Jesus Is Our Peace

After the opening prayer by Rachel Taylor I spoke about the painting above and mentioned how it includes William Penn signing a peace treaty with the natives after paying them a decent price for Pennsylvania. Pastor Jim Warren preaches on Isaiah 11:1-9. He mentions the effect violence in media has on society. For more information read, "Trained to Kill."  Joyce prays and gives a pop quiz. Rachel leads communion and prays over Joyce and I before we leave for Cuba to perform Views of the Manger and teach workshops.

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



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.

Here's the video Pastor Jim mentioned of the tiger and the goat lying down together:



If you want to more about starting a relationship with Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, visit www.WestchesterChapel.org/Salvation.

A Clear Leading tells the story of Quaker abolitionist John Woolman, who spoke against slavery a century before our Civil War.

The Bible Project

I just stumbled upon a great series of short animated films that cover passages of Scripture and themes in Scripture. I've only seen a few, but so far it's all on target and quite fun! If you're new in your walk with the Lord or exploring what that might be like, this is a great way to get immersed.

Here's a great one on Holiness.



This one is from their Scripture series:



If you're reading this in an email click here to see the films.

A Clear Leading tells the story of Quaker abolitionist John Woolman, who spoke against slavery a century before our Civil War.

What Does Peace Mean?

Pastor Joyce Swingle launches our newest Advent Series preaching on Isaiah 9:1-7. She mentions the Armor of God, which we've covered in the past (www.WestchesterChapel.org/Armor) and her husband Rich Swingle's sketch on Gideon (Sheepish). Pastor Jim Warren opens, and Pastor Linda Warren prays over the message.

Click the arrow below, or if it's not there click this link, to play the service:



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.

Essence: Exploring the Human-Horse Relationship

We got to connect with Ivy Schexnayder and her mom, Barbara Novak Schexnayder, when they came to NYC recently to screen Ivy's short film Essence: Exploring the Horse-Human Relationship at the Equus Film Festival.

The film is narrated by Rebekah Stought, who was a student at the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp a couple of summers ago. She was coached for voice over by John Fornof, who directed me in The Dragon and the Raven in London for The Extraordinary Adventures of G.A. Henty. Rebekah also performs in the film, as does Sarah Olmstead of the short film One Day, in which I performed and served as acting coach.

You can watch Essence for free right now. Check it out below or here, and rejoice that it was playing at a NYC film festival: 

I play a lead in Providence, which you can bring to your area.

The Psalm of Joseph

This Sunday I'll be doing a dramatic reading of the story of Joseph as Eva teaches on the passages for our Leadership Bible Study at 9:30am. Shortly after Eva invited me to do that I came across Psalm 105, which includes an ode to Joseph. I planned to memorize and perform the psalm, but it quickly became clear there's too much material to cover in one study, so Eva and I agreed to leave it out. Instead I recorded it to build anticipation for Joseph's amazing story...

Click the arrow below, or if it's not there click this link, to play the service:



This reading 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.

Scripture from the King James Version.

Saved by Grace

If you're looking for a good film this evening we discovered a Thanksgiving-themed film on PureFlix featuring Muse Watson, who I performed with in A Christmas Snow. The Thanksgiving film is called Saved by Grace. 

It shows the power of a relationship with Christ to carry us through the greatest tragedies life may throw our way. The Lord certainly gives us much to be thankful for, even when the world may have thrown us grievous challenges.

Muse had addressed some of my students and mentioned that early in your career you need to be yourself, but once you're established you can branch out and do character work. In this film he plays a homeless man and brings a great character to life! I guess with 91 IMDb credits to his name he's earned the right to play other types!

Parental warning for Saved by Grace: Some intense scenes, break ins and smooching.

Here's the Dove review: Saved by Grace.

I play a lead in Providence, which you can bring to your area.

Thankful for Much!

I was recently a guest writer for Miranda A. Uyeh's To Be a Person. I wrote the piece before and after my performance at a chapel for my alma mater, George Fox University. You can read the article here.

The university sent me the footage of that chapel, and what happened is the number one thing I'm grateful for this year.

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

We Give Thanks

Thanksgiving greetings from Graceworks!

Fellowship with Jesus: Transfigured

I open this morning's service at Westchester Chapel with reflections on this A.W. Tozer quote:

Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become "unity" conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.

Joyce prays and shares announcements.

Pastor Jim Warren preaches on Matthew 17:1-8, the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ, Moses and Elijah. His opening includes Isaiah 6:1-6, Revelation 1:9-18, and Revelation 4.

