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Absalom's Missing Letters on the Lamplighter Podcast

It was such an honor to be invited to join as a guest on Lamplighter Ministries' podcast, Fastened Like Nails , with Dr. Mark Hamby. When I worked for Lamplighter as a sales rep at conferences and as staff at the third Master's Guild for Creative Disciplines, as well as when I attended the first two guilds and a writer's apprenticeship weekend, one of the highlights was always the devotionals Dr. Hamby would spring on us.  He seemed to always have something new and interesting that I had never considered out of the Scriptures to talk about with us, whether it was a planned devotion at the Mohonk Mountain House or at breakfast at Panera before a day of selling books at a conference.  One of the things he would emphasize is how God communicates, not just with WHAT Scripture says, but HOW Scriptures says it, through artistry and structure. So when I came across what seemed to be an intentional teaching tool using a poetic structure in Psalms 9 and 10, I wanted to share it with...
Recent posts

An Unexpected Adventure Audio Sketch

My first opportunity to do any audio drama work came from a minister who was one of my mentors growing up.  He and another minister in the church (the youth pastor at the time) created these CDs which were designed to help kids who were involved in Bible Quizzing with the United Pentecostal Church International. The company was called DoveNet and the audio CDs were called DoveTales.  They consisted of three parts: A short 5-15 minute audio skit which incorporated the 15 or so verses the kids in the program were supposed to learn that week. A song that went along with each of those verses. A segment called "Repeat-After-Me" where an adult said each phrase of a verse, and a child repeated that phrase. The primary goal was to help kids learn the Scriptures that were included in each CD.  The idea behind the stories at the beginning of each CD was that the story would end with some sort of cliff-hanger, and once a child had learned all the Scriptures from the first CD, he or ...

Review of The Victory of Joan of Arc Audio Drama

  Recently, I contributed on an ATC podcast to a review of Joan of Arc .  (Click the link to be taken to the Audio Theatre Central page where you can listen!) Joan of Arc is a person who has fascinated people for centuries for all kinds of different reasons.  I had a cursory knowledge of her story from a gloss in a history textbook when I was in high school, and had recently listened to a short podcast with a few more details.  This audio drama by Paul McCusker takes you there, and brilliantly places you in the position of the people who were trying to decide if she was legit or not.  There are themes from this Catholic audio drama that make me uncomfortable with her story, but there are other things that seem clear as day, and exactly how God would work.  The result was that this audio drama prompted good thoughts and conversation about following God no matter what people around you say, and being willing to allow God to work in unconventional ways.  ...

Greenhorn Tales Season 1

One of the writing projects I have been very privileged to work on is Greenhorn Tales , the brainchild of JD Sutter and Christopher Green (of whom it has been said that he is a writing machine).   They brought me on as a script-writer for the first season, and hopefully, a second season is on its way!  (As of this post, I have written two scripts for Season 2.) Greenhorn Tales is a short-form, comedic audio drama about two college-age guys who are moving out of their parents' home into their first apartment together, and are trying to figure out life on their own!  The tag line, "Life's a stage, and they've forgotten their lines!" sums it up nicely. For Season 1, I wrote 4 episodes: S1E4 " Gauntlets and Goldfish " S1E7 " Lattes and Lacrosse " S1E9 " Trumpets and Crumpets " S1E10 " Pied and Prejudice " Give a listen, let me know what you think (unless you don't like it), and stay tuned for Season 2!

Felicity's Toupee

One of the first productions I participated in was at the 2012 Lamplighter Guild.  The Lamplighter Guild is an incredible opportunity to learn things like acting, writing, sound design, and music composition from some of the biggest names in Christian audio drama and from around the world! Every year (as far as I know) the students produce a project to use the skills they have been learning over the course of the week.  I was so grateful to be included in the acting of this particular production.  It's a silly story, but so much fun to do.  Hope you enjoy this blast from the past, and check out some of their other productions while you are at it! Felicity's Toupee https://soundcloud.com/lamplighterministries/2012-lamplighter-guild-audio-production-felicitys-toupee?in=lamplighterministries/sets/lamplighter-guild-audio&si=96a4c6c8871345f888145faeeb67f728&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Review of Adventures in Odyssey Album 76

 Last month, I had the opportunity to join JD Sutter of the Audio Theatre Central podcast to review Adventures in Odyssey Album 76! I grew up listening to Adventures in Odyssey, produced by Focus on the Family, and the writers of these stories played an enormous role in shaping my ideas about what good storytelling is. In this review, we delve into some deeper ethical topics prompted by the episodes in this album, and talk some about character arcs, particularly from the perspective of a Christian audio drama.  Story has a way of teaching lessons and creating role models, regardless of initial intention, and I felt some tension in a few of the characters, which I feel the writers are working towards resolving, that I talked with JD about in this episode.  Hope you enjoy the review!  Click the link below to listen! Review of AIO Album 76

Why I Wrote a YA Novel

Now that I have an author website, I figured I would republish a post from my other blog ( Random Ramblings from Michael Schroeder ) about Darkened Eyes  and why I wrote it.  Enjoy! That's right!  In case you haven't heard, I am now a published author!  I've entered an interesting new stage in which people I haven't seen for a while come up to me and ask, "So you've written a book?"   Some people think it means I have instant wealth now that I'm a successful author, failing to realize that the terms "successful" and "published" are not synonymous and I still have quite a few books to sell before I make any return on my initial investment.  This is compounded because of the type of book I've written. Fiction. A novel. About spiritual warfare, starring a skateboarder as the main character. For young adults...teenagers...who are notoriously not fond of reading. So now a more appropriate question might have entered your head... ...