‘Living Nativity’ returns this weekend – The Baxter Bulletin

Scott Liles, Baxter Bulletin Published 2:58 p.m. CT Dec. 3, 2020 | Updated 3:09 p.m. CT Dec. 3, 2020

First Baptist Church of Mountain Home's Living Nativity display returns this weekend for the 2020 Christmas season. The drive-through display will begin Thursday night and continue through Sunday night, running from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. each night.(Photo: Submitted photo/First Baptist Church of Mountain Home)

The First Baptist Church of Mountain Home will bring the story of the birth of Jesus to life this weekend with its annual Living Nativity drive-through display.

This will be the sixth year for the Nativity, which uses church volunteers, live animals and theatrical sets to recreate crucial scenes from the Biblical story.

The Living Nativity will run Thursday through Sunday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. each night. This year's event will be completely drive through due to COVID-19 concerns.

Visitors should enter the First Baptist Church campus off of Spring Street, where they will pass through a facsimile of Bethlehem and witness scenes relating to the Nativity story. Visitors will then stop under the church's sanctuary awning to listen to the church choir perform before stopping at the Christian Life Center awning to receive prepackaged refreshments and children's activity books. Visitors will then exit the church campus on Club Boulevard. The church will have volunteers out helping to direct traffic through the display.

Last year's Living Nativity attracted1,900 visitors in 900 vehicles, church officials said. This year's turnout is expected to beat those numbers, they said.

The Wise Men are seen during the 2016 Living Nativity display at Mountain Home's First Baptist Church. The display combines costumed volunteers, live animals and theatrical sets to tell the story of the birth of Jesus.(Photo: Submitted photo/First Baptist Church of Mountain Home)

"With all the concern about COVID, this is something that people can get out and do," First Baptist Church pastor Tad Rogers said. "We're keeping people in their cars with their own families."

A volunteer crew of 45 to 60 is required to make the church'sLiving Nativity a reality each December. That number includes people preparing refreshments, construction workers building the sets and volunteers directing traffic in addition to the Nativity performers themselves, many of which will perform outdoors for all four nights.

"There's something to be said for the commitment many of the performers have," youth pastor Jessie Greene said. "Being outside, in the weather, it really builds relationships."

Volunteers will be wearing face masks at the Living Nativity, but many of the costumes have extra fabric around the neck area that will help conceal the COVID-era accessory.

Visitors to First Baptist Church's Living Nativity display will enter the church campus by turning off of Spring Street and proceeding through the church's mock up of Bethlehem. Visitors will eventually exit the campus on Club Boulevard.(Photo: Submitted photo/First Baptist Church of Mountain Home)

"You do your best to make it as authentic as possible, but face masks are just something you can't avoid," Greene said.

Scenes depicted in the drive-through include a Biblical-era marketplace scene; Mary being visited by the angel Gabriel and being told she will give birth to Jesus; Joseph working as a carpenter; Mary and Joseph journeying to Bethlehem; shepherds tending to live sheep and goats and encountering an angel that tells them of Jesus' birth; the arrival of the Wise Men, complete with a living camel; and the manger scene with Mary and Joseph depicting Jesus' birth.

The animals used in the Living Nativity come from a Kansas City-area ranch. The animals' handlers stay in Mountain Home for the weekend and care for the animals before, during and after the Living Nativity display.

First Baptist Church of Mountain Home will perform its annual Living Nativity Thursday night through Sunday night on the church campus.(Photo: Submitted photo/First Baptist Church of Mountain Home)

"The camel has always been a big hit," Rogers said. "You don't get to see that a lot around here."

Despite the event's theatrics, costumes and live animals, the church's focus with the Living Nativity remains on the message it conveys, Rogers said.

"It's a way to spread the word about the Gospel," he said. "We're always excited about that."

Read or Share this story: https://www.baxterbulletin.com/story/news/local/2020/12/03/living-nativity-returns-weekend/3813565001/

Excerpt from:
'Living Nativity' returns this weekend - The Baxter Bulletin