Spontaneous Melodramas: 24 Impromptu Skits That Bring Bible Stories to Life

by Doug Fields, Laurie Polich, Duffy Robbins

Overview

You know them as hilarious, boisterous skits that get kids involved, whether they're hamming up front, or in the audience cheering for the good guys, hissing the bad guys, and getting nearly as animated as the onstage actors. Better yet, these no-rehearsal skits are comic takes on 24 classic Bible stories, from Babel to Zacchaeus. Use these skits to take your students into or out of your Bible lesson -- for the humor never buries the central message of the Bible passage. Inside you'll find 12 Old Testament and 12 New Testament stories -- like these: - The First Tongue Twister (the Tower of Babel) - Josephine's Dream (Joseph and his brothers) - The Young and the Hairless (Samson and Delilah) - Dave, the Wave, and the Giant Kahuna (David and Goliath) - Dances with Lions (Daniel) - World Serious: The Empire Strikes Out (the temptation of Jesus) - Good Sam, the Levis, and Judas Priest (parable of the Good Samaritan) - Showdown at Tombstone (Jesus and the demon-possessed man) Unchurched teenagers who can't tell Samson from Solomon, or long-time youth group kids -- everyone will love not merely hearing or reading Bible stories, but doing them. Welcome to more than a year's worth of slapstick, pratfalls, and melodrama. These Bible-story skits are anything but solemn, but they'll make Bible stories memorable for your students.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780310877417
Publisher:	Zondervan/Youth Specialties
Publication date:	12/21/2010
Series:	Homeland Heroes
Sold by:	Zondervan Publishing
Format:	eBook
Pages:	104
Sales rank:	343,292
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Doug Fields has been a leader in youth ministry for over 30 years. In addition to being a youth pastor at two churches for 11 and 20 years, Doug is the founder of Simply Youth Ministry, the co-founder of Downloadyouthministry.com, the author of more than 50 books, and is currently working with Youth Specialties & Azusa Pacific University (HomeWord’s Center for Youth/Family). More information about Doug is available at www.dougfields.com.

With 15 years of youth ministry experience, Laurie Polich serves as pastor of small groups and discipleship at Ocean Hills Covenant Church, in Santa Barbara. She¹s the author of several books including Help! I'm a Small-Group Leader training curriculum and book, Studies on the Go: John, and Small Group Qs, and she speaks frequently to students and youth workers across the country.

Dr. Duffy Robbins is Professor of youth ministry at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania, is a respected youth ministry veteran with over forty years of experience in the field. He speaks around the world to teenagers and people who care about teenagers. Duffy also serves as a Teaching Pastor at Faithbridge Church, Spring Texas.

Read an Excerpt

Spontaneous Melodramas

24 Impromptu Skits That Bring Bible Stories to Life

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By Doug Fields

Zondervan Publishing Company

Copyright © 1996 Doug Fields
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0310207754

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Chapter One

The making of Adam and Eve, Genesis 2

The Sumptuous Spare Rib

Bible text

4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens-5 and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, 6 but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground-7 the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground-trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

18 The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

19 Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

23 The man said,

"This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man."

Cast

* Stream (girl)

* 3 trees

* Tree of Life (girl)

* Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (guy)

* Adam

* Bird (girl)

* Hyena (guy or girl)

* Monkey (small guy)

* Eve

Props

* Spray bottle filled with water for stream

* Piece of fruit for tree of life

As the scene opens ...

The two trees should be onstage seated, with Adam lying between them.

In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth, but there was no rain to water the ground. So a stream rose up and ran around spreading her water all over the ground. [She enters from the audience with her water bottle, spraying into the air as she enters.] As she watered, several trees sprang up and spread their branches, forming a beautiful garden. In the middle of the garden were two trees: the tree of life, which stood tall, its arms stretched to the sky, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which stood rubbing its hands together, letting out a loud sinister laugh. In between the two trees there was a formless man, who lay there like he was part of the ground.

