These are just a few of the behind the scene pictures that I took from the production. I had planned to do more, but I came down with a case of strep so it slowed me down a bit.
It was actually funny, most of the more that 80+ people who were involved came down with something; the flu bug made it's rounds. I guess being in such close proximity to so many people it was inevitable. We had equipment brake, set off security alarms, sickness, malfunctioning mics, etc., etc. Despite all of that, we all prevailed and many of us still managed to perform, even when we didn't feel 100%. We were determined to not let the enemy get the best of us. The show was too important to us; someone was going to come to know the Good News this Christmas, their life would be changed.
This was my first year being involved in the production and it was great! We were excited about what God was doing and we were having fun fellowshiping. For the past 2 months we were all together and we laughed a lot. I think we may actually go through a period of withdrawal because since before Thanksgiving we were spending every Tuesday and Thursday at practice; add that to the Sundays and Wednesdays that we were there, and it meant that we spent 4 of the 7 days of the week together. We saw each other more than what we probably saw our extended families, but that was okay because we became like a family.
Brother Miguel, aka Scrooge, was excellent; he has this ability to grab every one's attention. I found myself listening for his ad lib's to see what he was going to say next. He truly has a gift! He has the ability to show light-hearted humor and then take it to a different level and become this serious individual and you see his desire to save the lost. I guess that's why he made the perfect Scrooge because he was real.
Then there was Brother Jim's vision for the entire production. God has blessed him with the ability to pull it all together, every aspect of the show. He had spreadsheets for everything, the lighting, the actors, the opening and closing of the scenes, the powerpoints, the music, you name it he had a spreadsheet with it all laid out. That is truly a gift and I'm thankful that Brother Jim had the vision and ability to do it. He is humble and he knows that his gift is from God and he uses it not to uplift himself, but to uplift the Holy One. Thank you Jim for your inspiration!
Pastor Jason and Pastor Shannon, thank you also for the many long hours and all of the "behind the scenes" things that you did. There are so many that I probably don't even know about, but God knows and He sees your hearts and we know that He will bless you for your work.
There are lots of things that all us did for the production, but what I love about Gateway is that it's not about the "who" it's about the "Son". We all do it because our desire is to please the Lord. We don't need to have our names shouted out to everyone to brag about what we've done. We know that God knows and because He knows we don't have to worry about whether or not man knows, because we are looking to our reward in heaven, not here on earth.
I am blessed to be a part of what God is doing at Gateway Ministries.
Please feel free to add your thoughts about the production, funny stories, inspirations, etc.
