As of autumn of 2023, we have been serving the Lord in this manner for forty years. My first script, for a short musical to be performed for the Truth Singers, our resident adult mixed ensemble, was pitched and written in 1983.

(The following article is taken from the first chapter of our book, A Calling to the Stage, Director’s Edition.)

Not every church drama group can or should slavishly follow the His Company way. Our history was our own, and our people a unique set of individuals. The methods put down in this book are not intended as a guaranteed path to success (however one measures success) for every group of thespians. Nor will its history be a perfect match for the beginnings of similar companies of players.

But that is not to say that the reader will not benefit from the telling. Our history is recorded here so that the Christian dramatist, director or actor might glean valuable information to encourage, inspire, edify—and that they might benefit as well from our many mistakes.

In the Beginning…

The history of His Company begins, appropriately, with an idea for a sketch, and the tale is a poetic illustration of how we who carry around in us the Spirit of God are intrinsically bound together, and thereby influence the work of Christ’s Kingdom.

Just why I wrote the monologue for the apostle Peter, The Scarred Rock, back in the early months of 1985 I can’t say. But once it was completed, I handed it to the pastor for his thoughts on using the seven-minute sketch in one of our Sunday morning services. His response was both understated and ambitious. He not only liked the idea, but suggested that I write eleven more—one for each disciple—and he would schedule a series of sermons to match: one per week for three months.

The Twelve

The idea was both exciting and frightening. As unofficial assistant to our Music Minister, I had been writing narration and dialogue for our musical productions for several years, but I quickly saw that this would be a challenge of a different stripe. Not only would I need to be doing a lot of writing, but I would also have to line up actors and schedule overlapping rehearsals for all the sketches.

But the commission was accepted, and a schedule quickly worked out. I cast The Scarred Rock and began an eight-week schedule of rehearsals for that play. I established a routine that had me continuing to write the succeeding plays in their order, while directing the next to be performed. In the middle of each play’s rehearsal schedule, I would cast and begin rehearsals for the next. On Sunday morning, August 11, 1985, The Scarred Rock was performed, and for the next eleven weeks a new sketch was performed every Sunday morning. At the time that the first sketch was being performed, the last in the series had not even been written.

His Company

Meanwhile, the process of casting these twelve sketches and monologues sparked a second idea. To cast these plays I had drawn from the list of usual suspects—those who had taken roles in various musicals and cantatas, and the odd larger play I had written and staged, such as The Surrender (1984). But there was something about the process of casting this succession of smaller plays that produced the idea of creating an autonomous company of players that would do this sort of thing on a continuing basis, at many churches, rather than just the one.

As a result, on the evening of April 26, 1985 a group of seven or eight people assembled in Linda’s and my home in San Diego, California. They (and others who were unable to attend) had all been invited to participate in mapping out a new idea: the creation of a Christian drama group to be called His Company.

During the course of that first meeting several points were discussed and agreed upon, with one of the more important decisions being that His Company would always be autonomous. We would remain independent, not under the jurisdiction of any one church or organization. The first reason for this decision was to ensure our freedom to minister to any and all denominations professing Jesus Christ as Lord. The second reason was that His Company would then not be governed by committee or pastoral fiat, free from church politics and cumbersome organizational restraint.

Responsibility

This autonomy placed a greater responsibility on His Company to stay true to its calling. Since it had no pastor, no Board of Deacons or Elders keeping the group in line, it was incumbent upon its leaders and members to zealously guard its integrity: Every script would be judged against the undiluted truth of Scripture; our methods would be continually judged against the life of Christ and the teachings of His apostles. Our “Board” would be the pastors and music ministers who reviewed each of our scripts before scheduling us to perform.

Even within the group, His Company was not organized by committee or run by consensus. We did assign responsibility for various departments to individuals, such as wardrobe, makeup, or props design. But the group was run, from the outset, as a benign dictatorship. It was even agreed that auditions for roles in new productions would be superfluous, since I already knew the strengths and limitations of each actor—and generally wrote each script with specific individuals already in mind. At one point I tried to delegate to a company manager responsibility for contacting churches for performances, but that met with only limited success, since the pastor would invariably require a level of authority that could only come from the group’s leader.

A Commission to Serve

So we were off and running. Over the next few years we gradually added more personnel, and performed around the San Diego area doing sketches and one-acts for worship services, and the occasional larger musical, three-act play, or evening of drama. By 1990 His Company consisted of seventeen people—including some who served not on stage, but only in roles of support, behind the scenes.

During this period, we

• never charged for any performance or service, nor asked for a donation—although we sometimes were given voluntary love offerings;
• never charged anyone to become a member of the group, nor “passed the hat” for expenses—although on a few occasions some members volunteered to cover some expenses for props, etc.;
• never had our own theatre or home base—although we accepted the gracious use of the facilities of our home church for most rehearsals;
• never held auditions—either for productions, or to join the group;
• never performed any script written by someone else.

Curtain

In the winter of 1990/91, Linda and I sold our house in San Diego, packed up all our earthly belongings and moved back to our home state of Iowa. Needless to say, at this point His Company—at least as it was originally conceived—ceased to exist. (Oddly enough, not one person of the company was willing to leave sunny Southern California to relocate with us to the Midwest. Funny, that.)

So at this point His Company became something different—in visible, human terms—from what it had been before. Now it would be smaller for a while, consisting of just two people: Linda and me. But this reduction in personnel in no way limited our work. Indeed, in some ways it freed it from many of the restraints imposed by working with a larger group.

