Twinkling lights and festive music greeted the audience as they entered the Community Bible Church sanctuary for the annual junior high and high school Christmas concert on Dec. 16. The concert highlighted the talents of campus choirs and bands. Through the years, the concert has evolved into its current form.

“The idea for the Christmas concert came from Mr. (Tim) Wilkins,” Paul McEntee, band director, said. “The concert began as a showcase of all the grades, but as the size grew, the concert had to split to accommodate everyone.”

The yearly concert offers students a chance to perform for their family and friends during the holiday season.

“I really enjoyed being able to sing at the Christmas concert,” Danielle Roberts, ’03, said. “It allows us to show our talent as a group and also spread some Christmas cheer.”

Along with student performances, the concert also featured guest instrumentalists on three of the choral pieces. The instrumentalists performed with the concert choir and ensemble, bringing an added element to the performance on pieces such as Of the Father’s Love Begotten.

“The guest musicians add a lot to the music,” Collin Tally, ’04, said. “It makes the songs sound better. With the added elements, the songs become more interesting for the audience to listen to.”

Being the season of giving, Christmas is an opportune time for the campus community to give back and an offering was taken to benefit the campus faculty and staff.

“A tradition at the concert is to take an offering to divide evenly among the staff,” Marc Ferguson, choir and ensemble director, said. “It allows the parents to say thank you for all the hard work they put in during the year. The offering means more coming from the parents because the gift comes from the heart.”

Ensemble will next showcase their talents in San Francisco on Dec. 18-19.