Charles Thomas (C.T.) Studd , (1860-1931) a great man of God , inspires me a lot. I have made a script for a 20 minutes drama. Target audience teenagers and youth.  Please read with patience and if someone suggest improvements in the script, especially the dialogues. I would be thankful.

Scene 1

Narrator :         When the cricket test match series between England and Australia was first time called Ashes in the year 1882,  this young man Charles Thomas Studd played for England. He was expected to become the England Cricket Team’s Captain but he did something different. Please stay attentive to this great event in history.

Set :     Old English Home

Cast     C T Studd (in cricket attire), George and Clement

George and Clement seated on chairs.

George :           Clement I just can’t believe this. Why did he take this drastic decision ?

Clement            Even I am puzzled. Did any body speak against him ?

George             Impossible.  The whole of England adore him. And his behavior is so sweet to every one. Why should any one say anything against him ?

Clement            Do you think his father has some business plans for him?

George             God only knows

C T Studd enters ; Both the friends get up

Both                 Good Evening Charlie

C T S               Good Evening.  Nice to see you here.

George             Charlie, is it true you have decided to quit cricket ?

Charlie             Yes George. I won’t play this game. I have something more important to do.

Clement            Charlie, what are you saying? You are playing for this great nation. To get into England Cricket team is not a joke.

George             Your batting is improving a lot. You are scoring fluently.

Clement            Even your bowling is great these days. Australian team will learn a good lesson from you in the next match Charlie.

Charlie             It is true. By God’s grace I am doing well with bat and ball. But I have decided to quit.

George             You have plenty of years to play Charlie. England team needs your service.

Clement            We all believe you are going to be the next Captain of England team.

George             The whole of England knows your achievements as Captain of Cambridge team.

Clement            Undoubtedly you are the best player of the country now. We are not saying this. Ask any one on the street.

Charlie             I am not denying these. But I have something more important and urgent to do

George             What is more important than leading England Cricket team?

Charlie             God is calling me to lead people of China to heaven.

Clemet             What? People of China to heaven ? Are you … are you… going to preach there?

George             Hello… when you don’t have your cricket tours, once or twice a year you go there and preach and get back to cricket.

Charlie             No friends.. My whole life is going to be for God’s work.

Clemet             You can play cricket for next 10 years and then go as missionary.

George             With your money you can help 100 missionaries to preach on behalf of you. If you like preaching, all the churches of England are open for you. Why go out to China?

Charles           Some wish to live within the sound of Church or Chapel bell; I want to run a Rescue Shop within a yard of hell.

George             Who planted these kind of stuff in your mind Charlie? I think if you ask God, He will also ask you to play cricket for your nation.

Clemet             Charlie when you were in Cambridge, I found you a good Christian and a good cricketer.

George             When did such and idea came to you Charlie?

Charlie             7 years back it started.

George             In the year 1878 ?  Your age was just 18 at that time. You had become famous as a good batsman when you were playing for college team.

Clemet             The next year they made you captain of college team.

Charlie             Yes . you are right. When I was 18, one day a preacher who visited our home met me on my way back from practice.

George             Did he ask you to go over China?

Charlie             No. told me about God’s love and eternal life. The life we live here is not permanent. After death we have an eternal life. That life will never end. To give us a place in heaven in eternal life, Lord Jesus gave his life for us on the cross.

Clement            Well. We all know that. Nobody denies these.

Charlie             That day I decided to love my Jesus more than anything. I gave my life ti him

George             It is  good to hear such things. Last seven years, that is after that incident also you continued your studies and your cricket.

Clemet             You can still be the same. Cricket on weekdays and God on Sundays will be good..

Charlie             Yes six years I was struggling with my love for this world and love for my Lord Jesus. My love for God was gradually growing cold.

Clemet             What? We can’t understand.

Charlie             Last year I met a great man of God. His name is D L Moody. Mr. Moody spoke to me when my brother was very sick. The Lord restored me. My total love is for my dear  Jesus only now.

