Jesus Heals the Leper

Praying this scene from The Chosen over those infected with the coronavirus!



We studied this passage in our men’s group last night by conference call. In this scene we see the first century protective face mask, and Pastor Randy pointed out that people probably needed to stay six feet away from lepers and wash their hands for 20 seconds after being exposed to them, but Jesus touched them. They didn’t infect Him. He made them clean. Praying the Lord will touch people through us during this unique time for everyone.

Then we discussed Jesus healing the paralytic, and The Chosen has a scene on that story, too:



We focused on how the pharisees were upset because Jesus wasn't playing by their rules, but Jesus came to bring Life. As Paul wrote to the Romans, "For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death." If you've been trying to live a good life but don't find that you have the power to do that, you can know the only Power who can enable you to do that. Our men's group talked about how we've all seen that in action as we've walked with the Lord!

If you haven’t seen The Chosen they’re going to live stream all eight episodes of Season One starting Sunday at 9PM Eastern: https://studios.vidangel.com/the-chosen/live

#BingeJesus

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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.

Seeking a Songwriter

Our latest Treasure Seekers episode is based on Matthew 7:21-23 and was filmed in Nashville and Africa.

Click the arrow below, or if you're reading this in an email you can click this link, to play the service:



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

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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.

The Confession of St. Patrick

My friend and mentor Roger Nelson went home to the Lord last year, but his ministry continues. Here's a performance of his one-man play, The Confession of St. Patrick. Click the arrow below, or if you're receiving this in an email you can view it at www.RichDrama.com/SaintPatrick.



During his 35 years of ministry, Roger Nelson performed the one-man plays on John Wesley (A Man from Aldersgate) and St. Patrick (The Confession of St. Patrick) in over 1,800 performances in over 32 countries and all 50 states. For more about Roger's work, visit www.A1ManPlay.com. This performance of The Confession of St. Patrick is posted with the blessing of The Friends of John Wesley, the organization that oversaw Roger's work until he died in 2019, and with the blessing of Roger's sister, Joan.

Roger's friend, BJ Johnston, is performing Roger's other play, The Man From Aldersgate. You can find out more information and book a live performance at www.JohnWesleyPlay.com.

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Roger and I rented an Off-Broadway theatre, Theatre 315, and rotated my play about Eric Liddell and his play about John Wesley. See the rest of the Chariots of Fire story in Beyond the Chariots. Watch it online and book a live performance.

Jean Racine’s Esther

I’m thrilled to be cast as Mordecai in a production of Jean Racine’s Esther!

I felt like the Lord was calling me to produce and direct this play years ago, but it didn’t work out. To be performing in a production of this play in the very theatre where I was going to produce it is very special indeed! It’s confirmation that the Lord really wants this story told! I didn’t mentioned it to the director of this production, Christopher Monroe, until after he was doing a production of it a couple of years ago! The Lord put it on his heart separately. Christopher asked me to play Mordecai in that production, but the performance dates were during the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp, so I had to sadly pass. I’m so thrilled they’re doing the play again and that I can be a part of it!

I believe the Lord wants it told for such a time as this, with anti-Semitism on the rise again and Christians now in the largest persecuted people group.

Jean Racine was the Shakespeare of France, and this 1876 translation by Caroline Andrews maintains Racine’s rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter. It’s out of print, but Christopher tracked a copy down at Yale’s library.

I’ll post more later about how to get tickets, but for now I just want to urge you to save the dates. My performances will be Thursdays through Saturdays, May 14 through 30 at 7pm.

Performances will be at Theatre 315, 315 W 47th St, between 8th and 9th Avenues in Manhattan.

I’ll post more details here (www.RichDrama.com/Esther) as they arise, and I’ll send out a notice through www.RichDrama.com/UpdatesNYC.

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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.

A very special BTS story from The Chosen

We love The Chosen, a series about the life of Jesus and his disciples! Here’s a behind-the-scenes video that really blessed us...

Click the arrow below, or if you're receiving this in an email, visit www.Blog.RichDrama.com.

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I Dreamed I Was Free tells the story of Quaker abolitionist John Woolman, who spoke against slavery a century before our Civil War.

