I Am [7 act skit series on Jesus' 'I Am' statements]

1. I am the true vine – John 15:1-5
2. I am the bread of life – John 6:35
3. I am the light of the world – John 8:12, 9:5
4. I am the gate – John 10:7
5. I am the good shepherd – John 10:11-14
6. I am the resurrection and the life – John 11:25
7. I am the way the truth and the life – John 14:6

Each skit:

Two people sitting around at a retirement home, one with a newspaper (N), the other a Bible (B), with scripts on them if acting live.
Slow to speak and even slower to reply to each other for effect there could be a literal 4-5 second gap between lines as the elderly process the thought and come up with a response. Make the skit about 5 mins
Can be live or pre-recorded - Can be same or different couples - Can be any combination of genders


THE VINE


(video intro)

B: Hey [insert elderly person name]

[remember 4-5 second delay for slow thinking EVERY time...]

N: Yeah?

B: Wha-da-ya-reckon Jesus meant when He said ‘I am the true vine’?

N: Dunno.... You sure it says ‘Vine’?

B: Yeah, I am the true vine.

N: Where’s it say that?

B: In John... chapter 15.... verse 1

N: Maybe he was pointing out that he had skinny legs, like a grape vine?

N: Or maybe his skin was flaky like the bark of a grape vine... and was encouraging people to moisturise?

What a Friend [Church welcome]

Performance: Castle Hill Seventh-day Adventist Church - April 6, 2019

[What a friend we have in Jesus is sung by the church first]

What a friend we have in Jesus.

Who here IS a friend of Jesus?

I see a few of you didn’t put up your hands. You’re probably like me:

I’m keen to be a friend of Jesus, but when I went looking, I couldn’t find His Facebook account to friend him. Not an official account anyway so maybe he doesn’t really have an account.

If Jesus were on Facebook, do you think he would send a friend request to EVERYONE in the world? It’s then just up to us to accept his friend request. And we can invite others to be his friend too. Share his posts.

Safe Seats [Church welcome]

Performance: Castle Hill Seventh-day Adventist Church - May 18, 2019

Welcome to castle hill seventh day Adventist Church this morning.

If you’re a regular attender here, you’re probably all settled in your usual seating area by now. However...

If you’re a visitor it can be hard to know where to sit.

You know when you visit a new city and you don’t know where all the unsafe areas are.

Well, if this is your first time here you can’t possibly know where all the badly behaved people are sitting in our congregation. So I’m going to help you by holding a little survey and you can take notes.

Tips for dealing with nerves for Christian actors and performers

Be it acting, performing a musical item, taking the sermon or even giving the scripture reading, nerves can strike for many (most) when 'up the front' at church. These four tips are what calms me down and refocuses me.

1. It's not about you!
   The first, and biggest, thing to remember for church dramas, or any on-stage activity at church, is that the performance isn't about the performer.
   Each drama is performed for the sole purpose of communicating a message that ties in with the day's theme. It's ALL about the message of the day and, ultimately, for God's glory - not yours.
   It's never about how well it's performed or in efforts to gain personal accolade or to further a career. While we want to perform our best to aid the communication of the message, it's ultimately all for the glory of God, not our own. Perhaps God's the one who should be nervous???
   So If you're nervous about how 'you'll look/perform', don't be, it's not about you!
   
   
2. God on your side
   While we do our best to deliver a polished performance, and may often feel inadequate in their skills or rehearsal time, I believe God steps in with at least FOUR ways to help out where needed.
   
   -a. God assists the performer in their presentation, and if God thinks the act is needed to succeed - then it will succeed. I believe God wants us to communicate well and will assist us where needed if we dedicate our work to His glory. If we all do our earnest best in all the aspects of the presentation we are responsible for, and for the right motives, that's all we can do, and God will do the rest.
   
   -b. God can prompt the audience's minds with the individual message they should gain from what they see and hear. God can step in and even tailor different specific messages for different people watching the same presentation. So what might come out one way in a drama, the audience here's something different.
   