George             It is all nice to hear Charlie. But tell me why do u have to quit cricket and go to China?

Charlie             I love my Jesus. He came down to earth for every one of us to go and live with him in heaven. A huge multitude of people on our earth have never known this. In China people do not know who is Jesus. My love  for Jesus compels me to go over China and tell them about his love.

George             We all regret at your decision Charlie.

Charlie             How could I spend the best years of my life in living for the honors of this world, when thousands of souls are perishing every day?

Clemet             Charlie it is a great loss to our country if you stop playing cricket.

Charlie             I have told some friends about Jesus and his love. They repented for sins, believed in Jesus and received eternal life. cannot tell you what joy it gave me to bring the first soul to the Lord Jesus Christ. I have tasted almost all the pleasures that this world can give ... but those pleasures were as nothing compared to the joy that the saving of that one soul gave me

George             So you will not change your decision Charlie?

Charlie             Never. It is God who has called me and He will see to that I will stay firm in my commitment to Him.

Setting :            Chinese Room

Cast                 Attorney (Lawyer’s Robe)  Stanley Smith &  C T Studd  (with Chinese Caps)

 

Attorney :         Hello, is Mr. Charles Thomas Studd living here ?

Smith                Yes.  Please come in Sir.  May I know what brought you here?

Attorney           Good Evening Mr. Charles Thomas Studd…

Smith                Sir, I am Stanley Smith. A friend of Mr. C  T Studd.  He will be in anytime.

C T Studd enters

Smith                Charlie, this gentleman is here to speak to you.

Attorney           Good Evening Mr. Studd.

C T S               Good Evening Sir.

Attorney           Mr. Studd, as you know your father had written a will. When you attain the  age of 25 you inherit all that is written in that will. You have now attained the age of 25.  If I hand over your inheritance I will be greatly delighted to accomplish my duty as your father’s attorney.

Smith                That’s a real glad news. How much is that inheritance Sir?

Attorney           Can I reveal the amount to your friend Mr. Studd.? It is very high. Not a small amount.

C T S               Of course yes Sir. Mr. Stanley Smith has been my good friend. God united me to him when we were in Cambridge. He is one of the Cambridge Seven which came to Shanghai.

Attorney           Sir, you the Cambridge Seven are very popular in all the churches of England..

Smith                Mr. Attorney,  may I know how much has my friend Charlie inherited?

Attorney           One Hundred Forty Five Thousand dollars.

Smith                Do you mean One Lakh Forty Five Thousand dollars? A huge sum.

Attorney           Yes Mr. Stanley Smith, by any standards, in this eighteenth century, this is a really big amount.

Smith                How did the Senior Mr. Edward Studd accumulate such a big amount ? Mr. Attorney, my friend Charles has two more brothers. If each of them got one lakh forty five thousand dollars, obviously their father Mr. Edward Studd had nearly 4 and a half Lakh dollars.

C T S               Stanley you know my father is a very rich man. God had blessed him abundantly.

Attorney           Mr Stanley Smith, do you know Mr. Edward Studd had vast acres and acres of tea plantations in India? He was extremely successful with his Tea Estates of India. When he returned from India he sold off his plantations to a huge sum. Back in England he bought and sold very high class race horses. That again brought him big money.

Smith                Oh that is interesting.

Attorney           Mr Studd, I am pleased to hand over this huge inheritance to you. (Hands over envelope). Your ownership is inside this.

C T S               Sir, would you please do me a favour? Can you arrange for distributing this to….

Attorney           (interrupts) What ? Did I hear you properly Mr. Studd? Do you want me to distribute this amount?

C T S               Yes Sir. The words of Christ, "Sell that you have and give alms," and, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth," challenged me two years back. And  Christ's exhortation to the rich young man, "Sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up your cross and follow Me." is always ringing in my ears Sir.

