Christmas Program Review

Over the last two evenings, Edgewood hosted our annual Christmas program.  This year, we performed "KEBC's Christmas Radio Show."  Our "radio station" was hosting its 50th Christmas show by having callers phone in sharing stories of God's faithfulness.  While the interaction with the radio host and the show was obviously made up for the program, the stories were actually true stories from members of our congregation.  These callers were sharing real stories of God's faithfulness.  I believe it turned out to be a very powerful time to hear how God has worked through the people in our church and how He is still working today.

By the time you count all the members of the drama, choir, orchestra, media, ushers, reception, and childcare, there were around 100 people involved in this program.  I always think this is a great example of the Body of Christ.  There is no way things like this can be accomplished successfully without the variety of gifts and talents from a great collection of people.  What a team!

Kim completely led the drama team this year.  She has a strong gifting for drama and did a great job preparing the team for the program.  The drama was particularly challenging this year since they had to put their feet in somebody else's shoes.  I think it's one thing when the stories are made up, but a completely different thing when the stories are true.  They all did a good job with this, but I was particularly impressed with Lori and her heart and passion to connect with her story.  That was very moving.

  

This was my fourth Christmas program at Edgewood and I think this is the most confident I've ever heard the choir.  They did a great job at jumping on this music early on in the process and being faithful in their attendance to rehearsals.  Thanks to Jim, Carol, and Lanette, we were able to have many nights of sectionals which was a huge help.  The earlier we can learn those parts, the better we can make the songs....not to mention how much less stress we'll have the last few weeks before the program.  We had 33 singing this year, with a solid group in each section.  We even did an acappella piece this year and it was outstanding!  It was also nice to add Jeanette into the program this year.  She did a great job with her solo.  Having a soloist with just the band helped add more variety to the musical presentation.  That is something I would like to do more of in future programs.

The orchestra had their hands full this year, that's for sure.  We have a very talented group of instrumentalists at Edgewood.  With the radio show, we had quite a variety of music.  Everything from Southern Gospel (a rare thing to hear in Seattle!), to Little Drummer Boy, to praise and worship, to a song that I was told sounds like something from Aladdin =), to a very challenging piece in 7/8.  They managed to pull off each style and did a great job.

I hope all those involved enjoyed being a part of this year's program.  I definitely appreciated having each of you!  And to all those who attended, I hope it was a great encouragement to keep your faith and trust in God during this time of year.  We celebrate the baby Jesus...the "baby who changes everything."  Let's continue to celebrate Him this Christmas season and throughout the new year.

Merry Christmas!