RichDrama - Blog #Reviving the RevivalistsRichDrama - Blog #Reviving the Revivalistshttps://www.richdrama.com/blog/tag/Reviving-the-RevivalistsWed, 08 Apr 2026 22:53:23 -0700http://zoho.com/sites/<![CDATA[The Fulton Street Revival]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/FultonStreetRevival
On this day in 1857 Jeremiah Lamphier held his first lunch-time prayer meeting in Lower Manhattan. Within six months there were 10,000 meeting daily to pray during their lunch hour in Manhattan and by 1859 there were about a million people across the country praying together over lunch. 

Yesterday I played Jeremiah Lamphier in a short film for the Redigging the Wells of Revival conference being held on Azusa Street, the epicenter of a 1906 revival that birthed our denomination, the Church of the Nazarene, among many others. 

The short film was the idea of Silas Titus of Wall Street Prayer, who interviews Lamphier in the film.


You can see our short film as a part of the Redigging the Wells of Revival event, which included videos from many locations where revivals broke out. it's over nine hours of footage. 


You can also watch ours alone below:

To watch it in your home we suggest a donation of $2 (www.RichDrama.com/Donate)

To download it to show for a group and to stream it as a part of a service (please do not post it online on its own) we suggest a donation of $20 (www.RichDrama.com/Donate).

Once you've made a donation, click this link. Praying it blesses you and/or your whole congregation! To show in churches, look for the download button below the video on this page.






Rather than sharing the link above, please send others to www.RichDrama.com/blog/post/FultonStreetRevival.

This sculpture of Jeremiah Lamphier was on the sidewalk
outside the American Bible Society until they moved to 
Philadelphia. It's now in the lobby of King's College.

I released “Pentecost: Beyond the Imagination,” a scene from my one-man play, The Acts, at www.RichDrama.com/Pentecost.


]]>Wed, 23 Sep 2020 22:25:00 -0400<![CDATA[John Wesley's first sermon after his heart was strangely warmed]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/john-wesleys-first-sermon-after-his
This Sunday Joyce and I will be bringing John Wesley to life during Westchester Chapel's Zoom service. 

My friend Roger Nelson portrayed Wesley hundreds of times all over the world with the one-man play The Man from Aldersgate. It all started when Paul Moore, the pastor of The Lamb's Church of the Nazarene, told Roger he'd seen him in a vision portraying John Wesley. Roger asked, "Does he play for the Mets?"

Wesley was a preacher in England in the 1700s who became the founder of the Methodist Church, from which our denomination, the Church of the Nazarene, sprang. He started his ministry in the Church of England, but when he went as a missionary to America his ship encountered a storm. He was afraid of dying but noticed some Moravians who were not. He realized that he had gone to America to save the natives but he was not saved himself. On May 24, 1738, Wesley’s heart was “strangely warmed” at a meeting on Aldersgate Street when he put his trust in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ and not his own works.

Joyce will go back in time to June 18, 1738, when Wesley preached his first sermon after his Aldersgate experience, and Rich will portray Wesley giving that sermon.

If you're interested in joining our Zoom service, let us know through the form at the very bottom of this page, and we'll email you the login info.

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I released “Pentecost: Beyond the Imagination,” a scene from my one-man play, The Acts, at www.RichDrama.com/Pentecost.

]]>Mon, 31 Aug 2020 22:39:00 -0400<![CDATA[Pentecost]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/Pentecost

Since 1991 I've been performing one-man plays in theatres, schools and churches. Since no one's been bringing me into their communities lately due to the pandemic, I felt led to start making some scenes from my plays available for churches to stream for their online services and in their sanctuaries once they start meeting again.


I thought the first one I would make available is the scene describing how the Holy Spirit was given to the Lord's people at Pentecost from my one-man play The Acts, and it's now available for Pentecost Sunday, which is May 31 this year.

Joyce and I lived through 9/11 in NYC. I wrote a play about how the Lord walked with three individuals on that dark day, Five Bells for 9/11. In the wake of that horrific tragedy people flooded the churches looking for answers to their questions. 


W. Scott Lamb of the Washington Times said that "...four out of ten (evangelical congregations in Manhattan) were started in the decade after 9/11...." Lamb is reporting on the research of Tony Carnes, president of the Values Research Institute, who says NYC has become a "postsecular" city.

We're praying for a similar worldwide revival in the wake of this pandemic, and we hope offering this scene about Pentecost will help spark a hunger for a new work of the Holy Spirit in our day and intensified prayer to that end.

In my one-man play The Acts the main story teller is a fictional character named Nathan who was hired by Saul of Tarsus to spy on the followers of Jesus. Nathan realized that they were telling their stories about miracles as if they believed them, and Nathan's faith in the resurrected Jesus Christ began to grow. In this scene, Nathan brings an old codger named Ulrichus off the streets to tell his first hand account of how the Holy Spirit fell on followers of Jesus.

I hope you enjoy the scene, and if you do, please encourage your pastors to download it to play on Pentecost Sunday. You can send them to www.RichDrama.com/blog/post/Pentecost.

I've now taught and performed in 39 nations, so it's my prayer that this will literally be shown around the world, and I hope some of you will create translation subtitles.

Let's pray that the Holy Spirit moves in a powerful way during these unique times we're experiencing!

To watch it in your home we suggest a donation of $2 (www.RichDrama.com/blog/post/Donate)

To download it to show for a group and to stream it as a part of a service (please do not post it online on its own) we suggest a donation of $20 (www.RichDrama.com/Donate).

Once you've made a donation, click this link. Praying it blesses you and your whole congregation for Pentecost or any Sunday!
Donate
Watch
If you donate for a group license and need a download, send me a note and I'll get that to you.

Rather than sharing the link above, please send others to www.RichDrama.com/blog/post/Pentecost.
Credits:
Written, performed, filmed and edited by Rich Swingle
Concept: Through Fran Warren
Producers: Jim and Linda Warren
Dramaturgy: Jim and Linda Warren, James Masters, Joyce Swingle
Language Coaches: Adam Rudinsky (Hebrew), Tim Tsohantaridis (Greek), Wojtek Typrowicz (Latin)
Costume: Fran Warren
Costume consultant: Selah Cohen
Acting coaches: Selah Cohen and Judy Dodd
Consultants: Micah Derksen, Ethan Hill, Jenny and Niklas Holmgren, Paula Kasica
Desert City by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license
Source  
Artist



See the rest of Olympic champion Eric Liddell's Chariots of Fire story in Beyond the Chariots. Watch it online and book a live performance.

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