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We’ve all witnessed the hand of God on an anointed singer as she serenades an audience into soulful submission or an ordained minister as he exhorts a stricken congregation to return to the righteous fold.  These blessed gifts - singing and preaching - are tools from the Father that incite contrition and salvation.  These gifts are ordained instruments for the sole purpose of winning souls for the Kingdom. 

Now, what if it were possible to break the shackles of deceit and despair, turn lives and lost souls around, without uttering a single word or melody; wouldn’t that be a manifestation of God’s presence in the room?  A couple of fraternal brothers from Pittsburgh, PA – Karl & Keith Edmonds – have been anointed with such powerful gifts that being in their presence as they witness will likely induce tears, melt hearts and initiate uncontrollable worship for the Creator. 

Karl & Keith, better known as K&K Mime, have drawn inspiration and ideas from a lost art first made popular in the ancient Greco-Roman Empires, and have retooled this graceful expression, known as pantomime, to kindle a fire in the hearts of men and women.

K&K Mime are widely known as the Godfathers of Gospel Mime, an artistic, choreographed, liturgical performance that reinterprets the lyrical content and powerful crescendos found in Gospel music.  The result is an emotional outpouring and spiritual climax from the audience that’s generated by lovely movements, controlled and timely gesticulations.  K&K Mime are by far the masters in this ministry.  Their ministry has drawn admiration and support from the likes of Dr. Bobby Jones, Pastor Donnie McClurkin and Kirk Franklin.  And their appeal has spawned a new generation of mime artists across the country.

BLACKGOSPEL.COM spoke with Keith and Karl about how this awe-inspiring ministry found its wings.  Karl and Keith were out of character and costume, as they shared a bundle on their burgeoning ministry that’s taking the Black church by storm.

Christopher Heron: Why is mime such an appealing form of expression and ministry with African-Americans particularly born-again African-Americans?

K&K (Keith Edmonds): It’s a form of communication, it’s an art form.  Black folks are very creative in their art form expression.  Of course, as far as the Body is concerned, we are led by the Holy Spirit.  Being creative doesn’t really come from us, we don’t get the credit, the credit goes to God.

K&K (Karl Edmonds): Because what we do is a different type of art; it's a different type of mime.  When we started eighteen years ago, we were young and naive.  It was something we knew about, but we didn’t know where it came from.  When we started Gospel mime, it was something different and unique; Black churches accepted it much later after many years.  It was kind of hard for them to accept because of the white make-up; they didn’t have an understanding of what it represented.  The white make-up brings out the facial expressions. People understand your facial expressions from a distance better with white make-up when you’re smiling or when you’re crying or when you’re upset, sad or happy.

It’s also important to understand that Black people have always loved theatre.  Theatre has been in their blood for years.  It’s a way to freely express themselves.  They appreciate dance, they appreciate liturgical dance.  Now, we've also performed in a lot of White churches and it's been real receptive with them as well.  But it has a special appeal to Black people because it is a different form of ministry.  It's not another great Gospel choir leaping, jumping, shouting and screaming; mime ministry is a different way to express worship with Gospel music.  That is why there are so many new mime artists all over the country.  This art form is a part of many tours.  We had the opportunity to be a part of the Kirk Franklin Tour and we performed before a secular audience.  They received it well, they loved it.  It’s different, just a different way to express ourselves.

K&K (Keith): We traveled to Japan and it was an awesome experience.  They were very receptive to the art of mime although we were ministering to them.  Although we were ministering in English, they still understood the gestures because they’re familiar with the gestures, the movements.  We even had to change some of our movement because some of the movements we perform here in America are offensive in Japan. 

CH: K&K Mime is widely seen as the godfathers or forerunners of Gospel mime.  Where did the inspiration for mime as a form of ministry first begin for you, and did you both feel that this was your gifting from God?

