Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Theatre for Christ


Wow ... what a weekend! On Saturday morning I preached at the Cornerstone Men's Fellowship and I was so blessed with the great turn out. I talked about the story of Lot - "A Half Hearted Man and a Broken Hearted God." The need for no compromise!

On Saturday night, the very first production of 'Theatre for Christ' took place. My very first Premier! Theatre for Christ is the vision God gave to Jane Mangadap (above) - the lovely wife of Pastor Danny. When they were young they started a few Christian Theatre/Drama clubs in the Catholic church - and they are still going after 20 years! Jane is an amazing lady - I think she can literally do anything ... drama, singing, I.T stuff, art, video, Admin, writing etc. etc. - and she is such a blessing to the whole Cornerstone family. She is the Director for the Communications Dept. at Cornerstone.



She felt the Lord placing on her heart the need for a dance/drama group in Nagassican Church. Nagassican is a place that is really scorned by everyone in Santiago but God has promised us that he will make it a Place of Honour! And in the church many young people have been giving their lives to Christ. Many come from broken families and difficult situations. Many have not finished their schooling. But God is using these young people is wonderful ways. They have become intercessors and God is showing them - even the children - many visions and words. But that's another blog ...


Jane felt that she should open the 'Theatre for Christ '(TFC) to other Cornerstone Churches. So she ended up with 49 young people from 4 churches. Jane got a vision for doing a production about the story of the Bible - from Genesis to the resurrection. She put it all together - script and all - and called the young people to rehearse. They met every Thursday night and from 8-5 every Saturday from mid-December. A big commitment ... but it really paid off!


We found a sponsor from UK to buy all the materials for the backdrops, costumes, T-shirts, food for rehearsal days - a huge thank you (you know who you are!) Finally, January 31st came! To be honest, I didn't really know what to expect. But when I got there I could see that A LOT of effort had gone into this production by Jane & her amazing team.

They started. The young people were human trees ... then came Adam & Eve .. well, you know the story! The music was great and Pastor August did great voice-overs. Then we were taken to the 21st century to the effects of sin - drug problems, gambling, prostitution, murder etc. Then, out came the devil - Pastor August - and his two demons. They started throwing the people into hell (red lights and all!). They started running into the congregation to try and throw some of the spectators - frightening! My kids are convinced that Uncle Winston really is the devil (and I am having a hard time convincing them he is not)!


Then Pastor James Aquino came and spoke for 5 minutes about "There is No Hope." Really really powerful. Next scene was the birth of Jesus and the dancers danced to 'Joy to the World.' Probably the most powerful time for me was when they sang "I could only Imagine' and they portrayed the healing ministry of the Lord. Then they acted out the crucifixion to 'Above All' - so powerful.


Curtain down ... Pastor Winston came on and spoke about "There is Hope ... the Cross" He showed a 5 minute video. Again, really hard hitting. Part 3 was about the resurrection ... joy! All the young people danced and it was exciting to see them all dance together at the same time. Pastor Marlou finished things off with a challenge - "Your Commitment to Christ"


Then they had 'Curtain Call' and all the young people from the different churches did their own dance. There was such unity amongst these kids! They all gathered in front of the video screen and watched the credits and they even had a section of 'Bloopers' ... so funny.


I cannot describe the joy and emotion I felt that night. As a Pastor, I just stand back an watch in wonder as the Lord takes ordinary lives to do extra-ordinary things. It is on nights like these that I really think, "It's all worth it!'


These 49 kids - so many from broken homes and difficult lives - so professional, humble and disciplined. So happy. Full of joy. Hearts of gold. The main purpose of TFC is to 'Bring Christ to the Streets' and they have plans to do a lot of street work, evangelism and schools ministry. Right now, almost every school is open to Cornerstone - even the 4 High School are asking for us to come and minister to the kids. We are entering a season of harvest ... an these young people are key.


Enjoy the photos. They are good ... but you had to be there! Pray for Jane and her team. Pray for these young people. Pray for the ministry of TFC.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

AWw looked amazing! Wish I was there!

Love to u all,

Auntie Vivixxx

Anonymous said...

It looks very professional and anointed. Thanks for sharing the good news - it is the real deal.