by Sophie Saint-Firmin, News Editor
A group of five currently enrolled students, one alum and two faculty members received a standing ovation after they performed a variety of theatre and worship arts events for Familylife’s Love Like You Mean It Marriage Cruise.
After eight years of providing original theater entertainment for each of Familylife’s sold out cruises, professors and married couple Jim Shores and Carol Anderson were asked if they could bring students on board to present an original worship arts event that would minister to couples and connect to individual hearts.
“This was a big risk. We knew the high expectations of this cruise. They have top music artists, high caliber speakers. They have us back on a year by year invitation, in which we need to hit it out of the ballpark each cruise prior to the next invite. And though we had a good, talented cast with us, they are after all college students, heavy into the learning curve of how to do their craft. We were asking them to leap up to professional in a very short time,” said Anderson.
Asbury students senior Bryce Hockema, Senior, Donny Black and Junior Zander Shores along with Jim Shores created a 45-minute one act skit addressing the questions and needs of millennials in relationships and the challenges of those in their 40s and 50s. The play was called “If You Only Knew Me” and was a modern take on Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
For the second portion of the show, Anderson turned the focus to the truth expressed throughout Scripture that God knows us and loves us. This was presented with a worship band, spoken word and a dance interpretation of John 1 by senior Grace Wilson.
Later, a contemporary adaptation of “The Prodigal” was performed by Hockema, graduate Abby Hamilton and Jim Shores. Afterwards, Jim Shores led couples into a time of response that was shaped by prayers of repentance related to relationships with God and couples in marriage.
As the cast returned to the stage at the end of the show, they were met with a standing ovation. “I can’t tell you how proud I was that each one of them did it. They earned the standing ovation,” said Anderson.
The rest of the week was a great success as the students continued to perform original entertainment with Jim Shores and Anderson. “It was also special to me how over and over the passengers would stop and tell me how much the students’ two nights of collaborative performances impacted them, especially the spoken word Scripture, which was done with such excellence and personal passion,” she added.
Familylife would like to have students perform on board next year and to continue the relationship they have built with Asbury. “I think this experience gave these students a vision for how to use their artistry for ministry to further His kingdom,” Jim Shores said.
Photo courtesy of Hannah Coleman
