Vikki is starting the last 30 days of training for her second successive Chicago Marathon on Sunday, October 7.  She is chronicling those last days by reflecting on the music playlist she has compiled to encourage her while she runs which we call Chicago Marathon ( VikkiThon) on our YouTube Channel .  ​

Striving to reach the new heights elevated me to places I hadn't expected to go, and when marathon day came, the hill was troublesome but not daunting. As Marvin and Tammi also sang, "Ain't no mountain high enough." (A Romans 8 and an Ephesians 3 moment.)

MUSICAL INTERLUDE: Marvin & Tammi Bonus Track
​
Unlike Fox Valley, the Chicago Marathon course is relatively flat. However, the urban setting through the city streets is a different challenge. The pounding across concrete puts stress on  different muscles so that the one notable incline along Roosevelt Road just two miles from the finish, although not as steep as downtown Geneva, feels like climbing Mount Everest.

It's not correct to say that these hills are the reason I put Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground” on my playlist.  As I explained to my “cause-and-effect” husband, not every song on the list has a deeper meaning.  I just like the song and the beat helps me run.
 
Michael-Being-Michael hears other things. (Another story.) Since this week’s conversation theme of the songs on my #VikkithonPlaylist seems to be “church music” and “pop music,” as we drove to a doctor’s appointment today (scheduled checkup), Mr. Linear wanted to know if I’d ever heard the song as he has.  I haven’t.  I might later, but haven’t yet.
 
We agreed, though, that often hearing a song in a different time and space, through a different singer or arrangement, or through a different time of life may create a totally fresh interpretation.

​ (We made the latter discovery listening to the radio one Saturday night after we’d been married 10 years or so.  Classic disco, R & B, and Steppers stations were our date night white noise.  A song came on we’d always jammed to.  Suddenly, we were struck by a lyrical double-entendre we’d never caught in our 20s. I’m sure it was because Camille was newly born.  Becoming  parents does change your auditory filter.)

​The same renewed interpretation occurs with reading Scriptures in different translations or with a different person reading.  Example, when Michael and I grew up, only the King James Bible was available. We need not stress how hardeth understandingeth it waseth. We attribute much of our spiritual growth to discovering first the New International Version, then other translations.  These not only were easier to read in our modern language, by making clear the nuances of literature (simile, metaphor, analogies, etc.) they  gave a us a deeper appreciation of the original text.  So it is with these lyrics: 

​I'm so darn glad he let me try it again
Because my last time on earth I lived a whole world of sin
I'm so glad that I know more than I knew then
Going to keep on trying
'Til I reach my highest ground

While we loved Stevie’s original, Michael unexpectedly encountered a version by The Five Blind Boys of Alabama several years ago while hearing their album as he walked through -- wait for it! -- a Tower Records store! When I showed him my playlist, he thought of that version.  So, while I’ll be running to Stevie, we thought  it would be fun to include both video versions --  Stevie's from 1974, shortly after the song was released; and the Five Blind Boys featuring Clarence Fountain with guest Chrissie Hynde, founder of The Pretenders, in 2011.  As you listen, we just want to know: “Do you hear what I hear?”

Vikki is starting the last 30 days of training for her second successive Chicago Marathon on Sunday, October 7. 

​Besides the work (running, stretching, body strengthening), she's shaping her "VikkiThonPlaylist -- songs she'll be listening to while running.  In the training process, we'll highlight some of the songs on her playlist and her thoughts of why they're there.)

My playlist is a mix of "church music" and "pop music." Some may wonder about the latter, however, in either case, Vikki says, " I'm able to hear God's voice through the lyrics."

In fact, that perspective is behind numerous songs Vikki has adapted for her CDs and solo women's programs.  The perspective is also what has kept her going through two marathons and five half-marathons. 

​Here are some examples, and  Vikki's thoughts on what the songs mean. (Click on the song titles for the lyrics.)

Vikki is looking to like-minded friends and artists to run the Chicago Marathon with her.  You can do so without leaving  where you are now.  How?

1)  Vikki's run of 26.2 miles will take over four hours.  She'd like more songs and is open to suggestions, especially original tunes that might be propelling and encouraging for a run.  If you're an artist, please email Vikki a suggestion "church song" or "pop song" (any genre), or comment below.

2) Vikki is running to raise support for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.  Each day she makes progress toward her goal of $2900.  Please consider donating.  Follow this link to do so and learn more.

Undoubtedly Christmas and Easter are two of the most popular and celebrated holidays of our culture, even among people who do not understand or believe in the central focus of their praise: That God, the Creator of Life, offers a permanent relationship with humans through the life work of His emissary Jesus The Christ.

