The first time I heard this song I knew I had to figure out how to include it in our show.  

Segment Information

Show: Christmas

Introduced: 2017

Author: This one is 100% Stuart.

Song:  Jesus is ALive by Josh Wilson (from the NOEL project)

The Strength of the Message

I actually waited a year or so because I wasn't sure how this overtly religious song would be received by viewers.  I finally came to the conclusion that our goal was to honor the Lord in our show and this song did that without question.  It's His show and He'll take of any issues that arise as a result of the inclusion of this song.  The feedback from viewers has always been "What is this song?  I've never heard it before and I love it!" or something very similar. Interestingly, I'm not sure I have ever heard it on the radio after that first time.

Duplication on the Matrices

I originally sequenced the song with a lot of content on the monster matrix but issues with the development of the matrix meant it would not make it's debut that year.  So, some quick changes to move the content to the house matrix allowed me to get the segment into the show.  After another year of developing the monster matrix we were able to get it out.  That's why you may notice similar content on both the monster and house matrices.

Colors/Theme

We had several segments with multi-colors but none were pastel (or tropical) so I decided that was the direction for this segment.  I went with fun colors like bluish-green, yellow, pink and tangerine.

Apart from the message, the heartbeat like sound at the beginning and end of the song was one of the things that excited me about this song.  The segment starts out with just the pixel trees (echoed on the yard ribbons) and the heart beating on the monster matrix as the story begins.  Then, with the first chorus, the yard bursts into color with the NOEL, NOEL and the Angel's song.  When we reach the end, the heartbeat brings us back to a reflective state.

The Gospel in Pictures

The images in this sequence follow the story of the song from a vision of nighttime skyline of Bethlehem to a baby in a manger through the crucifixion, death, resurrection and finally to the the time when Jesus takes His followers home to heaven.  I've included some of these graphics in the images section below.

What to Watch For

Here's a couple of fun things to watch for in this segment:

• Star Trek fans will be the first to notice that we used a little transporter technology to beam the angels in before each chorus.

• Look for the believers, dressed in white clothes, to be taken up with Jesus into Heaven.

Following this Segment

I always place the "Why We Do This" segment following this one.  I do this for two reasons:

• It puts the two most religious segments together

• It mentions the "Good News" page on our piercelights.com just in case a viewer wants to find out more about the message of the Gospel they just saw in lights.