Philippine LCT - Dress Rehearsal

Last night we went through a complete dress rehearsal of the Living Christmas Tree. This performance of“Hark the Herald Angels Sing” is absolutely amazing. We performed this musical several years ago at FBC.

The level of the music and drama ministry is superb. They are doing in their first year, what has taken us years to develop and improve. There are 60 choir members, singing angels, authentic Roman Centurions, the Christmas scene complete with a donkey and goats, shepherds, townspeople, and banners. It is truly spectacular, and the choir sounds excellent.

The stage includes a stable area heaven scene where two angels narrate the program. The costumes and scenery are very well done, and everyone is quite excited. We didn’t think that any of the lights that we brought from FBC would work. The system we sent operates on 110 current. Electric service here is 220. We thought we had this figured out properly, but after working for about 30 minutes, an additional two dimmer boxes blew. It was quite discouraging, especially for the WOL team that had worked so hard on every aspect of their program.

On Friday morning, staff members went into Manila to find an alternate way to program the lights. We were caught in the dilemma of trying to get our electronic controls to work, or purchasing new controllers that would run the light strings. They returned at 3 PM with new equipment, just three hours before the dress rehearsal was scheduled to begin. Everything plug had to be re-wired. Several technical guys worked as the rehearsal began without lighting. The students erupted in applause when all of the lights came on half way through the rehearsal. Pastor Mike and Hank were busy reprogramming their new system, and everyone worked hard to make the dress rehearsal a great success. We are expecting several hundred people tonight.

The WOL staff and students continually express their appreciation to FBC for the inspiration, expertise and help in this ministry. FBC provided the plans to build the LCT, music books and background track for “Hark the Herald,” training by Pastor Jason this past summer, and all of the lights and bulbs brought on this latest trip.

Please pray for the three performances Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. Pray for our supported missionary, Jonel Arcedera as he presents the gospel and gives the invitation each night.