 Beneath the catchy or reflective melodies often heard during holiday galas are provocative, inspiring poems whose depth is often missed, even by the most passionate Christ-follower. 

We explored those  poems,  revisited the Scriptures that inspired them and discovered the depth of their lyrical message:  What Jesus endured to save humans — who by nature rebel (or “sin”) against God — from eternal separation from God (eternal death, or “hell”).   

​As a result, we adapted the lyrics of 61 Christmas and Easter songs, converted them to dialogue, did the same  related Scriptures and created two reader's theater presentations, "Carol Story" and "Carol Story: The Easter Edition."   The scripts were written independently, a decade apart.   Each "Story" is a powerful gospel reflection on its holiday season, and can be presented to supplement a planned program. Yet something stunning occurred when viewing them together.
​
After a Christmas-season tour of the 10-minute Carol Story," conversations with our  guest pianist, clergy and audience members, sparked conversations about a "sequel" for Easter with the same concept, and only a few of the same songs.  There are four Christmas songs used in both.  We also added scriptures as transitional dialogue, because of the nature of the Resurrection narrative.

 A community organization requested our services for a special Holy Week program, and so to complete the allotted time, the one acts were connected as a 55-minute outreach that yielded impact we had not anticipated.

Hearing back from audiences has been educational.  "I did not know there were so many hymns about the life of Christ," a viewer told us.  We understood the awkwardness in her phrase -- that though we sing hymns of praise and worship, sometimes the story of Jesus is missed.  By jove, she got it!

​For cast, embodying the characters relying solely on the words and without extraneous set pieces has intensified our relation to the Scriptures and God's creativity.  Moreover, responding to spontaneous audience responses during performance make discoveries unavailable in rehearsal, thus creating enthusiasm for reviewing the meaning of passages we may have misunderstood in first performance.

​We also discovered that although these are "Christmas" and "Easter" songs, neither piece is restricted to those holiday seasons, for their throughline is the life of Christ -- a message that transcends seasonal containment.  An element we found help with the community performance is this:  recognizing that not all in the audience believed the story of Christ, we felt it helpful to create program notes to put some phrases in context.  Those notes became the basis for this missive.

Jesus says only belief in Him and following His instructions saves those who want to be with God from eternal death and leads them to eternal life.  Jesus says that eternal life occurs only when a person’s spirit is reborn from rebellion against God, to embracing Him as ruler and guide of human life as outlined by Christ.

Those who wrote the lyrics we present understood these principles.  Some sitting among us tonight do as well. Whether you choose to believe is an individual choice which we respect. However, we admit we do have an agenda, so to speak, with this presentation.  Simply, whatever you think about Jesus now, that you leave with a greater understanding of the life of Christ, so that when you hear these songs in a mall or on radio you’ll hear the voice of God speaking to you more deeply.  Believe it, or not.

Day #20 of #21DangerousPrayers is from Acts 9:10 - Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”
---
This morning we're privileged to be engaged in theater ministry at Waukegan Community Church. Each time God gives us an opportunity it is fun, frightening, exhilarating and intense all at the same time. Our scripts are full of scripture in keeping with our motto "The Best script is Scripture. (TM)"

Our music is selected to minister to the heart and we do our best to either choose or create music that is sound in scripture and pleasing to the ear. And we pray both during rehearsal and prior to the ministry performance that we've done as God has asked when He first called us. It is a heavy responsibility.

Bottom line, hearing and obeying the call of God is what Gary Rohrmayer calls a "dangerous proposition." In the story of Ananias, it involved navigating the waters of "Saul's notorious reputation," which from a human perspective seemed to spell out certain peril. For me, it's the "head games" that begin bouncing around as I doubt the strength of my own performance and the ability to entertain. Alas, the actor's nightmare.

But as I bow my head in prayer, taking my crisis of faith to the Lord, He reminds me of my purpose and that his grace is sufficient for me. His power is made perfect in my weaknesses - on and off the platform (2 Corinthians 12:9). And I KNOW, God can be trusted.

And something else grips me, keeps me focused on what God's dangerous proposition is about that far outweighs my anxiety or enemy-spun thoughts of encroaching doubt. I know God can be trusted, because I have a relationship with him through Jesus Christ. For others, I pour over this anecdote, which frames each opportunity:

One cannot trust a God you don't know,
One cannot know a God you don't invite in,
One don't invite in a God you can't see,
One can't see a God you're not introduced to,
One won't be introduced to a God you aren't led to
And one won't be led to God without someone being on mission...
Someone who says "Here I am, Lord" use me.

