When the Crew Jumps Ship: The Need to Recruit

I've written a lot about how to build a strong department, how to work with amateurs, how to write for your cast, etc. But I haven't written much about attrition.

If you've had a drama department running for a few years, you know that people come and go. A church, a good one that is growing, is like a growing business. New positions are constantly opening, and talented people are always needed to fill them. If you've done your job correctly, some of the best and brightest talent in the church will be in your department. That means that they will eventually leave your group.

Hearing that a cast member is leaving is hard to take. Sure, they'll be valuable to the church in another capacity. Sure, they'll be serving the Lord more fully. But, why do they have to leave your department? The rejection hurts on two levels; first is that they are abandoning you and your work. Second, and more perplexing, is that question of where your are going to get an actor to fill that person's shoes. (I have no need to remind you to be gracious in that moment, or to remember that this person is a volunteer, and therefore not required to work with you, so be nice!)

I write this from the perspective of having lost nearly all of my talent in the space of a month. One couple, mainstays that have been with me from day one, left to develop a ministry for the hearing impaired. One actress left because she has outside educational pressures. Another couple left to pursue the children's ministry. Another actress left because of job stresses. My remaining mainstay actor just announced last week that he's moving across the country. Ahhh! My department now consists of myself, an actress in the same age group, a 70 year-old gentleman, and four teens, ranging from 12 to 15.

It's hard to know what the Lord is trying to tell you when your cast jumps ship. Obviously, it's a time to reflect. A time to take a good look at goals and objectives. A time to pray and ask God for direction.

It's also time to recruit. In marketing there's a joke that says the two best times to advertise are when business is bad and when business is good. I recognize that I failed to make recruiting a priority for my department, and that this is the price to pay for it. You need to make sure that you are always drafting new talent for your group. It's critical to the survival of your group, to its continued viability, and to the train of succession, when you yourself need to move on. Ultimately, it is the best job you can do for the church itself.

I hate recruiting. I tend to avoid performing at church these days. I don't mind doing monologues and stand-up bits, but it is extremely difficult to both perform in and direct a skit successfully when you're working with amateurs (see Why Don't They Laugh?, my April posting). So, I do everything I can to get out of it.

But, as director and producer, my job, just like yours, is to do your best to bring new members in. In my church, that means putting an announcement in the bulletin, and doing commercials. If I ask nicely, the pastor lets me do a little bit of stand-up at the end of the service, while the collection is taken place. I slick my hair back, put on a white suit and a red ascot and my best Ricardo Montalban impression and invite people to join the ministry. It's hokey, but it works!

At the end of day, when the crew has jumped ship, you have to remember that story about the Chinese symbol for crisis. It's actually two symbols; calamity and opportunity. Once the sting of the calamity has abated, start asking God how to exploit the opportunity you've been given. It might just be the gift you've been waiting for!

Writing Evangelical Drama

In writing for my church, I’ve been asked to write many, many evangelical pieces. The purpose of Christian drama is to reach the lost, and what better way to reach them than with a theater piece that invites them in? But evangelical drama is a double-edged sword. Unless your piece is truly an outreach piece, it will most likely be performed in front of a congregation that’s already heard the Word. Here are some ways I’ve found that might help you in crafting your next evangelical drama.

TARGET YOUR AUDIENCE – For whom are you writing your piece? The congregation or an outreach program? What message are you trying to deliver? I’m often looking for ways to show the impact of the Christian life on the average person. Even though I’ll have a specific message to deliver, my underlying motive is to never stop trying to reach the lost, to evangelize.

BE REAL – The purpose of your piece will determine the setting. The more realistic your setting, the clearer your message will be. Your goal is help the audience focus on your message. Your challenge is to deliver your message in new and innovative ways. Always make certain that the circumstances of your piece are realistic enough that the audience can take it seriously. This doesn’t mean that you can’t put your characters in exotic locations…just make that they are realistic exotic locations. I’m working on a piece right now that takes place in the cockpit of C-47 during World War II. It’s taken a huge amount of research to get the setting, the language, and the intentions of the characters right, but I know the audience will expect a realistic piece.

Your character’s development must follow a realistic track, too. Most folks don’t receive the Good News and find themselves instantly saved. It takes a while, it takes thought, and it takes growth. Give your characters time to reveal these emotions realistically.

BE SUBTLE – Until I found the Lord, I wouldn’t go into a church to save my soul (literally). On the one hand, churches seemed scary and closed off to me. On the other, the people in the church seemed to belong to some sort of club. I can’t remember how many church people told me I had to believe in the Lord. It took my sister’s simple logic to get me to let down my barriers and open my heart. Remember that this is how the lost might view the church, too. Hitting them over the head with your evangelical message won’t work, because the lost tend to tune out overt evangelism. Your piece, too, will be more effective if you approach the subject indirectly, allowing the audience to complete the evangelistic picture.

Your congregation will reject an overt message, too. I know this because I’ve written many of them, and they have consistently flopped. They already know the evangelical message. Instead, I look for ways that my characters find different circumstances in which to witness to the lost. Even though a church drama may be preaching to the choir, there are still many messages you can give them that will help them in their mission field.

LOOK FOR GROWTH – An alcoholic won’t stop drinking until he’s hit bottom. A drug addict won’t seek help until he’s realized that he’s helpless. A lost soul doesn’t accept the Lord until he realizes his earthly existence is futile. The alcoholic and the drug addict begin to grow when they realize that they’ve hit their bottoms. Your protagonist, too, will be believable when he turns a corner and has an opportunity to grow.

At the same time, non-growth can be very powerful. There’s a sadness about a character that refuses to see the truth that everyone else can see. That sadness can be a powerful dramatic tool you can use to drive a point home. Although your character doesn’t see the point of the piece, his failure to see it can drive the point home poignantly for the audience.

FINALLY, AVOID FAIRY TALE ENDINGS – They simply don’t play out for the audience. The Christian message is one of hope. The audience won’t buy a piece in which the character accepts the Lord and suddenly finds her rent paid, her car fixed, and a new promotion at the office. But a guy who finds all the world against him, who hears the Word, and who realizes that he can brave the storm as long as he’s got the Lord’s word in his heart…THAT the audience will buy. That’s the piece that will deliver the Christian message with honest and realism. And, that’s the piece that will touch the heart of the lost soul sitting in your church.

Touching the hearts of the lost. Isn’t that what evangelism is about in the first place?