{"id":8489,"date":"2003-12-18T23:16:55","date_gmt":"2003-12-19T04:16:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=8489"},"modified":"2011-07-06T08:28:10","modified_gmt":"2011-07-06T13:28:10","slug":"3409","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2003\/12\/18\/3409\/","title":{"rendered":"Some 17,000 Enjoy &#8216;Evening in December&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>SACRAMENTO, CA (December 18, 2003)\u00a0 &#8211; More than 17,000 people filled First\u00a0 Covenant Church during a seven-performance series called &#8220;An Evening in\u00a0 December,&#8221; presented over a five-day period.<!--more--><\/p>\n<div>The 12th annual event ended December 7, said producer and director John\u00a0 Plastow. The shows were about two hours long and included drama, music,\u00a0 dancing and instrumental works in what Plastow called &#8220;a Broadway style\u00a0 musical.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>About 300 parishioners were involved in the production, including 200\u00a0 cast members. Since its first show a dozen years ago, more than 100,000\u00a0 have attended &#8220;An Evening in December,&#8221; which is now hosted by the\u00a0 church in nearby Memorial Auditorium.<\/p>\n<div>Called &#8220;Debt Free&#8221; and set in modern day Miami and the Caribbean, the\u00a0 event&#8217;s drama centers around the adventures of James Bells, a loveable,\u00a0 friendly spy who travels around the globe searching for a fellow\u00a0 operative he believes is on the run due to an unpaid debt. Little does\u00a0 James know that he is actually the one who has been on the run &#8211; from\u00a0 the feeling that he could never pay back a debt of his own &#8211; and a host\u00a0 of others lead him to an answer that has life-changing implications.<\/p>\n<div>&#8220;It&#8217;s really become a phenomenon in and of itself,&#8221; said Plastow. &#8220;God\u00a0 has really blessed it. We always expected the support &#8211; the church is\u00a0 always fabulous in its support of ministries &#8211; but it&#8217;s really great to\u00a0 see not only how the audience is changed, but also how the cast is\u00a0 changed by it (the production). Their (the cast members) walk with\u00a0 Christ is strengthened by the process of ministering and sharing the\u00a0 gospel to the community. That&#8217;s a great reward.<\/p>\n<div>&#8220;We had people who were only partly involved with our ministry and then\u00a0 they get involved in this and it&#8217;s a real jumping off spot for their\u00a0 commitment to Christ and the church,&#8221; Plastow continued. &#8220;Some of my\u00a0 most committed people in the worship ministry started ministry with &#8216;An\u00a0 Evening in December.&#8217; It&#8217;s been a wonderful catalyst for ministry of all\u00a0 types and we have a high level of support from children and youth.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>First Covenant Church averages about 2,500 in worship attendance,\u00a0 according to Plastow. The church has ministered to its community for 90\u00a0 years and its senior pastor, Ted Smith, has led the congregation for 22\u00a0 years. The church has a heavy mission focus abroad, supporting 19\u00a0 individuals or families. It also has sent numerous volunteers throughout\u00a0 the world for short-term mission projects. A strong evangelism emphasis\u00a0 is also a hallmark value for the congregation.<\/p>\n<div>To learn more about First Covenant and its ministries, including &#8220;An\u00a0 Evening in December,&#8221; call Plastow at 916-861-2240. The church has a\u00a0 separate website devoted to the event that can be accessed at\u00a0 www.aneveningindecember.com.<\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif\"> <\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>Copyright \u00a9 2011 The Evangelical Covenant Church.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-report-this\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire?moderation_action=report_form&#038;object_type=post&#038;object_id=8489&#038;width=250&#038;height=300\" class=\"thickbox\" title=\"Report This Post\">Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SACRAMENTO, CA (December 18, 2003)\u00a0 &#8211; More than 17,000 people filled First\u00a0 Covenant Church during a seven-performance series called &#8220;An Evening in\u00a0 December,&#8221; presented over a five-day period. Report This Post<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Some 17,000 Enjoy &#039;Evening in December&#039; - Covenant Newswire Archives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2003\/12\/18\/3409\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Some 17,000 Enjoy &#039;Evening in December&#039; - Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SACRAMENTO, CA (December 18, 2003)\u00a0 &#8211; More than 17,000 people filled First\u00a0 Covenant Church during a seven-performance series called &#8220;An Evening in\u00a0 December,&#8221; presented over a five-day period. 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