We were blown away by the creativity of our Creator while we were in Africa a month ago! We saw the wonders of his love everywhere we looked, and we can be sure that Heaven will be better than the best of earth... and without sin! Wow!

The only snow we saw in Africa was atop Mt. Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain on earth that is not a part of a mountain range.

On the first Sunday of Advent our service was canceled by the threat of snow, sleet and freezing rain. I told one of our friends we made in Africa, and he texted, "Snow 🤔🤔."  Our church gathered via conference call to share praise and prayer and hear Pastor Jim Warren share briefly on the Christmas Season. Because of the poor audio quality we didn't record it, as we usually do, but now I wish I would have. Pastor Jim made a keen observation: Just before Jesus was born the world was yearning for the Messiah to come. So many missed Him because they were looking for what they wanted Him to be. Now we who know Him are eagerly awaiting the return of the Messiah to deliver us from the mess we've made. Just as He came as a Babe in a manger, He will assuredly return as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Be ready to worship Him!

Serving Him has taken us far and wide this year. I've been able to teach and perform in 15 states, Kenya and Tanzania, and Joyce joined me in leading seven chapel services at Africa Nazarene University in Kenya.

Here are some highlights:


January
Joyce and I worked on the short film " Reflection," produced and directed by alumni of the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp, where Rich teaches and coaches each summer. Later that month Rich performed the role of Elijah for an Airship Genesis episode.

February
Rich performed I Dreamed I Was Free at the Westfield Friends School, where he also visited classrooms as John Woolman, the Quaker abolitionist featured in the play.

March

April
Rich recorded the voice of John the Baptist for Airship Genesis Mobile Game.

May
Rich played John the Apostle in the Off-Broadway production of Revelation. He shared the role with Jonathan Blair, who played Jesus in the Sight and Sound production of Jesus, which we enjoyed with one of our greatest supporters over the decades, Cindy Sebring.

June
Rich taught and coached at the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp. He also played the father in this year's short film, " Loneliness."

July
Rich performed in two short films (" The Ledger" and " Mine") in Canada near Calgary. They were produced by an alumnus of the  Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp.

August
Several bookings linked together, along with a trip with Rich's parents, which set up episodes of Treasure Seekers between Denver and Rhinebeck, NY.

September
Rich played Alan in the feature film Second Chances in Northern Idaho. Then Rich taught an Actors Bootcamp and performed at Content 19 Film Festival and Media Summit in Fort Worth, TX.


October
Rich performed and taught at the Hollywood Divine International Film Festival, near Harrisburg, PA. Then Joyce and Rich led seven chapel services at the two campuses of Africa Nazarene University in late October and early November. You can watch two of those chapels at www.RichDrama.com/Africa.

November
We went on safari in Tanzania, where we filmed several episodes of Treasure Seekers. We'll be posting more photos at www.RichDrama.com/Africa.

December
Joyce and I portrayed Elizabeth and Zechariah in Dennis Cole's "Unlikely People" at three events.

Praying the warmth of the Son shines on you throughout this Holy Season.

Joyce and I performed the rolls of Ferris and Danae Chapman in this outstanding film shot in and near Calgary.

It's available at www.MayflowerII.com. 

This is the fourth time we've played husband and wife, and the third in 2014!

Our characters are the parents of a young man who turns us in for being Christians, and I actually coached Jeremiah McFarland, who plays that young man for his audition as a part of the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp in Norwood, CO in June. His sister, Hannah, also went up to play a member of our cell group, an illegal Bible study in a futuristic world where North Americans must read from a government-approved Bible and attend an official church.

Nathan Clarkson played a government official. He was an acting student of mine in 2005, the first year I directed the theatre program. I performed in his film Confessions of a Prodigal Son, starring Kevin Sorbo, almost exactly a year earlier than Mayflower II.

Here's Joyce's report on the project to our home church, Westchester Chapel:

https://archive.org/embed/MayflowerIIReport

I wrote about this and two other Pilgrim projects I've worked on for www.HeadlinePrayer.org: " Pilgrims Past, Future… and Present."

