Behind the Series: The Gospel on Stage and Screen — Stories That Find Us
A look at the planning, scripture arc, and music behind the upcoming Gospel on Stage and Screen series at McPherson First UMC.
This is a planning preview shared before the series begins. Sermon focus, scripture, music selections, and worship elements may be adapted or revised as the series develops. Pastors and worship planners are welcome to use and adapt this approach for your own context.
Every summer, stages light up and screens flicker with stories that pull us in: stories about generosity that doesn’t add up, faithfulness when nobody’s watching, searching for what’s lost, and being called to something you don’t feel ready for. These aren’t just Hollywood scripts or community theater productions. They’re parables, and parables have always been God’s favorite way of finding us.
Over four weeks (June 21 through July 12), we pair the summer’s biggest stage and screen stories with the parables and passages that mirror them, discovering that the gospel has been telling these stories long before the credits rolled.
Visual Theme
The series uses a vintage marquee and billboard aesthetic with warm golden amber marquee lights against radiating blue sky sunbeams and a Kansas pastoral landscape. The feel is outdoor movie night meets rural Kansas: warm, inviting, nostalgic. Not slick Hollywood but hometown theater magic.
The altar features a one-time installation at the beginning of the series: a marquee-inspired display with warm string lights and a simple “Now Showing” frame that changes the sermon title each week.
The Golden Ticket
The Golden Ticket invites the whole congregation into a shared experience. Starting June 14, gold-colored cards will encourage congregants to see each week’s stage or screen story before Sunday worship. The back of each card lists all four weeks with the story, dates, and a viewing guide. Partnership conversations with McPherson Community Theatre and the local movie theater are creating natural cross-promotion opportunities (group rates, popcorn vouchers, concession discounts for ticket holders). The premise is simple: see the show, then hear the gospel.
Week-by-Week Overview
Week 1: June 21 — Grace That Seems Unfair
Scripture: Matthew 20:1-16 (Workers in the Vineyard)
Sermon Type: General | Primary Promise: Gifts
Special Focus: Father’s Day; UMMen Sunday; John Wesley Fellowship Award (8:30 service); Willy Wonka at McPherson Community Theatre
The landowner pays the five o’clock workers the same as the dawn crew, and the dawn crew isn’t happy about it. Willy Wonka hands a golden ticket to Charlie Bucket, who did nothing to earn it. Grace doesn’t follow our accounting. This parable confronts every instinct to measure, compare, and resent, and invites us to discover that God’s generosity isn’t a limited resource. On Father’s Day, we celebrate the kind of love that gives without keeping score.
Hymns / Organ
“Amazing Grace” (UMH 378)
“There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy” (UMH 121)
“Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” (UMH 400)
Contemporary / Praise Team
“No Longer Slaves” — Bethel Music
“Goodness of God” — Bethel Music
“Your Grace Is Enough” — Matt Maher
Week 2: June 28 — Faithful When No One’s Watching
Scripture: Matthew 25:14-30 (Parable of the Valuable Coins)
Sermon Type: Formation | Primary Promise: Service
Special Focus: Toy Story 5 in theaters; Youth Trip to Texas begins
A master entrusts coins to three servants and leaves town. Two invest boldly. One buries the gift in fear. In Toy Story, the toys come alive when no one’s looking; their character shows in the moments nobody sees. What do we do with what we’ve been given when the boss isn’t watching? This is a formation text about developing our gifts through faithful practice, not hoarding them out of fear. The buried coin isn’t punished for failing. It’s confronted for never trying.
Hymns / Organ
“Take My Life, and Let It Be” (UMH 399)
“Trust and Obey” (UMH 467)
“Be Thou My Vision” (UMH 451)
Contemporary / Praise Team
“Build My Life” — Housefires
“Faithful” — Elevation Worship
“Do It Again” — Elevation Worship
Week 3: July 5 — Worth Searching For
Scripture: Luke 15:1-10 (Lost Sheep and Lost Coin)
Sermon Type: General | Primary Promise: Presence (with Prayers as secondary)
Special Focus: Pastor Appreciation / Welcome Back Sunday; Minions & Monsters in theaters
A shepherd leaves ninety-nine sheep to search for one. A woman tears her house apart for a single lost coin. In Minions & Monsters, the creatures nobody takes seriously turn out to be exactly what the story needs. God doesn’t write off the lost, the small, or the overlooked. God searches relentlessly. On Pastor Appreciation and Welcome Back Sunday, we celebrate a community that searches for one another. The question isn’t whether you’re worth finding. God already answered that.
Hymns / Organ
“Softly and Tenderly” (UMH 348)
“Blessed Assurance” (UMH 369)
“I Sought the Lord” (UMH 341)
Contemporary / Praise Team
“Good Good Father” — Chris Tomlin
“Who You Say I Am” — Hillsong
“So Will I” — Hillsong
Week 4: July 12 — Called Before You’re Ready
Scripture: 1 Timothy 1:12-17 (Paul’s Testimony of Mercy and Calling)
Accompanying Text: Luke 15:4-7 (Lost Sheep)
Sermon Type: Call | Primary Promise: Witness
Special Focus: Moana live-action remake in theaters; series conclusion
Paul calls himself the worst of sinners, and in the same breath he says Christ Jesus considered him faithful and appointed him to serve. Moana hears the ocean calling long before she feels ready to answer it. Calling doesn’t wait for readiness. God doesn’t look for the most qualified. God looks for the willing. This final sermon invites the congregation to consider what God is calling you toward that you don’t feel ready for. The series concludes with the discovery that every story, on stage, on screen, and in scripture, is really God’s story finding us.
Hymns / Organ
“Here I Am, Lord” (UMH 593)
“The Summons” (TFWS 2130)
“God of Grace and God of Glory” (UMH 577)
Contemporary / Praise Team
“Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)” — Hillsong United
“The Commission” — CAIN
“Send Me Out” — Steve Fee
The Arc of the Series
Each week pairs a scripture with a stage or screen story already familiar in the culture, creating shared reference points across the congregation. Week 1 confronts how grace can feel unfair when it refuses our accounting. Week 2 asks who we are when no one is watching. Week 3 wonders what or whom is worth searching for. Week 4 asks whether readiness is required for calling. Four parables, four cultural stories, one running discovery: the gospel keeps finding us in places we didn’t expect to be reached.
Targeted Audience Connections
The summer’s pop culture lineup gives families a shared experience to bring to worship. Kids who already love Willy Wonka, Toy Story, Minions, and Moana get to discover the gospel woven through those stories. Movie and theater lovers in the wider community find a low-barrier invitation: come see the show, then hear the sermon. Newcomers and seekers encounter Jesus’s most accessible teaching form, parables, wrapped in stories everyone can relate to.
Inter-Series Connections
The Gospel on Stage and Screen sits between Tending the Soul (ending June 14) and Passing the Flame (starting July 19). Where Tending the Soul cultivates practices for noticing God at work, this series puts that noticing into practice with the cultural stories already shaping our imaginations. Grace Groups Summer Pilot launches June 17, four days before the first sermon, creating a natural small group connection point throughout the series. Each sermon stands alone, so summer travel doesn’t break the arc.