COO of Christ Live Worldwide Ministries uses playwriting to remind audiences of their greatness and God’s love
Audrey Kenner doesn’t call herself an evangelist or a preacher, though many have tried to label her as such. She’s a Bible school teacher, biblical counselor, writer—and playwright with a mission to help people understand “just how great they are.”
As Chief Operating Officer of Christ Live Worldwide Ministries and married to a minister, Kenner has written four full-length plays and five short plays over the past decade. But her theatrical work serves a purpose beyond entertainment: it’s ministry designed to bypass resistance and reach the “pure and undefiled” part of people that gets overshadowed by what the world tells them.
Kenner’s creative process is unconventional. She doesn’t outline or force the writing—inspiration simply drops into her head, often fully formed.
“The plays that I have are inspired, so it’s more like they just flow out, and then what I have to do is make it make sense,” Kenner explains. “It doesn’t come out pristine.”
Her characters develop organically, mixing personality types she’s encountered in real life with biblical figures. “The characters that I develop are usually some type of personality that I have run into, and they’re generally mixed with some type of biblical character,” she says. “I really don’t see that until after the character is being developed. I don’t go to the Bible and be like, ‘OK, let me make a character like Sarah.’ But when I look over it, I’m like, ‘Oh, that is Abigail, that is Sarah, that is Peter.'”
A Message of Worth
Behind every play is Kenner’s passionate belief in human value and potential. “I want everybody to live and be and have all that God says they should be, how they should live, and what they should have,” she states.
She describes a “hatred toward the devil” knowing he can “steal, kill, and destroy a person.” Her plays, Bible studies, and counseling all aim to reach that pure part of people that gets overshadowed by negative messages from the world and others.
“How can I make people understand just how great they are? How can I make people understand just how loved they are? How can I make people understand that there is something specifically—it’s like a piece of a puzzle—you are a piece of a puzzle,” Kenner reflects. “There’s somebody watching over you. God is constantly pulling you toward Him in some kind of way, but there’s always interference.”
Avoiding the “Preachy” Trap
One challenge in faith-based theater is communicating spiritual messages without becoming preachy—something Kenner is keenly aware of.
“I’ve gone to plays, other plays, and I hate when they get preachy because a lot of times people, if you get preachy with them, it’s like they automatically throw up a blockage,” she notes. “Even if they think they want to hear it, it’s something in their soul that says, ‘You know, they don’t listen to that’ or ‘That’s boring’ or ‘I’m not interested in that’ or ‘They’re being judgmental, self-righteous.'”
Her solution? “I try to put it in such a way where the devil, you know, all that part of us that’s resistant and rebellious, doesn’t get the news until it’s too late, if that makes sense.”
Kenner’s first play, “Three Stars,” debuted about 10 years ago at First Baptist Church on 95th and Ashland. Since then, she’s staged productions at Beverly Arts Center, Carver Military Academy, and other venues. Productions have included “Fiery Destination” and revivals of “Three Stars.”
Her plays are intentionally universal. “My plays are not Afrocentric,” Kenner notes. “If you take my plays to a Hispanic community, you take it to a white community, and if they wanted to do it, it would not miss a beat.”
While this universality sometimes creates challenges in finding her core audience, it reflects how the stories are given to her. “Some people, because I’m Black, that can get held against me, or people in my community sometimes are really not interested because it’s not—and people are very pro-Black. I’m pro-Black. I can’t help but be Black because that’s how I look. But anyway, that is some of the things I run into.”
Kenner’s next project is “The God Zone Trilogy”—three 15-20 minute plays with a Twilight Zone-style mysterious element, planned for late 2026 or early 2027:
“I’m Tired of Praying”: A woman whose husband can’t keep it together faces a mysterious situation that challenges her faith.
“Lucky Luther”: A carefree guy whose luck always seems on his side comes face-to-face with something mysterious that changes everything.
“The Dance”: A superstar who’s been performing since childhood gets sidetracked into devious things.
Rather than traditional theater venues, Kenner plans to bring the trilogy directly to churches as fundraisers. “I don’t like to go to a church and just pull money out from the people,” she explains. “I like to interact with them so they can get some coins and we can get some coins to keep our ministry going.”
The church-based approach also serves an evangelistic purpose. “It’s entertainment that people in the church, the congregations, they can bring their nieces, nephews, uncles, aunts who probably wouldn’t step into a church. It’s like, ‘Hey, there’s a play coming to our church. You should come with me.'”
Kenner maintains her creative and spiritual energy through constant immersion in faith. “Everything I watch on TV, everything—constantly in the Word. I have people around me. I try to make sure that I protect my anointing,” she says.
She’s selective about what she consumes and makes sure to “crack open my Bible pretty much every day or something spiritual. I have to feed it so that it’ll grow.”
When discouragement comes, it doesn’t last long. “They come, they don’t last long. God will send somebody and I’ll be lifted up out of that,” she says. “That’s what I want everybody to be able to do. You face trials and tribulations, but you don’t stay in them.”
For Audrey Kenner, playwriting isn’t separate from her calling as a Bible teacher and counselor—it’s an extension of it. Theater becomes a vehicle to reach people who might resist a sermon but will receive truth through story, to bypass intellectual defenses and speak directly to the soul.
“We are just spectacular and wonderfully made, and I just like to remind people of that,” Kenner says simply.
Through characters that mirror biblical figures, stories that flow from inspiration rather than outlines, and messages designed to slip past resistance, Kenner uses theater to accomplish what she believes is her purpose: helping people understand their value, their worth, and God’s constant pull toward them.
