Viewpoints from Florida

Wade Henry—Juggler Extraordinaire Delights and Uplifts the Crowd

Wade Henry may look like an ordinary guy, but appearances can be deceiving. True, he’s up early for a quick bite to eat and off to work like the rest of us. But "work" is juggling chain saws or eating fire while riding a 12-foot unicycle.

In his "Meet a Scientologist" video at www.Scientology.org, Henry demonstrates some of the tools of his trade.

Fresh out of college with a business degree in 1995, Henry, now 38, decided to tour the world before settling down. He certainly toured, but chances are he’ll never settle down.

Halfway around the planet from his native Toronto when he ran out of money in Sydney, Australia, he created an act he could perform on the streets for tips. But natural entertainer that he is, he enjoyed the "work" so much, he has made it his lifelong career.

It was also in Sydney that Henry found Scientology, picking up and reading a copy of Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health.

"I had questions about our spiritual nature," says Henry. "Reading books by L. Ron Hubbard, it was clear he not only had answers but also a practical technology that works."

Returning home to Toronto, Henry continued with his Scientology studies. At the Church of Scientology of Toronto, he met and married wife Helen, a single mother of five, and instantly became the patriarch of a large and happy family that has grown to include a son-in-law and two grandchildren.

Now living in Clearwater, Florida, the couple manage his business, The Wade Henry Show. They have used administrative technology developed by L. Ron Hubbard to evolve it from street entertainment to a thriving career with Henry performing nearly 600 shows a year, mostly at festivals and fairs with the occasional corporate event.

"As a performer, Scientology has helped me communicate and develop rapport with my audiences," Henry says.

It has also helped him concentrate.

"I cannot be juggling a chain saw in front of hundreds of people and have my mind wandering into problems that I have back at home or things that happened last week," he says. "I need to be in the here and now and Scientology has helped me do that."

Henry loves entertaining, and the best part of it is the people.

"What I like about being a performing artist is going into communities and uplifting people," Henry says. "I get them away from the television sets and extricated from the virtual world and I deliver shows that bring them up and make them feel more alive."

And being alive is what it’s all about.

"Being a Scientologist is an adventure," says Henry, "and I'm an adventurer. So I love being a Scientologist."

Watch the Wade Henry video on www.Scientology.org.

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The popular "Meet a Scientologist" profiles on the Church of Scientology International Video Channel at Scientology.org now total 200 broadcast-quality documentary videos featuring Scientologists from diverse locations and walks of life. The personal stories are told by Scientologists who are educators, teenagers, skydivers, a golf instructor, a hip-hop dancer, IT manager, stunt pilot, mothers, fathers, dentists, photographers, actors, musicians, fashion designers, engineers, students, business owners and more.

A digital pioneer and leader in the online religious community, in April 2008 the Church of Scientology became the first major religion to launch its own official YouTube Video Channel, which has now been viewed by millions of visitors.

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