The Final Hour: A Conscience-Bending Experience
Joe Rogers
October 29, 2009
Filed under News, Secondary News, Top Stories
The Final Hour. In the four years I have been at Calvary, never have I seen such excitement, heard such stories, and felt such a widespread passion as I did with this ministry designed to “redeem Halloween”. Yet, were the extensive means worth the ends?
For years, Halloween has been a subject of mixed emotions at CCA, but this year, Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale’s Youth Ministry confronted the pumpkin-ridden holiday head on—and its timeliness is what made it such a success. This “conscience-bending experience” spooked its visitors with special effects, eccentric props, and actors shadowed in deceptively realistic make-up renowned in even the best Horror Nights walkthroughs.
I was lucky enough to keep some form of manly dignity by resisting the surprised gasps, shrieks, and high-pitched howls of other observers, but that’s not to say that the woodsy trapdoors and transformed labyrinth of portables did not rival the best Hollywood sets. Yet, behind the mannequins and clouds of fog, there was a message. “Don’t wait for your final hour to learn the truth about life and death.”
It was a classic conclusion to the confusion, distortion, and blindness of the entire attraction, and despite its unusual form, it was above all else a form of praise.
“People can be impacted in real life skits with real life problems that relate to them,” comments sophomore volunteer Kaley Israels. This generation is one of the hardest audiences to reach out to, but Liquid has clearly proven that they’re ready for the challenge.
So one question remains: what’s next? After building very impressive wooden doors, bubbling waterways, and camouflaged human trapdoors, it will be interesting if Calvary will be hosting an encore performance. Senior volunteer Trisha Seppey can only hope. “Everything at Calvary seems to always go above and beyond what it was like the year before, and I can’t wait to see how this will turn out next year!”