OPEN IT UP!

COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN YOUR CHRISTMAS EVENT

by Cheri Walters

Over 20 years ago, at a Pastors’ School of Ministry in Phoenix, my husband Ken and I heard Rev. Tommy Barnett say something that knocked us back in our seats. He told us (and a few thousand of our closest friends at the ministry conference) that their church allowed non-attenders to perform in their Christmas productions. In fact, they allowed non-believers to be in it! Gasp! To those who objected that only Christians should sing on the Tree, he responded, “I can preach to the people behind me the same as I preach to the ones in front of me.”

It may not seem like news to you, but we literally had never thought of it before! This idea revolutionized our church of 60 into the host of our community’s largest free Christmas event with audiences ranging from 1,400 to 3,000. Our very first season, we added an additional performance in an auditorium that seated 1,000, because we packed out the first one. No one was more surprised than we were! (Oh, we of little faith.) Our little church went on to produce 12 Living Christmas Tree seasons, including 4 years at Six Flags Magic Mountain’s Golden Bear Theater. Many factors drove this outreach vehicle, but the decision to invite the community to participate was the jumpstart that set us in motion.

Perhaps the biggest boost was that we went from resource-challenged to talent-rich. Small and even medium-sized churches are often hard pressed to come up with enough outstanding soloists and actors to present a quality production. But when you open up auditions to a community of 150,000, you gain an enormous talent pool. I was amazed at how many talented individuals were out there just looking for a place to sing, dance, or act -- and they’d do it for free!

I began with multiple news releases in the local paper in July and August, inviting people over 18 to audition for the Tree choir. We met at the church keyboard for 10 minute one-on-one appointments, where I gauged their vocal range and had them match tones and sing half-scales for me. My requirements were literally this simple: “If you can carry a tune and will commit to the rehearsal requirements, you can sing on my Tree.” But at the same time, I was listening for potential soloists, making notations for myself of the stand-outs on their application sheets. I and others on my team had separate auditions for children and for actors, based on what roles were available that season.

In today’s marketplace, there are more effective communication tools than the newspaper – unless you have one that focuses on local news and is widely read. In our community, we still have that, plus a couple of free community magazines that list local activities and events. Often they would run a photo of the Living Christmas Tree alongside the audition information, which always helps grab readers’ attention. (Just note that monthly publications need a lot more lead time to get your information in; always find out about deadlines well ahead of time.) Check out what’s available for free with local radio and TV PSAs (public service announcements), plus a Facebook group for your specific project. Email the audition info to everyone you know locally, and ask them to forward it to everyone they know locally, etc. Put up flyers, check with local schools, leave information with dance academies, Google every local performing arts studio in town and call them or send audition details.

One last word: I’ve zeroed in on the practical impact of opening up auditions to the community, but let me tell you about the spiritual impact. We were always forthright about being a Christian church putting on a Christmas production – after all, the auditions were in a church – but I didn’t require anyone from the community to profess any sort of belief or creed in order to participate. In fact, over the years I had a Jehovah’s Witness, a Jewish woman (“I just love Christmas songs and I never get to sing them”), and dozens of what I call American pagans, who range from agnostic to inoculated (enough doses of religion to make them immune, but not enough to cure them) to apathetic. I and my team closed rehearsals with prayer requests and prayer, our church members befriended community members during the course of the season, and, as Tommy Barnett put it, they all heard the same message at the conclusion of each performance, whether in front or behind. I have a file full of letters from singers and actors who began a relationship with Jesus Christ during their involvement in our Living Christmas Tree programs. One young woman wrote to me about a particular song at the climax of the production: “Whenever we sang that, I felt something inside me wanting more. I had a lot of church growing up and never thought I’d go back, but now I’m hungry for God.” Others told me they prayed the prayer of invitation at the close of the performances. Still others went back to church after many years away -- some to our church, some to others. Often we would hear, “There’s something different about your church people.” (Good different, not bad different, just to clarify!) Opening up our Christmas productions to community involvement had a far deeper impact than just broadening our talent pool – we had a chance to spiritually influence people in ways that will last forever.