The Armor of God
Author: Naomi Dobyns-Tanatty
Major Theme: God’s guidance through hardship
Source: Ephesians 6:10-18
Main Cast: 3 Female, 3 Male
The Grapple Juice Gang is a group of kids who’ve decided to make their afternoon friend group into a formal club. There was no way they could have anticipated how much they would learn together. In fact, the very first thing they did as a club was almost a disaster caused by a lie, and Thomas found out that the Belt of Truth would have kept his friends from really getting hurt while the gang played as pirates. The next day, all the kids are caught up in the mystery of Holly’s missing water gun. Marcus, in the guise of a private eye, is on the case: but the whole thing turns out to be a great big mix up, and the toy was missing because Holly’s parents didn’t want her squirting the cat. Holly would have been better off with the Breastplate of Righteousness helping her make good decisions. Not long after, the gang finds Gilbert has taken over the local park for a science experiment, and the gang goes to war–but not for long. Emily has learned about the Shoes of Peace, and she becomes friends with Gilbert before the gang has a chance to make a mistake. The next day, however, Emily can’t get anything right. Time and time again, she does the wrong thing and gets discouraged, until she learns about the Helmet of Salvation, a protection from Satan reminding you of all the mistakes you’ve made. The stakes get higher, and the armor starts having real-world consequences. The gang have to learn how to use the Shield of Faith to guard Gilbert as he suffers through a severe illness. The plays end with Thomas taking up arms against the sin that took his friend Gilbert, literally fighting Sin onstage with the Sword of the Spirit and the whole armor of God. He can’t win, though! Jesus has to help him, and Thomas learns that Jesus was the armor that protected him all along–Jesus was there in every moment of the play, helping and protecting the Grapple Juice Gang.
Author’s Note:
I had so much fun writing and directing the Grapple Juice Gang. I was blessed with phenomenal actors and a great videographer and crew of people who all worked together to make these plays a success. My favorite part is seeing how much the adults at family camp enjoyed the plays as well. My intentions in writing these plays was to take a somewhat complicated concept (The Armor of God) and simplify it so that it was more relatable, especially to a more modern generation. I hope that you and your camp have as much fun with these plays as we had at my camp, and I hope that they touch your heart in the same way they did mine. Welcome to the Grapple Juice Gang!
