BEHIND THE SCENES - A Look Inside the Year of Preparation for Easter Pageant

A YEAR IN THE MAKING

Those who have been around UMHB for even a short time probably know the president hand-selects two students, based on their strong Christian faith and character, to play Jesus and Mary, as well as the pageant director. The selections are made an entire year ahead of the following year’s show, and there’s good reason for this. Not only does it allow the student playing Jesus time to grow out his hair and beard, but more importantly, it gives that student time to prayerfully select the students who will act as his disciples. Mary also chooses a group of women to serve as her mourners.

PREPARING HEARTS AND MINDS

Playing the parts of Jesus and Mary are big shoes that can never be filled, but part of what the students do leading up to the pageant is work on preparing their hearts and minds for their roles, said Mike.

“They walk around campus and are identified as Jesus and Mary. The student portraying Jesus will get introduced as ‘Jesus,’ and that builds up a lot of pressure,” Mike said. He and other mentors offer the students playing Jesus and Mary one-on-one discipleship for the entire year to help them embrace the roles.

“When I disciple the student portraying Jesus, a big part of our discussion is how to handle that. We also discuss walking alongside his disciples for an entire year and interacting with them. They get to see all of the stuff that Jesus experienced. It’s not written down in the Bible. All the disciples didn’t love each other when they first got to know each other. There was infighting, and people got annoyed with each other. So, he gets to walk through that for a year and kind of see what that might have been like.”

NOT JUST A BIBLE STORY

Some students have heard the Easter story their entire lives, and it plays through their heads like a rerun of their favorite TV show. However, from the first day of rehearsals, Mike makes sure they see it for what it truly is. “We’re able to shift it to where they think about it in more of a realistic way, and that’s big,” he said. On the contrary, some students may have never heard these stories before. For those students, walking through the scenes is very similar to what it would have been like the day that Jesus was living, and it’s a chance to really infuse them with the Gospel, Mike said.

The Easter Pageant is open to participation from any student, regardless of acting capability or level of faith. From students who are mature in their walk with Jesus to those who are just hoping to get out of class for pag­eant practice, Mike says it’s an “awesome opportunity to walk through the red letters of the Gospel with them.” That’s why each day before rehearsals begin, he plans a devotional to help the students envision the upcoming scenes in a way they may have never before. They can ask questions and then break into groups for discussions.

“By doing this, they’re spending some time contemplating what the scene actually means and what the people would have been going through. It’s cool from a production standpoint but priceless from a human component.”

ALL HANDS ON DECK

Prior to each pageant, students aren’t the only ones pre­paring. For weeks leading up to the event, members of the Physical Plant focus all their time on preparing the grounds and building the set. The team also spends time praying over the set. Associate Director of Museum and Alumni Engagement Beth Norvell remembers how it rained all morning one year before the pageant. Shortly before the first performance, when the rain stopped, the entire cam­pus came out to get things in shape before guests arrived.

“Physical Plant was cleaning off the bleachers, and administration had towels wiping down the seats. Everyone was making it possible for people to come and experience Easter Pageant,” she said.

LIVES ARE CHANGED

People from all levels of faith attend the Easter Pageant, and every single year, lives are transformed, and people are saved. “Lots of children over the years have come to know Christ, either from being in the pageant or seeing it,” Mike said. “During last year’s show, there was a little girl who was really upset and crying after Jesus was cru­cified. Nick McDaniel (who played Jesus in 2023) met with the little girl and kneeled to talk to her. He was in no rush to get back out there and just spent time with this little girl.”

Mike also recalled a show from about 15 or 20 years ago when a student gave his life to the Lord in the middle of the performance. “It was during the earth­quake scene when everyone runs off. This guy, who was portraying a Roman soldier, was just lying flat on his face in the middle of the field in front of the cross. We continued to go through the show, and he eventually got up and made his way over. We found out he had an encounter and gave his life to Jesus right then and there in the middle of the show! It’s hard to miss God moving in that way, but I think He’s moved a million different ways.”

