H7 Story: The Promise Begins
by Wendi Kitsteiner
“Helping People Find and Follow Jesus” isn’t just something we do within the walls of our church. There are some incredible opportunities in and around the community to reach Greeneville for Jesus.
One of these opportunities took place during the last week of January. On January 27-29, 2023 Central Ballet School & Theatre (CBT), under the direction of Lori Ann Sparks, presented Genesis: The Promise Begins. This full-length ballet was held on the Tusculum University campus and highlighted six key events in the book of Genesis: Creation, Noah’s Ark, Babel, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Joseph, and a summary of the promises.
There were over 104 dancers in this show. The youngest participant was 2 and the oldest was in his 80’s! When you include those who supported the show financially or helped backstage, with outreach, or even building sets, the number of people involved in producing a show of this magnitude numbers in the 200’s! In fact, for every minute of this two-and-a-half hour ballet, there were over 150 hours of work in preparation for the shows! (If you are a math person, this means that it took 22,500 minutes of work to prepare for these shows.)
Regular Bible readers were able to enjoy more in-depth portrayals of the dreams Joseph interpreted and how Jesus paid the sacrifice for our sins through the imagery of the ram getting stuck in the thicket. But even more important was that audience members with no Biblical background whatsoever were presented with the story of Christianity through beautiful artistry and detailed narration (by our very own Kris Carlson!)
However, Kris wasn’t the only FCC’er involved with this production. Close to two dozen of the dancers and their parent volunteers are members and guests of FCC!
Nine-year-old Addie Tipton (daughter of Tommy and Jennifer) was participating in her fifth show for CBT. “Ballet helps me to learn more about dance and gain experience through the play that I am performing in,” she told me. Six-year-old Elliana Scott (daughter of David and Natalie) agreed. This was her first show and she excitedly remarked: “I loved being in the ballet. I can’t wait to do it again next year!”
The Hodge family participated in CBT’s production for the first time this year. Both Selah (age 11), and Jada (age 8) had roles in Genesis. “Being a part of the Genesis production has transformed my oldest daughter,” Mom Bethany reflected. “She was very nervous about any kind of attention directed towards her before being a part of this ballet production. I watched through the rehearsals and then through the performances her whole demeanor change.” Bethany explained that instead of wanting to not be seen, Selah became comfortable in her own skin on stage. She asked Selah after the first performance if she was nervous and couldn’t believe it when she said she wasn’t. “I asked her, outloud, ‘who is this girl?’ and she just smiled so big! I would say both of my girls have discovered some inner strengths and a desire to share the gospel in a new way through Central Ballet.”
One of these opportunities took place during the last week of January. On January 27-29, 2023 Central Ballet School & Theatre (CBT), under the direction of Lori Ann Sparks, presented Genesis: The Promise Begins. This full-length ballet was held on the Tusculum University campus and highlighted six key events in the book of Genesis: Creation, Noah’s Ark, Babel, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Joseph, and a summary of the promises.
There were over 104 dancers in this show. The youngest participant was 2 and the oldest was in his 80’s! When you include those who supported the show financially or helped backstage, with outreach, or even building sets, the number of people involved in producing a show of this magnitude numbers in the 200’s! In fact, for every minute of this two-and-a-half hour ballet, there were over 150 hours of work in preparation for the shows! (If you are a math person, this means that it took 22,500 minutes of work to prepare for these shows.)
Regular Bible readers were able to enjoy more in-depth portrayals of the dreams Joseph interpreted and how Jesus paid the sacrifice for our sins through the imagery of the ram getting stuck in the thicket. But even more important was that audience members with no Biblical background whatsoever were presented with the story of Christianity through beautiful artistry and detailed narration (by our very own Kris Carlson!)
However, Kris wasn’t the only FCC’er involved with this production. Close to two dozen of the dancers and their parent volunteers are members and guests of FCC!
Nine-year-old Addie Tipton (daughter of Tommy and Jennifer) was participating in her fifth show for CBT. “Ballet helps me to learn more about dance and gain experience through the play that I am performing in,” she told me. Six-year-old Elliana Scott (daughter of David and Natalie) agreed. This was her first show and she excitedly remarked: “I loved being in the ballet. I can’t wait to do it again next year!”
The Hodge family participated in CBT’s production for the first time this year. Both Selah (age 11), and Jada (age 8) had roles in Genesis. “Being a part of the Genesis production has transformed my oldest daughter,” Mom Bethany reflected. “She was very nervous about any kind of attention directed towards her before being a part of this ballet production. I watched through the rehearsals and then through the performances her whole demeanor change.” Bethany explained that instead of wanting to not be seen, Selah became comfortable in her own skin on stage. She asked Selah after the first performance if she was nervous and couldn’t believe it when she said she wasn’t. “I asked her, outloud, ‘who is this girl?’ and she just smiled so big! I would say both of my girls have discovered some inner strengths and a desire to share the gospel in a new way through Central Ballet.”
On a personal level, my own family (the Kitsteiners) have now participated in six shows since 2018. In the beginning, it was just my daughter Abigail who danced. But over the years, all six of us have been drawn in and have made the decision to devote nearly our entire January to bring these incredible productions of Jesus’ love and redemption to the community. Hannah (age 9) and Abigail (age 11) both dance. Elijah (age 14) works backstage, and Isaac (age 14) was on stage this year as one of Noah and Jacob’s sons. My husband John actually takes time off from his job in the Emergency Department to help with makeup backstage (Yes! Makeup!), and I have been leading as the Casting Coordinator (a fancy title that basically means I help herd cats and get everyone into their scenes at the right time). I continue to be blown away by how powerful these performances are in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The theme verse of this ballet was Genesis 50:20: “As for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save the lives of many people.” What an incredible opportunity all the participants to pour their heart into something while getting to share the gospel message at the same time.
Posted in Tell the Story