Congregations present holiday productions to draw those who do not attend regular services.
By EILEEN SCHULTE
Published December 8, 2003
As Christmas draws near, secular audiences often fill church pews to watch holiday productions.
Parents, who are not members of any congregation, drive their sport utility vehicles past nativity scenes with their children in the back seat.
It's a quiet tradition that happens every December, in a variety of guises.
"This is a way people's hearts can be touched, so they'll know there is a reason we celebrate Christmas," said Susan Cox, director of an outreach program of Crystal Cove Community Church in Palm Harbor called Animals Reaching Kids, or ARK.
The ministry provides the live animals used in the church's nativity scene.
Members say they are offering a life-sized outdoor display with three donkeys, two black miniature goats and a sheep for the glory of God.
The recreation of Jesus' birthplace is roadside so viewers "don't have to make a commitment to see it," Cox said, meaning they don't even have to take the trouble to park their vehicles. Most seem to want to anyway.
In Tarpon Springs, a red neon sign lights up the darkness just past the bend on Keystone Road. It blinks on and off, proclaiming there will be a "Christmas Spectacular Tonight." Please come, it invites.
Inside, choir members incorporate the Sept. 11 tragedy with Jesus' story, complete with an actor portraying a homeless man and several angels.
Another congregation, Calvary Baptist in Clearwater, offers a "Living Christmas Tree," the 80 faces in the 30-foot-tall steel fir singing Go Tell It on the Mountain among other songs.
These productions may be the only links to Jesus' birth for some families who do not participate in Sunday services.
"The majority of people who attend are just people in the community," said Greg Toney, minister of music at Calvary Baptist, which will offer the Living Christmas Tree Friday through Sunday. "I think they are looking for the true meaning of the holiday season and they are finding that in the reality of Christ."
Nearby, First Assembly of God in Clearwater presents a choreographed Broadway-style musical called A Time for Christmas, also Friday through Sunday.
It is best described as a cross between It's A Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol.
"Every year it just gets bigger," said pastor Jerry Skaggs. "We've seen a huge response from the community. People are looking for spirituality even if they don't go to church."
He said his church prints 20,000 complimentary tickets which congregation members distribute to friends, neighbors and co-workers.
According to Skaggs, who plays the Lord of the House in the play and designed the costumes, at least 3,000 people, some from retirement homes, show up annually.
"Art, drama and music are certainly universal languages," he said. "We present a story of hope in a creative way. It's friendly evangelism."
At First Christian Church of Tarpon Springs on Keystone Road, there is the play about the mean-natured Scrooge who finds the true meaning of Christmas after losing his job.
Near the end is a nativity scene with a baby doll in the role of Christ.
"It's a non-threatening time to remember Jesus and his birth," said Barry Carroll, executive administrator. "Who gets threatened by a baby?"
