Radio show brings laughter, more people into church


Text by Krista Webb E Photos by Amanda Anderson


verett Erickson and members of New Frontier Lutheran would fit into any congregation


in Minnesota—they hold pancake breakfasts, debate about the duties of head usher and deal with the usual drama of planning events. But Erickson and his fellow


For more information, contact Sara Peper at sara.peper@dllc.org.


church members from Midtown, Minn., aren’t real—they’re char- acters in a radio show created by Diamond Lake Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. Te “New


Frontier Lutheran Radio Hour,” led by local theater critic and reporter Graydon Royce, is performed live in front of a packed room of church and non-church members at Dia- mond Lake each month. Described as both a variety


program and a worship service, each 28 www.thelutheran.org


show features music, a monologue by Royce, a guest interview and humorous skits that revolve around the church life of New Frontier members. “Te idea was to show people themselves and the kinds of things that really happen in church,” Royce said. Te show came about aſter Mark


Orvick, a pastor of Diamond Lake, began looking for an alternative service that might appeal to those less interested in traditional, liturgi- cal forms of worship. When Orvick proposed the idea of doing a live show, Royce suggested a radio-style program instead. “It was just too hard to expect


people to learn lines and actually stage a production,” Royce said. “Keeping it as a radio show allows you to use scripts, and the logistics are just so much easier.” Royce initially came up with the


idea for New Frontier Lutheran Church in the mid-90s and wrote a column about it called “One Pew Over” for Te Bond, the former magazine of Lutheran Brotherhood (now Trivent Financial). Now Royce and his 12-person


team—the majority of whom are Diamond Lake members—get to bring these characters to life in front of a studio audience. Aſterward they upload the recording onto the church’s website (www.dllc.org) and iTunes as a podcast. Ten the entire process starts


over: cast members brainstorm ideas and give Royce feedback on his early draſts before finalizing the script a week before the show. Next the cast does several run-throughs prior to each performance. “I’m a really strong believer of


using theater in church,” Royce said. “I think it’s a tool that the church


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