With more than 50 volunteers for each night’s performance, First Baptist Church will offer “God’s Christmas Gift,” a walk-through program depicting Jesus’ birth, the Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension.

The enormous staging will be assembled in the church courtyard on Cherry Street, and about a half-dozen stations will be set up to depict the birth of Christ, as told by Old Testament prophet Isaiah, said Dr. Matt Buckles, senior pastor.

“Two stations will focus on Christ’s death and Resurrection,” Buckles said, to give spectators the complete story of Christ, “from a baby to the man who becomes the savior of all mankind.”

“God’s Christmas Gift” is about a 20-minute walk-through from start to finish, and it takes about 50 people each night “to make it happen,” he said.

After its debut in 2000, the program was offered annually for a few years, but the labor-intensive production forced a biennial approach.

The sets include high walls, a manger, the tomb with a stone that rolls away and a portrayal of Jesus’ ascension into heaven.

Buckles said the biennial approach also keeps the program fresh for the community.

Along with the cast members, live sheep and donkeys on loan from area residents enhance the life-like feel, Buckles said.

“God’s Christmas Gift,” which has drawn more than 1,000 viewers each year, is free and open to the public.

The deacons, a body of 27 men elected by church members, take on each production as a ministry, said Buckles.

Deacon Keith Matthews, a self-taught carpenter and artist who is deaf, designed and built all the original sets.

The program will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Dec. 14-16. For more information, call 601-636-2493.

If you go

“God’s Christmas Gift” will be presented from 6 until 9 p.m. Dec. 14-16 at First Baptist Church on Cherry Street. Tours begin every 15 minutes from the Family Life Center. Admission is free. Warm dress is suggested, as the majority of the program is outdoors. For more information, call 601-636-2493