In  Freedom: William Bradford and the American Pilgrims I play several voices, including Richard Clyfton, the first pastor of the Pilgrims when they separated from the Church of England to avoid government control. 

Our play, Beyond the Chariots, was translated into Chinese, Korean and Spanish for the Beijing Olympics, and for Vancouver 2010 we had audience members who benefited from the translations at all but one performance. We had a group of Spanish-speakers who we thought would be attending that day, so we scrambled to integrate the third translation. They didn't end up making it, but there was a family in Seattle that appreciated our efforts at a post-Olympic performance on our way back to New York City.

Our post-performance conversations were also enriching. We chatted with Leslie Lewis Sword, who performed Miracle in Rwanda in the same venue in which we performed Beyond the Chariots at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Ron Reed, the artistic director of Pacific Theatre, hosted a Christians in Theatre Arts Conference in 1993, which confirmed the calling I was sensing to move to New York City. He was able to attend our play, and we grabbed a meal afterward with Wanda Reinholdt, stage manager of Burnt Thicket, the group producing the other play running in Pacific Theatre through the Olympics, Hockey Dad, performed and co-created by James Popoff. Deb Sears was at Pacific Theatre during that 93 conference, and she was able to attend Beyond the Chariots as well. She's now involved with the independent film scene in Vancouver. Numerous More than Gold CaPA artists were able to attend both of our plays. After performing an excerpt from Beyond the Chariots at the senior center, which operates in the same building as Pacific Theatre, several were drawn to the play, including a 93-year old man who recalled a lunch with Harold Abrahams in 1943. Abrahams was the rival of Eric Liddell, featured in Chariots of Fire as well as our play which tells the rest of the story from Liddell's perspective.

We also had English speaking audience members from all over Canada, the US, Brazil, Indonesia and Russia.

Even our encounters with people on the streets of Vancouver were full of surprises: Korean speakers at a sushi restaurant, a professor of theatre in Korea we met in Stanley Park, and some folks near the steam clock that remembered my performance in Beijing! Someone pointed out that all of these Divine appointments should encourage us that we were on the right track.

To see photos from the trip, visit our photo album, "Vancouver 2010" at Facebook.com/RichDrama.

We just left Canada behind, and we're enroute to Beijing.
Okay, now we're directly over the North Pole, but the picture isn't as interesting: It's 5:45 in the afternoon in NYC, 6:45 in the morning in Beijing, and I don't know what time that makes it on the North Pole, but it's dark. No, wait! I see a light. I think it's... Could it be? Yes! I think it's Parka Pete!

That's a character I've done at various kids camps. Pete intends to beam himself to the North Pole but winds up at camp ... dressed for the tundra.

In all seriousness. Joyce and I did take a moment of Hope for the globe from up here. Click "Pray for the World" in the right column to pray for the whole world from wherever you are.

Our church is moving, so this Sunday will be our last worship experience in our old space.

The chairs will already be packed up.

Our pastor has given me permission to speak about the extraordinary worship we've experienced three years running at Territorial (see links below) as an introduction to worship. One of the most freeing things about Territorial worship was that we shoved the chairs to the side and didn't let them get between us and God. Danielle Strickland encouraged us to kneel if we sing that we kneel, bow if we sing that we bow, raise our hands if we sing that. In short, to make worship a whole body experience. When we do that we naturally have a greater connection to the One we're worshipping. He created our minds, hearts, voices and bodies and communication is only 7% words.

If you're in the area and want to experience worship without chairs come join us: Westchester Chapel at 4 Lyon Place, White Plains, NY. We meet at 11am. If you're outside the area please pray the the Holy Spirit visits our community in a fresh way.

For reports on the revival that goes on up north at the Territorial School of Music and Gospel Arts (TSOMAGA) check out the following posts:
TSOMAGA '04

TSOMAGA '05

Aug

Sept (scroll down to 9/5)

TSOMAGA '06 (scroll down to 9/6 and keep scrolling)

TSOMAGA Blog

I didn't get any pictures of worship without chairs this year because, well, I was worshipping. The picture here is one of the prayer stations on Thursday night, which was wholly dedicated to worship and testimony. It went on for hours with intense peaks and rests.