NATCHEZ &045;&045; A Christmas gift

of music and pageantry also gives members of First Baptist Church a unique chance to search their hearts.

&uot;The Wonder of Christmas,&uot; to be presented at 6 p.m. Dec. 13 and 14,

is a colorful, uplifting musical about the true meaning of Christmas, said Chris Turner, minister of music at the church, 150 D’Evereux Drive.

&uot;Our basic hope is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and to help people to focus on the message of Christmas,&uot; Turner said. &uot;The ultimate gift God has ever given us was His son. And that’s what this is all about.&uot;

What’s more, church members grow as they give such a gift. &uot;As Christians and as part of our faith, we need to be reminded of God’s love for us,&uot; Turner said. &uot;This is a time of renewal. It’s our mandate as Christians to share with others.&uot;

Within the church, many dozens of people take part as musicians, actors, stage hands, stage decorators, light and sound technicians, carpenters and many other positions.

&uot;We’ll have about 60 to 65 in the sanctuary choir, 25 to 30 in the dramatic cast and 15 to 20 in the youth choir,&uot; Turner said. &uot;Then we have 15 members of the orchestra and many, many others who are working behind the scenes.&uot;

Sam Jones is directing the dramatic parts and Cheryl Morace, the choreography. Cathy Estes and Carole Foster have been close associates in helping to organize the entire program.

The program is an original one, fine tuned from the 2002 presentation and, Turner believes, made even better.

The program begins with a Christmas scene that could be Anywhere, U.S.A., he said. &uot;An ensemble will begin the program, sharing familiar secular songs of the season &045;&045; ‘A Classic Christmas,’ it is called.&uot;

From there, the program will move to the next stage, in which the youth choir will perform a collage of songs that are a little more serious. &uot;We’re calling this segment ‘A Contemporary Christmas.’ There will be music from some modern artists along with a multi-media presentation that goes along with it. That will be lights, images and video.&uot;

The last segment will be &uot;The First Christmas,&uot; told from the perspective of two angels &045;&045; Gabriel, who announced the birth of Jesus to Mary and the shepherds; and his prot/g/, Luther.

&uot;This will include a real variety of musical expression and a lot of pageantry, quite lovely and quite beautiful,&uot; Turner said.

Participants are building on the success of last year’s program, he said. &uot;Last year taught us a lot. We’ve tweaked some things and improved some things.&uot;

Turner hopes the program will become a Christmas event the community looks forward to each year. &uot;We want to involve more and more people and to become a staple in the community,&uot; he said.

Most important, he wants those who take part and those who see it to realize God’s love for mankind.

&uot;This program should tell people that God is saying, ‘I love you enough to give you my most precious possession.’&uot;

The program is free, but tickets are required in order to be sure everyone has a seat. &uot;We can seat

1,000, but we don’t want 1,500 to show up one night and 500 the other. That’s why we have tickets.&uot;

Tickets are available by calling (601) 442-1564 to reserve them and then going to the church office to collect them. The church will mail tickets if requests by letter include a self-addressed stamped envelope.