Is it okay to laugh in church? Public relations executive Patti Webster seems to think so! Patti talks with Gayle about the importance of laughter, being a Christian in the public relations business and about her book It Happened in Church: Stories of Humor from the Pulpit to the Pews.
Raised in a preacher's home, Patti has a long list of clergy in her family: her great-grandmother, grandmother, grandfather and mother have all been pastors. Patti gathered humorous stories from friends, pastors and celebrities to feature in her book. "I think that if God created laughter, it isn't to be excluded from church," Patti says. "I think laughter is to be used everywhere."
Patti says her clients—including Janet Jackson, Jermaine Dupri, Usher, Patti LaBelle, Halle Berry and Oprah Radio host Holly Robinson Peete—turn to her not only for business advice, but for honest guidance in life as well. When Gayle asks Patti what it's like to work in a business that can be "not Christian-like," Patti says her job doesn't define who she is. "I don't compromise who I am and what I believe. That's how I live," she says.
Patti says she wants to break the stereotype that churches are stoic, stringent and rigid places. "I look at church as a place of grace and love and peace and restoration and repentance and renewal and laughter," she says. "Laughter is such a healing flow."