For the next couple of years Linda and I performed in the local church we were attending (the congregation into which I had been born, lo so long ago), and I continued to fulfill commissions for new scripts. When we purchased our present home, and began searching God’s will for a church home, He eventually drew us to a congregation in Des Moines. Once again, by talking to people and making ourselves available, we began again the process of taking Christian drama around to churches in the area. By the beginning of 1993 I had written a new Easter musical for our church (Crown Him with Glory), and Linda and I were performing sketches in the worship services.

Through our work in the Easter musical, and through the gracious assistance of a member of the congregation in organizing a social evening in which we could present our credentials to a small group who might be interested, we brought into our work another couple—and set to performing some smaller pieces with them.

A Hard Lesson

Right about here, however, we—rather, I—made a fatal mistake.

The original incarnation of His Company, back in San Diego, had consisted of people who had worked with me for a number of years, in various capacities. I had sat next to them in choir; we had had them over for Bible Study, or dinner; and even before the creation of His Company, we had worked together with them in many other productions. They were friends, and out of this friendship grew a close bond that—without my realizing it at the time—was infused into His Company. I had become accustomed to their level of trust and respect, not realizing that that level of respect and trust was based on more than what we were doing at the time. They trusted me—not just because of my gifts, but because they knew me as a person.
None of this invaluable bond was transferred to Iowa. These were people to whom I was brand new, untried. Just maybe they could be impressed by my acting abilities or writing skills, but they didn’t yet know me as a person. They didn’t yet know my heart.

Regrettably, I forgot about this essential component and jumped in with both feet, expecting—no, demanding their respect and obeisance. I expected them immediately to share my level of dedication, my level of passion for the art; I expected servanthood where there was not yet even Lordship; I expected trust from individuals who as yet had no good reason to give it.

We continued to work as a team of four in and around the area, taking productions to several other churches, as well as continuing to perform in our own under the His Company name. In fact, we did some splendid work together. But there remained a fluctuating yet persistent level of tension in our midst—especially regarding what I saw as a proper level of commitment to rehearsals.

Meanwhile, my reputation in the congregation as a whole was deteriorating. Individuals in the music ministry, as well as others interested in drama, were pointedly rejecting my input and participation. Far from being respected, I was not even liked. I had bruised too many fragile sensibilities when I had pursued so strenuously my calling at the outset. I had pushed too hard, too fast, expected too much too soon. And it was eventually made clear to us that we were not to be forgiven these transgressions.

For these and other reasons, in January 1995 Linda and I left the church, and our ties to the other couple were severed. His Company was now back to just two.

But this was by no means the end of His Company. The Lord never promised anyone that the status quo would remain forever. He moves us about at will—His will—and often changes our job description at a moment when we are wallowing in what we believe to be defeat. God gifts us with certain abilities, and if we indeed call Him Lord and ourselves His servants, then we serve at His bidding, according to His desires.

Today—and Beyond?

In 1994 God began setting in place the necessary components for what His Company was to become. The list is too long (and potentially boring) to detail here, but by supplying the technology, the individuals, and the opportunity, the Lord changed His Company from a local performing group into a voice that could be heard around the world. Today, through technology as much His creation as the first man, we are able to continue writing, fulfilling commissions for new musicals and plays, and making all of these available to people and churches in all corners of the world.

A New Church

In 2006 the Lord brought to the church we were now attending a pastor who was eager to incorporate our abilities into the weekly services and seasonal productions. Since that time we have gradually—oh, so gradually—returned to serving on the stage in a local body.

The hard lessons learned the last time we tried to assimilate into a local church had not been forgotten. When we began attending this church we carefully, patiently waited for the Lord’s leading, depending on Him to use us as He saw fit. For this reason, when we finally did take to the boards to perform (a Good Friday monologue by the apostle Peter), many in the congregation were shocked to discover we could do such a thing. Up to that point we had been so quiet and reserved, they had no clue that we possessed the requisite skills for performance.

Later we cautiously put another toe in the water by inviting anyone in the church interested in working with us to attend a series of training workshops. These would be based on the counsel contained in this book. Again, we remembered that one of the reasons our attempt to involve others at our previous church had ended so badly was that even those who were interested had no history with us. They not only didn’t know us, and didn’t know what would be expected of them, but they didn’t know the important why. This time we would start from the ground up, ensuring that anyone working with us learned the essentials of the His Company way of doing things.

Response to the workshops was virtually nonexistent: only one person expressed a desire to perform with us. So, instead of holding workshops, we had our initiate read on her own the pertinent sections of this book. Before we took each incremental step in our first production together, we had her read the corresponding chapters in this book so she would know both the how and the why of the His Company process.

We performed several times with this person and one other, but as of this writing His Company consists of two people: Linda and me. We are comfortable with this, as it is clear the Lord’s hand is in it. Obedience to Him is of first importance, and we have no desire to pursue anything that is not part of His will. So we have continued to write and perform in our local church, as well as publish new scripts at our web site.

What awaits us in the future? We can say only: His will be done.

By God’s Grace

Because of a simple request by a local pastor back in 1985, we began something that continues to evolve, yet remains true to our original call to glorify God through the medium of the stage. Through God’s patient grace—and by the power of His Spirit—His Company continues to make a small contribution to the exposition of God’s word through the dramatic arts.