READ MORE OF VIKKI'S #21DangerousPrayers Reflections

This song by worship leader Ron Kenoly became the theme of our first theater missionary trip to Tijuana, Mexico in 1995.  It has new resonance as we move closer to full-time performance missions.  We're thankful for this subtitled offering by Bauch Visuales.

The church we have attended for a quarter century -- where Kingdom Impact Theater Ministries was birthed -- is going through changes.  In the last two years there has been a change in the leadership structure, including, in recent months, the pastoral staff on which Mike served for 13 years.

As part of those changes, Mike and Vikki are embarking upon a new season of ministry service apart from their home church.  It's a frightening and exhilarating time for both our ministry and that of our church.  The transition is reminding us many things about God, and more about our faith IN God through Christ.

​In his farewell address to the congregation, Mike expressed new-found trust in Jesus' admonition, "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:34)." Subsequent months gave practicality to these words by creating an urgency to each 24 hours that had become hard to embody in recent years.  Indeed, a change in seasons is often The Lord's way of invigorating even the most veteran Christ-follower (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8).  We must confess, in the Psalm 51 mode, that two  great Christian sins are complacency and protectionism.  So, God stirs the eagle's nest. 

Our church family has been making similar discoveries throughout their search for a new lead pastor.  That perspective, noted the elder board chairman leading the search, is more akin to the Old Testament Jesus -- Joshua.

LEARN  MORE:  Jesus or Yeshua?

The pastoral search neared its climax in mid-summer.  In the midst of a new hope with a new pastor, the Elder Chair reminded the members (that still includes us) of the expectant hope of the children of Israel knock, knock, knocking on the Promised Land's door.

​"What has struck me lately," he wrote speaking of Joshua chapter 1, "is that they did not know what we know.  As the people stood on the banks of the Jordan (River) looking into the Promised Land all of that was part of an unknown future for them. " 

This bolt of insight struck a chord with us as KIT Ministries.  So did what followed.

​"We, too, as a church are on the banks of a new and promising future," he continued. "The promise of the future is just that -- future and unknown.  Like the children of Israel we must also step out in faith that God will go before us and lead us into a bright new day."

​Those steps of faith, we have been discovering, are each day.  Steps of faith each day as the ensemble of KIT Ministries  pursue the grunt tasks before us :  knock, knock, knocking on employers' doors; filling out applications; updating resumes; making calls; reviewing our statements of faith; tightening finances; recognizing and facing financial errors; defining and unifying our organizational structure, improving interpersonal communication.

As we have been taking these detailed baby steps in this transitional season,  we have been experiencing many promises of Scripture.  Experiencing these promises have made the passages we read and the songs we sing more personal.  More meaningful.   We have been learning anew that the abundant life Jesus promised is not about lots of material "stuff."

LEARN MORE: John 10:1-10

In the months since Michael's staff position ended, we have seen God's hand moving us to find creative solutions to day-to-day problems, even when that "creative" solution was accepting that the answer to the prayer request  was, "No." 

Accepting the rejections rather than wallowing in disappointment is a dose of humility.  Humility tells us that we're not as ready as we thought; makes us recognize the reality there is more work to do.  Such humility is an impetus to, like Paul, "press on toward the goal."

​In the months since, we have seen God introduce us to people, training, opportunities and performance possibilities that have been "more than we can ask or imagine."

​At the same time, putting these observations together -- the work-to-do and the possibilities -- have left us speechless.  This happened at the first ensemble planning meeting of our new ministry calendar year. 

For two hours, Garlan, Vikki and Mike penciled in dates for performance possibilities in the next 12 months.  We juggled rehearsal schedules with day-job hours.  We looked at the nuts-and-bolts of touring, preparing budgets for things like transportation, hotel stays, meals, and honoraria.  We reviewed applications to present at conferences and marketing outlines. We mapped out our workshops that need updated handouts, scripts that need rewriting, study guides than must be edited, music that needs remixing. We the sobering bottom-line figures, and reviewed positive responses to our pitch for a 2018 tour. 

At the meeting's conclusion, we sat back in their seats and sat in silence the weight of the promise.  We rested like an athlete having finished a gym workout, or regular guy after a 30-minute DVD.  We rested, trying to catch our collective breath.  After several moments, Vikki sighed.  All she could say was, "It's big."​  In such a  moment, there is nothing to do by bask in the bigness of God.  So, we rested in His rest.

Sadly, the longer people follow Christ -- period; or serve Him in the same place -- we can lose sight of His Bigness.  As faithful as our attendance can be, as proficiently we can memorize Scripture, as comfortably we bellow our favorite songs Service of Worship, we have to admit that our passion and awe of God can wane.  Whatever the reason -- busyness, predictability, fatigue -- there are times we have "forgotten our first love," as Jesus told John to write to the church at Ephesus in the book of Revelation.  So, He stirs His nest (Deuteronony 32:1-10).

