God's Man in Texas April 12, 2013

Written by David Rambo. Directed by Nancy Youngblut. Presented by Sierra Madre Playhouse. April 12- May 18, 2013. Fri. & Sat. at 8:00 p.m., Sun. at 2:30 p.m. $25. Seniors (65+), $22. Youth (13-21), $15. Children 12 and under, $12.

“God’s Man In Texas” centers on Houston’s Rock Baptist Church, “the Baptist Super Bowl,” a mega-church with a congregation numbering in the thousands, continuing schools, broadcast ministries, a bowling alley, a Cineplex, dinner theatre, retail stores, stadiums, and ministries for everyone from singles and recovering alcoholics to seniors and overweight women. The church’s beloved pastor is Dr. Phillip Gottschall, 81 years old, razor-sharp and remarkably vigorous and healthy, but nonetheless not immortal. A search committee selects a potential successor, young Rev. Jeremiah Mears, a devout Christian fundamentalist from a small congregation. The liaison between the two men is Hugo Taney, a man in recovery from all kinds of excess in his younger days. Hugo has long served Dr. Gottschall as an aide-de-camp and as line producer for the Pastor’s broadcasts.
The sins of Hugo’s past begin to catch up with him, and Jerry Mears is there for him to guide him through a crisis of conscience. But Gottschall becomes suspicious of the bond between the other two men. Rev. Jerry has issues of his own, living in the shadow of his departed father, also a committed Christian.