K&K (Karl): This began eighteen years ago.  The idea really came from our mother, in a way.  She made us act out the words to the scriptures.  She used to read scriptures and we had to act out the words as she was reading them.  At that time we didn’t have make-up, so Keith and I thought that we would put a little bit more excitement into it.  We put white makeup on our face and said, "Let’s do it to Gospel music, since we’re Gospel music lovers."  (We've been Gospel music lovers for years.)  We said, "Let's incorporate drama in this type of art with music."  When we first did it, people loved it, standing ovations, so we were like, "Okay, this works."  It was something that we really enjoyed doing.  So from there on, we just continued to perform this way.  We both loved art; we both loved what we were doing, we appreciated people calling us the fathers or godfathers of Gospel mime.  Nowadays, there are churches, youth groups and even older people doing this kind of ministry across the country.  And so we’re humbled to be called the godfathers of Gospel mime.

CH: It is very beautiful to see your ministry at this stage now received with such universal acceptance; you are nationally and internationally known.  Did you have to confront many detractors “from the jump,” and win over a lot of skeptics?  Or was this kind of ministry one that just needed people to experience it before they understood it was a blessing from God?

K&K (Keith): I think the winning of souls has definitely played a major role in what we do.  It is definitely the key to what we do, it is the reason why we do what we do - to win souls.  We definitely had to face a lot of doubters, a lot of people who thought that this ministry would not go anywhere or do anything.  A lot of people thought we wouldn’t be as successful as we are with it now.  But thank God, He also placed in us knowledge for business.  It doesn’t just stop at miming; we definitely have the business side to what we do which plays a big role in our success.

However, I think that anytime there is anything new in the Gospel industry, or anything new period, people will have their doubts.  People will think it’s not going to work, especially in the church.

I remember back in the day when Karl and I would run into deacons who would be very upset with us.  They would attack us because they felt like we were "barging in" on their territory or turf.  With this type of ministry, they thought putting on make-up and wearing the robes was offensive.  God created this new art form of ministry, God of course has more say to anything, and it was eventually accepted because people saw the ministry side of it.  It wasn’t just entertainment, it wasn’t just show and it wasn’t just for us to do something.  This ministry is given by God.

CH:  When choreographing your performances, what goes into the selection of finding that particular anointed song for K&K Mime, then preparing that interpretation for those songs through you graceful and animated expressions?

K&K (Karl):  We get a lot of requests from gospel artists to do their songs.  We let God choose the songs for us.  God has really given us each and every song that we have ministered with.  God gives us songs that people can relate to on a daily basis. You know how right now, you need a ‘right-now’ word.  God has given us a ‘right-now’ mime for the ‘right-now’ song, so as we choreograph, we know it’s God.  We deal with songs that people hand to us and God says, “It’s not time.”  We notice that it seems to take a little bit longer to come up with choreography to these pieces when it’s not God-ordained for that time.  So God has given us songs like Standard by Witness - that took only an hour to choreograph.  And people just loved it; they were touched by it.  We’ve choreographed songs in two days like Stand by Donnie McClurklin.  It was a right now word, and it’s still popular.

K&K (Keith):  There’s been a lot of time when we were requested to do songs for special presentations.  We did a tribute to Della Reaves at the Gospel Heritage Awards and the song was Touched by an Angel.  So it hasn’t always been by the leading of God.  We’ve been requested to do certain songs for special presentations and we’ve always accepted.

K&K (Karl): On the human side, if Kirk Franklin called us and said I want you to do this song for this particular project, or if The Williams Brothers want us to participate, like they did on their DVD, or on Lexi’s new album, we will because, number one, we’re all friends in the industry.   It’s not always a situation where we say, “Let me pray about it…I’ll call you in a few weeks and we’ll see what the Lord says.”  It’s not always that deep.

CH: When a singer is in performance mode, they sometimes rely on what they perform to get them through a set, yet sometimes the Spirit takes over.  They begin to improvise according to how the Spirit moves them.  Has that happened to K&K Mime in the midst of a mime presentation?  And how would that affect your brother relying on you in a rehearsed set when to be in sync with the presentation?

