Asking Jesus about Forgiveness

Joyce teaches on Matthew 18:21-35. Dr. Linda Warren opens the service in prayer.

Click the arrow below, or if you're reading this in an email you can click this link, to play the service:



Here's the imagery Joyce used toward the end...



This service is available for download free on iTunes, where you can also subscribe to our podcast. Search for "Westchester Chapel" on the iTunes Store.

If you want to more about starting a relationship with Jesus Christ visit www.WestchesterChapel.org/Salvation.

Photo courtesy of NicolettiPhoto.com.

See the rest of Olympic champion Eric Liddell's Chariots of Fire story by booking Beyond the Chariots.

Living Word

I play a science teacher, who flunks the main character because she put God in her science paper. At the moment we were filming that scene a young man burst into the classroom and told us there was plenty of scientific evidence that God exists. I immediately broke character and explained that my character was the antagonist, and that between takes I was explaining how flimsy quasi-science is which tries to refute the existence of God, and we were praying for those under the delusion that there is no God. Seconds later I was wishing I'd stayed in character and said, "Well, young man, why don't you explain it to the class!"

I also got to serve as acting coach, and it was such great fun! So much so that I added "Coaching for Film" to my Workshops page.

We filmed in Bismarck, ND, which was my 50th state to visit.

I could have checked it off the list years ago! I was performing in Moorhead, MN, and I drove past the bridge to Fargo. I passed it by thinking I'd already been to ND. I got back to NYC and looked at a map on my wall: South Dakota! It was South Dakota! But I got to work with some wonderful folks, saw miracle after miracle, and it probably wouldn't have happened if I'd crossed that bridge all those years ago! So glad now that I didn't!

You can watch it here:



Watch the world premiere of "Living Word." Chad Burns​, director of Beyond the Mask​, spoke at the event, and they include a video of my comments from behind the scenes.

Nicol Films is doing some great work. Be sure to follow them on Facebook. They're talking about using me in another project, which I look forward to doing!

---

I Dreamed I Was Free tells the story of Quaker abolitionist John Woolman, who spoke against slavery a century before our Civil War.

The Case for Christ documentary

We just watched the documentary The Case for Christ with interviews with Lee Strobel and scholars who helped him gather evidence that Jesus Christ lived, was crucified, resurrected and changed the world.

Lee was an award-winning legal journalist for the Chicago Tribune. When his wife became a Christian he used his skills as an investigative journalist to disprove Christianity. After a two year journey he sat down with a legal pad and wrote down evidence for and against in separate columns. He said when he looked at the avalanche of evidence that the major claims of Christianity were true he realized it would take more faith to believe it didn't happen.

Looking forward to the major motion picture coming out in April.

Registration is now open for the 2017 Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp.

Snow Day

We canceled today's service at Westchester Chapel due to inclement weather, so we're catching up by posting sermons that were recorded but not posted. Click the sermon title below to go to the sermon, which has been posted on this blog in the order of the date preached:

• Do What Jesus Did, March 8, 2009: Pastor Joyce Swingle teaches on Acts 5:12-15.
• Holiness Unto the Lord, July 17, 2016: Rich Swingle teaches on Exodus 28:36-38.
• Breaking Paradigms, October 9, 2016: Pastor Joyce Swingle teaches on Matthew 16:13-20.
• Forgiveness and Fellowship: Peacemaker or a Peace Faker? February 5, 1017: Pastor Pastor Joyce Swingle teaches on Matthew 18:15-20.

Here's a song I was going to introduce today, but Dr. Linda Warren will lead it next Sunday. You can get a head start learning it:



If you want to more about starting a relationship with Jesus Christ visit www.WestchesterChapel.org/Salvation.

Registration is now open for the 2017 Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp.

They Called Him Coach

I just had a delightful surprise watching this documentary on John Wooden, who holds all kinds of records as a basketball coach for UCLA. The one that impressed me the most is that he holds the all-time 40 season winning percentage of .813 (Dayton High School, South Bend Central High School, Indiana State Teachers College, UCLA). That's a whole lotta winning! Along the way came a record ten national championships, seven of those were consecutive (another record), and an 88 game winning streak over three years, and the records go on! What!? Unbelievable!

They Called Him Coach spends some time on his success, but most of the focus is on the foundation of his success and how it was all built upon his relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Every year he started the season handing out his Pyramid of Success, but he never talked about winning! His Pyramid is a number of foundational, biblical principles established through faith and patience to have a successful game... and (always his real point) a successful life.

One of the producers of this film is David McCasland, who produced a documentary on Eric Liddell, also for Day of Discovery. David wrote what I believe is still the authoritative biography on the world-record breaking Olympian-turned-missionary. I got to have dinner with David and his wife Luann after a performance of my play on Liddell.

