This weekend our church presented the HizKidz Praise! Ministry musical to the public and congregation. HizKidz Praise! Ministry is for children who attend our church. They must be in grades 3-8 to be a part of the ministry. Any child within those grade guidelines can have their parent(s) fill out an application, pay the tuition of $35.00 per semester and join the ministry. If a child wants to have an actual role or dance part, the child must audition for that particular role. Auditioning for a role involves a speaking part and singing audition. A dance audition involves rehearsing a segment of one song from the musical, with the choreography of that song. Each dancer is given 3 mini- rehearsals to learn the choreography before auditioning. The director of the ministry has a team of people (from the music ministry and Sunday School leadership) who act as the judges. If a child does not get the role or dance part he/she wanted, they are still in the musical as part of the chorus. Some children when they sign up for HizKidz only want to be in the chorus. We have about 40 children in this ministry. On most weekends at our church, there are about 355 children who attend our Sunday School programs (grades prek-5th grade). It is a large church! So...now that you know what HizKidz is.....
This past weekend, after 3 months of intense rehearsals, sometimes with 2 rehearsals of 2 hours each per week, the HizKidz Praise! put on "Miracle on Main Street". On Friday evening the musical was open to the public. We had about 200 people at the Friday nite showing. Even my daughter's dance instructor came! (Claire takes ballet in a private dance academy here in town; she is in her 5th year of ballet and took tap for 4 years.) Opening night featured the musical as written and then a short bit at the very end for a salvation message and prayer for any unbelievers in the audience. Saturday evening's performance was about 500 people. I believe the main reason was because of the weather report for Sunday so most people were attending the Sat. evening service. At the very end of the show, the Saturday evening Sunday School children who wanted to join HizKidz on the last 2 songs came up. We also had some extra angel dancers in the aisles which were girls from Sunday School. The reason the ministry opens the show up to Sunday School children for 1-2 songs at the end, is because we have so many children in our church; it is impossible to do a traditional Christmas Pageant....although our first Christmas, 2 years ago, at this church, they did do a special nativity, chorus presentation. HizKidz Praise! was just birthed last year (2006/2007 school year). On Sunday, there were 2 more performances during the 9 and 11 a.m. services. Not many people had ventured out though due to the 4 inches of snow we received overnight AND the fact that freezing rain was to begin shortly after noon. However, there were about 150 people at each morning service so that was neat for the kids performing. The true message of Christmas was presented in a fun, jazzy way. If you have never heard the music from "Miracle on Main Street" you should check it out sometime! We were so thrilled to see our youngest using her secular training and her natural abilities as a dancer & singer to glorify God and worship Him in this way. Many people were touched by the timeless message of Christmas and what God gave us so long ago....His very own Son! And the underlying theme was about how commercialism has taken over the true meaning of the holiday. The songs were upbeat, with old traditional carols combined with contemporary songs. It was such a great experience for Claire that she is all signed up for 2nd sememster and our Palm Sunday weekend shows!
I praised the Lord throughout the entire performance for leading my family to this church where there are so many high quality ministries for us to use our time, talents and service for the Lord and His body. Sometimes we get so busy around our house this time of year (Claire's 9th birthday is Friday!) that we need to remember to keep the focus on what is truly the miracle of the season: Jesus!
Merry Christmas, everyone!
This past weekend, after 3 months of intense rehearsals, sometimes with 2 rehearsals of 2 hours each per week, the HizKidz Praise! put on "Miracle on Main Street". On Friday evening the musical was open to the public. We had about 200 people at the Friday nite showing. Even my daughter's dance instructor came! (Claire takes ballet in a private dance academy here in town; she is in her 5th year of ballet and took tap for 4 years.) Opening night featured the musical as written and then a short bit at the very end for a salvation message and prayer for any unbelievers in the audience. Saturday evening's performance was about 500 people. I believe the main reason was because of the weather report for Sunday so most people were attending the Sat. evening service. At the very end of the show, the Saturday evening Sunday School children who wanted to join HizKidz on the last 2 songs came up. We also had some extra angel dancers in the aisles which were girls from Sunday School. The reason the ministry opens the show up to Sunday School children for 1-2 songs at the end, is because we have so many children in our church; it is impossible to do a traditional Christmas Pageant....although our first Christmas, 2 years ago, at this church, they did do a special nativity, chorus presentation. HizKidz Praise! was just birthed last year (2006/2007 school year). On Sunday, there were 2 more performances during the 9 and 11 a.m. services. Not many people had ventured out though due to the 4 inches of snow we received overnight AND the fact that freezing rain was to begin shortly after noon. However, there were about 150 people at each morning service so that was neat for the kids performing. The true message of Christmas was presented in a fun, jazzy way. If you have never heard the music from "Miracle on Main Street" you should check it out sometime! We were so thrilled to see our youngest using her secular training and her natural abilities as a dancer & singer to glorify God and worship Him in this way. Many people were touched by the timeless message of Christmas and what God gave us so long ago....His very own Son! And the underlying theme was about how commercialism has taken over the true meaning of the holiday. The songs were upbeat, with old traditional carols combined with contemporary songs. It was such a great experience for Claire that she is all signed up for 2nd sememster and our Palm Sunday weekend shows!
I praised the Lord throughout the entire performance for leading my family to this church where there are so many high quality ministries for us to use our time, talents and service for the Lord and His body. Sometimes we get so busy around our house this time of year (Claire's 9th birthday is Friday!) that we need to remember to keep the focus on what is truly the miracle of the season: Jesus!
Merry Christmas, everyone!
3 comments:
Thank you for your prayers for my friend Steve. As I write this the calling is ready to start. My heart is aching for him. I did forget to say though that his dad was saved so we know he is in Heaven!
I will be praying for your folks too. This will be our first Christmas without my dad so it will be different. But we, too, know he is in Heaven!
Sounds like it was wonderful! Hats off to all the wonderful people who work so hard to put on these programs. It's a phenomenal amount of work.
Happy Birthday to your daughter tomorrow!
HI Amy: I am so glad to hear that both men are in heaven...I will keep you in prayer too during the holidays...I haven't lost a parent yet but both mine are saved as well....now we pray for my hubby's folks to know Christ.
Susanne: I will tell Claire you say Happy Birthday! And yes, we praise God for the wonderful leaders our church (as well as other churches!) have, especially at this time of year when things are so busy at services...they are true servants of Christ!
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