Attorney           Mr. Studd, you are doing Lord’s work in China. We all know the difficulties you are facing. Your struggle to learn Chinese language and your hardships in traveling inside China are known to us Sir. In Missionary work also you need money Sir.

Smith                Charlie, what do you say? Mr. Attorney has a point.

Attorney           Sir, your gospel work among opium smoking Chinese youth is now giving results. With this money you can do more effective work Sir.

C T S               In God’s presence I have decided to give whatever I get as my own. Mr. Attorney, I will be thankful if you kindly help me in giving enough funds to Mr D L Moody. Mr Moody wants to start a Bible Institute in Chicago.

Attorney           As you desire Sir.

C T S               And God wants me to send a good portion to Mr. George Muller. His orphanages in Bristol need money. Mr. Muller is a man of faith and is running a lot of orphanages by faith.

Attorney           Yes Sir. Mr. George Muller is a great man of God

C T S               And the Salvation Army is doing a wonderful work among poor people in India and London. I wish to give them some funds. In China, new gospel workers are needed for the China Inland Mission.

Smith                Charlie, please don’t forget you will be getting married to Mss. Priscilla soon. You may give Miss. Priscilla a good gift.

C T S               Yes Stanley. I wish to keep something around 15 percent of this whole money for her.

Attorney           Only around 15% for this lady who will marry you? Sir are you sure? Do you really need to give so much for gospel works? Don’t you think it is somewhat higher?

C T S              If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.

Dispersal .

Narrator           He inherited about 30 million US dollars in today’s value. Nearly 150 Crores in Indian Currency.   And he distributed it for God’s work. As soon as they got married, he and his wife gave away the little bit of money left with them. They started their married life with 10 dollars - just a little about 500 Rupees. In his words, If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.

 

Hymn

Setting: Old English Home

Cast                 C T Studd and George (old man attire)

George             Good Morning Charlie

CTS                 Coughs … Good Morning George.

George             Charlie, you are now 70 years old. Do you remember that February 1985?

CTS                 How could I ever forget that year when I sailed to China?

An Indian enters

Indian               Good Morning Sir

George             Good Morning Sir. Where are you from? What brought you here?

Indian               Sir, I am from Ooty.. that is Otacamund. This Studd Aiya came to our village in the year 1900. He told us about Jesus. Many many villages came to the Lord. This Aiya was very kind to all of us. We were all going to hell. This Aiya guided us in the road to heaven. History will never forget what he has done to us in Ooty. His health was affected and so he left us all and came to England

CTS                 God bless you my son … coughs… my father made a great wealth from India. God gave you the greatest treasure …  coughs  that is eternal life… I am happy I was a tool in God’s hand..

 

A Chinese enters

Chinese            Good Morning Sir

George             Good Morning Sir. May I know what is the matter?

Chinese            Sir, this great man Mr. Studd came and told us in China that Jesus would set us free from devil. We were all opium smokers. We were not living a moral life. I was a murderer and thief. Mr. Studd turned us from evil ways to God’s way. A great multitude of our people in China experienced God’s transformation.

CTS                 God bless you my son. China was my first mission field.

Chinese            In a bicycle you toured villages. Deep inside China you traveled and brought God’s grace available to us all. China will be always thankful to your service Sir.

 

An African enters

African                Good Morning Sir

George             Good Morning Sir. It looks like you hail from Africa.

African Yes Sir. I am from Africa. To be precise I am from Brazilian Cango. Many outsiders were afraid to come to Africa. This great servant of God brought God’s love to us. God in His grace has transformed many villages in our region Sir.

CTS                 It was 1908… coughs.. I saw in Liverpool an advertisement.. coughs.. it was written "Cannibals want missionaries."  I found a German Dr. Karl Chum made that note. I wanted to go there..  coughs.. My doctor stopped me. I was 50 years old and had a poor health….. still … God took me there… coughs.. the first time we went we traveled on donkeys ..

