We are excited to announce the winner our our "Puppets Changed My Life!" contest: Mark Wehlage of Noblesville, IN! 

We challenged our readers to tell us how they have seen puppets change a life - whether an audience member, puppeteer, or adult leader. We received so many entries that our judges found it difficult to pick a favorite. We will be sharing several of these stories over the coming months. Here is Mark's winning story.

"At the age of twelve, I was too old to be a part of our Kid's Church services. To make things worse, the Kid's Church leaders moved away and there was no one to replace them at that time. I was devastated. I LOVED Kid's Church and couldn't imagine our church without it.

A few weeks after I turned twelve, I was helping my parents during a church work day. We were cleaning out an old closet filled with office equipment. I came across a desk drawer full of small hand puppets. You know, the Mister Roger's Neighborhood kind. I was so excited. There were about eight puppets and four cassette tapes with stories and songs on them. With my parents support, I approached our pastor and asked about starting Kid's Church again and doing these puppet skits as the basis for each lesson. He thought that I could do it, and so it began. I have so many stories about the different and sometimes hilarious stages that I built, as well as the many funny things that happened along the way, but that would make this story too long.

I am now 36 and still going with the puppet ministry. I would have never dreamed that I would end up traveling from my home in Indiana to minister in places like the Philippines, Venezuela and over 16 states. Nor did I think that this many years later I would still be performing puppets with my own wife and daughter. It has been a blessing from God to see and experience all that has happened over the last 24 years.

One of the times that I remember so vividly happened when I was 17. I was volunteering in the pediatric ward of our local hospital. I took a puppet with me each week and went from room to room, talking to the kids or singing songs with them. The ward supervisor informed me that I did not need to go into one of the rooms because the six-year-old in the room was blind and would not appreciate the puppet show. The mother of this child saw me in another room and asked if I would come into his room anyway, and let him hear and feel the puppet..

That particular week, I was using a rather odd shaped puppet and thought that it might be very interesting to see his reaction to feeling the strange nose and ears and eyes. I turned on the tape and let him hear the puppet's voice and song, to which he clapped and smiled; but I'll never forget the look on his face as he put his hands on the puppet and his mother described what he was touching. At first he looked confused because of the odd shapes. These were not the nose, ears, eyes and mouth he was used to. As he felt the puppet I started the song again and let him feel the puppet sing. His face lit up brighter than any I have ever seen. He smiled for a moment, and then this child who was suffering from a very painful and terminal illness began to laugh so hard and loud that I can still hear it in my head. Just retelling this story now has made me smile so big that my face hurts. It was a truly amazing experience that I'll never forget."