I once heard Jeannette Clift George (The Hiding Place, 1975) compare the arts in church to the stained glass windows of a church. Not only did it fill the church with color & variety, but it altered what people saw looking in from the outside. It was such a profound observation that it moved me to create a logo of the Comedy & Tragedy masks in stained glass so I would not forget. It is so important to keep the arts alive in our churches today. In days gone past, it was the church that was the repository of art & beauty. Even the first plays written in ancient Greece were religious themed. When Christ spoke the parables, he was telling stories; painting word-pictures for his audience that enthralled and inspired the a way just telling them the truth could not. They had to be "shown" the truth through the power of the spoken word.
The Church needs that power today. Chuck Neighbors has a great article on the subject called "Redeeming Entertainment".
There are many fine actors and script writers out there: Chuck Neighbors, Tom Long, Jeff Smith, Steve Wilent and publishing houses such as Lillenas & Willow Creek. But you may not be aware of the acting potential of the people in your own congregation. Possibly the best way to "root out" this untapped pool of talent is to have an experienced actor come to your church and perform. Once people see how drama can touch hearts and change lives, ask the performer to offer a seminar on acting to people in your church. Begin to search out conferences that offer a drama track such as Worship Northwest and ask your people to attend. Before you know it, you may have a drama ministry on your hands and then WATCH OUT! You just don't know where things can go from there.
I am one of those actors that also offers teaching sessions. I have a number of possible subjects for anything from a start-up drama ministry to one that's been around for many years.
Starting out life as Robert Scott Bettis Scott has always gone by his middle name. It's his mother's fault. She named him "Robert Scott" because she like the sound of that better than "Scott Robert" but called him by his middle name because he was a "Scott" and not a "Robert." He asked her once why she did it, and she said that in case he ever needed one, he could use "Bob Scott" as an alias. In more than fifty years, Scott has never yet had need of an alias, but it a nice gesture; preparing for his future even if he chose a life of crime. Going through life being called by his middle name has made it difficult to relate to some people, like pizza delivery boys, police officers, process servers, etc. But, don't feel sorry for him, Scott is part way through the 12-step program for people who are called by their middle names and is coping with the situation well.
Scott has been serving the Body of Christ through music and drama since the early 70's. Involved in drama during High School, Scott developed a love of theater as a medium of story-telling. When he graduated, he laid down that particular gifting and pursued music & worship instead. He continued to develope his natural talent for voices & accents while reading to or making up stories for his 4 children as the were growing up. He would read to them from the Chronicles of Narnia or Tripods Trilogy and put accents & characters to each voice in the book. Bedtime was at 8pm, but he would sometimes stay upstairs with his kids and tell stories until 10 or 11. Today, whether performing Shakespeare, a Broadway musical, or comedy improv, Scott is at home on the stage. He joined Master's Image Productions as an Artist Associate in 1995 and was delighted to find he could use acting as a ministry! He became one of the founding members of the comedy improv troupe, Laugh Attack! Scott has developed and taught many classes, seminars, and conference sessions on aspects of drama including basic and advanced acting skills, stage accents & dialects, and comedy improv to all ages from grade school kids to adults. After working with them for a couple years, Scott took a team of young, talented improvisers to the national CYT (Christian Youth Theater) Improvathon 2009 competition and came home with a 3rd place win! Scott currently lives in Stayton, Oregon with his wife Penny, his daughter Caryn (the last of four kids who's not quite ready to leave the nest) and his dogs, Mocha (a beautiful chocolate brindle Australian Shepherd/Border Collie mix) & Cappuccino (a black-and-white Border Collie/Lab mix who, I'm afraid is dumb as a bag of hammers but quite cute and loveable).