RichDrama - Blog #Washington DCRichDrama - Blog #Washington DChttps://www.richdrama.com/blog/tag/Washington-DCThu, 09 Apr 2026 09:26:39 -0700http://zoho.com/sites/<![CDATA[Communion America]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/communion-americaLord, bring a communion revival to America. Unite the church by the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. The invitation was simple. Come to the Table. To the Lord’s Banqueting Table. To Communion America.]]>

A Tardy Post from October

We had a very busy fall, so I'm catching up on some things we didn't post earlier. This was the article Joyce wrote about Communion America in October: 


Lord, bring a communion revival to America. Unite the church by the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.


The invitation was simple.

Come to the Table.

To the Lord’s Banqueting Table.

To Communion America.

Gather with people from around the nation to celebrate Jesus by worshipping, praying, feasting, and partaking in holy communion.

[Click to read the whole article...]


Here's the time lapse footage I took around the whole table:
]]>Sun, 14 Dec 2025 14:27:38 -0500<![CDATA[A Few Highlights of the Year]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/a-few-highlights-of-the-year1Here are some highlights from this year I realized I never posted about when they happened...]]>

More to Come...

Here are some highlights from this year I realized I never posted about when they happened...

Songs of Revival Launched

This year we had our first feature-length performance of Songs of Revival: Hungry After God Himself at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, TN, as a part of their weekend event How the Jesus Movement Changed the Way We Worship. It featured Michael W. Smith, who Joyce is praying over in the photo.

Back in the Kitchen


I had a booking in Tulsa and was able to have dinner on the set of A Christmas Snow. I didn't actually make it into the kitchen. Didn't want to elongate our wait for dinner, but it was quite fun to eat where I performed in my first film with lines in 2010. Since then I've performed in more than 50 films. 

Back at the Arch

A private workshop in St. Louis was blocks away from one of my favorite places on earth! We went up in it when I was in third grade, and it had a major impact on me! Sadly, the line was too long for us to make it to the top and still catch our flight, but the recently renovated museum underground was fantastic! 


Dress Rehearsal in My Home State


I'm always blessed to perform in Oregon, where I grew up and can visit family and long-time friends. On a trip in the spring I was able to perform Beyond the Chariots about Eric Liddell's victories during the 1924 Paris Olympics. It fell at a critical time to help prepare the play for performing it throughout Europe during the summer. 

Blessings in KY, TX, PA, D.C.


I had private workshops or coachings in Kentucky, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., that also blessed me in major ways! 

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Our Christmas eLetter Will Go Out Soon

I want to thank you again for being on our prayer team! We know it makes such a difference as we go out into the world to encourage people in their faith and warm those who have none to the Gospel. 


We're composing our Christmas eLetter, so we appreciate your prayers that it will bless all who receive it. 

]]>Tue, 17 Dec 2024 21:52:38 -0500<![CDATA[Hundreds of Thousands Gathered in DC for Prayer and Repentance]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/hundreds-of-thousands-gathered-in-dc-for-prayer-and-repentance Joyce's article on this gathering was posted while we were in Wales, so we're catching up now that we're home and screened the short film ]]>

The call to Esthers and Mordecais was answered

Joyce's article on this gathering was posted while we were in Wales, so we're catching up now that we're home and screened the short film we shot there. 


After Intercessors for America posted the article, organizers reported 300,000 were in attendance. 


Lord, raise up Your Esthers and Mordecais for such a time as this so that America may be saved!

Hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children recently gathered in person on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., with at least ten million more online at AMillionWomen.org to battle for America. 

[Click to read the whole article...]


Here's footage I took at the event: 

And here's an album of the photos we took:


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We had folks from four nations and three continents join us to watch the global and Western Hemisphere debuts of our short film 

"Evan Roberts Returns to Wales." 

We have a few more tweaks to make before releasing it to the public. Sign up at Songs of www.SongsOfRevivalLive.com to get the announcement.

]]>Thu, 31 Oct 2024 23:12:36 -0400<![CDATA[A Few Highlights of the Year]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/a-few-highlights-of-the-yearI'm preparing our Year in Review, and I realized there are some pretty major events I hadn't given praise for yet: Sharing a monologue as Rees Howells, ]]>

More to Come    

I'm preparing our Year in Review, and I realized there are some pretty major events I hadn't given praise for yet:

50th Anniversary of Intercessors for America

Sharing a monologue as Rees Howells, one of our heroes, at the IFA celebration was one of the highlights of the year. The day before Richard Blackaby mentioned how Evan Roberts prayed "Bend me," which was something I had in my script. Then before I presented, one of the IFA board members mentioned Rees Howells. Then, after I was done, Dutch Sheets spent much of his talk on Rees Howells! After he got off the stage Dave Kubal, our CEO, told him Rees Howells had been dramatized on the stage, and he said, "No way!" He told Dave that while he was preparing he kept hearing, "Rees. Rees." What confirmations that we picked the right piece! They sold out of copies of Rees Howells: Intercessor in the IFA bookstore!


We're planning to record the monologue so watch your inbox.

