SHOWERS OF BLESSINGS #9

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

The spring of 1986 proved to be a wonderful time as God’s “Showers of Blessings” continued to pour out on Stained Glass Theatre. We had just seen God set us free from the bondage of debt, fill the theatre for the run of NARNIA, and give us two beautiful billboards on the Springfield roadsides. Could we ever expect more? Expect or not, God wasn’t through.

The next several months were filled with dozens of blessings. Our monthly financial pledge support began to grow almost overnight. New pledges (mostly unsolicited) soon took our support from a little over $100 per month to almost $500 per month. This amount met, almost exactly, our rent and utilities [for the building on Commercial Street].

Entrance to the building.

A rehearsal in the auditorium of the building.

Can you believe it? We couldn’t. We just kept praising God! Another unbelievable blessing that occurred last spring reminds me of an old expression I remember hearing my mother use, “Well, whoever would have thought it?” Indeed, who would have thought that a man would suddenly come by and tell us that he owned a doughnut shop and would like to give, that’s right, give us doughnuts to be sold at our concession counter. Unusual, right? But true. Bob Leasure, owner of Delta Dawn Doughnuts, has for the past year been furnishing SGT with doughnuts from his business to help us. That’s hard enough to believe without, as Paul Harvey would say, “the rest of the story,” which is that Bob later informed us that he felt God was blessing his business for helping us, so he wanted to do more. He wanted to furnish all the canisters of Coke for our fountain. Yes, it’s true, thanks to a wonderful Christian man and his family, we now have no cost for operating the concession counter. Yes, Mother, who would have ever thought it?

We want to say thank you to Bob Leasure and his family for their wonderful and unique support of SGT. We appreciate you so much. We pray that God will richly bless you for blessing us. Also, we would like to thank all those generous friends who support SGT with a monthly pledge. Your support is so important to keep the ministry at Stained Glass going and moving forward. May God bless you in every way! We thank you so much and we do remember you in our prayers.

Even in the midst of great blessings, life and ministry is not without times of testing. Such a time came to SGT last spring during the run of SAUL OF TARSUS [later renamed as The Damascus Road].

Ron Boutwell (Luke) and Pat Edmonds (Paul)

The cast closes Saul of Tarsus singing "I Know Whom I Have Believed"

Our dimmer board began to give us trouble and the lights would go out during a performance. The dimmer board was a very old, repaired “throw-away” from Southwest Baptist University. It was now too old to get replacement parts for, so we knew we were facing the necessity of purchasing a new board at a cost of $800. We agreed to trust God for the need rather than go back into debt. Within three weeks, all $800 had been given by our patrons. The next week, Terry marched into A.T.C. and paid cash for a new dimmer board. The employee at A.T.C., who was familiar with our past financial troubles, said to Terry, “Cash? Well, y’all must be doing pretty good!” Terry smiled and said, “Yes, I guess we are.”

I think you can begin to see, as we have seen, how obedience brings blessings. In the beginning, we told God that we would not go into debt. We did, and we suffered. God reminded us of our commitment to stay debt free and to trust Him to meet our needs. We obeyed and God has blessed us so wonderfully ever since. Praise God!

COMING NEXT: RETURN TO THE DREAM                           

See how the Stained Glass Players learn that something “too good to be true” may not be from God.

BILLBOARD BLESSINGS #8

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

It was January, 1986, and the new year began with spirits high. We had been set free from the bondage of debt and were resolved to trust God to meet our needs. We had just experienced the “Gideon” miracle and were still in a state of joyous shock. We had seen God move in a mighty way and didn’t even consider that there could be more. Little did we know at that time that we had seen a few sprinkles of God’s love but that it was only the beginning, for He was about to open the windows of heaven and pour out showers of blessings.

