Wednesday, December 22, 2004



Here's a cast picture from "A Sanders Family Christmas" taken Sunday night after the show. Pictured left to right are:
Amanda Brooks McKinney--Denise
Johnathan Vest--Uncle Stanley
Laura Troup-- June
Brandon Scott Thomas--Pastor Mervin Oglethorpe
Philip Henry--Dennis
Sonya Colvert--Vera
Steve Speake--Burl

What fun we had!! I think we're all experiencing that post show thing of being glad to have the time back but being sad it's over. I know we're all looking forward to doing "Smoke on the Mountain"!

Well, sickness has come to live at our house again. Sheryl's mom has an inner ear infection. Ella is coughing and has to be sedated with cough medicine, Maddie is snotting all over everything and everybody, and Sheryl has now come down with the cold symptoms (as has my mother). YUCK!!! Run away! I DO NOT want this.

I am working today, Sunday, and next Wednesday and those are the only work days for me over the holidays. I love vacation.

I am finishing up some plans for Sunday. We'll have the choir sing and we're going to be talking about the "gift" of Christmas. Anyone have any suggestions on dramatic readings or a children's book with this theme? (obviously, I am getting a late start here with everything else that's been going on.) I'd welcome the suggestions. I'd bet some of you children's ministers have some ideas.

Our choir this Christmas will have a neat age range--from around 5 years old to 70. It should be a special morning. Send those ideas or post them. Thanks!

4 comments:

julie said...

Brandon, I love that your choir has such a wide age range. That will be so wonderful for everyone. I would love to see their faces while they sing. I love Christmas time at church...I admit I am not a huge Christmas carol fan...they are mostly hard to sing congregationally...a few exceptions: O Come All Ye Faithful and Joy to the World. I love it when someone just reads the birth story from the Bible and uses a children's book pictures on powerpoint to illustrate. There are lots of great children's Christmas books with beautiful illustrations.
Last year we did Welcome to Our World congregationally and had these amazing pictures on the powerpoint while singing. The book is called Naked Babies and you know the words to that song...tiny fingers sent to heal...tender brow prepared for thorn...this book has pictures of naked baby parts up close and we showed the appropriate parts as we were singing. Not many dry eyes when we were done and I love that the babies were so diverse.
It is good to something different that captures attention and moves the worshippers to a different place.
Sunday morning they showed a clip from Charlie Brown's Christmas...the part where Linus is talking about the meaning of Christmas. So good.
Brandon, I know you are creative and many things will come to mind...just thought some of there thoughts would get your brain moving.
Love you and take care of that sweet Judy that you now have with you. Tell her it snowing in Abilene and beautiful.
Julie

Ron said...

I was going to suggest that Linus part from Charlie Brown... I think he starts with Luke chapter 2... We do it as a dramatic reading where you assign several people different 'parts' to read. About a sentence or two. Sometimes just a short phrase such as 'then he said'. Then have the people kinda step on each other's lines - like interrupting. Except where appropriate to pause. There is also one place where all of the speakers say 'Glory to God in the highest', when the heavenly host appeared.
I used the cronological Bible to put in more verses about the birth to make the whole thing longer than just the Luke 2 from Charlie Brown.

Have a great Christmas... and stay away from the snot bugs :-)

Steven J Bruce said...

Brandon-

We used the Linus clip last week, it went over great. Last year I used the children's story "Alabaster's Song" by Max Lucado with good sucess. It works great if you scan the pictures and put them on the screen for the adults; but have the kids on stage. Have a great Christmas!

Anonymous said...

Hey Brandon,
Christmas Story has some funny moments as does Christmas Vacation. Both two very funny movies that brighten up the Christmas mood. I crack up at Christmas Vacation and enjoy the many scenes from Christmas Story as well. Anyways enough ramblings. Have a great Christmas with the family. I know you are truly blessed to have mom with you in town and so are the girls. See ya bro, Zac