(From my column
“Looking Forward and Glancing Back” in the SGT monthly
newsletter, August, 1986. Bracketed information has been added to
clarify some items for the blog.)
Where,
when and why did it all begin? The where and when are simple—in
the fall of 1982 in Bolivar, Missouri. The why, as with all dreams,
is a little more difficult. In trying to answer the why, I can only
tell you that I believe God planted the dream for a full-time
Christian theatre in Springfield in my heart as a call to serve Him
with the gifts and talents He gave me. And likewise, to provide
opportunities for young Christian artists to use their talents to
glorify and hold up the name of the Lord before the world. I
believe that theatre is a powerful tool for influencing lives and
should not be left just in the hands of a secular world.
So
I felt His call, but even so it was only a dream; how do you make a
dream a reality? How do you begin when the task seems monumental?
Perhaps the wise man says, “You don't.” However, being more a
dreamer than a wise man, I reasoned, “Just start. Once you tell
everyone what you want to do they will be so excited they'll jump on
the band wagon by giving of their time and money.” I told you I
was a dreamer! At any rate, with the blessings and encouragement of
my wife, I did begin.
I
felt that God had given me the names of several others to join me.
The first name was Pat Edmonds. After talking with Pat, I was sure,
for as it turned out, Pat had a similar dream. I also talked with my
daughter, Denise, and a school teacher friend, Peggy Turner. They,
too, wanted to be involved. So together we agreed to contact some
others we felt would be interested and called a founders meeting for
October 17, 1982. That very special first meeting was attended by
myself, Pat, Denise, Peggy, and three other theatre students at
SBU—Doug Austin, Ward Franz, and Mike Shew. The group covenanted
together to form the Stained Glass Players. We developed a plan of
action. We would spend the first year planning, organizing,
performing in Springfield area churches, and raising the $2,000 plus
that we thought it would take to get going. The plans also included
finding a building the following summer (1983) that could be
renovated into a theatre to give the Stained Glass Players a home.
[Stained Glass Players is still the legal name of our ministry even
though we have done business as Stained Glass Theatre almost from the
beginning.]
The
plan went as scheduled through the winter, spring, and early summer.
Then in August, when we began to look for a building to rent, we hit
our first “brick wall.” We had hoped to find a building we could
rent for around $300 per month. We soon discovered that we really
had been dreaming. We could not even find a burnt out fox
hole for that. We were really discouraged until God led us to Bill
McClure and his Plantation Restaurant. [The Restaurant was located
at the corner of Sunshine and Grant Streets in Springfield where
Perkins Restaurant is now. It may have been known as Springfield
Family Restaurant.] We had heard that the basement of the restaurant
was empty and that Mr. McClure had had Christian singing groups
perform at his restaurant before. We didn't think there was much of
a chance, but we decided to at least talk to him.
After
seeing the basement area of the restaurant, we were both excited and
sick—excited because it was so right, sick because we knew there
was no way we could afford it. It was one hundred times nicer than
anything we had looked at. It met all of our needs—performance
area, seating space for one hundred [we had to install the actual risers and seats as shown here], office space, lobby and
restrooms, good heating and air conditioning, even a parking lot. It
seemed to be perfect; however, compared to what we had seen, I knew
we were looking at somewhere around $1200 per month or more. I was
embarrassed to even tell Mr. McClure what I thought we could afford
($300-$400), but I did tell him our situation. He said, “Let me
talk to my wife and see what we can do. We'll let you know in a
couple of weeks.” We did a lot of praying the next two weeks. I
kept thinking he would try to give us a reasonable price, but that it
would still be more like $800-$900, which was much more than we could
afford. If he got as low as six hundred, maybe we could find a way.
Two weeks later, we called him, hoping for the best and expecting the
worst. And God “blew us away” with the first miracle on our
journey—Mr. McClure told us that we could have it—rent free!
Praise God! 
We had our first home and we could begin our ministry
in Springfield! [This picture shows our first sign with our first logo attached to the post below the restaurant sign.]
Thank You, Father! Praise Your Holy Name! Jehovah!
COMING NEXT: SEEDS OF JOY
The first season begins, our first show, and another miracle.
