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8A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, December 12,2018
Photos by Jessica Taylor Dawson County News
Derrick Parker plays Jesus and looks at mourners during the crucifixion scene of Bethel Baptist
Church's live Nativity show Dec. 7
A young shepherd watches over his flock of sheep
during the live Nativity show Dec. 7.
Bethel Baptist brings meaning of Christmas to life
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By Jessica Taylor
jtaylor@dawsonnews.com
It’s not Christmas in
Dawsonville without a live
Nativity.
“My daughter said it
wouldn’t be Christmas
without it,” said Tracy
Phillips, who coordinates
the live Nativity at Bethel
Baptist Church.
For the past 32 years, the
church has come together
to produce a live Nativity
spectacle for the communi
ty for two nights every
December to highlight the
true meaning of Christmas.
“The presentation
through the years has
evolved and improved yet
the message is the same
message we started with,”
said Gary Vaughters, who
oversees the shepherds in
the production.
When the production
first began in the late
1980s, Vaughters remem
bers it being a small nine
scene show around the
cemetery across Hwy. 136
from the main church
building, and only two cars
could drive through at a
time.
“The first years that we
did it, if we had a couple
hundred people that came
through we thought we
were doing good,”
Vaughters said.
Now, it’s not uncommon
for nearly 2,000 people to
come see the show that
features the life of Jesus
Christ, from the prophecy
of his birth to his resurrec
tion and ascension to
Heaven.
The annual production
has grown since its original
inception, with more
scenes, more actors and
more effects tucked away
in the church’s wooded
property. The program is
an approximately 45 min
ute wagon ride pulled by
tractors.
Pulling together an
immersive live Nativity
scene takes the effort of the
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Tori Bottoms poses as Mary with Joseph and baby Jesus, all surrounded by angels inside the stable at
Bethel Baptist Church's live Nativity.
Wise men, shepherds and angels gather around the stable to welcome the
birth of Jesus at the live Nativity show performed in the woods surrounding
Bethel Baptist Church.
entire 250-member congre
gation along with any vol
unteers who wish to lend a
helping hand.
“It takes the whole
church, plus some recruits,
volunteers to make it hap
pen. It is a whole church
effort,” Phillips said. “They
do really good with it,
everybody does. It takes a
lot of infrastructure to get
it ready and then it takes a
lot of participation to get
it ready.”
Beginning in the fall,
church members start get
ting the production ready
for its debut in December,
working on weekends and
whenever they have free
time to rehearse, gather
materials and costumes
and ensure the sets are in
working order. Church
members also prepare the
free food given to specta
tors after they’ve experi
enced the show.
Overall, Phillips specu
lates it takes anywhere
between 200 to 300 hours
of work to make the annual
show a reality every year.
“It’s a huge blessing to
us in addition to putting it
on... we get to come
together and work togeth
er,” Vaughters said. “I’m
proud of the program. God
has blessed us with the
ability to be able to present
this.”
The program is not only
special for the community
to enjoy. It’s become a
church tradition spanning
generations.
Derrick Parker, who has
portrayed Jesus on the
cross for the past few
years, began performing in
the program when he was
just a toddler.
“(I’ve) been in about
every part from the begin
ning to end,” Parker said.
Children are often shep
herds or angels when they
begin taking part in the
program. As they get older
they move up in the ranks,
from shepherds to soldiers
to disciples and even Jesus
himself.
Parker has played every
thing from shepherd to sol
dier to Jesus, and finds the
experience of being lifted
on the cross at Calvary Hill
to be a spiritual one.
“It kind of gives you a
visual of probably as close
as you can get to being
realistic to what really hap
pened,” Parker said. “It
makes you think.”
Most men in their 20s
and 30s that are in the pro
gram share Parker’s back
ground of growing up in
the church and in the
Nativity.
“Those men used to be
in the kid scenes. As
they’ve grown, they started
out in kid scenes up to
about four years old then
they go to shepherds and
angels at four to 10 and 12
— so they all grow
through it until they get old
like me,” Phillips said.
Soon, it will be time for
Parker to retire as Jesus on
the cross and pass the torch
off to a younger ‘Jesus in
training’ to carry on the
tradition for years to come.
“You got to keep bring
ing them along,” Phillips
said.
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