Paula Kornegay says it’s a story only God could write.
When she stood up to lead the choir at West End Baptist Church in Clanton during their Christmas presentation Dec. 13-14, some special people were among them.
For more stories at your doorstep, subscribe to The Baptist Paper.
SIGN UP for our weekly Highlights emails.
“The neatest thing to me, some of my childhood Sunday school teachers are there in the choir,” she said. “The lady who taught me how to go ‘one, two, three, four’ in children’s choir is with me now. It’s just a God story. It’s incredible.”
As a young girl growing up at West End Baptist, Kornegay took that “one, two, three, four” to heart, and at 18 she started leading choirs. She continued to lead music in various ways in Kentucky until moving back to Alabama and serving for a decade as worship leader at First Baptist Church Pelham.
From there, she moved back to Clanton, and after taking on the role of director of music ministries at West End Baptist in 2019, the church started a different kind of Christmas outreach — their annual Christmas presentation.
Pastor James Watkins said prior to that, the church had been known in Chilton County for the Living Christmas Walk it held at the local Goosepond Park each year.
“But we were dealing with weather — rain, cold — and Paula had the idea to move it inside,” Watkins said.
A new tradition
That was the start of a new tradition for West End and for local residents — a Christmas musical and drama, written each year by Kornegay and her daughter, Liv Meany.
“Paula does it differently every year, and it’s done beautifully,” Watkins said.
Kornegay said after Easter each year, they start praying about the idea for that year’s Christmas presentation.
“I try to go to conferences and listen to new music, and I have a big box of music from over the past 30 years,” she said. “I also start thinking about our people and what would fit them.”
This year’s presentation, “The Greatest Gift,” was maybe her favorite yet, Kornegay said. “Maybe it’s just the season I’m in — I’m so grateful.”
She said West End Baptist viewed their Christmas presentation as a missions trip this year and involved everyone in some facet of the production — most of all the outreach.
“We saw it as we are on mission as a church, a churchwide mission trip,” Kornegay said. “Our people got out there with thousands of invitations throughout the community, just talking to people — and they came. There were a lot of new faces in that room, and we pray that we were able to plant seeds and share the gospel.”
She said that’s the point every year, and because of that, they choose not to stop the story at the birth of Jesus — they go all the way through the cross to Jesus’ second coming.
“A lot of these people, that’s their one time a year to go to a church, and when they walk out of the doors I want them to have heard the whole gospel of Jesus Christ,” Kornegay said.
‘So grateful’
She said the choir, which ranges in age from 15 to 88, also does an amazing job with the task they’re given.
“Their heart for worship stands out to me more than the sound they make, even though it’s absolutely beautiful,” she said.
She said she thanks God because she has “the best seat in the house, and this is why — I can look out at the 102 people, and I know the story of what they’re going through. I know what’s happening in their life, so many who are hurting, so many widows in my choir. They worship God through it.”
She said it’s a blessing to her to have the “wonderful privilege” to lead and encourage them and work together to put on the Christmas presentation.
“I couldn’t ask for more,” Kornegay said. “I’m so grateful. Every year it’s just, ‘Let’s share it one more time; thank you, Lord, for one more opportunity to see who is in our path that we get to share Christ with.’”
Share with others: