64.5 million viewers

Jimmy Sites has just agreed to be a master class instructor at MasterWorks Festival this summer! His show Spiritual Outdoor Adventures is seen in 37 million households, with a potential viewing audience of 64.5 million, plus over 700,000 listeners on his weekly radio show of the same name.

We'll be performing William Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream , under the direction of Harvey Johnson, who directed Anne of Green Gables last year.

Also returning are Patricia Mauceri, a regular on One Life to Live, and Susan Somerville Brown, who was in the closing company of CATS on Broadway. I'll be directing the program again.

The dates for 2006 are June 25-July 23. If you or a young artist you know is interested in exceptional training as an actor (the program also has world-class artists teaching piano, guitar, dance, opera, and every orchestral instrument) send them to MasterWorksFestival.org.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Joyce and I are celebrating the day with our pastors' family and their dog, Willie, pictured here.

This season we're quite grateful for your prayer support throughout the year. We've certainly felt it!

May the Lord bless you and yours.

In Christ alone,
Rich & Joyce

Embarking on a Great Adventure

I met with Roger Nelson while I was in Long Beach, CA, to firm up plans for our Off-Broadway run at Theatre 315 in April. We now have a rough draft of our website up and running: RichDrama.com/OffBroadway. It now shows which play will be performed on which days. Watch this blog to find out when tickets are available.

We're figuring that our budget will be about $10,000, and we'd love to have you partner with us in this endeavor by making a tax-deductible contribution:

Go to A1ManPlay.com and click on Donations in the left column.

Follow the instructions, to donate either by PayPal or with a credit card.

On the final screen there will be a window that says, "Message to Seller." Please put the code "BTC NYC" in that window.

If you prefer to donate with a check, make it out to "The Friends of John Wesley" and send it to:

The Friends of John Wesley
Attn: BTC NYC
1716 1/4 Sierra Bonita
Pasadena, California 91104

Please put "BTC NYC" in the memo.

Either way you contribute, in January you'll receive a letter thanking you for your tax-deductible contribution.

Thanks so much for helping us bring these plays to the Broadway community.

You can also contribute by making purchases through my online Book Store.

This is what it's all about!

I was just a part of a Salvation experience! I got together with friends to pray for a fellow. As we were determining his need one of us asked him, "If God asks you why He should let you into heaven, what would you say?" The man said he'd point out the good things he'd done: reading the Bible, going to church (for at least 25 years), helping people. We helped him to see there's nothing we can do to earn our way into heaven. It's only by asking Jesus to forgive us of our sins that we can be assurred of a place in heaven and have his power for our lives on earth. He eagerly prayed for that kind of assurance.

If you don't have that kind of assurance, read on.

Greetings from Boston Harbor

Some of the fall foliage on the way up here was breathtaking! I know from having lived here for a year and a half we're certified Leaf Peepers.

Be a Hero

In August I was on the faculty of the Salvation Army's TAM Concervatory (August Archive: the 8th through the 14th)

We had a guest speaker there named Vergilio. He told us about his work with children who lost both of their parents to AIDS. The theme of the week was Be a Hero, so the youth decided to be heroes by raising money for an orphanage in Nigeria that Vergilio said needed it the most. These young people challenged themselves to raise $10,000 by December 1, and $50,000 by the time they return to TAM next August. They've raised $8030.02, which means they have less than two weeks for the remaining $1969.98 of their first goal.

If you'd like to help them help AIDS orphans in Africa, I encourage you to purchase a DVD of the final program at the Conservatory. It was filmed by students in the AV track. The piece I directed is called "The Heroes of Righteousness and Justice," and you should also watch for "The Story of Rachel" directed by Susan Somerville Brown.

The DVDs are $15 (suggested donation), and I'll cover the postage for the six that I have. Click here now for instructions on how to order.

Good job.

Tony Campolo is pictured here as he addresses the Men's Retreat for my church's district (Church of the Nazarene). Dr. Campolo's been something of a hero of mine since college, when some of his books were required reading for my sociology degree. My sociology mentor, Mike Allen, quoted Campolo often.

So it was an honor to perform an excerpt from my latest play, Beyond the Chariots, before he spoke yesterday morning. And I was thrilled to hear him say, "Good job."

You can order Dr. Campolo's four talks for $15. Make it out to Valley Community Church and send it to:

Mike Saloomey
50 Gretna Hill Rd
Pleasant Valley, NY 12569

Make sure to include a return address. Expect a couple of weeks for processing and handling.

I missed the announcement!

I snapped this shot thinking the stewardess would make the announcement any second to turn off all things electronic. Shortly after snapping the flaps popped up and we were on the ground. That makes this the lowest shot I've taken of NYC from the air since the days of my Pentax K1000.

Wish I'd missed the announcement that night we banked over Times Square.

Praise God for closed doors!

I was going to perform Beyond the Chariots (RichDrama.com/BeyondtheChariots) tonight, but as we got close to finalizing, the pastor who was arranging my performance discovered that another pastor had already contracted with a band to perform that night.

So I was blessed with a marvelous dinner with Dan and Lydia (see below), and then by Rodney and Katherine! The light of the pool was turned off by the time I got to my room, but it's down there in one of the dark spots in this photo. I went there to relax in the jacuzzi and ended up having a marvelous divine appointment with this pastor and his wife on a second honeymoon here in Cancun...well that's where they would have been if it hadn't been hit by a hurricane. They redirected to this tropical paradise (actually the Lord blessed them with 79 degrees when they got off the plane) so they could visit The International House of Prayer (IHOP.org).

Where ever, when ever you're reading this, someone is praying there.

Please join me in praying that God will use the IHOP to inspire Rodney and Katherine to the next level of their ministry.

Greetings from Kansas City

I'm in the Missouri side of the city for a Graceworks (GraceworksInc.com) presentation tomorrow, and I talked my friend, Dan, and Mom's cousin, Lydia, into joining me for dinner.

Dan used to speak at the junior high camps in NY, where I performed for a number of years. He continues to speak at youth events (Dan.Milette.com).

Lydia is involved in three ministries, including one to bikers called Church in the Wind (no website yet).

My students praising!

David Ivany is Territorial Youth Secretary for the Salvation Army. He works with youth and youth workers across Canada and Bermuda. He's grateful both nations are a part of the same territory since he's required to make visits!

I just found some of my students from the Territorial School of Music and Gospel Arts (see August 26-September 5 on my blog) on David's site: StartTheRevolution.blogspot.com. I can definitely recognize nine, right there in the front!

Pray for my students and for David, that planted seeds will be watered and bear much fruit.

National Prayer Breakfast

The National Prayer Breakfast is about to begin.

If you go to MasterMediaIntl.org and sign in as a Guest, you'll see Peter Parros, who was one of our master class instructors at MasterWorks. He's pictured above with myself and Susan Somerville Brown.

Lift up all those in the industry that attend, that watch the DVD later, and that will be influenced by this breakfast in some way.

Sunday is declared a National Media Prayer Day. Feel free to post a prayer in the comments below. (If you're reading this as an email, click the link at the bottom, then scroll to the bottom of the page).

You can also pray for the 365 most influential leaders and artists in the media by ordering, printing, or sending to your PDA the Media Leader Prayer Calendar at their site.

Changing my calendar

You know it's been a busy year, when you have't found the time to flip your calendar since August!

Pray all that scattered seed will be watered and grow!