Jackals and Fruit, Part 2

In this episode of Treasure Seekers, Trevor the Trevor Seeker continues to explore fruit in Africa, and interviews the granddaughter of the woman who helped raise Rich Swingle's mom.

If you haven't seen Part 1, you can click here to see it first.

Click the arrow below, or if you're receiving this via email, visit www.WestchesterChapel.Blogspot.com to play the episode:



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

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

Take Salvation While Taking the Land

Joyce and I used readers theatre to bring the story of Rahab and the Israelite spies from Joshua 2 to life in the continuation of Westchester Chapel's "Taking the Land" series.  In an adapted readers' theatre form, the Swingles share how Salvation for all who desire it is at the core of the story of Rahab and the spies sent by Joshua to Jericho. My observations about the archeological discoveries at Jericho came mostly from the documentary, Patterns of Evidence: Exodus.

Pastor Randy Solomon leads in a Communion service.

Joyce and I both share about our experience at the March for Life. Click here for the album of photos we took that day.

Click the arrow below, or if you're reading this in an email you can click this link, to play the service:



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.

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

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I Dreamed I Was Free tells the story of Quaker abolitionist John Woolman, who spoke against slavery a century before our Civil War.

Jackals and Fruit, Part 1

In this episode of Treasure Seekers, Trevor explores the fruit of Africa. We introduce Pethahiah the Shepherdess (played by Joyce), who warns about jackals in wolves' clothing.

Click the arrow below, or if you're receiving this via email, visit www.Blog.RichDrama.com to play the episode.

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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.

Taking the Land by Taking Command

Happy Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Weekend, Belated Religious Freedom Day (on which it was proclaimed that prayer is allowed in public schools), Happy Slavery and Human Trafficking Awareness Month, and Happy Sanctity of Human Life Sunday! I got to open our service at Westchester Chapel praising and praying for these wonderful celebrations of liberty and hope! Joyce opened her message talking about how challenging it was to pack for Africa.

Click the arrow below, or if you're reading this in an email you can click this link, to play the service:



During worship we sang "'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus." Click the arrow below, or if you're reading this in an email you can click this link, to play the story behind that hymn:



 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.

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

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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.

The Whistlin' Kid: A Delantare Story

I did the voice of Benson in this teaser for Delantare released today...

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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.

Performing for Teresiah Njeri

We sponsor Teresiah Njeri through Compassion International, and the photo is of me performing my 1-man play about Jonah for her and her friends because she told us in a letter that Jonah is her favorite story from the Bible. She got tickled and was sharing her joy with one of her friends on the pew behind her. I was translated into Kikuyu, which is the language my mom was learning when she was Teresiah Njeri's age. We picked her because of that, and because her Kikuyu name is the same as the woman who helped raise mom: www.RichDrama.com/Njeri

Pray about sponsoring a child: www.RichDrama.com/Compassion

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For information on my one-man play about Jonah visit www.RichDrama.com/ShortPieces.

Photos from Africa

We took about 3,000 photos on our 26 day trip to Africa, and it's taking us a while to put them all into folders so you don't have to go through them all in one sitting. Click the images below to see the folders we have created so far:

We presented in 7 chapels at ANU. Click here to watch two of them.

We'll put more here as we have time, and you can visit later by going to www.RichDrama.com/Africa.

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I Dreamed I Was Free tells the story of Quaker abolitionist John Woolman, who spoke against slavery a century before our Civil War.

John Lennox at Carnegie Hall

Joyce and I had a blast at Carnegie Hall hearing Dr. John Lennox say some really intelligent things about Christmas... oh, yes, and his niece and her husband, The Gettys, performed there, too. The whole evening was just really wonderful! They sang their own songs and their arrangements of classics. They were backed up by a very talented band, including of former colleague and friend from MasterWorks, Alana Pritchard, who headed up the strings section. There was also some electrifying Irish dancing mixed in! Many of the songs were carols they directed the audience in joining along, making it the third time I got to perform at Carnegie Hall... from the audience. It's breathtaking to be one of thousands of voices filling some of the most acoustically perfect space on earth with songs celebrating God becoming man and dwelling with us.

