On Tuesday we will reach the half way point of the 2018 Passion Play season. We will have done 41 performances with 41 still before us. Since July 15, 1968 when the Play first began, more than 7.8 million people have attended the more than 4500 performances. It's hard to imagine how more than 3000 people could be in attendance each night, five nights per week for six months; every three years there would be another million added to those who had seen the Play. Some of our cast members remember those days and say it was thrilling to hear the crowd reactions as the Play was presented.
It would be nice to return to those "numbers", but with the times being what they are, the challenges for the entertainment dollar, the spiritual battles being waged in our country and around the world, it will take Divine intervention to see those "glory days" again. But, that's the ministry work we labor at; Divine intervention in a Divine plan for an eternal result. It's not easy to do what is done here, and has been done for 50 years, but we continue to tell the Story, pray it impacts someone and that a life is changed by what they see and hear here.
And, we must remember, that at each performance there are those who have never been here before, have never witnessed the Passion Play, toured The Holy Land or seen the Christ of The Ozarks Statue. For them it is "Opening Night" and we have the duty to make it an experience they will remember in a positive, and perhaps live-changing, way. When we think we can ease up or coast for a while, we have to know that we can't. Half Way...........Yes when we look at the calendar, but definitely No when we look at the effort and energy we are called to exert. Even if the seats were empty or the crowd tiny in numbers...........God is watching and that Audience Of One is why we do this and Who we are seeking to please. No such thing as Half Way when it comes to serving Him.
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