| Learning about the Bible takes sweet ‘Journey’ | | Posted: Friday, October 21, 2011 6:33 am
| By CHRIS MENEES
Staff Reporter
It’s a sweet way to learn about the Bible.
Children will be in for a treat — in more ways than one — when they visit Pleasant Hill Baptist Church near Rives for the annual Bible Journey.
The church’s youth and adults will present Bible Journey — a unique event which offers younger age children a closer look at some Bible personalities — Sunday through Wednesday nights at the church at 688 Sublett Road in the Pleasant Hill community.
Bible Journey is a 30-minute guided tour from room to room, where actors portray Bible personalities from both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Visitors ages 12 and younger will be given candy or other treats at each stop to help them remember each story.
This year’s Bible Journey will be presented Sunday from 5-9 p.m.; Monday and Tuesday from 6-9 p.m.; and Wednesday from 5-9 p.m.
Admission is a donation of $1 per person, with proceeds to benefit the church’s youth ministry. Walk-ins are welcome, but reservations are suggested for large groups, particularly on the Sunday and Wednesday nights of the event’s four-night run. To make reservations, call Jeanna Walker at 446-7696.
Bible Journey is a church-wide event that involves Pleasant Hill’s entire congregation — from the youth who play Bible characters and serve as guides to the adults who decorate scenes, make costumes, donate candy, provide meals for the cast and commit to be prayer partners for specific Bible story scenes.
Mrs. Walker explained in the past that the church used to take its older youth to one of the local Judgment Houses presented by an area church as a Christ-based alternative at Halloween, but there were concerns that there was not an alternative activity for younger age children. Pleasant Hill’s congregation started Bible Journey in 2001 and has since hosted thousands of children from throughout the area.
The church is pastored by the Rev. Mickey Hanks.
Cast of characters
A number of the Bible personalities included this year have been featured many times in past years and have become very popular with return visitors.
This year’s scenes and Bible personalities, as well as the treats being distributed by each, include:
• Eve, with apple-flavored gum to recall her being tempted to eat the fruit;
• Noah, with Skittles® candy as a reminder of the rainbow God gave as His promise following the flood;
• Jonah, with Whales® snack crackers as a reminder of the story of him being swallowed by a great fish;
• Samson, with Dum Dums® suckers given as a barbell symbol to recall his strength and as a reminder of his poor decision;
• Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, with Red Hots® to serve as a reminder of the heat in the fiery furnace;
• David, with Whoppers® candy as a reminder of how David slew the giant Goliath with a sling and stones;
• Daniel, with Kit Kat® candy to symbolize the big cats in the lions’ den;
• Jesus’ mother Mary, an angel who proclaimed Jesus’ birth and the three wise men, with Almond Joy® candy to recall the great joy Jesus brings, Starburst® candy as a reminder of the star that shown brightly in the sky the night of His birth and Three Musketeers® candy to recall the wise men’s journey to see Jesus;
• Peter, with gummy sandals-shaped candy to recall the story of how he walked with Jesus;
• Zacchaeus, with Runts® candy as a reminder of the publican’s diminutive size;
• the Woman at the Well, with bottles of water being distributed as a reminder that Jesus is the living water;
• sisters Mary and Martha and their brother Lazarus, with M&Ms® candy to be a reminder of the letters that begin the women’s names and small boxes of raisins to symbolize Lazarus’ “raisin’” from the dead;
• John the Baptist, with “Hallelujah” Dove® candy as a reminder of the dove that descended from Heaven at Jesus’ baptism; and
• Jesus, with Lifesavers® candy to recall that Jesus is the Savior.
Staff Reporter Chris Menees may be contacted by email at cmenees@ucmessenger.com.
Published in The Messenger 10.20.11 | | | | |
