Through the Shepherd's Eye

Review by Phil Boyer

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With lighting and sound technicians ready, actors found their way to a make-shift recording booth in the elder's room at the front of the church. Linval Henry, Jr. garbed himself in shepherd's clothing and slipped back stage to wait for his cue.

Once underway, the program was filled with narration, acting, lighting effects, sound effects and musical performances (oh, and one fire alarm - thanks Larry and David for fixing it right on cue). The finale was made complete by calling all guests to make a personal commitment to do something different this year for Christmas. They represented their commitment by holding high their "candles" - actually chemical glow sticks - as Brenda Hack, Enid Larriu and Phil Boyer performed the song "Light a Candle". Finally the congregation sung together "Oh Holy Night" with much energy and enthusiasm.

After the program, there were delicious Hors d'oeuvres and socializing in the fellowship hall. The church was clad with beautiful decoration and, to set the mood Christmas music was played throughout.

Acknowledgements: Many thanks to all that helped with donations, decorating, computer operation, light technicians, stage design, graphics design (thanks Rachel), greeting, parking, ushering, serving, set-up and tear-down, ticket sales and event promotion.

Thanks to Vashti Madden for contributing her talents to design and create the costume worn by our shepherd on stage.

Also thanks to:
Kimberly Roe for the wonderful catering
Jayne Brunson and crew of AVL Lighting - Houston, TX
David Boyer for making the trip from Nashville to do audio engineering for our "little ol' show"
Thanks to Frank and Kathy Ottti and the Church Board for their support

Performers for the Evening (in order of appearance)

Actors on Mic:
Voice of Narrator - Ed Dewar
Voice of Ezra - Harvey Moore
Voice of Young Shepherd - Neale Shields
Voice of Isaac - Greg Hatch
Voice of Angel - Ed Dewar
Voice of Mary - Karina Pulido
Voice of Joseph - Bryant Leinberger

Actor on Stage:
The Young Shepherd - Linval Henry, Jr.

Vocalists:
Phil Boyer
Brenda Hack
Christi Boland
Jennifer Moore
Jonathan Cooney
Enid Larriu

Instrumentalists:
Jim Ekstrand - Acoustic Guitar
Vega Ekstrand - Piano
Phillip Brantley - Violin

Also, Jonathan asked me for a statement on why I wrote the story: I wrote this program to take a different look at the Christmas story by making the context that of a shepherd's perspective of the events of that night. The shepherd really represents us all in our struggle to understand the meaning of salvation. As I studied Isaiah's prophecy to Judah hundreds of years before, I learned that the Jewish nation fell into the same trap that is common to us all; it is hard to trust that we are saved by the grace of God. We want to get involved in making ourselves "safe" (whatever that means). The story was meant to present the notion that God can only do His work in us when we let Him. To make an obvious statement -- the more control we attempt to take, the less control we give to Him to do His good work in us.

View the pictures of the event