LEARN MORE:  Letter to the Church at Ephesus

​Stirring the nest, looking at human realities, also evokes fear.  Despite our faith and belief in the numerous times Scriptures tell us to "fear not."Individually, the KIT ensemble knows each of our needs as parents, family leaders, homeowners, employees.  We experience concerns about bills, physical ailments; while we intuitively know "tomorrow will worry about itself," we struggle with worrying about tomorrow's provision today. We admit on any given day we are afraid of phone calls or the mailbox or other people.  Even Jesus had His Gethsemane moment.

​Yet, as we think about the bigness of what rests before us -- the promised land of a theatrical mission field -- we stand back and gaze: awestruck that God has invited little ol' us toward the pursuits ahead; that we are part of something bigger than ourselves; and we are humbled. 

​We take heart in the words of Joshua, as we prepare to call others -- you -- into the journey before us.  We take heart in the reminder of our Elder Chairman, who wrote to our church family -- meaning us:

• Be courageous
• We are not alone
• ​We have work to do

​Courageously, we began the work KIT has to do that will involve others. 

• Each of us contributed a list of specific prayer desires -- for the ministry, for our families -- that became our new webpage, The Prayer KIT, where  will chart our progress as well as our needs.  
• We outlined basic operational expenses -- what is needed to move forward; what is needed to eliminate the past -- and began steps to underwrite the ministry. 
• We began reconnecting with Friends of KIT from past performances and preparing invitations for those who wish to become Friends of KIT in days to come. 

Between typing and standing up from the keyboard, we're learning the 21st Century meaning of grunt work.

​"Some day," our Elder Chair concluded, "we may look back on how far we have come and praise God for the privilege and opportunity to join God on such a great adventure."

We pray you go with us. #AndAmen

(originally published June 3, 2013)

​​A while back we expanded the name of our parent company from Kingdom Impact Theater to Kingdom Impact Theater Ministries.  Adding "ministries" expanded our presentation possibilities, yes; and also responsibilities.  Our work is not solely about performing.  It's about learning. Often the "students" are us. Here are five recent schoolings.
 
In May, Vikki was scheduled to present two shows and a workshop at Sandy Cove Ministries in Near East, Md., and present special music during a Service of Worship in Landover, Md.  The experience at one fed the other and led to sharing the teachings of one speaker to another flock miles away. Such is how the gospel is spread.
 
Speaking to the congregation at First Baptist Church at Glenarden on Sunday evening, Vikki related her discoveries from Sharon Jaynes, who was keynote speaker at the Sandy Cove Women's Conference.
 
 1.  "Sometimes when you go to minister to people, you are the one who gets ministered to..." 

Vikki said, as she began listing the Scriptural lessons from Sharon.  These lessons were a reminder to us, as a couple, of challenges we have when the business of theater can undermine the purpose of ministry.
 
Another lesson came from a conversation with our accompanist Garlan Garner, who recently was ordained as a deacon in his church after a rigorous three-year training period.  Garlan gave us a couple of notable insights.
 
 2.   "Not everybody comes to the Lord the same way..."

he said in his tranquil, matter-of-fact manner.  Garlan was recounting the story of how, when he told the ordination council how he accepted the reality of Jesus as Christ, there was amazement that his decision was while observing nature and understanding God's order and design in life, not because of a traumatic, gut-wrenching, life-changing event.
 
Then there was the life-changing event Mike oversaw when he officiated his first wedding in Wisconsin.  The reminder came from the groom during their pre-marital counseling.  In the middle of planning the ceremony, the betrothed couple placed both their houses on the market.  Then, one day, the groom chilled.
 
 3.  "I let it go. I let God have it..."

said the groom. "I couldn't believe how much stress was gone.  I was really at peace." Within days, both houses received bids.
 
Presiding over the wedding, presenting the marital message was an eye-opener for Mike.
 
 4.  "You don't know who is listening.  Say what you're led to say, and let God be God,"

he said.  Mike had wondered how the audience might respond to his message that included references to "The Princess Bride,"  "Jerry Maguire," marriage equality, "The Five Love Languages," and vocal impressions of Dr. Tony Evans, all in relation to Scriptures expressing God's establishment of marriage.
​
This point continues to be driven home as we connect with new listeners across the globe.  Few are native English speakers; and perhaps fewer are Christ-followers.  Still, we have more correspondence from occasional listeners with non-Christian, non-English backgrounds than American Christians or radio that we thought would be our audience.
All of which reminds us,
 
 5. There are things we want to do; and then, there are God's plans. 

​We strive for unity.