K&K (Keith): There is something that I’ve learned in ministry.  When you are the minister, the pastor, the bishop or the mime, whatever you do I believe that when you do get in front of people you are accountable for everything that’s said and done.  When we minister in mime, we don’t get caught up in ourselves.  The need is not for us to be fed; the need is to feed the people.  We have to meet the people’s needs.  We don’t want to fall out of the song because we need something or because we need to be touched by God.  Before you minister or preach to the people, you should have already been straightened out and received what God has for you.  When you’re ministering, you’re ministering to the people.  You want the people to be blessed; you want the people to receive what you’re giving.  So in essence, we’ve never fallen out of character; we’ve never fallen out of our ministry time, our ministry mode, let me put it that way.  We’re there for the people.

CH: No Restraints: Keeping the Worship Alive is your best and most ambitious offering for public consumption.  Tell us a little about this recording and how it shows your ongoing artistic evolution?

K&K (Karl): No Restraints has definitely been a blessing to the people.  We’ve taken it to another dimension.  We’ve gone beyond the verbal dimensions, but putting this type of art on DVD has been a task.  This project is completely different.  The reason we titled it “No Restraints: Keeping the Worship Alive” is because we noticed a lot of people were caught up in traditional ways of doing things, which prevents them from seeing God.  Restraints prevent us from worship, experiencing or being in the middle of worship, those things which are restraints (like poverty).

It reminds me of the book of Job.  When Job went through everything that he went through, when he lost everything he had, when he lost his children, he had restraints.  He had sickness in his body.  But when he lost his children, he still worshiped God.  He made worship a part of his life.  So, he broke those chains that were binding him in his mind and spirit.  He said “I’m going to worship God regardless of what I go through.”  On this project, we wanted to take it to a different dimension and demonstrate how one can bring change and keep worship as a part of one’s life.

K&K (Keith): That title No Restraints, Keeping The Worship Alive is a ‘right-now’ word.  It goes back to what Karl was saying earlier, being led by God and instructed to do particular things for that particular season.  Our DVD has changed many lives.  We get so many e-mails about how our project changed lives completely.  It’s given people another perspective on worship and what they need to do to prepare themselves for worship.  I’m talking about 360 degree turns.  That’s what we hear all the time.  They see us demonstrate worship in the choreography we do.

CH: Is there still a lot of ministry left in K&K Mime?

K&K (Both): Oh yes!

K&K (Karl): We’re coming out with more projects which include an instructional DVD called All Access: The Secrets Behind Gospel Mime.  A lot of groups want to know how we do what we do.  How can you put the makeup on correctly?  What type of gloves to use?  Why do you wear only certain outfits?  These are questions people ask and we’re excited about that.  We also have something called the American Gospel Mime Search.  We’re looking for different mime groups.  Our plan is to eventually create a compilation DVD featuring different mime groups.  This is to give other mime groups opportunities because we know that we’re not the only one with gifts and talents.  There are other groups who want to do this type of ministry and make it a career.

K&K (Keith): We’re also preparing an autobiography on DVD; people want to know about lives.  They want to know where we came from, what we’ve been through and what are our struggles.  Our book will deal with issues we dealt with as young people.  We’re also doing a mime conference in 2006.  So we have a whole lot of things that are in the plans.  We’re also looking for mime groups for our film label.  We’ll actually manage mime groups, sign them to our label, produce them and recording them.  We want to do all of these things to keep this kind of ministry on the market.

K&K (Karl): We definitely are busy, always on the road.  We’re looking forward to doing a major tour; nothing like this has ever been done before.  When I say ‘tour’, I mean full - with special effects - a huge production God is going to bring to fruition.

CH: Many people may or may not know that you are identical twins and so you share a very special relationship.  How much of a factor are those special fraternal ties in your connection on and off the stage?

K&K (Karl): We're always in sync with each other whether it’s onstage or offstage.  We know what the other person is thinking when it comes to business.  We keep our space or distance at what we do best because Keith handles the business aspects of the ministry.  I’m more into the creative aspect.  We both put fingers in one another’s pots but with permission of course.

For more information on K&K Mime, visit their official website at www.kkmime.com. To contact K&K Mime for speaking engagements and performances, send your emails to kmarmontgroup@aol.com.