I Dreamed I Was Free in Princeton

I shared my one-man play I Dreamed I Was Free in Princeton for the Witherspoon-Jackson Historical and Cultural Society. It was a fund-raiser for them to build a museum. Robert J. Hillier, who hosts our Graceworks workshop every spring at Princeton University set it up and had this to say afterward: 


I want to tell you how pleased everyone was with the play and especially your acting, Rich! They are still all talking about it and even raising the possibility of bringing you back to a bigger venue. You certainly did yourselves proud and made me somewhat of a hero for proposing you do this. Thank you so much. 
— J. Robert Hillier
Founding Principal, Studio Hillier

Pensacola Christian Theatre Festival

I was blessed to share some excerpts from and stories about Songs of Revival: Hungry After God Himself at this marvelous gathering of Christian thespians! What a joy to spend time with those folks. As Rees Howells said of the students and staff of the Bible College of Wales, my sense is that those who spoke at and attended the Festival have laid their lives on the altar for their gifts to be used exclusively for the One who gave them.

What's a Girl to Do

I was able to drop onto the set of What's a Girl to Do in Ohio to answer questions for post-episode talk-backs with the cast and crew. Such a great bunch!

"Ember"

I got to perform and coach actors in a short film written and directed by a graduate of the Lamplighter Guild in Georgia. More to come on that as I'm able to share.

Our Christmas eLetter Will Go Out Soon

I want to thank you again for being on our prayer team! We know it makes such a difference as we go out into the world to encourage people in their faith and warm those who have none to the Gospel. 


We're composing our Christmas eLetter, so we appreciate your prayers that it will bless all who receive it. 


Also, we're letting many know for the first time about our need for people to partner with us to get us to Paris and Edinburgh for the Olympics and Fringe Festival. Please pray many give toward this trip. When we brought my one-man play Beyond the Chariots to London for the 2012 Olympics we know we reached people from at least 30 nations, so we're praying we reach people from even more countries through this trip. 

Help us bring Beyond the Chariots to Paris and Edinburgh next summer: 

www.GiveSendGo.com/ChariotsParisEdinburgh

]]>Mon, 04 Dec 2023 22:19:06 -0500<![CDATA[Asbury Revival! Daily Updates ]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/asbury-revival-daily-updates
We're still trying to figure out when the last of the worshipers from the Asbury Outpouring left Hughes Auditorium (post a comment if you know), but we connected with two people who left at midnight after the Collegiate Day of Prayer service ended, so that seems to have been the official close. That means -- if you count the Collegiate Day of Prayer, which flowed out of the Asbury Outpouring -- February 8th's chapel at Asbury University went at least 374 hours. 

Friday the last of our contributions ran on Intercessors for America's Asbury Revival! Daily Updates. You can visit that page to see them all, but here are highlights from ours:

Friday, February 24
Rich: While driving home to New York City from Asbury University we passed through the Washington D.C. area for a family event. We prayed into the commissioning we sensed we have all been given from Asbury. On the drive down we prayed for IFA state prayer leaders as we drove through their states , so we also picked up Virginia and Delaware on the drive home:


Thursday, February 23
Rich: On Thursday, Feb. 16, a speaker at Asbury University (they are intentionally not introduced to keep the focus on the Lord) read from John 15, focusing on verse 4 (ESV): Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.


I have to point out that those empty seats were about to be filled! There were hundreds in the line waiting to get in. 

Also, I found out later, the anonymous speaker was Zach Meerkreebs, who preached in the service on February 8. After he was done with that one he texted his wife: "“Latest stinker. I’ll be home soon.” Three hundred and seventy four hours later the University felt they had to close that service to get back to being a university.

Tuesday, Feburary 21
Joyce: My first day, Tuesday, February 14, at the Asbury Outpouring, I spent less than a minute in Hughes Auditorium, the main venue for the worship services. Even so, the presence of the Lord was so tangible, I burst into tears.

Saturday, February 18
Rich: My favorite moment at Asbury University — and actually a favorite moment of my life — was early Tuesday morning, Valentine’s Day. I woke up and saw that it was 2:44 a.m. I remembered that Jeannine Brabon said she first experienced the Shekinah Glory fall at 3 a.m. on October 3, 1969, four months before the 185-hour revival. I wanted to be fresh for Tuesday’s Headline Prayer Live, so I asked the Lord if I should go. I just burst into tears remembering how I sensed Him say: ‘You need my permission?’


Friday, February 17
Joyce: Yesterday Rich Swingle, IFA contributing writer and prayer leader, spoke with a man who had been a classmate of Jeannine Brabon, who was instrumental in the 1970 Asbury revival. The man made an interesting comment about the differences between the two outpourings: The 1970 revival was marked by testimony, usually focused on repentance, and then with worship: this current outpouring seems to be marked by worship, followed by testimony of repentance, healing, and deliverance.

Thursday, February 16
Joyce: “Viral is not revival.” Joyce Swingle reports from on-site at Asbury University: We spoke to two professors. One mentioned that he realized he had assigned a group project for a Friday deadline and he thought it would be difficult for the students to get together to do the work. He queried his class and realized they were keeping up with the schoolwork. He also mentioned he and several of the professors were finding that the outpouring was not keeping students from their classes. Fewer were cutting than the professors expected. Seems this outpouring is not making the students indolent but industrious!