But the real highlight for me was when Dr. John Lennox spoke. Kristyn Getty's uncle is professor emeritus of mathematics at Oxford University, where he used to take classes from C. S. Lewis. Dr. Lennox read Scripture and shared a brilliant celebration of Christmas. Dr. Lennox has debated Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins, among other atheists. One told him Jesus was just as fictional as Santa Claus. Dr. Lennox asked people in that audience to stand if they came to believe that Santa was real as adults. No one stood. Then he asked people to stand who came to believe in Jesus Christ as their real, living Saviour as an adult, and hundreds stood up. He countered that Jesus is very real, and his Life and Life lived through his students is studied by people with doctorates. There are no PhDs who study Santa Claus as a real, living person. He also pointed out that some say Jesus could not have been born of a virgin because it goes against the laws of nature. Dr. Lennox explained that we go against the laws of nature when we catch a falling apple. For the Creator of all things--including the laws of nature--to step into time by way of a Divine Spermatozoa is completely fitting with Who He is and Who He promised.

If you want to know more about the living Jesus Christ, visit www.RichDrama.com/MyPassion.

Click below to see John Lennox remembering C. S. Lewis. If you're receiving this by email, it's at www.Blog.RichDrama.com (12/20).

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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.

Floored...again

One of three performances this
Season, for pastors on the
Metro NY Church of the Nazarene.

It happens every Advent Season: I get floored by what the Lord did! This year it happened in an unexpected way, as I was preparing to portray Zechariah in Dennis Cole's "Unlikely People." Zechariah is the father of John the Baptist, and in this monologue he's reflecting on how the Angel Gabriel told him he and his barren wife Elizabeth would give birth to the prophet (John the Baptist) who would lead people to the Messiah. Because of Zechariah's disbelief, his ability to speak was taken away. There's a brilliant line in the monologue: "...my thoughts are my prayer to my God, Who would do for my bride Elizabeth what only God can do. Yes. Yes! ....in my silence He can!" After going through the script scores of times as a part of the memorization process it finally dawned on me that his ability to express his doubt to Elizabeth was significantly reduced when his voice was taken away! It made me think of how Jesus could not perform many miracles in his hometown, which led me to this exceptional article about it: "Why Jesus Couldn’t Do Miracles in His Hometown." It’s not our faith that makes God do what we want, or our lack of faith that prevents Him from moving, but the Creator of all things will not move where there is no faith.

Don't wait for God to answer a prayer for something you want before you'll have faith. Pray that He'll give you faith, and then watch the miracles flow! I'm WAY behind on the long list of miracles I've seen that I keep at the bottom of www.RichDrama.com/WarRoom.

If you have no faith, or if you'd like your faith renewed, visit www.RichDrama.com/MyPassion.

We prayed that the Lord would keep the bad weather away from Times Square so we could perform our play there as we planned, but He answered our prayer in an unexpected way: We performed it in the beautiful sanctuary of Holy Cross Church, and the Facebook Live recording of it is MUCH better than it would have been on Times Square, and we wouldn't have done a Facebook Live without broadcasting the images of strangers without their permission. So it's a miracle that you can watch it now:

Part 1 (Starts at 1:40. If you click 1:40 in the comments it will take you right to it.)

Part 2

Have a blessed Christmas Season!

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

Rich read Scripture and led hymns at the Memorial Service of Roger Nelson in Pasadena, CA. Roger was one of Rich's mentors and colleagues in one-man plays.

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.

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I Dreamed I Was Free tells the story of Quaker abolitionist John Woolman, who spoke against slavery a century before our Civil War.

The Advent of the Radical Life

Swingles in Tanzania.

Joyce continues Westchester Chapel's Radical Advent series teaching on John 15:7-17. I open with stories and a song from Africa. Dr. Linda Warren prays refreshment for us after our trip.

Click the arrow below, or if you're reading this in an email you can click this link, to play the service:




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.

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

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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.

The Log in Sharky Man's Eye

In this episode of Treasure Seekers, Sharky Man tries to get a speck out of Trevor the Treasure Seeker's eye while he has a log in his own. We'll see why Jesus said that's a really bad idea in Matthew 7:1-6. We'll also see interviews with pilots at the Oshkosh AirVenture, the largest airshow on earth and hear how they welcome people into the Family of God.

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There are still three openings for the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp next summer, where I'll be teaching acting for film and coaching students in a short film.