RichDrama - Blog , MoviesRichDrama - Blog , Movieshttps://www.richdrama.com/blog/MoviesThu, 09 Apr 2026 15:56:29 -0700http://zoho.com/sites/<![CDATA[The First Great Awakening]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/TheFirstGreatAwakening I was blessed to perform the voices for two roles in the latest Star Spangled Adventures episode. The episode explores the First Great Aw ]]>

Star Spangled Adventures

I was blessed to perform the voices for two roles in the latest Star Spangled Adventures episode. The episode explores the First Great Awakening, which was key to the securing our liberties as a nation. As the Gospel message reached across denominational lines our people came together. As they found freedom in Christ, they yearned for freedom from tyrannical rule. 


It's my earnest prayer that this little animated film will have a part in the rise of the Third Great Awakening that we're seeing as thousands gather on secular universities to worship the Lord, and hundreds at a time are baptized in fountains, pickup beds, and wherever they find water. 


I play the pastor in the opening scene droning on through the genealogies. 

Then I play George Whitefield, one of the catalysts for the First Great Awakening. In this screenshot Whitefield (right) is talking with his friend, a young Benjamin Franklin:

You can watch it for free. It's Episode 37 at LittlePatriotsLearning.com. There you can find lessons based on the First Great Awakening written for students from kindergarten through fifth grade. 


Here's a trailer:

Screenshots used by permission. 


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I was blessed to play several voices at a Virginia studio for an upcoming Star Spangled Adventures film celebrating our nation's history for our SuperCentennial.

The nomination was for the series.

We appreciate your prayers for the team as they work to finish the film. 

]]>Mon, 10 Nov 2025 11:43:19 -0500<![CDATA[Jesus Freaks]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/JesusFreaksI was blessed to perform in a few scenes with Kevin and Sam Sorbo in the film  Jesus Freaks.  Also, their daughter Octavia Flynn Sorbo pl ]]>

Now Available

I was blessed to perform in a few scenes with Kevin and Sam Sorbo in the film Jesus Freaks. Also, their daughter Octavia Flynn Sorbo plays my character's daughter. 


The film is now available, and you can rent or buy it at www.JesusFreaksMovie.com. 

Here's the trailer:

We were blessed to attend two premieres.


The first was a surprise to the filmmaker's husband. Nina May created the film as a 50th anniversary gift. What a rush to be in the theatre and yell, "Surprise!!!" when he walked in! The film is roughly based on the story of their courtship. 

The second premiere was at the Museum of the Bible in downtown Washington, D.C. Braeden Sorbo, who plays the male lead, was in attendance, along with our friends from What's a Girl to Do? Cheryl Felicia Rhoads and Mell Flynn. 


Cheryl and I had another cast reunion with Cynthia McDowell, Christian Alzona, and Bellina Lambdin who performed with us in Star Spangled Adventures. Cheryl was casting director for Jesus Freaks and Star Spangled Adventures. 


We were also super blessed to see Isabella R. Lash (pictured here) at the premiere. She was a former student of mine at the MasterWorks Festival. She plays a friend and mentor of the lead in Jesus Freaks.


CBN just aired an interview with Nina about her film: 

Jesus Freaks tells an East Coast story of the Jesus People Movement of the '70s. Pray it helps fuel the current Revival rising around the world. 


Click here for my post after we filmed it.


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Jesus Revolution tells the story of the Jesus People Movement from the West Coast perspective. You can catch my articles and interviews about that film at www.RichDrama.com/blog/tag/Jesus-Revolution.

]]>Fri, 08 Aug 2025 14:56:05 -0400<![CDATA["Bend Hitler!"]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/bend-hitlerYesterday Dutch Sheets  shared how he had spoken at the Tenth Anniversary of the re-opening of the Bible College of Wales . It was originally ]]>

Filmed at the Bible College of Wales

Yesterday Dutch Sheets shared how he had spoken at the Tenth Anniversary of the re-opening of the Bible College of Wales. It was originally founded by Rees Howells, and I performed a monologue of him at the 50th Anniversary of Intercessors for America. After lunch that day Sheets spoke and had a running analogy about Howells. When he was done, David Kubal, the President and CEO of IFA told him about the monologue, and Sheets said, "No way!" He told Kubal that while he was preparing he kept hearing, "Rees. Rees."


When we were at the Bible College of Wales last October we filmed my monologue as Howells in the Blue Room where the scene takes place:

I’m sorry we just have Part One ready now, but I’m on the road and didn’t have time to finish editing it. I’ll send the full video to subscribers in a few weeks when my schedule calms down a bit. 

Pray it inspires many to press into intercede for nations. 


I went to breakfast planning to post this and realized I forgot the hard drive with the video! This is how the Lord used my mistake:

The day ended in a pretty cool way, too:

Someone captured me recording that and airdropped it to me:

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Next week I’ll be performing in the animated film Star Spangled Adventures. We appreciate your prayers!

