A few years ago at Christmas, Genée Duckett found she couldn’t stop thinking about a couple of things — the Whos in Whoville who had Christmas stolen from them, and the “whosoever” in John 3:16 to whom Christmas gave everything.
And she decided that putting the two together was the way to make that gift known to all the “Whos” in her city.
“The Lord just laid it on my heart about five years ago to take the ‘judgment house’ concept and do a Christmas house with it,” said Duckett, whose husband, Jason, is pastor of Moundville Baptist Church. “So we took the ‘whosoever’ in Scripture and the Whos of Whoville and meshed them together in order to share the gospel.”
And Whosoever Whoville was born.
In its second year, the Christmas house walk-through production hosted more than 700 people Dec. 2–4. About three-quarters of the church was involved with the production, Genée Duckett said, including Billy Stokes, who wrote the script for the eight-room story.
“It’s the story of the Grinch who stole Christmas, and at the end when the Grinch has a heart change it provides a great opportunity to share the gospel,” Genée Duckett said.
The presentation starts each year in the fellowship hall, which acts as a holding room for tour groups but provides a lot more to do than just wait. The room has been transformed into a town square, with Santa and Mrs. Claus sitting at Celebrity Hall and offering a “great photo op,” Genée Duckett said.
There are refreshments, games and other things to do while you wait too.
But one of Genée Duckett’s favorite parts, she said, is the Who Do Salon, where church members style children’s hair to make them look like one of the Whos.
‘A huge hit’
“That was one of our church member’s ideas and it was a huge hit,” she said.
From there small groups move through the story with tour guides, starting with a scene that talks about why the Grinch doesn’t like Christmas. The tour continues with different Whoville scenes, including a visit to the Grinch’s cave where he’s found plotting the demise of Christmas.
As the story progresses, participants watch as the Grinch’s heart changes — he realizes eventually that there is more to Christmas than just presents.
“From there they end up at the last scene — the manger,” Genée Duckett said.
And there Jason Duckett presents the gospel, and anyone interested can talk further with a counselor.
Gospel decisions
“We had about 15 decisions (for Christ) this year,” Genée Duckett said.
Jason Duckett said they were grateful for that incredibly positive outcome.
“We want to be able to effectively share the gospel with our community and this was one way to have that opportunity,” he said.
But a secondary highlight was the increased connection it brought among the church family.
“Any time you can get a really high involvement it’s positive. It’s been a real connecting point for a lot of our people and a doorway for them to be involved in other areas of ministry.”
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