Monday, September 28, 2009

With Excellence

When a church sets as one of its core values to honor God through the pursuit of excellence in all aspects of its ministry, watch for amazing things to happen. Like having 168 church members work for four months to produce and present a Broadway-caliber performance and to then give out tickets for free.




I witnessed this firsthand over the weekend as I sat in the audience for Christ Chapel Bible Church's presentation of The Music Man. The church exhibited excellence before the show even began by seating approximately 1,000 people in 12 minutes, giving out high-quality playbills, and luring in the audience with incredible sets to marvel over (i.e., a locomotive in center stage sprayed steam into the air every few minutes). And when the orchestra struck up the first few notes of "Seventy-Six Trombones," I knew we were in for a treat.

The cast's talent could easily have competed for parts in the Broadway version of this classic; the singing and dancing was flawless. The man who played Professor Harold Hill displayed more energy than Robert Preston did in the 1962 movie version of the musical. And at numerous times during the play, the stage was filled with fifty or sixty children and adults, and yet the dancing, singing, and choreography flowed seamlessly throughout.

The message of the musical is one of unconditional love, a love that we can all experience in Christ. Such love was demonstrated in Christ Chapel's production of the The Music Man as the cast and crew gave of their time and talents to thank God and to draw others to Him.

All too often, I seem to get in a hurry and offer God whatever I have left. Christ Chapel's production of the The Music Man served as a beautiful reminder to me to strive for excellence in all that I do because God deserves nothing less than my best.

2 comments:

nikki said...

i was so sad to miss this! so proud of ccbc!!! good to see you last night- and to hear your beautiful heart! thank you for sharing!

Krista Sanders said...

You are right on......inspires me to do my best as well. Getting by seems to be my mode of operation way too often.
Should have had B sit next to you so you wouldn't have had time to think so much about the spiritual implications of the show----- and I could just keep being content with "getting by". ; )