]]>Thu, 29 May 2025 10:40:52 -0400<![CDATA[John Milton and Leo Tolstoy]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/john-milton-and-leo-tolstoy ]]>

Famous Last Words

I was blessed to start the year performing the roles of Leo Tolstoy and John Milton for Ethan Hill's podcast Famous Last Words. 

The fun thing about getting to play Milton is that I performed the role of Narrator in Paradise Lost for bassoon and oboe. Terry B. Ewell wrote the piece and performed bassoon. Doris DeLoach played oboe.

We performed the piece at the International Double Reed Society's annual conference and at the MasterWorks Festival, where all three of us were on faculty at the time.

This episode of Famous Last Words is being edited, but once it's online I'll let people know.  In the meantime, you can check out previous episodes (I'm also in Episode 2) on your favorite podcast platforms. 

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I was blessed to win Best Actor in a Short Film at the International Film and Music Festival for my portrayal of the lead role in "A Matter of Perspective," produced by Ethan's family.

]]>Sat, 04 Jan 2025 16:04:08 -0500<![CDATA[14,000 Hours]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/14000HoursIf you haven't been following my series #ScriptureInTheNight  (on Facebook and Instagram ),  I've woken to a passage of Scripture every night s ]]>

Repairers of the Breach

If you haven't been following my series #ScriptureInTheNight (on Facebook and Instagram), I've woken to a passage of Scripture every night since Easter of 2023. You can read more about how this is an answer to prayer by clicking here, but in a nutshell, I'll wake, look at the clock, hear a book of the Bible, and look up that passage. Sometimes there is no such chapter or verse, so I carry the extra numbers into the next chapter. 


For the first two nights of 2025 I woke at exactly 2:40 a.m.:

I think it's funny that on the first night the lock screen said, "Try again." 


On New Year's Day morning I heard, "Nehemiah." Nehemiah 2 only has 20 verses, so I carried the extra numbers into the next chapter and arrived at Nehemiah 3:20:

On the first night of Hanukkah (which happened to be Christmas Day this year) I posted a photo of our candles. Then, starting on the 26th, my #ScriptureInTheNight has been something that has lent itself to using our candles as the backdrop. If you're not familiar with the Hanukkah candles, they're lit from the middle candle, and the other candles represent the eight days of Hanukkah, starting on the right. 


Anyway, tonight -- waking at the exact same time as last night -- I felt led to post the next verse: 

On New Year's Day, in the description of my post, I included a link to the video that sprang to mind when I read that night's #ScriptureInTheNight. It's about the importance of helping families who can't afford to get their children out of public schools, where they're being trained to be "God-hating secular humanists." I was blessed to play the narrator of a story about a Medieval village. The fable closes the video with an inspiring picture of the whole village rising up to defend their children from attackers. The reason the #ScriptureInTheNight reminded me of the video, is that the video reminded me of Isaiah 58:12: 


And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;

 you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;

you shall be called the repairer of the breach,

 the restorer of streets to dwell in.


I sense that the reason the Lord woke me at the same time the first two nights of 2025 was to prompt me to share this important video more broadly: 

Let's do what we can this year to repair the breach, and protect our children. 


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Our year-end letter is at www.RichDrama.com/blog/post/Christmas.

]]>Thu, 02 Jan 2025 04:24:51 -0500<![CDATA[Jesus Freaks]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/MakingJesusFreaksI was so blessed to perform in the upcoming film  Jesus Freaks !  It's based on events that happened in 1972, during the Jesus Movement.  I ]]>

Performed with the Sorbos

I was so blessed to perform in the upcoming film Jesus Freaks! It's based on events that happened in 1972, during the Jesus Movement. 


I play the adult son of a pastor who tries to stifle the uncontrollable work the Holy Spirit is doing in the youth of his church. My character's daughter is played by Octavia Flynn Sorbo (photo to the left), the daughter of Kevin and Sam Sorbo, who were also in the film, and their son Braeden plays one of the leads. 


The writer/director Nina May (First Lady, Daily Bread) is working on a distribution deal now. Join us in praying for as broad of an audience as possible. 


We saw a rough cut at its premiere. We're praying it will have a powerful impact on those who see it, and that it will help propel the revival that's rising on so many college and university campuses, including many secular schools. 


I was blessed that Cheryl Felicia Rhoads (left in photo to the right) and Mell Flynn (right in the photo to the right) of What's a Girl to Do? were also in our cast! Joyce and I connected with them at the premiere.  

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If you're near Rochester, NY, I hope you can join our performance of the radio drama Unlikely Wise Man. 

]]>Thu, 05 Dec 2024 11:58:10 -0500<![CDATA[Washington's Armor]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/WashingtonsArmor
I got to I got to perform in the upcoming series of three films Washington's Armor and I was also their dialect coach. 

