Genesis Active Involvement to put on ‘Judgement Day’ show

Genesis Community Involvement, a nonprofit doing business as Stephen’s Active Adult Daycare, is hosting a production titled “Judgement Day – The Two Trains” on Nov. 5 at the Finklea Community Center Ballroom.

The public is invited. Adult tickets are $8. Proceeds will be used for senior activities and materials. Admission is free for children up to age 18. Refreshments will be served. The event is from 6-8 p.m.

The seniors in Genesis Community Involvement will be the actors in the play. Director Barbara Stephen said this is a group of busy seniors who like to do things for fun and for other people.

“The main thing I like doing is educating them on certain things with their health, like high blood pressure and diabetes,” said Stephen, adding that the seniors like to know how they can get help, such as hospice care or other assistance.

She also can direct them to the Benefit Bank, a federal and state resource dealing with low income families. Through the churches, she makes certain resource information is available to the congregations and the community.

The seniors meet on Mondays and often have a nurse there to check their blood pressures and talk with them about other aspects of their health. They also have guest speakers who speak on a wide range of subjects.

The seniors have collected clothes and aided families whose homes have burned, and have helped others. They have made thousands upon thousands of dresses, and many pairs of shorts for little girls in several countries, including thousands that were sent to Sierra Leone after Christmas 2015, and thousands more that were recently sent to Ghana. Stephen and the other seniors have woven a network of missionaries, college groups and others who deliver the dresses to the children.

The play was written by Angeline Gilliam, who moved to the Finklea area from Virginia about a year ago. She said she wrote it so that the parts would be easy for seniors. Gilliam, who said she is in the process of writing a book of plays, said several of them were produced at the church she attended in Virginia, but this will be the first production of this one. Gilliam not only writes the plays; she makes all the props.

Two trains wait to carry characters such as the rich man, the unforgiver, the born-again believer, the good shepherd and others to their final destination. The Glory Train goes to the gates of Heaven, the Devastation Train goes to different gate, one that no one wants to enter. “It’s according to how you live that lets you know which train you’re going on,” Stephen said.

A praise team of about 40 children from different churches will also take part in the play. The team named “Oh My Just Blessed” is directed by TreMalia Gore, music director at Prince Chapel Missionary Baptist Church.

The Finklea Community Center is at 3501 Highway 917. For more information, call Barbara Stephen at 756-1403 or Mildred Welch at 248-4064.

This story was originally published November 3, 2016 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Genesis Active Involvement to put on ‘Judgement Day’ show."