George             Do you know Charlie there are 40 workers now in that mission field now?

African              God’s grace through you transformed many tribes Sir.

CTS                 All glory to our Lord.. coughs.. Praise Him..

 

Narrator           China, India and Africa… places where God used this man in a powerful day. In that century, these  places were called areas in darkness. God sent the light through this man. We all want God to transform the world.  From corruption, selfish politicians, criminals, terrorism, drug addiction, illiteracy, social evils… from these clutches God wants to transform our world today. He needs you. When He called, C T Studd sacrificed everything and went. Will you give your life in God’s hand ? Then He will use you to transform today’s world.

Hymn

 

A big THANK YOU to all of you who prayed for my ministry on Sunday the 23 July 2006. God granted a safe journey. We started at 4:45 am and reached the meeting venue at 10:15 am.  After the messages, we started at 4 pm and recahed home around 10:15pm. Roads were very bad and it took nearly six hours to travel 180 km !

The first message God shared through me was an exposition on 1 John 4:7-12

• Love is derived from the Creator 1 John 4 vs 7-8 ; Unconditional (Deut 7:7) Unending (Jer 31:3) Unfailing (Is 54:10)
  • Irrespective of what you are God loves you.
  • Inspite of all that you have done displeasing Him, God loves you.
• Love is demonstrated on the Cross  1 John 4 Vs 9 - 10  ( John 3:16 and 1 John 2:2)
• Love is displayed in the Christian 1 John 4 vs 11-12  (Romans 12: 9 - 21)

After this message, students nearly 90 of them, divided into small groups and discussed the differnces between Love as shown in the scripture and Love as shown in the media.

Post lunch God spoke to the students from Rev 3:20

• The hand that knocks is
  • the mighty one which made the whole universe in all its beauty
  • the miraculous one which touched the leprosy parients , vision impaired, hearing impaired, speech imapired and even dead body to heal and resotre
  • the marked one which was piereced with nail for all of us
• When you hear the knocking don't reject as the lady in Song of Solomon 5:3
  • She said she is not formally dressed up (Garments and robe stand for righteousness  Isaiah 61:10 ; Rev 19:8)
  • She said she has cleaned her feet and would not dirty (1 John 1:8)
  • No one is too bad nor too good to reject the knocking of our Saviour
  • It will end up in a shameful disaster if you reject Christ in your life
• If you open the door of your heart Jesus will enter and stay with you.
  • With Jesus inside the heart, peace and joy will overflow
  • When devil knocks at your door, you may ask Jesus to open the door and devil can't stand at the sight of Jesus instead of you trying to fight with devil. This will enable victorious christian life.
  • His life with you is on this earth and beyond this earthly life.
• If you dont let Jesus inside your heart other cheap / dirty / unnecessary things will enter inside your heart

After the above messages, 75 students (boys and girls doing their engineering dregree) invited our Lord Jesus Christ into their hearts. God's spirit touched them in a powerful way that most of them shed tears and sobbed in prayer opening their hearts to Jesus.

I request you all to pray that those who began a new relationship with our Lord will stay firm in their commitment.

All GLORY be to our Lord. Amen.

 

at 9:05 pm on 11th July I landed in Mumabi airport. i was there on my company's official tour. at the lounge itself i could sense something wrong had happened. i looked up at the TV screen and stood frozen. 7 powerful blasts within 11 minutes in trains which run alalways owercrowded. remember 29000 people live in every sqkm of area in mumbai city. 13 million is Mumbai's population!
there wasn't any problem for me to reach the hotel i had to stay. when i opened my bible that night I read this verse Pslam 4:8 ( I will lie down and sleep in peace; for you alone O Lord make me dwell in safety). Just prayed for the speedy recovery of injured, comfort for the bereaved and peace within the city.
i came back home via kolkata today 14th July evening.
Tought of sharing with my christian beloveds hence this message