After a three-year hiatus, Fredonia First Baptist Church will resume its presentation of “Forgiveness House,” but the format will be different from past years.
“It is no longer a walk-through,” said Pastor Pressley Lamm. “We have moved it to our stage in the gym, so it is more of a stage production, and it allows us to do some things different and bigger.”
Forgiveness House was an annual event for more than a decade before the COVID-19 pandemic. The church was set up to put on the presentation in March 2020, but had to cancel because of COVID-19.
“We haven’t had it in three years,” Lamm said, noting the scope has changed from the past.
“This year, it starts (with) Genesis and walks you through the birth of Christ, the calling of His disciples and takes you through His life — as a 12-year-old teaching in the synagogue, to His baptism and miracles of healing.” As in the past, the last 12 hours of Christ’s earthly life are key elements, including the Last Supper, the Garden of Gethsemane, the crucifixion and resurrection.
“There are a lot of different scenes telling stories from the beginning. We think this will help people have a better understanding of the entire gospel — including (mankind’s) separation due to sin and the establishment of the covenant with Abraham. It comes right out of scripture — there are a lot of scenes where we will have Bible verses people will see from our projector. There will be lots of music — if people just came for the music they would be well entertained.”
The production involves almost 110 people from the church. Lamm and Beth Drennan oversee the production.
Forgiveness House will be staged in “The Hive,” which years ago was the Fredonia High School gym. The church purchased that property and has done extensive renovations in the past seven years.
There is no charge to attend. People are encouraged to make reservations by calling 270-625-3837 or sending a Facebook message to the church.
“We will take walk-ins up to a point,” Lamm said. “There are only so many we can fit in. There will be scenes in the bleachers and will be something going on every second. It will encompass the whole gym.”
Forgiveness House will be presented March 29 at 6:30 p.m., March 31 at 7 p.m., April 1 at 6 p.m. and April 2 at 2 p.m. “We can always add a show if we need to,” Lamm noted.
This story originally appeared on Kentucky Today, the online news website of the Kentucky Baptist Convention.