   -c. Errors can lead to better memorable experiences and ultimately stronger communication of a drama. So if things go wrong, don't assume it was a failure - it might be what was needed for a purpose beyond our knowledge and logic. See, a singer friend of mine, nervous as ever, had their backing track cut out half way through and they ended up finishing off the song a cappella - disaster? NO, it turned into a wondrously special moment that moved the audience more than planned.
   
   -d. God assists in casting too. I have seen this many times. So you have been called for this moment. (Don't be like Jonah.)
   
   
3. Audience on your side
   The Audience want you to succeed, and will feel hurt, not rejoice, if you ever found yourself an a seemly embarrassing situation. In fact, if ever things did start to unravel, I guarantee there will be some who immediately start praying for you! (How neat is that!)
   The audience aren't (usually) paying customers, they're praying customers! The audience actually appreciates your willingness to step up, while many won't, and are your supporters.
   Don't be afraid of the audience.
   
   
4. The Prayer
   When your heart starts thumping out of your chest as 'go time' arrives, THIS is the prayer:
   
   "Lord, thanks for this opportunity to share a message for YOU.
   This is ALL about you.
   Help me reach at least one person with the message you want them to hear.
   For your glory Lord, not mine."
   (I usually condense to just that last line, sometimes over and over...)
   

"For your glory Lord, not mine."

Cool Welcome [Church welcome for a hot day]

Performance: Castle Hill Seventh-day Adventist Church - May 18, 2019

Welcome everyone to greatest church service you’ll ever attend... This morning.

Traditionally we like to give a warm welcomes here - But because we've had such a hot week, today I’ll be giving a cool welcome.

[tires to look cool and says, "eyy"]

and an extra cool welcome to the visitors here this morning

[tires to look even cooler and says in a deep voice, "How you doing..."]

Seriously, it’s our prayer you feel the love of God this morning.

I could go on, but I’d over stay my welcome!

Happy sabbath to you all. Enjoy the ride with us today.

Star Guidance ​[Christmas drama on the topic of 'The Guiding Star' ]

Performance: Castle Hill Seventh-day Adventist Church - December 22, 2018

[Four wise men walk down isle and stop on stage.]

1: We must stop, these heavily clouded skies are making it impossible to see the guiding star.

4: Not again. This is getting ridiculous. We just spent a week at the last town waiting for the clouds to clear and now, only three score furlongs along, we have to stop again and twiddle our royal thumbs.

2: Patience, young king, the guiding star is the only way we’ll find salvation.

4: There must be another way to help speed this up. I got Carol’s program to get back for.

3: Carols program?

4: Yes, princess Carol is holding a sing-a-long in our kingdom, I promised I’d host the event, so we can’t just wait around here doing nothing.

1: The scriptures suggest it is a star we must follow, and without clear skies we can not follow this guiding star.

4: Well, this obviously isn’t a very efficient way of navigating. Let me show you a gadget I’ve been working on. Its called a GPS.

Peaces [Skit about peace]

Performance: Castle Hill Seventh-day Adventist Church - October 27, 2018

[ person comes and in casual, typical talk, says:]

R: Hi, How are you?

S: Good thanks.

R: How’s you family?

S: Good

R: How’s work?

S: Fine, thanks.

R: Great! We’ll get going in a moment.

[R walks off]

[per-recording of S plays of troubled mind, where S talks about one worry, the volume fades a little and the next worry topic starts speaking on top of that (so there's two voices speaking at once now) and then after a couple of seconds the next worry (so there's three voices speaking now - and each new worry is a bit louder so you can hear it over the first worries - and so on until we end up with a group of voices disturbing the peace in S's head. Example: how am I going to pay this months rent.... my back is killing me, I can hardly sleep... Why is my wife so distant from me these days... this global warming is a real worry.... What am I going to tell my boss about that accident. I'm going to get fired for sure... etc]

[R returns just before the recording finishes]