When the House Lights Dim, the Parables of Jesus Begin
“It’s every evangelistic ministry’s biggest challenge,” explains Brandon Culver. “How do we get a group of say 200, 300, 400 people who really need to hear the gospel to voluntarily give up an hour or two to hear the gospel message?”
For the Culvers and the churches they partner with, one answer to that question becomes more evident with every performance of the Parables of Jesus.
STARTING OUT
Real estate. That’s where the Culvers started out, with Brandon working as a real estate agent. But then God started speaking into the couple’s lives — to make the “obvious” move from real estate into ministry. After much prayer, they pursued and earned their ministry credentials through the Assemblies of God and then . . . .
“We had to decide what we were going to do, what God wanted us to do,” says Brandon, who is 44. “So, about eight years ago, an opportunity opened for us to join an evangelistic traveling theater production. Over the years, we saw how God could use drama to draw a crowd and preach the gospel in a way that connected with people.”
A few years later, God gave the Culvers the idea to continue the work using the Parables of Jesus drama.
WHAT’S UNIQUE
The Parables of Jesus performance is a mixture of Scripture, current application, humor, and undeniable truths. What’s more, it weaves together high-end cinema footage, a literal semi-load of lighting and props, along with members of the congregation to present the five- to six-act live-action drama.
“Each act begins with the reading of the parable from Scripture, which is also displayed on a video screen,” Brandon explains, “and then we take that Scripture and make it applicable for today, often leading into that transition with video to set the scene.”
For each production, about 20 to 30 volunteers from the church (or community) are needed to fill different roles, from stagehands and extras (non-speaking) to speaking parts and leading roles. Those with stage experience or who are comfortable speaking in front of people may be assigned multiple parts/characters and appear in several different parables. During the readings (tryouts), the Culvers also identify what five or six parables (of a possible 11 they’ve developed) best fit the cast.
“The No.1 thing we hear from the show is, ‘We never expected anything like this — this kind of quality — from a Christian production,’” Brandon says. “But it has to be quality otherwise we miss our main purpose of drawing a crowd to hear and respond to the gospel.”
But how does the drama go from nothing to a polished production in three days?
“Because we’re doing parables, each part is just a little portion of the full experience,” Brandon says. “And anyone, given say a five-minute part can become a professional in that part in 48 hours . . . we’ve never had a complaint once we get going — the cast love the drama, and they love the camaraderie.”
RESULTS
“The two things pastors always say to me following the weeklong outreach is how pleased they were with how the gospel was shared with the unsaved, and how extremely grateful for the unity it brought to their church, especially among the cast members,” Brandon says.
And the truth is, people are responding to the gospel message. Just a few weeks ago, in a Parables of Jesus production at Capital Church (AG) in Bismarck, North Dakota, over 600 people attended over the four-night run, 46 individuals rededicated their lives to or accepted Christ for the first time, and 17 water baptisms took place following the services in the church lobby.
In May, the Culvers partnered with Bethel Assembly of God in the small community of Carrington, North Dakota (population 2,000), for a six-night event.
“We averaged around 70 or 80 a night,” says Kevin Gustafson, lead pastor at Bethel. “We had about 37 that came forward in first-time salvations or rededications and baptized 10 — all of those, I believe, being first-time commitments to Christ.”
And as Brandon has observed in other churches, what happened within the church body through the production has left a significant impact — beyond the new faces that have begun attending the church.
“The part of this outreach that I didn’t really think about was the effect it might have on the cast and church volunteers,” Gustafson says. “They were really encouraged by working together and sharing the gospel . . . we went door-to-door three times inviting people to come — it really helped our church people to step out, be courageous, share, and invite people to church.”
Gustafson says that a text group started by those in the production is still active, with people sharing Scripture and encouraging words with each other even though the outreach was over a month ago.
“The production is definitely a big time commitment, and I was worried about that as we’re a big farming community and it was scheduled over the planting season,” Gustafson says. “But it went really well . . . Brandon makes it pretty easy for a small church to pull this off. It’s a good ministry and I love it.”
TESTIMONY TIME
The Culvers spend about six months on the road during a typical year, with Brandon driving the semi hauling the equipment and Lindsey driving the RV, often towing their van behind. And with six kids, ages 1 to 12, who travel with them, making an RV a livable home for a family of eight is a testimony in itself.
However, Brandon says he sees God at work and making real changes in lives as the Parables of Jesus present Scripture in a way that resonates in lives.
“We provide Jesus’ words, His parables, and use humor, creativity, and wit that leads to an intellectual — as opposed to purely emotional — response, where people are now convinced the gospel is true.”
Brandon recalls how following a performance in Milwaukee, several teen boys had just dedicated their lives to Christ and had asked for and received Bibles to read. But as they left the building they were jumped by some others and a fight broke out.
“The Bibles they were given went flying and then someone pulled out a rifle and started shooting — they’re still bullet holes in the carport of the church,” Brandon says. “Finally, the guys with the rifle took off and the police arrived . . . my favorite part of this story is that after everything was said and done, those boys came back and asked if they could collect their Bibles . . . after all of that, they wanted their Bibles!”
In another outreach, Brandon asked everyone who wanted to make a decision for Christ to come forward. A foster mom, who was already a Christian, stepped forward along with others. As Brandon later learned, she said she felt God urging her to step out and stand in the gap for the mother whose daughter she was currently fostering. As Brandon happened to observe, he saw the foster mom look to the side and then break into tears — unknown to her, the mother had attended the performance . . . and was standing just feet away, ready to accept Christ as her Savior.
“And then just a few weeks ago in Bismarck, a young man from the youth group volunteered to be in the production,” Brandon says. “His family was unsaved. But one night, his whole family came to the drama and that night, his whole family ended up giving their lives to Christ and later that night, the entire family got baptized!”
LASTING IMPRESSION
The Parables of Jesus production has seen many souls won, but at the same time, has planted far more seeds of the gospel into hearts and lives that will one day take root, with the target audience being adults.
“This is a full-on, full-scale production designed to teach the gospel to adults,” Brandon says. “It’s also a cinematic production, with video accompanying the acting . . . we use a ton of video and a ton of music and that combination helps stick the gospel message in people’s hearts and minds.”
And has been well reported, not only are souls saved and seeds of the gospel planted, but church bodies themselves are enriched and blessed through the Parables of Jesus.
