RichDrama - Blog #ThanksgivingRichDrama - Blog #Thanksgivinghttps://www.richdrama.com/blog/tag/ThanksgivingSun, 12 Apr 2026 06:45:57 -0700http://zoho.com/sites/<![CDATA[Have a Blessed Thanksgiving!]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/Thanksgiving2024Joyce and I used Psalm 118 to lead Westchester Chapel in celebrating our gratitude for our country, community, and Christ: ]]>

God's Goodness: Country, Community, and Christ

Joyce and I used Psalm 118 to lead Westchester Chapel in celebrating our gratitude for our country, community, and Christ:

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. 


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If you want to know more about starting a relationship with Jesus Christ visit www.WestchesterChapel.org/salvation.

]]>Wed, 27 Nov 2024 21:25:35 -0500<![CDATA[Giving Thanks on Pray with Others Live]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/ThanksgivingProjects
A blessed Thanksgiving to all! 

We've very grateful for all of you who have kept us in your prayers as you've been following us over the years and decades! 

Here are the Thanksgiving proclamations by George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, preceded by the wisdom of Dutch Sheets: A Thanksgiving Prayer.

Tuesday morning my article on three Pilgrim projects I'm a part of posted to www.HeadlinePrayer.org: " Pilgrims Past, Future… and Present."

The projects were Freedom: William Bradford and the American Pilgrims, Mayflower II, and an upcoming mini series written by Keith Perna, who wrote and directed It's a Life Worth Living and Christmas Grace. 

 Then, Joyce and I were two of the guests on Pray with Others Live (now Headline Prayer Live) today for a special Thanksgiving episode (no longer available because our YouTube channel was taken down and our Facebook page was hijacked): 

Here are previous articles and interviews I mentioned about Lifemark, Christ Over Career, and What's a Girl to Do?

 If you'd like to join us live in the future, sign up for alerts at www.RichDrama.com/blog/post/Prayer. 

 In Mayflower II we play a couple in the not-so-distant future who host an illegal Bible study that uses Scripture that's been deleted from the government-approved version. Rich's character is an engineer working on the Mayflower II, a spacecraft built to take believers to Mars, the only place left for religious freedom... or is it? 

 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. 

]]>Tue, 22 Nov 2022 17:21:00 -0500<![CDATA[Eric Metaxas interview with Jenn Gozton and Jim Chandler]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/eric-metaxas-interview-with-jenn-gozton
A blessed Thanksgiving to all! 

Eric Metaxas, who shared his testimony for our outreach in Russia during the 2014 Olympics, interviewed our friends Jenn Gotzon and Jim Chandler, about their film The Farmer and the Belle, in which I was a NYC producer and played Belle's manager. 

The film is in select theaters Thanksgiving week.

Click here to watch the interview.

Be sure to watch to the end. Eric also interviews singer/songwriter Melanie Penn, and the show closes with the music video of her Christmas song, "Immanuel," which is really charming. 

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

]]>Thu, 25 Nov 2021 12:54:00 -0500<![CDATA[Freedom: William Bradford and the American Pilgrims]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/freedom-william-bradford-and-american
A blessed Thanksgiving, everyone! 

Brinkman Adventures has made both volumes of their audio drama, Freedom: William Bradford and the American Pilgrims available. 

We love that they show how clearly the Pilgrims were motivated by the desire to worship the Lord according to Scripture and not the dictates of men, how they dedicated America to the spreading of the Gospel, and how they address the concerns of those trying to tear down our history, showing how flawed people did the best they could under extraordinary circumstances. 

I asked the director, Ian Bultman, to explain how he got the idea for the project, and he wrote:
We started this after meeting some Christians who run the Jenny Interpretive Center while visiting Plymouth. They planted the idea to do an episode as 2020 was the 400th anniversary. Because Jenny was a ministry, I saw them as missionaries to American and felt they fit our format perfectly.  Soon I realized this wasn't about the Jenny, it was about Bradford and the Pilgrims. The story hits on so many things we are dealing with today in America. Freedom of conscience and freedom to practice our faith unhindered by government; race relations; how to deal with a society that treats us unjustly; suffering for/with Christ; loving our enemies; a pandemic. In hindsight I really see God's hand leading us to this project three years ago before everything that's happened in the US.  I see this as a reminder to America of it's roots and heritage. A warning to those who wish to go back to tyranny. And a reminder to the church how to live in troubling times.   Freedom was going to be two or three episodes. As I studied and wrote, it kept growing. At one point I was stressing over the length and sensed the Lord say 'tell the story and don't worry about how many episodes it will take. So at that point I did just that. There was only one 3 minute portion I wasn't able to tell due to space (we'll be including it on CD as an easter egg bonus track).  
Here's his prayer:
Lord, as the intercessors across this country listen, encourage their hearts and faith through the faith and actions of these Pilgrim Fathers who now stand among the cloud of witnesses.   May each listening be reminded that they too are pilgrims, strangers in a foreign land, serving as ambassadors for You with the Good News that each may be reconciled to you through the blood of Jesus.  Help us find ways to get this story circulated across the country this year and may it ultimately be pleasing to you and bring glory to Your name. In your Son's name, amen

In Part 1 I play the roles of Charles Deane (introduced at 8:27 in Disc 1, track 1) and Richard Clyfton (introduced at 2:01 in Disc 1, track 2).

In Part 2 I play Samoset and an unnamed Native American.


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

 In Mayflower II we play a couple in the not-so-distant future who host an illegal Bible study that uses Scripture that's been deleted from the government-approved version. Rich's character is an engineer working on the Mayflower II, a spacecraft built to take believers to Mars, the only place left for religious freedom... or is it? 

]]>Fri, 19 Nov 2021 20:05:00 -0500<![CDATA[Thanksgiving Without]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/thanksgiving-without
Our students created this at the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp this summer.

If you're receiving this as an email, or to share this with others, use  www.RichDrama.com/ThanksgivingWithout.
]]>Thu, 19 Nov 2020 17:50:00 -0500<![CDATA[Mayflower II]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/MayflowerII
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. 

Here's a recording of Greg Lammiman (writer/producer) and Dallas Lammiman (director) after the film screened at the 2021 International Christian Film and Music Festival:


https://rumble.com/embed/vn3lft/?pub=a50cx


You can watch Joyce and I accept the Best Screenplay award on behalf of Greg Lammiman at the International Christian Film and Music Festival by clicking here. It starts at 1h, 47m, 49s. 


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."
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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. 

]]>Thu, 24 Jul 2014 22:09:00 -0400<![CDATA[Happy Thanksgiving!]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/happy-thanksgiving


Performed at the Thanksgiving Eve Service at Westchester Chapel (http://WestchesterChapel.org), November 24, 2010, by Rich and Joyce Swingle.

Written by Rebecca Phillips
© Copyright 2004 by Rebecca Phillips
Made available by the Eastern Territorial Arts Ministries (TAM) Bureau
Posted by permission
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