A Perthshire minister is throwing himself at the mercy of the public to raise money for a good cause.
From Sunday the Reverend Marc Bircham, minister of St Madoes and Kinfauns Parish Church, will travel around Scotland for five days visiting various locations and landmarks, carrying out a series of bizarre tasks, physical challenges and “random acts of kindness” along the way.
Mirroring the Yes Man film starring Jim Carrey, which was based on the book from Dundee author and TV personality Danny Wallace, Mr Bircham has absolutely no idea where he will end up or what he will be doing.
The Facebook audience will decide his days, with the highest bidder choosing the next day’s random task.
Along the way he hopes to raise £8,000 for the Madoch Centre, a new £1.5 million church and community hub for the Carse of Gowrie.
With a sense of trepidation about what is in store, Mr Bircham said: “I am hoping to survive the week.”
For the less kind who wish to set a challenge Mr Bircham has admitted to various challenges he would prefer not to face.
“There is lots of stuff I don’t want to do,” he said. “I’m not keen to handle any dangerous animals and I’m not that keen on water.”
The difficultly is he has no idea what lies ahead so has been unable to prepare in any meaningful way.
“I have cycled from Inverness to St Madoes, I climbed 11 Munros in 10 hours, have done the three peaks challenge and walked the West Highland Way,” he said.
“This is a unique challenge because all the others allowed me to prepare and train but this one…I’m completely in the dark.
“I could get lost – I have been known to walk all night to find my way to where I was staying. Difficult to say given that I don’t know what’s ahead.
“If you spot me on my travels make sure you go on the page and post ‘I recognised the Rev with your location.”
To follow Mr Bircham’s challenges go to his Facebook page “I’m a minister, get me out of here” which gives details of how to support the cause.
Although he doesn’t start until Sunday, people have been floating some ideas with waterskiing and dressing as a fairy distinct possibilities.
Following in the footsteps of the Yes Man
The idea of being open to all suggestions was explored by Danny Wallace from Dundee in his comedy/memoir novel Yes Man.
Based upon a year of the author’s life in which he chose to say “yes” to any offers that came his way, it was also loosely adapted into the 2008 film Yes Man starring Jim Carrey, reaching a worldwide audience.
In the book Wallace finds himself recently single and falling into loneliness and isolation.
When a stranger on a bus advises, “say yes more,” Wallace vows to say yes to every offer, invitation, challenge, and chance.
In Yes Man he recounts his commitment to complete openness and the new experiences it brings from trips abroad with newly made friends to romance.
After the experiment was over Wallace said it had changed his view on how to approach life.
“I certainly say ‘yes’ a lot more than I used to,” he said. “And I try and say ‘yes’ more wherever I can.”
In the film the story is reset in America but the adaptation proved a major success.