Blog by Rich

Many people commented on how helpful the service was to them and the excellent job you did. Three quarters of those in attendance were NOT from Grace so God has allowed us to truly reach out to the community.

--Karen Denaro
Minister of Worship
Grace Community Baptist Church
Washingtonville, NY
09.18.06 02:52 PM - Comment(s)
Extreme Makeover Home Edition blessed a family with a new home right around the corner from our friends, where several of us gathered to watch the episode. Rebekah, Anna and Jesse were all on site for the demolition and they were interviewed, but, alas, they hit the cutting room floor.

Other than th...
09.18.06 03:26 AM - Comment(s)

That's what the invitation to MasterWorks alumna Sarah Keyes' Birthday Dessert Salon said, but Sarah insisted that we share our artistic gifts in lieu of anything purchased.

There were some great artistic offerings, and Sarah, pictured here, danced before the Lord to segue into worship. Finally we ha...

09.14.06 11:23 AM - Comment(s)
In about an hour I'm going to teach enacted prayer as a part of a class on healing at The Lamb's Church of the Nazarene on Times Square. I'm sorry I didn't have more notice, but in preparation for the class I looked up every post on my blog that describes the use of enacted prayer. I created a link ...
09.13.06 09:00 PM - Comment(s)
 I just wanted to tell you what a wonderful job you did last evening.  You have changed "Five Bells" from the previous times I have seen it and it was even more powerful and more honoring to God.
--Ann Van Hine
Her late husband, Bruce Van Hine, is one of the characters in Rich's p...
09.13.06 03:49 PM - Comment(s)

I received this note from Ann Van Hine, which she's given me permission to share. She refers to my play about her late husband and my first blog post on 9/11/06.

Good morning Rich,
I just wanted to tell you what a wonderful job you did last evening. You have changed "Five Bells" from the ...

09.12.06 08:15 PM - Comment(s)
An article ran on last night's performance in the Times Herald-Record: Play in Washingtonville remembers 9/11 heroes. The main focus is on Ann Van Hine's reaction to the play about her late husband.
09.12.06 03:46 PM - Comment(s)
After performing Five Bells for 9/11 a woman came up to me and said, "I have another story of hope for you." Her husband, Mark Ruppert, was a firefighter for the FDNY. He was in the lobby of the Marriott Building getting ready to head into the North Tower when they noticed people outside r...
09.12.06 12:11 AM - Comment(s)
Tonight I'll be performing my play Five Bells for 9/11 (GCBC.org).

Each time I prepare to perform this piece I go into mourning. This year I saw it coming, so I had a number of people praying for me. God answered those prayers by giving me insight: This whole play was written to give people new m...
09.11.06 02:54 PM - Comment(s)
At Territorial we did an enacted prayer for Art Dean, grandfather to four of our students. He has been a powerful force in the Salvation Army, so our many hearts were joined by the enactment. It was the night before his first round of chemotherapy. One student played cancer, which clutched at his b...
09.06.06 03:10 PM - Comment(s)
When I performed Beyond the Chariots at the Territorial School of Music and Gospel Arts we invited youth to come forward if they were willing to say, "Lord, send me anywhere." Between 20 and 30 youth fell at the altar. Joyce and I prayed with many of them. Most didn't have any idea where ...
09.04.06 02:57 PM - Comment(s)

We went through the story of Gideon all week long, looking at the theme of Revolution. Danielle Strickland (ArmyBarmy.com) said, "Revolution happens when people are discontent. We are called to rise up and throw down the authority of the enemy." After studying how Gideon smashed the idols ...

09.03.06 09:29 PM - Comment(s)

Our small group, which is also the theatre department here at Territorial, came down to the beach of Lake Simcoe to find rocks.

08.31.06 11:31 PM - Comment(s)

During our enacted prayer elective we also sanctified ourselves for the work we'll do this week. We prayed for the camp and what we did was a prayer for freedom in worship. In the enactment God pulled an oppressive spirit off of a student, so the student was able to praise freely. During the electiv...
08.29.06 03:04 PM - Comment(s)

This morning Danielle Strickland, who is leading the worship main stream, put off their worship until they had consecrated themselves to God. She felt God was calling them to be the Levites in the camp, so they engraved (with pens) Holy unto the Lord on their forearms. During the worship service tod...
08.28.06 02:58 PM - Comment(s)

Dr. Ron Powell challenged us last week to record insights and decisions we make while reading the Word and sitting under the teaching of the Word, so he inspired me to start blogging some of my thoughts. Here are some highlights from last week:

PRAY
Praise
Repent
Ask
Yield (Listen to what God wants to sa...

08.27.06 05:28 PM - Comment(s)

Dr. Ron challenged us to find a rock that represented our life and bring it to evening chapel. I found this mix of rock and asphalt. After performing Jonah I told them how the represents God's gifts mixed with mentors
08.27.06 02:59 PM - Comment(s)


Here we are once again on the cusp of all out revival! Youth from all over the Salvation Army's Territory of Canada and Bermuda have come together to study music and drama. Our chaplains from the last two years, Stephen Court and Danielle Strickland ( ArmyBarmy.com) have returned. If you didn't fo...
08.27.06 01:48 PM - Comment(s)

Dr. Ron challenged us to find a rock that represented our life and bring it to evening chapel. I found this mix of rock and asphalt. After performing Jonah I told them how the represents God's gifts mixed with mentors
08.26.06 03:03 PM - Comment(s)

Last night Joyce and I were invited to lead end-of-the-day devotionals (devos) for Cabin 2.

I left Joyce alone with the girls to attend faculty devos. Mark Hall, our fearless leader challenged us to write the names of our students on our hearts the way the high priest was to wear stones with the nam...

08.25.06 02:53 PM - Comment(s)

Tags