Suddenly the breath of God blew across the stage so powerfully that both trees were knocked to the ground. At that, the man started shaking, stood up, and celebrated his new form by making muscleman poses. The trees got to their feet-uh, their roots-and oohed and aahed. Then the audience oohed and aahed. The man's name was Adam, and he began immediately searching around the trees for food because he was very hungry. The bad tree yelled "Over here!" and reached out one of its branches, knocking Adam to the ground. The good tree reached out its branches, helped Adam up, and gave him a piece of fruit. Adam ate; but he still craved more.

God saw Adam's craving, so he made some animals that came running onstage and stood at attention in front of Adam. Adam pointed at the first animal and said, "Bird." The bird immediately celebrated her name by chirping and flying offstage. Then Adam pointed at the second animal and said, "Hyena." The hyena began to chuckle. Then he began laughing uncontrollably, fell to the ground, and rolled offstage. Adam pointed to the third animal and said, "Monkey." The monkey jumped on Adam's back and began picking through Adam's hair, searching for fleas. Adam dropped the monkey to the ground and shooed him away. The monkey ran offstage making loud monkey noises. After he named all the animals, Adam was still lonely, so he lay on his back and cried.

God put Adam into a deep sleep, and while Adam snored, he removed one of Adam's spare ribs. Suddenly a beautiful woman appeared. When Adam woke up and saw her, he stood up and said loudly, "Whoa!" Then he said, "Man!" Then he said both words together in a very loud voice. Eve smiled, pointed to herself and said, "Woman." Adam pointed to himself and said, "Man." They held hands and gazed into each other's eyes. That day Adam's craving ended.

END

Continues...

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Excerpted from Spontaneous Melodramas by Doug Fields Copyright © 1996 by Doug Fields. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

What Are Spontaneous Melodramas, Anyway? The First Tongue Twister - The Tower of Babel, Genesis 11 A Salt with a Deadly Woman - Death of Lot’s wife, Genesis 19 Josephine’s Dream - Joseph and his brothers, Genesis 37 I Spy - The twelve spies, Numbers 13-14 Soul Train ’Round the City - The battle of Jericho, Joshua 6 The Young and the Hairless - Samson and Delilah, Judges 16 Caveheart - The disobedience of Saul, 1 Samuel 13 If the Shoe Fits, Crown Him - The young David is chosen to be king, 1 Samuel 16 Dave, the Wave, and the Giant Kahuna - David and Goliath, 1 Samuel 17 Split Decision - The wisdom of Solomon, 1 Kings 3 Dances with Lions - Daniel in the den of lions, Daniel 6 Joe and the Wannafights - Jonah and the big fish, Jonah 1 Rocky 12: Fight of the Foundations - Parable of the wise and foolish builders, Matthew 7 (also Luke 6) WWF Master of the Universe Heal-O-Rama - Jesus heals a paralyzed man, Mark 2 (also Matthew 9 and Luke 5) Seeds and Soils - Parable of the sower, Mark 4 (also Matthew 13 and Luke 8) Showdown at Tombstone - Jesus and the demon-possessed man, Mark 5 (also Matthew 8) The Wicked Witch of the Beast - Jesus clears out the Temple, Mark 11 (also Matthew 21, Luke 19, and John 2) World Serious: The Empire Strikes Out - The temptation of Jesus, Luke 4 (also Matthew 4) The Greatest Show on Earth - Jesus heals a leper, Luke 5 (also Matthew 8 and Mark 1) Good Sam, the Levis, and Judas Priest - Parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10 Adventures of the Pro - Parable of the Prodigal Son, Luke 15 Pride Comes before a Fall - The Pharisee and the tax collector, Luke 18 Zacchaeus the Swinging Sinner - Zacchaeus meets Jesus, Luke 19 Legend of the Blind Man - Jesus heals a blind man with spit, John 9