Portraying Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames

For three nights this October, people like Michael Burnette transform themselves from a Christian to something evil.

"The crazier I look, the easier it is to get into this role," said Burnette.

Burnette has performed as Satan for the past three years in the drama, "Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames," at the First Assembly of God in Fort Myers from Oct. 23-25. The drama has been performed for around 35 years as a church outreach program throughout the world.

The play takes the form of a series of skits in which the various characters are unexpectedly killed, and then immediately taken to the pearly gates of heaven to find out whether they are destined for eternity in heaven with Jesus, represented by bright white lights, a choir of angels, and a staircase leading to Jesus. If the characters don't accept Jesus, the stage quickly shifts to a blood red light with overpowering dark music and evil laughs coming from Satan. The characters are then dragged away to the flame-ridden corner that's called "The Pit" by Satan and his demons.

The traveling drama has been performed off and on at First Assembly of God since 1989. To Rev. Rick Dougherty, one of the directors of the play, the changes he sees in the cast is one of the biggest rewards.

"It's special to see what God does to the cast," said Dougherty.

Local church members comprise the cast of characters ranging from Jesus Christ to an abusive father and husband. Most of these church members don't have any formal acting training. For some, getting into their roles is not so easy.

"I despise the scene I'm in," said Thomas Casey, who plays the role of an abusive husband and father who in the end of his scene kills his wife, daughter and himself.

"It's hard to get to that place — but we have to get that feeling across to really touch people," said Casey.

To a lot of the members of the play, it's the real life issues that get across to so many people. After the drama concludes, members of the audience are asked if they were affected by what they saw that night. In Evangelical churches, what happens next is an altar call. People who wish to make a commitment to Jesus are asked to come to the front of the church and publicly commit themselves.

"I let the Holy Spirit guide me," said Hal Deel, who has played the role of Jesus for the past three years. Deel is seen in the above photograph with his fellow cast members with their hands reached out to him praying before their first performance on Sunday. "And If I get to see (the play) touch one person that night, then that's my paycheck."

Journey To The Stone of Hope

This past week, I tagged along with a group of teens and adults from Fort Myers who took a charter bus to Washington D.C. to witness the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial. 19 hours in a bus made me think a lot about what these youngsters were seeing. Most of these kids had never been to Washington D.C. and several have not been outside the state of Florida.

At first, I wondered, "Why is this girl taking a picture of the road outside a truck stop?" and "Why is she holding on so tight to the subway bar?"

Then, I see where they're coming from. To me this isn't new but to some of them, one truck stop may look completely different than anything in Fort Myers and the sudden jerk of a subway train could feel a lot more abrasive to them than to me. I can be wrong though. Who knows?

It felt great to walk through such historical grounds with such a young group. They're teens and I could tell a good amount of them tried to keep a certain teenage cool about them. I tried to do it when I was their age too but I noticed a difference when we got to places like the Washington Memorial and the same church where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered so many historical sermons. There were looks of awe, curiosity, and surprise.

Aside a couple of long bus rides, it was great to be a part of this trip. Below are some of my favorite photos from the weekend of travel. Thanks for looking.

Revival- Eddie Adams Workshop XXIV

This workshop was my Woodstock. It reminds me why I love this craft and the people who practice it.

The Eddie Adams Workshop brings together some of the top photographers, photo editors, story tellers, and students together on a farm in a small town in Upstate New York. I never had the pleasure to meet Eddie, but from the countless stories I heard over the weekend I know he influenced many with his personality and demeanor.

Throughout the weekend, I along with 99 other students learned from photographers from several realms. Each one of them had unique work and showed how hard they work on a daily basis. I was fortunate to see some of my photo heroes and meet new ones. It was great to be able to talk one on one with them at night during portfolio reviews as well. These critiques are huge. Some editors can build you up and some can bring you down. It all helps. Some even talk about the facets of life that you wouldn't think had anything to do with your photo life but they do (Thanks Michael Williamson)

I highly recommend this workshop to anyone who is interested. If you do get to go next year, I'll see you there! I am lucky enough to be a part of next year's Black Team because of the Colton Family Award that I received. I am very honored to have received it and will keep on thanking everyone involved, so thanks!. I still don't think my words can describe it in its entirety but hopefully can paint a small picture of it.

Here are some photos from the Barn










This last photo is of the man and legend, Clay Patrick McBride. Clay was the team leader for our team (Blue Team!) and he was great. It was great to not have to talk composition, moments, and other technical BS when it came to photography but talking life and experience and how it all comes together. He rocks!




The Blue Team's story theme was youth. I got to hang with Danny and some of his buddies who live in a town outside of where the workshop took place. These guys were great. They had fun and had the world at their fingertips. Danny is a smart guy for his age. He definitely had a wise personality for a 17 year old. There's not a lot to do for teens in Sullivan County so Danny and his friends made due with skating and other extra curriculars. So here are some of my favorites from my days with Danny and his buddies.

Cheers.