John Jackman

John Newton was a troubled young man with a violent temper and a penchant for vulgarity that literally made his fellow sailors blush. Whipped for desertion and sold into slavery, it seemed his life would end early in a West African grave...until he was rescued by a ship captain sent by his father. Following a powerful conversion experience during a storm at sea, Newton would eventually become a pastor in the Church of England and the writer of several of the church's most beloved hymns, including "Amazing Grace".

Songwriter Charles Wesley penned more than 6,500 classic hymns, among them some of the most beloved in Christian history, including "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" and "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today." This inspiring one-man play dramatizes Wesley's life and the early days of Methodism, from the hymn writer's conversion to the astonishing events that unfolded as Wesley and his brother first began to preach -- and sing -- in the fields of England.