LOCAL CHURCH IS A FRENZY OF PRE-PAGEANT ACTIVITY

Jackson's First Baptist Church has become a hub of activity as hundreds of congregation members rush to prepare the stage, lighting, props and costumes and practice lines and performances for the church's annual Easter pageant.

The church will perform the pageant, titled "Watch the Lamb" Wednesday through Saturday at 7 p.m. each night. There will be two performances on Sunday -- one at 3:30 p.m. and the final presentation at 7 p.m.

Members of the cast and crew were hard at work late last week putting the final touches on their performance. Wendy Hayes is the director of "Watch the Lamb."

The Easter pageant is a tradition at the First Baptist Church. In its nine-year history, the Easter presentation has grown from a being a small music recital produced by the choir to a large theatrical presentation, according to Marcia Craft, who is returning for her seventh year with the production. Craft wrote the script for "Watch the Lamb."

"When this started it was basically a choir production; we called it 'Bathrobes and Flip-Flops,'" said Craft, referring to the costumes choir members wore to mimic the clothing of Biblical times. "And over the years, it's grown into a full-blown theatrical production."

Each year, the church presents an entirely new Easter production with a new stage, new set, new costumes and a new script.

"It's an original write each year," said Craft, "and it's written by members of our congregation and coordinated with our music minister, Jim Rainey, and a pageant committee."

More than 300 people are involved in building the stage and props, running stage lights, applying make-up, making costumes and acting in the pageant.

Those who will be performing in the production set to work more than two months ago and have been practicing for several hours each night for two to three nights each week to perfect their performances.

Those involved in the myriad behind the scenes activities -- writing the script, planning the choreography and designing the stage, set and costumes -- were at work as early as last fall.

"Watch the Lamb" focuses on the final week of the life of Jesus Christ, with flashbacks to his birth and the important events leading up to the Crucifixion.

"What we've tried to do this year is to show the human side of Jesus," said Craft. "We've tried to show that he was an ordinary boy so we've focused a lot on the children in our pageant this year."

The Easter pageant is something that children grow up with in the First Baptist Church, said Craft, who feels that the production gets better as each child gains more experience.

"Each year they grow in the pageant and advance to another level," she said, explaining that for the first time in pageant history, children will be performing musical solos.

"Along with learning how to portray, the children also learn a lot about the times in which Jesus lived," said Craft.

While children may be the focus of this year's pageant, it is certainly not a children-only performance.

"Our cast ranges in age from 4-years old to seniors citizens," said Craft. "Once a year, they slip into a costume and walk with Jesus

"Our purpose in doing this is to share the life of Christ with the community but I think it also gives us a wonderful spiritual experience as a congregation.

"We've worked on the pageant all this time and now we're ready to perform it," said Craft.