Ep: 63 | Member Spotlight: Theresa Osborne

All right , so number 63 , um formal former mlb pitcher from the Dodgers who was a popular figure in the 1980s , fernando Valenzuela .

Number two is going to be Gene Upshaw , for the one specific reason because I wanted to say the Raiders .

Um , so , listeners , um , just so , you know , uh , teresa , uh , unbeknownst to us , kind of um , stressed us out before this because she just went to the eye doctor , yeah , had her eyes dilated , got in her car and drove to do the GBC Empower podcast . So , uh , uh , she's literally recording a podcast with not being able to see .

So , uh , very talented person .

And it was quite the journeys early on , as we had a lot of weathering that came through , meaning storms , sleet hitting your face , frozen rain . All the above , yep , yeah .

They get to go into a marketplace and spend time with actors who are in the city for the census , just like the story of Jesus , and then they get to enter into and see little scenes from the story of Jesus and they get to see that there is no room at the end . And then they get to see Herod's reaction to Jesus .

And then they get to see the shepherds out in the field watching their flocks by night and angels , and then they get to see Christ being born . And it's just an amazing experience for people and for people that come from all over to get to see it .

Uh , no , my , my dad and step-mom came to this church and all those things and , uh , my dad was a lot bigger back then and so he was a Roman soldier and all that stuff , and it was just , it was cool to see , uh , chris Lovejoy's heart just kind of behind it and just getting , you know , the rallying of the troops , and it's amazing to see , like , what

it's come to since because , like , I feel like we've really we've really worked hard to keep the main thing , the main thing . And so , teresa , I guess my next question for you is is what's the main part of Nativity Live ? Is , so that we can just throw a really big event ?

Like what's , what's the spiritual implication of just having an event where thousands of people have have come and seen and come and saw ?

And so we at Georgetown do that , unified , as we get together and see each other and what each of us bring as gifts to the parts that we play . And then God just does magical things , like he has awesome sunsets'll , have Mother Nature and all her weathering roll in to see .

You know , how do we handle that , you know , and it's amazing because people still come . I'll never forget I think it was the third year where we had sleet and ice hitting our faces and we still had 45 people come for a journey , you know , and then there's some nights that we have 3000 come , you know , and to see it all . So God just moves .

He moves with each and every person that comes and shows them a special way that he is in the journey of their life , through the journey of his life , and we at Georgetown love to share that with everybody and spread that story .

It's something we get to do together as a church family , you know and we talk about this a lot as a staff as our church grows and as our church has to go through transitions um , people are saying well , you know , I go to the early service and I don't see everybody in the second service .

Things like Nativity Live allow us to remain connected with one another and to be on mission together , because being on mission is different every single day . It could mean you go somewhere and you serve , or you do something in your home , or it could mean we all put on costumes and tell the story of Jesus , but we're on mission together .

And you know , teresa , I know that people struggle with understanding Nativity Live until they've been there , until they've seen it . And what would you say to a person who's volunteering this year ? You know , my son , my son Landry , is going to play Joseph one of the weeks , you know , and I think he's a little nervous about that .

But there's a , there's a why behind it . So what would you say to encourage a person who wants to volunteer this year ? And they don't really know what they got themselves into ?

And he said well , what about Landry ? And I'm like Landry great idea , and I didn't think of Landry as being nervous or shy . I just thought I just need to ask Landry , and God will do the rest

. So for somebody that's coming new to sign up for a position , it's just for you to be here with us to be , here together to experience it and at the last minute , you may be asked to fill in a position that you did not know that you were wanting to do .

Funny story Kyle Ray came and he was our heralder last year and the poor guy got sick and got laryngitis . And he's up here calling the tribes of people to come and he's like Teresa , I don't think I can do it .

It's like here , I'll give you five cough drops and some hot apple cider and and he did it and he was just amazed at himself and he it was just that peace and comfort and joy overcame him . So each of us that go through this journey , you'll be put in different positions .

Maybe , maybe it'll be your choice , maybe it'll be a last minute thing , but God's going to bless you and your time through that and you're going to look at the story differently . You're going to see things differently when he does that .

We come together as Christians and that's beautiful , I think , the people that , the way you're describing it , the people who volunteer , we also benefit because we get to see God working in a specific way . And you know , going back to my own son as an example , you know I let that be his decision .

I said , son , is this something you know , you you want to do and you know he's 13 . So sometimes you don't know what a 13 year old is going to say . And you know he told me and I hope Renee , um Copley can hear this he said , well , ms Renee , talk to me and um , and if Ms Renee needs help , I want to help . And it wasn't really about um .

Oh , yeah , you know , you hand me baby Jesus and let me , you know , put them up in front of all these people . He , he gets to be a part of his church . He gets to , he gets to be connected to the people who he loves and respects . And that's another beautiful thing about Georgetown is we are so multi-generational .

Well , it takes multi-generations to accomplish nativity life .

