Jesus Freaks

5 kids and 13 adult characters (could all be played by kids) (13-16 males and 4-5 females) lots of extras. 20-22 min

Excerpt:

CORNELIUS: Good morning everyone! What are we discussing this
morning with such expression? I was noticing it from a great
distance.

LES: We are discussing Jesus Freaks.

CORNELIUS: Oh! That is an interesting term.

TOMMY: Yeah, I was saying how you are all a bunch of Jesus Freaks.

JIMMY: And Sandy was talking about how there have been Jesus Freaks
down thru history. Do you know any, Cornelius?

CORNELIUS: Oh, yes indeed. There have been many.

SANDY: Wouldn’t it be great to get to meet some of them? Especially
the more famous ones, like the disciples.

TOMMY: If I met a real famous Jesus Freak from the past who was
willing to die for what he believed, I might even become one myself!

CORNELIUS: My! That is a challenge that I just can’t ignore.
Perhaps I should oblige you?

TOMMY: What? Now you are really freaking me out, Corny.

CORNELIUS: My new invention. It is a time machine. It takes you
into the past and the future. But you can’t tell anyone… I don’t
want the government to take it away from me.

TOMMY: Oh brother! Now I know you have flipped out!

LES: You gotta admit, Cornelius. That does sound quite far fetched!

CORNELIUS: I guess. I have tested it though. It seems to work.
I only took a short trip into the past. One year. I could tell that
it had worked. I checked the date on the newspapers.

SANDY: How long were you gone?

CORNELIUS: Only a few minutes. I was rather nervous. I didn’t
know if I could get back.

TOMMY: So where do you hide this machine?

CORNELIUS: I keep it on me at all times. (Reaches into his pocket)
This is it. (Pulls out what looks like a small calculator).

JIMMY: That’s it?? In the movies it is a big machine that you climb
into!

CORNELIUS: Well, that’s the movies, isn’t it? I can do it all from
right here. Maybe we can try going back in time and meet some of the
great Jesus Freaks of all time.

SANDY: How does it work?

CORNELIUS: Well, I just tell it what I want and where and when, and
it takes me there. Last time, I ended up in front of the bank
downtown, and it still had the old sign on it that they replaced a
few months ago. The newspaper stand was right in front.

JIMMY: The news stand is in front of the big shopping center on
Front Street.

CORNELIUS: A year ago, that shopping center was still being built.
The news stand was still by the bank.

SANDY: He’s right. Wow. Will it take all of us if you are the one
holding it?

CORNELIUS: That is a very good question. I would say it will not.
But if you all grab hold of each other and then someone hold on to
me…I believe the connection will keep us all together. Let me see.
We should go way back. It would be good to meet a very early Jesus
Freak. If I type in Jesus Freak….

SANDY: They didn’t use that term then, did they?

CORNELIUS: The machine will interpret it and translate it to the
times. You know, the term Jesus Freaks was probably meant to be
mean and to persecute us. In the early church, they had a similar
term for us… they called us “Christians”. That means “Little Christ”
It ended up becoming a compliment and the name of our faith:
Christianity. Okay everybody, hang on tight to each other… we are
headed for 33 A.D.

LES: (as they all grab hands and one or two touch Cornelius on the
shoulder and he punches buttons on his machine) That’s 2000 years
ago!! (They all shake together and close their eyes tight. When
they open their eyes, they look around at the obvious new
surroundings.)

TOMMY: Wow! Where are we?

JIMMY: (as people in bible costumes hurry by) Look! Everyone is
wearing bible costumes!

CORNELIUS: I believe those are their actual clothes. This is
Jerusalem! But never mind that, here comes our Jesus Freaks.
Those men there! (12 men dressed in bible costumes come hurrying by)

MATTHEW: Praise be to God!

PETER: All glory to the Lord Jesus Christ!

JOHN: Our Savior is risen and reigns on high! Praise be to His
holy Name!

ANDREW: Do you young people know the Lord Jesus Christ?

SANDY: We do! Are you His disciples?

PETER: Yes! And we were with Him when he ascended on high and told
us to go into all the world and preach the gospel!

JOHN: And He told us to wait for His Spirit to come and show us all
things!

PETER: Today is the day of Pentecost! Today the Holy Spirit came
and filled the room we were in and we were all filled with the Holy
Spirit of God and we have been running through the streets sharing
the good news of Jesus Christ to everyone.

MATTHEW: However, right now there are people here from all over the
world… and they all speak different languages.

PHILIP: Yet we have been talking to each one in his own language.
We are speaking in other languages!

JAMES: Languages we do not know and have never learned. We only
speak Hebrew.

LES: You are speaking our language just fine!

PETER: It was spoken of through the prophet Joel: And it shall be
in the last days, God says, that I will pour forth My Spirit upon
all mankind…

ANDREW: Come with us! We are going to speak to the multitudes!
(They hurry away)

CORNELIUS: Well, that was really something! Straight from the book
of Acts! Let us move on… (Punches on little machine) How about
the year 1517?