Tuesday, February 14
Rich (My original article): Chapel on February 8 at Asbury University went long…and as I write it’s still going! In 1970, a chapel service in the same Hughes Auditorium went 185 hours. Ever since I heard about it circa 1987, I’ve been praying — as many of you have — for another revival to break out! I believe revival is breaking out.

Praying Our Way to Asbury
Rich (this was a separate article): On our way to Asbury University for Tuesday’s Headline Prayer Live, we decided to pray over each state we drove through on the 11-hour drive from New York City. We also prayed for each of the state prayer leaders. It ends with us walking into Hughes Auditorium, where the revival went for 185 hours in 1970. This outpouring has been going over 150 hours as I write, and there’s a line stretching down the road to get in!


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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, 27 Feb 2023 00:09:00 -0500<![CDATA[IFA Policy & Prayer Summit Overview]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/ifa-policy-prayer-summit-overview
Joyce and I covered Intercessors for America's Policy & Prayer Summit. Here's the first in a series of articles about the event and the speakers:

IFA Policy & Prayer Summit Exceeds Expectations

Lord, may the impact of the Policy & Prayer Summit resound through the halls of government in 2023 and the years to come. In Jesus’ name.
IFA’s inaugural Policy & Prayer Summit (Oct. 24–26) exceeded expectations, with more than 60 intercessors, including 17 state prayer leaders, in attendance. The summit ran for three days and combined intercession with speeches from such policy experts as Ambassador Sam Brownback, Dr. Ralph Reed, and Dr. Alveda Scott King. Recording artist Natasha Owens led worship through music.

Read the whole article by clicking here, and join Joyce and I on Tuesday for Pray with Others Live, when we're planning to cover more of our articles about this tremendous event: www.RichDrama.com/Prayer.
 
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Views of the Manger will be live-streamed on www.BCONLove.org. Spanish subtitles only at the live event in Butler, NJ.


]]>Sat, 26 Nov 2022 14:51:00 -0500<![CDATA[Let Us Worship at All 50 Capitols]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/let-us-worship-at-all-50-capitals

Joyce and I shared a byline for the first time on www.HeadlinePrayer.org: " Let Us Worship at All 50 Capitals."


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. 

]]>Thu, 03 Nov 2022 16:52:00 -0400<![CDATA[Love bade me welcome]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/love-bade-me-welcome

This is one of five poems by George Herbert that I performed at The Kennedy Center in 2002.  It was hanging on the wall in the room where I stayed while in Chicago with the father of Melissa Lorraine, who performs the one-woman play,  Juliet: A Dialogue About Love.

Wheaton College Church, where I  miraculously performed that night, had asked Melissa's parents if they'd host me. Later he realized Joyce and I had hosted Melissa in '07. I had met her at a speed networking session at a  Christians in Theatre Arts conference, there in Chicago. We had two minutes to share about our work. She said, "I'm going to perform at the Fringe Festival this summer."

"So am I!" I bellowed. "I'll see you in Edinburgh!" Turns out she was performing at the New York Fringe Festival the same weeks we were performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. So we let her apartment sit.

So her folks returned the favor.  I asked Melissa's father about the significance of the poem, and he shared that after many years of rejecting the love of God and her family she wrote out this poem and framed it for her father's birthday present, to let them know that she had accepted Love...

"Love bade me welcome, but my soul drew back
Guilty of dust and sin. 
But quick-eyes Love, observing me grow slack 
From my first entrance in
Drew near to me, sweetly questioning
If I lacked anything.
"A guest," I answered, "worthy to be here."
Love said, "You shall be he."
"I, the unkind, the ungrateful? Ah, my dear, 
I cannot look on thee."
Love took my hand, and smiling did reply, 
"Who made the eyes but I?"
"Truth, Lord; but I have marred them; let my shame
Go where it doth deserve."
"And know you not," says Love, "who bore the blame?"
"My dear, then I will serve."
"You must sit down," says Love, "and taste my meat."
So I did sit and eat.
~George Herbert

On the Christmas card Melissa wrote, "Please forgive the five-year-old quality of this gift...I wish it was just a little bit prettier.  But know that the reason this is your gift today is because I finally and fully know Him and I have at long last pulled my chair up to His feast...."

Melissa's dad invited me to read a chapter she wrote in  Mere Christians: Inspiring Stories of Encounters with C. S. Lewis. I was sobbing after Melissa's profound retelling of how she found Jesus in a very secular theatre company commune in Hungary by reading pages from C. S. Lewis' book,  Surprised by Joy, which her sister had selected for her.
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=richdramacom-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=0801071844


]]>Thu, 22 Dec 2011 12:12:00 -0500<![CDATA[Heading down to DC]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/heading-down-to-dc
I'm on my way to the table reading of For the Glory, an upcoming film in which I'll play the role of Coach Sean Ryan: RichDrama.com/ForTheGlory.


We just crossed the Delaware Memorial Bridge.
]]>Fri, 14 May 2010 17:33:00 -0400