It just kind of grasps you , I guess the first time you see a movie that you really liked , and then how many times do you see it thereafter that you see one thing that you plug out of it over and over again and it just grows you into a story . Right , same thing with Nativity Live .

It just grows you into a story , and that's the journey of Georgetown , you know , just coming and being a part of and your willingness to be a part of the family . It just grows you in ways that you just never really thought about .

Like one of the first times I went through Nativity Live I'm like 14 year old 14 years old , newly saved and over the manger scene there's a shooting star , like as the you know track started to sing oh Holy Night , Like it was just this really cool thing . And there's also funny stories where Matt Stevens almost threw me off a golf cart , you know .

before they get to nativity live ? And I was able to get ahold of that goat . And then there's a picture that I love . It's me walking with this big goat in my arms and my daughter is standing next to me and for some reason she just looks so proud . It's like my dad caught the goat . You know , and and and I love .

I just we don't know that we're in the good days until we're kind of out of the good days , and and I think the nativity live creates those moments for our volunteers , because we're all doing something we're not used to doing , and and it's really fun .

And you know , even in my time here , there are people who are now with Jesus since our last one , and I feel like they're a part of this with us too , like it's just so powerful how the Lord works .

And you know , a lot of times we can look at productions or we can look at events , or we can look at things that the church does , and we can we can come up with negative things to say well , why would a bunch of you know , people that live in the United States try to pretend to be Jewish , or why would we do ?

I mean , we know we're not professional actors , but what makes it beautiful is is we're serving the Lord and and we're telling the story , and that's the ultimate joy of Nativity Live is we get to tell the story .

And , uh , a couple of weeks ago , um , actually this last week , um , we had our big all cast meeting in October and our worship pastors up singing go tell it on the mountain . And I grew up in a home where my mother would always say there is no tinsel before Turkey . You know we don't we don't sing the songs , we don't get out the you know .

And then there's the people that already have their Christmas trees up At Georgetown , at Georgetown Baptist , we start celebrating christmas because we we're we're preparing our hearts for people to come and hear the story . And um , I'm theresa , you seemed encouraged by our volunteers that have signed up .

That I remember was it last year or two years ago we went to Granbury to the Passion .

Like Maverick says , you see , some things that happen , right that God has those , what I call God surprises that happen to you , and so I'm anxious to see that , I'm anxious to see what God's surprises are this year , because they kind of make you crazy-minded .

You know when the goat gets out and the donkey won't cooperate and the wall catches on fire , or whatever happens .

We , just one of your most favorite stories for nativity Mine is uh , it happened , we build me , jason , james lane and a whole other group of men and I didn't really do a whole lot , but I was there and , uh , we built that big old deer blind where we have the sound booth , we have a spotlight , there's just a lot of tech and stuff goes there .

And it's pretty much why there's a little to do with Harrods palace . A lot has to do with the nativity scene and I love it because it gets so cold during nativity . It is bonkers , like it's it's it's 80 degrees right now , like we can't picture how cold it gets . And we have the spotlight .

And you know just Jason , a man I've looked up to like my whole life , he got really humbled cause he's really cold . But he's in that spotlight and there's this one circle of warmth and every time he's shining that spotlight on the shepherds and on the angels and everything and it's this super bright deal .

He is huddled as close as possible to that light just to feel some warmth , and it's just so funny because it's like the things we do , you know like again I did not sign up to be super cold and it's not something .

I even really thought about how many heaters we have at different places , but I I really appreciate those heaters and Jason really appreciated that spotlight .

And it's like you know , I just everybody's so fixated on hot chocolate , man , you know , and it's so funny when you just throw a number out there , that's off the cuff . It's just , you know , everybody's fixated on that . And it's like no , you're missing the story .

moment that a lot of people in our church it's a part of our Christmas . It's how it's , not just as a service , it's a part of our Christmas experience .

It's what makes it special because , because we're just focused , we know what God did , we know what he did and we just want people to come and see , come and see and um , that's what's so cool about nativity live and I said before the podcast , my first time going through it was , I feel like I know what this is , but I don't know what this is , and I

was sat through the very first experience just as a spectator . And then I had to hurry and get to the chapel because I was a part of the end . But I sat through it and watched it with the folks and I was alert by the story just as if it was the first time I'd ever heard it and um , and that's what we would want people to know . Just come and see .

Come and see . It's so much bigger than one or two people . It's , it's the story of Christ on display for all to see .

Well , teresa , thank you so much for being here and just sharing your heart about Nativity Live , like we know you love it and we love it too and it's a great part of our church and I hope that through this , like me , jake , our staff , but also our church , just rallies around you and all the volunteers so that we can just exhort one another , we can

encourage one another , so that we can do this joyfully , because it's not without work . There's a lot of work , there's a lot of time , and so let's just lift each other's arms and so encourage one another , so that we can do this with just a big old smile on our face .