Mike said it’s not uncommon to see changes in the students who have had to portray Judas. “That role is really rough because the 12 disciples have become a friend group, and then there’s the one friend, Judas, who betrays Jesus. You have to be pretty strong in your faith when everyone around you starts yelling at you. It’s a difficult role.” Each year, Mike encourages the student playing Judas to keep a journal of their experience to help them process their feelings through this challenging role. “They will be learning lessons from this forever and are usually unpacking it for years.”

A PICTURE NO ONE EVER TAKES

When Jesus is nailed to the boards of the cross and lifted to hang, the students playing his disci­ples are usually stationed behind the set. Everyone is focused on Jesus at that point, so no one ever sees their reactions, which are raw and real. “They are crushed,” said Mike. “It’s hard seeing this guy (Jesus) that they’ve supported for six or seven months since he’s selected them. They’ve become this really tight group, and seeing him hang is tough; they are demolished. Just in that moment, it becomes very real.”

JUST LIKE JESUS

Over the years, students selected for the Jesus and Mary roles have often created unique challenges, themes or ac­tivities for their disciples and mourners to help them grow closer to each other and in their roles. Many years ago, a student preparing to play Jesus received one of Christian author Max Lucado’s books, “Just Like Jesus.” He read and studied the book, leaving notes in the margins to help him understand his role. After the pageant, he passed the book along to the upcoming Jesus and thus became a tradition. Each year, the student playing Jesus writes a letter to the next Jesus and passes it along. This went on for so many years that the book started falling apart and had to be retired to the museum archives; however, a second copy of was purchased to keep the tradition going.

MAKING IT THEIR OWN

This year’s Jesus was Dillon Moore, a senior general studies major, and Victoria “Tori” Hernandez, a senior biology major, played Mary. They both wanted to choose disciples and mourners in different stages of their faith and said they trusted the Holy Spirit to help them pick the right people who God wanted to grow. Dillon said he also spent some time with his group before deciding which disciple each would portray. On the Sunday night before their first practice, Dillon called a meeting with them at his house, and each one took turns carrying a handmade cross across campus to Luther Memorial—a distance about the same length Jesus took on the Via Dolorosa when carrying the cross to His crucifixion. As each disciple arrived at Luther, he prayed with Dillon, and then Dillon carried the cross back. This lasted for about three hours until each disciple experienced the trek. Back at the house, Dillon handed each one a letter that revealed the disciple they would portray in the pageant. “I didn’t tell them until right before prac­tices started because I wanted them to just focus on the fact that they were chosen, and you are a disciple, and it doesn’t matter who you are.” Dillon also took his disciples camping when it was 32 degrees outside. “The intention was to put them in an uncomfortable situation that’s not UMHB, so they could grow and get to know each other,” Dillon said. “That kind of established there won’t be growth in this journey if you’re comfortable. Everything was connected to three words we reflected on—prayerful, intentional and personal. I was trying to give these guys things that will grow them and that they can reflect on later in life and see what this taught them about Christ. For Tori’s challenge, she had each of her mourners find a big rock and write their burdens on the rock. Each of them carried their rock in her backpack for two weeks. “It was meant to symbolize the weight of your burdens and what it’s like to carry that on your own and not lay it at the feet of Jesus.” The day after the Easter Pageant, each student laid her rock at the foot of the cross.

THE NIGHT BEFORE

The night before the pageant is a special time of worship and prayer. Around 8:30 p.m., participants assemble at Luther Memorial for a worship service, followed by a guided prayer that continues throughout the night until the next morning—the day of the pageant. Instead of the main characters staying to pray, Mike encourages others in the cast and crew to take shifts praying, which he believes gives them a chance to cultivate an even higher level of connection and participation.

MAGNIFICENT RAINBOWS

This year, during the final performance, an unexpected downpour drenched the audience and performers but the show went on, and just as Jesus rolled the rock away and emerged from the tomb, a double rainbow appeared over his shoulder —reminding us of His promises and sovereignty. “When the rain paused, the clouds opened up, and those magnificent rainbows appeared. I felt like God was saying, it’s not about the rain, it’s about Me,” said UMHB President Dr. Randy O’Rear. “It is safe to say everyone in attendance at that performance was impacted by God’s goodness.”