Click the arrow below, or if it's not there click this link, to play the service:

Pastor Jim references the poster in the photo to the right, which illustrates Ecclesiastes 5:1-3.

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.

I play a lead in Providence, which you can bring to your area.

The Son of the Living God

Joyce teaches on Matthew 16:13-20. Opening and prayer by Dr. Linda Warren. I performed the drama in the video below from my performance at Caesarea Philippi in Israel. Westchester Chapel's own Kimberly A.’s testimony in the Chris Tomlin video is at 5:10.

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.

Worship the King

I was sitting at the train station when an inebriated man stumbled toward me and threw a punch. Find out what happened below. It's at the 16-minute mark in this morning's service...

Dr. Linda Warren led us through an immersive journey into Psalm 96. Pastor Jim Warren opened the service and closed by giving gifts of some of his artwork he created to illustrate this morning's service.

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.

 

I play a lead in Providence, which you can bring to your area.

I'm Not Ashamed

I wrote this review shortly after the film came out in 2016 but didn't have time to post it. I'm referring to the film in an article I'm writing for www.HeadlinePrayer.org, so I'm posting it now. 

I'm Not Ashamed tells the story of Rachel Joy Scott and how her life came to an end during the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 when she was asked if she believed in God by one of the shooters and Rachel Joy replied, "You know I do."

In many cases the fact that everyone knows what happened works against the writer. In this case it played to their advantage! I found myself cherishing every moment of Rachel Joy's life, not knowing when it could all come to an end!

Writing a work of fiction based on someone's life is hard... really hard.

I remember house-sitting for the friends who eventually introduced me to my bride, free of all distractions, staring at a blank page and a flashing cursor for days as I contemplated how to turn the Journal of John Woolman into my first feature-length one-man play. 

The four-person writing team with two previous credits between them did a profoundly good job with I'm Not Ashamed. 

When you look at someone's life it's very rare that you have natural dramatic tension, an antagonist--or in this case a dyad of evil collaborators, deep, rich subtext and changed lives galore. 

I remember being on the set of Polycarp when someone on the crew said Hollywood is running scared because Christians will quite literally lay down their lives to tell eternal Truth well, and as costs go down and talent goes up we're making more and more of an impact on the box office.

At the inaugural Christian Worldview Film Festival producer/director George Escobar (The Screenwriters, Alone Yet Not Alone) said it's only a matter of time before Christian films start doing better than secular ones at the box office because eternal messages reach into our very souls.

I feel like I'm Not Ashamed has brought the Christian genre to another level.

I've heard complaints from secular and Christian critiques that stories about Christians aren't interesting because there's no character arc. I faced that with Beyond the Chariots because every page I read and everyone I met who remembered Eric Liddell had nothing negative to say about the man. When a life is truly seated in Christ, the gods of this world have no sway. I ended up making the protagonist a young man fighting against Eric Liddell. In I'm Not Ashamed we see Rachel Joy's on-again off-again relationship with the Lord. I certainly remember the temptations of attending a secular high school, and I thought the filmmakers did a great job of showing that without titillating.

There's a very powerful moment when Rachel Joy is asked why she won't invite a certain young man to the church's youth group. You see in her whole demeanor that he's become an idol in her life. The nuancing and depths of storytelling that leads up to that scene are profound.

Christians should know:
PG-13 for 
*Thematic elements, though the violence is very creatively minimized. 
*Teen drinking and smoking. 
*Implied premarital sex is implied for one of the characters.
*Brief teen kissing.

For more details check out Movie Guide's review.

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

Better email version of Revive Us!

For those of you who already received this in your inbox, I want to apologize for the way the previous version was formatted. I did a bit of research and designed this one so that it should look much better in email form...

By the way, if I'm in a hurry and a future post looks bad or hides some of the text, you can always click the banner or title and it will take you to the blog, where you'll find the post with its proper formatting.... Except for this one, since I'll take it down after the email goes out, but you'll find it at http://blog.richdrama.com dated 9/28/16.

Got to have some prayer on Times Square with Miss Clara.	I just heard about something that looks to be a fantastic event. We know two of the presenters, Eric Metaxas, who allowed us to use his testimony as a part of our outreach in Russia during the 2014 Olympics, and I got to have coffee with Karen Abercrombie, who told me how she had been rejected for the role of Miss Clara in War Room because she was younger than their idea for the role.

So she aged herself for the audition! My friend Beth Becka coached her in the role, and said, "She is brilliant. We prayed over her and the presence of the Holy Spirit was as palpable as I have ever felt it in that little room that day!"

Here's info on the event...