The third week of January we opened NARNIA, Pat Edmond’s adaptation of C. S. Lewis’ THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE. The showers of blessings began to fall. For the first time since we started the theatre, we were full for most performances and had to schedule additional shows. It was unbelievable! We had a new problem, a wonderful problem: not enough room! By the time we closed the two-month run of NARNIA, we had paid off our $1200 debt (which still existed in December) plus had $2400 in the bank. We weren’t on “easy-street” by any means, but we were able to meet all of our bills and have some extra to see us through the summer when we would have no income. Praise God! During the run of NARNIA, God worked another fantastic miracle. In February, Larry Sneed, a man who had seen NARNIA, came by the theatre to talk to Pat. God had told him to do something for the theatre. Larry said that he worked for a sign company and that he had persuaded his boss to let us use two billboards—one on I-44 and the other on 13 Bypass. The rent alone on these billboards was $300 each per month, to say nothing of the hundreds of dollars it would cost to have them painted. We had thought of billboards before, but had known for a long time that there was no way, absolutely no way, we could afford billboard space. So, can you imagine how stunned we were when Larry informed us that we could have them RENT FREE and that if we would buy the paint, he would personally paint them for us at no charge. God had done it again—that which was impossible was made possible.

It was so exciting to see those billboards a year ago. And even now as I drive down the highway and see one of those beautiful signs looming up, my heart leaps up and tears come to my eyes as, once again, I am reminded of God’s power and goodness.

Again we are left without adequate words to express our thanks to the man God used to bring about this miracle, or I guess I should say “continuing miracle,” since the signs are still there and we still do not pay rent on them. All we can do is simply say, “Larry Sneed, we are truly grateful. Grateful for the way you gave of your time and talent. Grateful that you were willing to let God use you to help us. We love you! We thank you! And, we praise God for you! ”

COMING NEXT: SHOWERS OF BLESSINGS                          

See how God, by keeping His promises, keeps reminding us that obedience brings blessings.

A GIDEON MIRACLE #7

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

NOTE: The following part of the SGT story deals with a very special event that touched me more deeply than I can express.  But not only me, for it has brought tears to the eyes of many as I have shared this incredible incident.  I pray that it will bless you and strengthen your faith as it did mine.

God had given Stained Glass Theatre a new home (200 E. Commercial) and had provided the miracle of the contractor who met ALL the building expenses.  Basic construction was completed in October of 1985, just in time for the opening of NATHANIEL THE GRUBLET, our second show of the 1985-86 season.  Things seemed to be turning around for us, but many problems still needed to be solved:  finishing construction, preparing new shows, building attendance, and meeting the ever-present financial needs.  Old debts, our modern day Midianites, still kept us in bondage.  The problems were still there, but we could finally see some light at the end of the tunnel.  We began to breathe more easily as we grew spiritually and began to trust more in the miracle-working power of the Lord.

 

Around the first of December, two months after moving to our new theatre, a series of events taught me new meanings for the words obedience, faith, and sacrifice.  It began while I was attending a chapel service at Southwest Baptist University where I teach.  I went that morning expecting, as usual, to have a brief time of praise and worship and then continue the routine of my day.  But by the time the chapel service was over, God had spoken to me in a powerful way, reminding me of a commitment I had made to Him when we started the theatre company three years earlier:  “Not to allow the theatre to go into debt.”  We had kept that commitment for the first year, but as hard times came, I broke my pledge, and we soon fell deep into debt.  As God spoke to me that morning, I knew in no uncertain terms that He wanted and expected me to have the theatre debt free by the end of the year.

 

I left that service full of fear.  We were still over $1,000 in debt, and I knew that if we were to be debt free by December 31^st, I had less than four weeks to raise the money, which meant that I would have to ask people for donations:  a thing I truly hate to do.  God quickly led me to some very generous people, and by the end of the first week, we had $450.

 

That same week on Friday, I shared what God had put on my heart with Pat and Terry.  I asked Terry to go over the books so I would know exactly how much we owed.  It was more than I anticipated—$1,200.

For the next two weeks, I asked everyone I knew for money:  friends, teachers, businessmen, students—everyone.  People were generous, but I was running out of time and was still far short of my goal.  At the end of the third week and on the last day of school before Christmas break, I woke up with a heavy burden on my heart and cried out to God with tears in my eyes, “God, I’m not going to make it.  I know you wanted me to do this, but I’m not going to make it.  Father, I only have $900, and everyone is leaving for Christmas.  I don’t even know anyone else to ask, Father.  I’m sorry, but I’m not going to make it.”

