Gideons 300 Letter Response

Thank you for your response to my appeal for the support of THE ACADEMY OF ARTS Ministry.  It will encourage you to know that many have responded to the letter that went out before Christmas.  In fact the first week after my letter went out, we received a little over $3,000 through the mail.  By the second week of January, over $7,000.00 came in.

Please pray with us that many more will respond in the days ahead.  If you happen to be in contact with people who have been blessed by THE ACADEMY OF ARTS, I would be grateful if you would tell them we are trying to raise 300 Gideons to support the new leadership of Noah and Nicole (Chavers) Stratton, as they begin taking over the ministry in 2011.

After our recent program, Elijah and the Famine, a home school mom came to me and thanked me for our ministry.  Her two children were in the program.  With tears in her eyes, she told me that when she first brought her children to drop them off for rehearsals, she was hesitant to leave them.  She had never left them anywhere with anybody.

Her friend, who also had children in the program, told her everything would be all right.

She told me,  “There is no other organization in Greenville that I would trust my children to all day, but here I know they are completely safe.  And the effect your staff, the directors and the program itself have on my children is too much to express.  They are constantly singing the songs and telling me about what they did or what the Director said in rehearsals.  I just want to thank you for the spiritual influence you are having on my children.”

About a month ago my wife and I joined the Seminar Team in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.  They were doing my play about Joseph, God Meant It for Good, and the students and parents had specifically asked me to come and direct it.

This was Nancy Villinova’s 11^th year to have us there for a Home School Drama Camp, and some of these kids had been there from the beginning, starting in one of our elementary programs.  They were terrific!  Every line was memorized, and they understood their characters and the parts were well cast by Stephanie Quirk. 

After every rehearsal, most of them would come up to me, shake my hand and thank me for all I had taught them.

I spent the week pouring out knowledge of Egyptian religion, customs and history, as well helping them understand Joseph, Jacob, Rachel, Benjamin and all the sons of Israel and the important they all played in God’s great plan of salvation.  I did Gospel magic in chapel for both high school and elementary.  We saw 5 people trust Christ as Savior and there were a good dozen decisions of dedication.

The church was filled for the performances, and I was overwhelmed with expressions of appreciation for THE ACADEMY OF ARTS  from audience members.  Three ladies spent about 30 minutes with Sheri and me, telling us what the seminar had meant to their children over the years.  One of the ladies had come all the way from Maryland to have her daughter take part for the fourth year in a row.  One came from Pittsburgh and brought her three children to take part for their sixth year.  She and her children stayed with friends who were also a part of the seminar.

All three of them were so kind in their expressions of thanks.  One of them said,  “THE ACADEMY OF ARTS Drama Camp is the highlight of our children’s year.  It is the one time of the year they experience real Christian fellowship.   The kids in our church youth group are not the right kind of kids, and they have little in common with them.  And there is not a better church in our area.  But these kids in the seminar, your staff, the chapels, the rehearsals, and the message of the play itself all make this a “must” week for them."

One lady, who is a wonderful artist and did a lot of work during the week on our Joseph set, told me:  “My two kids are sold on Christian drama as a ministry.  I tried to get them involved at a local theatre, and they told me they not want to do that.  They felt like God wanted them to use their talents for him and not in a worldly theatre." My friend, I am not exaggerating this experience.  In fact, it was much more gratifying than I have told you.  There is not enough room in this letter to tell you everything that was said.

Twenty years ago, Frank Hamrick, the founder of ProTeens youth ministry in Rocky Mount, NC made this statement:  “THE ACADEMY OF ARTS Drama Seminar is the most effective youth ministry in the country.”  I was grateful that such a great youth man as Frank Hamrick would make such a statement, but I thought somewhat exaggerated at the time.  But as the years have piled up and church everywhere are dipping their colors, allowing their youth groups to go the way of the world, I am beginning to believe that what Frank said is true.

I just wanted you to know that your money has been well invested in THE ACADEMY OF ARTS,  and the new leadership of Noah and Nicole will take us into the next forty years with the same biblical integrity that has marked this ministry from our beginning in 1971.

May God bless you for caring!

Nicky Chavers, Founder

To see more pictures of our dramas, click here!