A Message From Kirk Cameron

When I travel to churches across America I meet thousands who tell me they feel discouraged, concerned, and afraid for the future of America. They often ask, "Where is our hope?” I understand why so many feel that way. The news is filled with a continual stream of darkness: Political scandals; acts of violence; social confusion; people suffering.  If you are feeling exhausted by all of this political mudslinging and moral decay--and if you're searching for hope in a world that sometimes seems hopeless--then I encourage you to join me for a special live event on October 18th in movie theaters nationwide.

It's called REVIVE US.

We've assembled an incredible group of people like Dr. Ben Carson, pastors Francis Chan and Dr. James MacDonald, authors Eric Metaxas and Jennifer Rothschild, and the beloved teacher of effective prayer, "Miss Clara," from the inspirational movie War Room, for an empowering and interactive evening of inspiring messages, powerful prayer, beautiful music from the Vertical Church Band and Passion as well as thoughtful conversations. 

That's right conversations. 

We dedicated part of the night to an interactive Q and A where we will answer your questions, hear your thoughts, and discuss anything else that's been on your mind. And before the night is all over, everyone will have time to gather in their local theater for prayer and discussion with other like-minded attendees from their community.

So please join me, my family, and hundreds of thousands of passionate believers just like you for this very special LIVE event, on October 18th.

Find out more at www.ReviveUs2016.com.

I play a lead in Providence, which you can bring to your area.

Revive Us!

I just heard about something that looks to be a fantastic event.

We know two of the presenters, Eric Metaxas, who allowed us to use his testimony as a part of our outreach in Russia during the 2014 Olympics, and I got to have coffee with Karen Abercrombie, who told me how she had been rejected for the role of Miss Clara in War Room because she was younger than their idea for the role, so she aged herself for the audition! My friend Beth Becka coached her in the role, and said, "She is brilliant. We prayed over her and the presence of the Holy Spirit was as palpable as I have ever felt it in that little room that day!"

Here's info on the event...

A Message From Kirk Cameron

When I travel to churches across America I meet thousands who tell me they feel discouraged, concerned, and afraid for the future of America. They often ask, "Where is our hope?” I understand why so many feel that way. The news is filled with a continual stream of darkness: Political scandals; acts of violence; social confusion; people suffering.  If you are feeling exhausted by all of this political mudslinging and moral decay--and if you're searching for hope in a world that sometimes seems hopeless--then I encourage you to join me for a special live event on October 18th in movie theaters nationwide.

It's called REVIVE US.

We've assembled an incredible group of people like Dr. Ben Carson, pastors Francis Chan and Dr. James MacDonald, authors Eric Metaxas and Jennifer Rothschild, and the beloved teacher of effective prayer, "Miss Clara," from the inspirational movie War Room, for an empowering and interactive evening of inspiring messages, powerful prayer, beautiful music from the Vertical Church Band and Passion as well as thoughtful conversations. 

That's right conversations. 

We dedicated part of the night to an interactive Q and A where we will answer your questions, hear your thoughts, and discuss anything else that's been on your mind. And before the night is all over, everyone will have time to gather in their local theater for prayer and discussion with other like-minded attendees from their community.

So please join me, my family, and hundreds of thousands of passionate believers just like you for this very special LIVE event, on October 18th.

Find out more at www.ReviveUs2016.com.

I play a lead in Providence, which you can bring to your area.

SWONEKY and the Ark Encounters

Performing Big Fish Little Worm on the lawn.
Photo by Joyce Swingle.

We were SO blessed to be a part of the ministry team at the Salvation Army's Southwest Ohio Northern Kentucky (SWONEKY) Divisional Family Camp this past weekend.

The Acts.
Photo by Amanda Metcalf.

I performed Big Fish Little Worm on the lawn and The Acts indoors. Joyce and I also got to teach enacted prayer, and we were able to do an enacted praise and prayer for Colonel Janet Munn, who needed to leave early. That was very special for our group, and after seeing our recording she wrote, "Thanks very much for this generous act of prayer on our behalf."

In The Acts one of the characters describes how a violent wind entered the room where the followers of Jesus were gathered on Pentecost. Just hours later, Commander Janet Ashcraft was building upon the theme of her husband, Commander Larry Ashcraft, and bringing home the theme of the whole retreat: Bold Action. At that moment a violent wind swept through the open sides and back of the auditorium, designed for summer events. This is the way Colonel Richard Munn described it:

...quite suddenly a violent wind disrupted the scene in Chamberlain Hall, flags crashing, music stands cascading, music sheets swirling around the room. What a visual aid, then again, just maybe, a sign - Swoneky Division: Bold faith. I love it.

