MEN WHO DREAM

I've never really understood whether God chooses men who dream or if He gives dreams to the men He chooses. I do know that much of what has been done for the glory of God was born of dreams.” ---Ron Boutwell, 1978

Friday, September 13, 2013

HARVEST TIME #12

(From my column “Looking Forward and Glancing Back” in the SGT monthly newsletter, July, 1987. Bracketed information has been added.)

God gave us a plan for “Harvest Time”—to fill the seats at Stained Glass Theatre. The plan was simple. We were to reduce our various ticket prices to one low price of $2.00. We felt God telling us that if Stained Glass Theatre is to be a true ministry, then it must be affordable for everyone. Our goal would be to insure that no one paid more than $2.00, and many would come free as others purchased tickets to be given away. Although the plan was simple, it was frightening since it required a step of faith. If we were having difficulty meeting the bills with a $5.00 ticket, how could we possible make it with a $2.00 ticket? I did not know, but God knew. His economy is always better than ours.

We put the plan into effect in January, 1987, as we opened BIRDS DON’T FLY AT NIGHT. And just as god had shown us in the past that obedience brings blessing, He again taught us that lesson. We obeyed, and we had the “Harvest Time” we once longed for. All seats were sold for every performance. One full house would purchase tickets for others, and it just mushroomed. By the end of the run, we were letting people in free whether they had tickets or not because all tickets for every seat for every show had been bought and paid for by others. It was exciting! It was wonderful! We went into the theatre for each performance hardly able to believe our eyes as the crowds came. Every night was a full house—all seats taken, filled. It was wonderful! Indeed, it was “Harvest Time.” And that was only part of the excitement, for it was during this time that the money to purchase new lights began to come in almost overnight, even before we knew we had to return the borrowed lights we were using. It was simply another example of the miracle-working power of our Lord!

Over the past twelve issues of the SGT newsletter, we have been looking back to share the struggles and blessings, the hard times and the good times, from our beginning to the present. As we've looked back, we've seen God’s grace, His lovingkindness, and His miracles. Yes, we have struggled, but through the struggles, we have grown as God met our needs and kept us going. We have learned over and over again to trust our Heavenly Father to care for us and to nurture us. So for SGT it has been a birthing time, a growing time, and a maturing time. Truly it has been a great time!
 
Terry Beasley (Abner Ingman) and
Jim Dunn (James Maupin)

[The final show of this Harvest Time season was GOD’S MIGHTY OAK, the true story of the two men who founded Southwest Baptist University, Abner Ingman and James Maupin. We have some pictures from that production.]


Linda Meyers (Mrs. Staples), Jim Dunn (Maupin),
Ron Laws (Mr. Staples), and Denise Schriver (Alice Staples)
They were doing the RB pose even then!
Well, everyone except RB, I guess.
 We praise God and give Him the glory for everything has been accomplished through His grace and power. Hallelujah! But, as the song says, “We've only just begun.” We have not reached a point of self-satisfaction. We will continue to strive for “Excellence in Residence”—to attain an even higher standard of professionalism—until we are truly a “Jewel” among theaters of the Midwest, a “SHOWCASE OF PRAISE WHERE GOD THE FATHER IS GLORIFIED AND JESUS CHRIST IS PROCLAIMED AS LORD AND SAVIOR.”

Ron Boutwell as Old Ingman
God has stretched our faith these past four years and He is about to stretch it even further as we look to the exciting days ahead. Pray that SGT will move forward with boldness and strength as we march toward a bright new “promised land.”

[The quote at the top of the page was from this scene in GOD'S MIGHTY OAK.]

COMING NEXT: A GLIMPSE OF THE “PROMISED LAND”
The stories change from past tense to present tense as Ron Boutwell writes about the beginning of the 1987-88 Season of Praise.