Modern religion at Rock Harbor

Alicia Robinson

The squat, rectangular, industrial-looking building next door to a

plastics manufacturing firm seems an unlikely place to celebrate

Christmas Eve.

But it is a church, and people came in droves Friday to watch

performances of “The Corner Window,” a musical drama that puts a

modern spin on the Biblical story of Christmas.

The drama is new, but the approach isn’t; Rock Harbor Church puts

something of a modern spin on everything.

“We just happen to have a lot of people who are good at acting and

singing and dancing, and we give them a place to use those gifts for

God,” said Jen Mulroney, the church’s communications director.

In other years, the church has dramatized the Biblical story of

Mary and Joseph and afterward the pastor talked about how it relates

to modern life, said Chad Halliburton, who directs the church’s

productions. This year the church’s creative team decided to do the

opposite.

“The Corner Window” presents vignettes of modern characters who

pass by a nativity scene in a shop window and reflect on what it

means to them.

One of the church pastors plays a keyboard, and he and several

other performers sing.

The assembling of the minimal set -- a window frame, a door, a

bench, a street lamp -- was put to music and was incorporated into

each of Friday’s five performances.

Those who attended the noon performance appreciated the new

direction. “My church is a little bit more traditional, but I love

this,” said Nancy Howerton of Rancho Santa Margarita.

While he comes from a Catholic background, Greg Kirk of San Diego

liked the modernity of musical drama.

“It was awesome,” Kirk said. “It was quite creative. They did a

wonderful job putting it together.”

These days it’s not unusual for churches to use contemporary music

and technology in their services, and pastors even wear jeans. The

goal is to make parishioners feel like the church is relevant to

their lives.

Rock Harbor itself is fairly young. It was founded in 1997, and

church leaders moved into their first permanent facility -- the

squarish, ecru building on Fischer Avenue -- little more than a month

ago.

The church doesn’t have members in the sense that their names are

on a roster, but about 3,000 people attend services each week,

Mulroney said. It’s evident that many of them relate to what the

church is doing. Most of the 75 people who produced the drama were

volunteers.

Halliburton, the communications director, started as a volunteer

and he’s never been this involved with any church before, he said.

When he helps create performances, which can include plays, music

and modern dance, he tries to give people a feeling that they were

part of the presentation, he said.

“My hope is that people walk in there not knowing what to expect,”

he said. “They know that they’re going to get the truth [and] they

know that they’re going to get it in a relevant way.”

It was relevant to at least one person among the hundreds who

attended Friday’s shows.

“I don’t even go to this church anymore,” said Cheri Stabile of

Irvine. “I just come here on the holidays because I like the

service.”