Searcy church’s Living Nativity season ends today
SEARCY — Today is the last day residents of Searcy will have the opportunity to relive the birth of Jesus from the comfort of their vehicles. The First Assembly of God, at 101 Benton Ave. in Searcy, will have its final production of The Living Nativity from 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Mark Ferren, a children’s pastor at First Assembly, said the event’s organizers built The Living Nativity exhibition to provide residents an experience of what Bethlehem would have been like at the time of Jesus’ birth.
“You drive through and see the scenes and the characters as Roman soldiers — different shops, basket shops, pottery shops and different people doing things like they would have back in the day,” Ferren said.
Once they enter through the gates of Bethlehem, families see scenes depicting tax collectors, census counters and fabric shops, followed by a display of the Three Wise Men, along with goats, a camel and a donkey. The show ends with a scene at the manger where Jesus was born. It takes 10 minutes to drive through the show.
To make the magic of the show happen, 100 volunteers act out the characters in the story. Jason Sutton, a young-adult pastor at First Assembly and a volunteer who is an actor in the show, said the opportunity to share the story of Jesus with the community has inspired him to help put on the show since 2005.
“I have played several characters throughout the years,” Sutton said. “I have been one of the soldiers that you see as you come through. I have been Joseph, the census taker and the tax collector.”
During the show, it helps that volunteers can work in shifts.
“There’s basically two people that play each character. You trade out about every 45 minutes or so,” Sutton said. “You do get to trade out, and when it’s really cold outside, that is really nice when you get to warm up a little bit.”
In addition to the actors, Sutton said, the volunteers in the parking lot play a large role in making the show run smoothly.
“We have a lot of people who work in our parking lot,” Sutton said. “They hand out hot chocolate to everyone as they come through and also give families the information they need to [take the tour]. So that’s a big part of it as well. That’s kind of part of what I do now, too.”
To tell the story of Jesus’ birth, the church plays a narration of the tale, while families drive through the exhibition and take in the scenery. There is a QR code for families to scan at the entrance that lets them hear the narration through their phones.
Justin Lawson, president of Centennial Bank in Searcy and a volunteer who helps with the audio,
said the words and phrases used in the narration strictly come from Scripture. The narration features the story of Christ from the four Gospels. The narration is also available in Spanish, which is something that has been done for the past few years, Lawson said.
“We’re always delighted to produce the event for the community,” he said.
The church posts videos of the show each year on its website and YouTube page. The videos are watched by people from other countries, Lawson added.
Admission to the show is free, but after exiting the tour, attendees have the choice of making a donation. Ferren said the contributions from the donation box help fund The Living Nativity.
This year marks the 16th year that First Assembly will host The Living Nativity. Ferren said the pandemic didn’t slow down the tradition of having the exhibition last year. He explained that the church put in place COVID-friendly measures, such as spacing out the actors to make the event safer. In 2020, Ferren said, about 13,000 people came to see the show. Thanks to the church advertising the event online, families from out of state attended the production, he said. Every year, the event draws families from border states, and Ferren said there was a family from Kansas that flew in on a private jet to experience The Living Nativity.
“This is how people kick off their Christmas season,” Ferren replied, when asked why the event brings people from out of state.
With the number of people the show brings in, the church has to ask Searcy Police Department officers to direct the traffic, which can get backed up all the way to BeebeCapps Expressway, Ferren said.
Volunteers from the church spent all of November setting up the exhibition, which includes the building facades for the various scenes. Ferren said he helps make the brick ovens that are part of the exhibition, which comes naturally to him because he is the son of a bricklayer. To depict sand, sawdust is spread through the concrete parking lot.
“We have several guys who come every day to help,” Ferren said. “It’s a pretty big operation.”
For anyone who can’t see the event in person, videos and photos from the show can be found at www.livenativity.com.