I went to school that morning knowing I had failed.  The next day I would have to go to Ft. Worth, Texas, to care for my parents who were ill.  When I returned, the year would be over.  I had failed, but God’s command was still absolute in my heart:  “End this year debt free!”

God sent Todd and Jim, two tremendous young Christian students, into my office at about ten o’clock that morning.  None of us knew at the time that God had a special reason for them to be there.  One of them was to deliver a powerful message, the other was to be an instrument of God’s miraculous power.  Jim and his wife had already given to the theatre; however, I had not asked Todd to give because he was a typical student, struggling to work his way through school.  Finances were always tight for Todd, so I hadn’t wanted to burden him, but as we sat there, the Holy Spirit prompted me to ask him.

I awkwardly approached the subject, “Todd, have you spent all your Christmas money yet?”

His answer was what I expected, “What Christmas money?  Why?  What is it you want?”

I explained what I was trying to do and then told him, “so I thought you might want to give a Christmas gift to Stained Glass—$5 or $10, whatever, every little bit helps.”  Todd said he thought he could help.

Jim spoke up, “You know, Ron, your trying to raise money here at Christmas time when everyone else has presents to buy, sort of reminds me of Gideon."

“Gideon?  What do you mean?”

“I don’t know, it just does.  Gideon had to get rid of all those Midianites, and God told him to send most of his army home—all but three hundred men.  And that just somehow reminds me of you.”  It didn’t make sense then—it would later.  The discussion ended, Todd told me that he would get his checkbook and stop by after his final exam, and I thought no more about it.  I completed my office work and went to lunch.

Todd

About one o’clock, Todd, with his checkbook in hand, came into the little store that I own and we went into the back room. Then Todd, the boy I thought might scrape together $5, sat down and wrote out a check for THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS.  I was stunned.  I managed to say, “Todd, I can’t accept this.”

He replied, “No, don’t try to talk me out of it.  I know more than anything I have ever known in my life that I’m supposed to give you this money.  God has been good to me, providing me with money that I needed for school.  Each time, I told God that I would give Him part of it, but I never did.  I know I’m supposed to do it now.”  Then he said something that tore my heart out.  “Quite frankly, it’s all I’ve got, but I want you to have it.  I have some bills I need to pay, but I know God will take care of them.”

Tears of joy filled my eyes all afternoon.  Not only was it the exact amount I needed to set the theatre free from debt, but it also taught me a lesson I’ll never forget about sacrificial giving.  All my life I had heard stories of people who had given all they had, but now I had seen it firsthand.  Later in the afternoon, God spoke to my spirit, revealing the truth behind the Gideon message which had been delivered that morning.  Through Todd’s sacrificial gift, God showed me that just as it was not Gideon who defeated the Midianites, but God—that it was not I who was raising money for SGT, but GOD!

So, thanks to God, some generous people, and our Gideon with his $300, we ended 1985 debt free!  At SGT we looked at the miraculous power of God and understood how the Gideon of old felt when “all he could do was just stand there worshiping God!” (Judges 7:15)



Artist's rendition
of Todd Barnett
 as Gideon

       [The following summer, someone sent me a script entitled Gideon.  I do not believe that it was a coincidence that I received the script at that time. I feel that God was continuing to speak to me concerning the importance of being obedient to Him, even if it meant sacrificing—not just money, but pride and self-reliance.  That fall, Todd Barnett began his senior year.  The following spring, SBU Theatre produced Gideon, and Todd was cast in the title role.  I personally believe this was God’s blessing for Todd who had obeyed Him by giving sacrificially.  It is also important to note that Todd Barnett was in several productions at Stained GlassTheatre during those early years.]

 COMING NEXT: BILLBOARD BLESSINGS                            

See how God continues to use special people to bring about miracles for SGT.