The next day Joyce and I got to visit the Ark Encounter, a replica of the ship that carried Noah and his family to safety after the worldwide flood described in Genesis 6-7.  The Lord gave the specifications to Noah in cubits, which is the measurement from a man's elbow to the tip of his longest finger. There were twelve possible lengths the creators of the Ark considered, and they went with 20.1 inches per cubit. That makes it 510' long, 85' wide, and 51' tall. That took 3.3 million board feet of wood, making it the largest wooden structure in the world... today. There's a display that mentions many of the flood stories from around the world. The Ark is the only structure that actually could have survived a worldwide flood.

Another display shows photos of Mars. Scientists point to many features of the landscape that indicate Mars had a worldwide flood. They pointed out that if a worldwide flood were not mentioned in the Bible scientists would all conclude that there was one here, too. But that would wash away one of evolution's primary tenets: that the striations we see in places like the Grand Canyon were developed over millions of years. Creation scientists believe those layers were created as the floodwaters rose. It makes a lot more sense to believe striations would come from a catastrophic event rather than over great epochs of time, during which erosion would blend layers together, and in fact we have evidence of this at Mt. St. Helens, where identical striations were created in a matter of hours after its eruption in 1980.

The entire display is very well thought out, down to the number of bats on board! The Lord sent Noah two of each kind, male and female. Creators of the Ark take the word "kind" to indicate any group of animals that can produce offspring with an animal of the opposite sex within that kind. So they only account for two dogs on the Ark, since all varieties of dogs can interbreed. The Lord also sent Noah seven pairs of clean animals and flying creatures. Since there is no scientific proof that all bats can interbreed they have 75 varieties of bats on board. I guess I should add that they're not real, though there's a limited zoo on the premises we didn't have time to see.

Advances in science are making it more and more clear that there had to be a Creator. For more on this watch our friend Eric Metaxas' talk, Science and God. The Ark Encounter opened on July 7, and by the time we visited, less than two months later, there have been over 100,000 visitors discovering these facts secular media would rather ignore.

There we encountered four different friends! As soon as we stepped into the line we ran into Adra Cooper, who was in The Unexpected Bar Mitzvah with us, and Providence with me. Jonathan Ludwig worked on Polycarp with me. I went in knowing two people who had worked on the Ark, and by the time we were done we knew of six, including Adra and Jonathan.

In the living quarters (you can see Noah climbing to retrieve the dove with the olive branch behind us) we ran into Ashley, who used to attend our church, Westchester Chapel.

Then, moments after seeing a wonderful display on the great missionary to China, Hudson Taylor (part of a temporary exhibit, The Voyage of a Book: Personal Stories of Taking the Bible Around the World), we ran into the grandmother of Hudson Taylor ... Graber, the newborn son of Stacie and Joseph Graber, who directed and produced Indescribable, in which Joyce and I played the parents of nine.

Ashley and her friends let us know that we'd missed all the cellphones simultaneously going off with a FLOOD WARNING! We also missed this double rainbow, which appeared beyond the Ark shortly after we left...

You can see more of our photos from the Ark Encounter by clicking here.

I play a lead in Providence, which you can bring to your area.

Big Fish Little Worm now in Korean

In 2008 I was on a plane between Chicago and New York, and I told a gentleman on my row that I was going to be performing in Beijing during the Olympics and I'd like to have Beyond the Chariots translated into as many languages as possible. He said, I think our church could translate it to Korean. They did, and thanks to them there were North Koreans in the audience who were able to understand the play!

In 2010 I brought the play to Seoul, where Korean translations were developed for another of my plays, Big Fish/Little Worm.

Here are the places we performed on that trip:

FAR EAST BROADCASTING COMPANY
Excerpts from Big Fish/Little Worm

US ARMY, 8TH COMMAND
Chapels:
Beyond the Chariots
Big Fish/Little Worm

WONCHON BAPTIST CHURCH
Beyond the Chariots

NAMSEOUL UNIVERSITY
Beyond the Chariots
Workshop

SEOUL FOREIGN SCHOOL
Assembly
Workshops

CENTRAL CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
Chapel performances
Sociodrama for faculty
Evening performance for the community

GYEONGGI SUWON INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
Acting workshops
Chapel presentations

GYEONGGI ACADEMY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
Chapel performance with Q/A

TAEJON CHRISTIAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
Workshop
Assembly

INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN SCHOOL OF UIJONGBU
Workshop
Assembly Performance 

Visit www.RichDrama.com/Korea for highlights of the trip.

We're hoping to bring both plays back to Korea for the 2018 Olympics.