The films show the many ways young George Washington's life was preserved, and how he had a sense that the Lord was protecting him for something important. 

The Journey is available on Vimeo.  

Washington’s Armor: The Journey will begin streaming on Epoch TV on demand, starting at 11 p.m. Central on February 21. You can watch a  behind-the-scenes documentary there now for free.

I played a cook who sings to his pigs and helped all 32 speaking actors work on nine accents: Received pronunciation, Scouse (Liverpool), French, French Canadian, Dutch, Delaware Native (Lanape), and three variations of Early American accents. 

The most challenging was the Delaware Native accent, because people who spoke it exclusively before learning English have not been alive for two or three generations. I found a talking dictionary and chart of letters that helped.

Click below to watch the trailer and interview, or if you're receiving this in an email, visit www.RichDrama.com/WashingtonsArmor.


Here's a great interview with our producer/director, Tammy Lane:


Here's a behind the scenes video put together by my friend Dean Mountford: https://www.youtube.com/embed/1e7LQIWgfKk

I Dreamed I Was Free tells the story of Quaker abolitionist John Woolman, who spoke against slavery a century before our Civil War, around the same time of the Young George Washington's adventures.


]]>Fri, 26 Feb 2021 16:55:00 -0500<![CDATA[A Matter of Perspective]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/AMatterOfPerspectiveMike Hill was nominated for Best Director for a Short Film, and I won Best Lead Actor in a Short Film at the International Christian Film Festival for ]]>

Mike Hill was nominated for Best Director for a Short Film, and I won Best Lead Actor in a Short Film at the International Christian Film Festival for playing Garreth in "A Matter of Perspective."


Be sure to watch the extras, which bring out how the Lord was so involved in this project!

It was filmed in beautiful Southern Oregon, where I was born and raised. I got to stay on our family farm while we were filming!

This was such an answer to prayer, since that was the area where I was inspired to act by seeing plays produced by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, taking part in workshops with their actors, and performing at our high school and with our church's youth group.

This was also the fifth film in which Joyce and I got to play husband and wife. Though you won't see her on screen, it's her voice at the end, talking to our characters' progeny, bringing us up to 20 screen children! 

My connection to the filmmakers of "A Matter of Perspective" is miraculous! We met at the Family Camp for the Southern Oregon chapter of Joni and Friends. To see how that came about click here. Then we found out that the director, Mike Hill, was a student of Larry Smith, who has been a good friend of my father since they were in the third grade! Larry gave me my only photography lesson just before I went to Hong Kong in 1987. Then he helped me set up the slides that I showed to the many families and organizations that made the trip possible.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what the Lord does through this short film!

You can order your copy now:
]]>Thu, 05 May 2016 00:00:00 -0400<![CDATA[Amp up your World Cup experience!]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/ForTheGlory
For the Glory, in which I play soccer coach to Olympian Kurt Kuykendall, is now available on YouTube. Invite World Cup fans over to see this inspiring story of a failed basketball player who became a world-class goalie.
On the way into the theater to see Alone Yet Not Alone I stopped my bride Joyce and said, "We've been praying for years for this moment." So we stopped and praised the Lord for my first nationwide theatrical release!  I play a land speculator, and the Academy Award nominated film is still playing in a few theaters. Catch it while you can. 

[From 2014... when all of these links worked...]

If you're anywhere near Winona Lake, Indiana (halfway between Fort Wayne and South Bend), Pittsburgh or New York City, I hope you'll attend the MasterWorks Festival Theatre Department production of Much Ado About Nothing: www.MasterWorksFestival.org and www.MasterWorksFestival.org/tour. Our students are hilarious! South Hills Church of the Nazarene is hosting the play as the culmination of their 50th anniversary celebration, putting the emphasis on the celebration of marriage. 


]]>Sat, 28 Jun 2014 11:56:00 -0400<![CDATA[Creed of Gold]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/CreedOfGold

Now available in Walmart.
Daniel Knudsen had left the set of Indescribable before Joyce and I got there to play Mr. and Mrs. Fredrick Lehman, but the set was abuzz about his upcoming film, Creed of Gold.  I met Daniel when I performed in Christmas Grace. We had a great chat about the power of film to impact society with Truth. By that point he had already finished editing Creed of Gold, so I was surprised when Daniel later picked me up at the Detroit Airport for a Christians in Theatre Arts conference. He asked if I would play the voice of a reporter for Creed of Gold. He'd tweaked the footage and needed something different. We pulled into a parking lot, he turned his car into a recording studio, and now I have a credit in the film!

//www.youtube.com/embed/mLl8PYd7VQU

//www.youtube.com/embed/_A1PQ27Ozz8?list=UUi9hefc6nsT12Fn72Zu2HSg

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