Local pastor taking his sermons to the stage | Arts & Culture

Delivering an effective sermon requires a certain degree of stage performance, but one local pastor is taking that theory to a whole new level by bringing his sermon to a performing arts theater.

Pastor Don Shorter of Tacoma’s Pacific Christian Center recently announced plans to start a Sunday service at the Renton Civic Theater. And while his sermon's might not have the glitz or glam of a Broadway play, Shorter said his goal is to fuse entertainment with religion.

Using the theater’s existing sets, Shorter and his team will offer up dramatic performances tailored to fit the day's sermon. The show will feature actors, dancers and mimes, all working to give life to sermons that might otherwise be a tad dry.

Shorter, whose wife is a playwright and theater director, said the decision to jump in to the realm of theater comes from his desire to bring new people into the church’s fold.

“We wanted to present the gospel where people already are,” he said. “We’re literally taking the church to the theater.”

The Renton Civic Theater generally stages five-to-ten plays per year, and Shorter said he will find ways to incorporate biblically-themed performances for each set the theater uses.

His first challenge will be to transform the “Dracula” set into something a little less Gothic and a little more church-friendly, which he said he'll find a way to do.

“Every set has a story,” he said. “We are simply standing in the place of the actors and actresses on Sundays to tell a different version of the story.”

The church will also stage several of its own, unique performances, each written and directed by Shorter's wife, Kathy Shorter. Those will include a Christmas musical presentation of "A Gospel Christmas," a special presentation surrounding Martin Luther King in January and an Easter presentation of "A Sound of Heaven." 

The church's first show at the theater will come this Sunday at 9:30 a.m. and is open to everyone. Shorter will also offer a traditional sermon at the church's Tacoma location at 11:15 a.m.

Listen to Brian Calvert's radio story on the pastor.