and heavy radiation therapy as an infant and child. He’s had people spit on him and call him a monster. He was even rejected from a seminary because his appearance would "bring him disrespect as a priest," he was told. Yet inspirational humourist David Roche, author and international speaker, has transformed his disability into a source of compelling spiritual growth and positive motivation for others. He says: “My face is a gift, because my shadow side – my difficulty and challenge – is on the outside, where I have been forced to deal with it.” Join David as he shares poignant and comic lessons gleaned from life with a disability and his spiritual journey. He’ll also offer an inspirational peek inside his self-created concept, The Church of 80% Sincerity: “the church of choice for recovering perfectionists.”                                   click here to RSVP  or  phone: 604.685-6560 DATE:           Thursday, April 16, 2009  –  12:00 - 1:30 pm LOCATION:   Main Floor, Conference Rooms, Terasen Building,                      1111 W. Georgia St. (at Thurlow), Vancouver Cost:             Without lunch: $10                      With lunch:  non-members - $20;  members - $15 Lunch:          Catered sandwiches, salad, tea and coffee                               __________________________ About our Speaker: David Roche is a stand-up comedian, author and international motivational speaker. He performed his signature one-man show, "The Church of 80% Sincerity," at the Clinton White House, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC and the Olympics Arts Festival in Sydney, Australia. He has also headlined across the U.S., Canada, England, New Zealand, Australia and Russia, and garnered media attention around the globe, including a profile by Paula Zahn on CNN. David is author of the book, The Church of 80% Sincerity (Perigree 2008), and was featured in Anne Lamott’s New York Times bestseller Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith. He and his wife, Marlena Blavin, have also presented "Love at Second Sight," a program for adolescents about appearance, acceptance and diversity. David has been featured in four films, including Shameless, a 2006 feature-length documentary by Bonnie Sherr Klein from the National Film Board of Canada. And in 2005, he received the Martin Luther King "Humanitarian of the Year" Award from California’s Marin County Human Rights Commission. Here’s what some people have said about David and his work: “What’s most striking, and finally moving, is the way he both draws attention to his disfigurement and makes the audience see beyond it as well.”     -- Steven Winn, San Francisco Chronicle “In laughing at himself, David Roche tricks us into laughing at ourselves, and thus disarmed, we dare to challenge our fears and assumptions.”     -- Bonnie Sherr Klein, Award-winning Documentary Filmmaker and Author                click here to RSVP  or  phone: 604.685-6560 back to top