Registration is now open for the 2017 Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp.

Our Last Stand

ISIS destroyed this church in Syria.

A few years ago,  Jordan Allott was interviewed on FOX NEWS during the same program as Father Gabriel Adde, a Syrian Orthodox priest. After the program Jordan met with the Adde family and soon struck up a conversation with Fr. Adde's daughter Helma. After college Helma, born in Chicago, had lived six months in her family's hometown of Quarmishli in Northern Syria. Jordan was telling Helma about plans to return to that part of the world to film a documentary about the persecution of Christians there, and that Quarmishli was on his itinerary. Helma felt a tinge of jealousy that an American with no ties to the Middle East would be visiting a place she loved so much, but before long Allott asked her if she would like to join him for the journey. He had been looking for someone who knew the cultures of both places to be a bridge for Western viewers.

Last night I saw the documentary of their trip, Our Last Stand, at the Sheen Center for Thought and Culture. They begin their journey in Iraq visiting Christian refugee centers, then they cross the Tigris River into Syria and visit the front lines where Christians are defending themselves against ISIS. When ISIS moves into an area, they identify Christians and other religious minorities and give them 24 hours to either move away, become Muslim, be executed or pay a very high fine.

During the Q and A session following the screening, the Sheen Center's David DiCerto asked Jordan and Helma what they think of the temporary closure of our borders to refugees from Iraq, Syria and other nations that cultivate terrorism. Jordan referenced an interview in the film with a little boy in Iraq. You can see part of it in the trailer below. The boy says that ISIS left them with nothing, and he said he and his people just want to live, and he hopes a country will take them in. Jordan said he would love for all those who have been displaced by what has recently been recognized by the U.N. as the ISIS genocide to have a home in the U.S. He went on to say that it saddens him that this situation is being used as a political statement against the current administration. He asked where the outrage was when President Obama used an executive order to halt the "Wet Foot/Dry Foot" policy with Cuba, leaving many who were in transit deported back to Cuba. He spoke about how Christians and other religious minorities do not feel comfortable staying in UN-sanctioned refugee villages because they know they'll face persecution from Muslims there. He asked where the outrage was when the UN refused to share resources with Christians who created their own refugee camps in churches.

David asked Jordan why he named the film Our Last Stand. Jordan and Helma both made it clear that this is a tragedy for all Christians, and that in a matter of years there truly may not be any churches or Christians left in that part of the world where followers of Jesus Christ were first called Christians.

I was interviewed after the event by NET TV for a program featuring the film and screening which will air tonight at 7:30pm Eastern. NET TV is also streamed online.

Registration is now open for the 2017 Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp.

Colonel Papa Cubano

An atheist says yes to the Lord and becomes a great father of his children and his denomination in Cuba.

Colonel Julio Moreno invited us to Cuba to perform my 1-man play Views of the Manger. While visiting with them we heard the stories of how he moved from being an atheist to being the head of the Salvation Army in Cuba, alongside his wife, Colonela Layanis, who introduced him to the Lord. When he told this story of provision we wanted to dramatize it.

It stars Marco Santiago (America's Next Top Model), Patricia Mauceri (Courageous Love, The Farmer and the Belle, One Life to Live), and I narrate it.

It was an official selection at the Hollywood Divine International Film Festival and the International Christian Film and Music Festival.

You can watch it right now on 24Flix.

For full credits click here.

Click for more about our trip to Cuba.

The King's Messengers

I performed in two of the four parts to this mini-series set in the fictional nation of Zanora. Once again, Daniel Knudsen has brought truth to the screen in a delightful way. This is my sixth collaboration with Daniel, and it's always a joy!

It was selected for the 2017 Christian Worldview Film Festival, and is available online.

Registration is now open for the 2017 Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp.

Recommended Reading for Spiritual Formation

Here are some books that have helped me grow in my walk with the Lord over the years:

• The Bible. I read it cover to cover every year: www.RichDrama.com/BibleReading
• A Discipleship Journey by David Buehring
• Ordering Your Private World by Gordon MacDonald. For a season I read chapter three, "Caught in a Golden Cage" at the start of every year. It explains the differences between being called and being driven.
• Knowing God by J.I. Packer
• The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. I've been blessed to know both women who played Corrie in the movies based on this book.
• The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson
• God's Smuggler by Brother Andrew
• The Intercessor by Reese Howells
• No Compromise: The Life Story of Keith Green by Melody Green
• Evangelism Explosion by Dr. James Kennedy

Registration is now open for the 2017 Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp.