This year, the community will be treated to a nostalgic and festive trip back in time as Bristow’s First Baptist Church, FBC, recreates its Living Christmas Tree, LCT. For the first time since 2001, the Bristow community will be able to enjoy the musical holiday presentation, resurrecting comforting memories lost to time and creating new ones with family and friends.
In 1991, Brad Butler moved to Bristow, where he began working as First Baptist Church’s Minister of Music. Butler noted that living Christmas trees were popular among churches nationwide at the time, and he had been interested in building and conducting one for “some time” without the ability to do so in the small church he had previously served. However, upon joining FBC with its high ceilings and spacious sanctuary, he felt he could finally build such a tree and experience.
Bill Liggett, pastor of the church at the time, said that Butler traveled to Arkansas with some friends and watched LCT presentations before approaching the church with the proposition to build one for annual use. Butler even built a small model he showcased with the estimated cost of building materials and other supplies, which totaled around $4,000 at the time. In fact, in an article first published in the Bristow paper in 1992, a photo of Butler with his model appeared alongside a short synopsis of how the tree came to be.
In 1992, as Butler planned for the tree, he designed the framework to fit the stage and sanctuary of the church. According to Butler, he designed it to hold 50 choral members and be easily assembled and disassembled piece-by-piece for storage and annual use. Initially, only around 35 to 40 members sang as part of the tree, which filled out in subsequent years as more members of the church joined.
For 9 years, Butler and members of the church built and performed the LCT each December until he departed and moved to Sapulpa’s Faith Baptist Church, where he served as their music minister until 2009. Kim Tankersley, church and LCT member, said that the church allowed Butler to take the tree’s framework with him to Sapulpa.
Although Butler possessed the framework and the Sapulpa church also presented the LCT from 2003 to 2009, he noted that it was specifically designed to fit the stage and sanctuary of FBC and, as a result, did not fit the Sapulpa church well with the top portion being unusable. So, upon his retirement, he was approached by D.J. Carney, current FBC pastor, to gauge his interest in performing the LCT in the church once again.
Upon the passing of Barbara Herman, longtime FBC and LCT member, Tankersley and Tommy Herman visited at the funeral home, reminiscing on memories with Barbara and the LCT. At that time, intentional interest and plans to resurrect the LCT began to form. The two discussed the idea with Carney, who spoke with Butler again. As plans formalized, Herman and Butler met Liggett at a BBQ joint in Wellston and discussed the tree. Naturally, Liggett and his wife, Lana, decided to join the tree as well, driving from Edmond each week for rehearsals.
Interestingly, the LCT came about in a nod to nostalgia and community ministry by way of good memories and hope for spiritual connection and friendship. While the previous iteration of the LCT consisted of FBC members, this year’s special one-time presentation is made up of about 80% original LCT members and 20% newcomers to the performance, including non-church members and people driving from other towns to join the ministry. Butler and the church even recreated the original photo of him with the model he built, offering something old and new.
Truthfully, FBC’s living Christmas tree’s history proves miraculous in its own right, which came to light in 2008 when the church discovered the power of God’s grace and provision. While speaking with Tankersley, she said that when the sanctuary underwent renovation in 2008, structural problems were revealed. Unbeknownst to the church, the support beams had been damaged in the 1980s, when new heating and air conditioning systems and ducts were installed. Workers involved in the remodeling were shocked to learn that the stage had held a fully constructed, wooden framed Christmas tree with 50 adults every single year for 9 years as they proclaimed the floor should have collapsed through to the lower story. They declared that the support beams were not equipped to support that much weight, yet it did. The church credits the Lord for keeping everyone safe and allowing the ministry of the LCT each year.
As the tree returns this year, members hope the community will attend, celebrating memories and creating new ones as well, enjoying time with loved ones, and celebrating the season and Christ’s birth. FBC will present the LCT in two performances at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. on December 8. Butler also invites the public to attend the dress rehearsal on Saturday, December 7, at 3 p.m.
