WHITNEY CURTIS | News Editor

“You know, a movie is static, you watch it and you’ve got visual stimulation, and you’ve got the auditory stimulation,” Executive Director of the Offi ce
of University Relations at Azusa Pacifi c University David Peck said. “When something’s live it adds that next level of dimension.

There are other activities that are going on that give it that three dimensional aspect.” Thousands congregated in APU’s Felix Event Center on Wednesday, March 5 to witness the third performance of The Bible Experience Live, and to experience this “next level of dimension.”

The Experience included dramatization of various Biblical passages performed by about 30 well-known celebrities from the original cast. The Experience included “five to six different vignettes of The Bible Experience of scripture being put to drama using live music, using video presentations, and then using live people,” Peck said.

Inspired By…The Bible Experience, or The Bible Experience (as it is more commonly referred) began as a vision for a different kind of Bible, one that would excite and stir a passion for the Word of God within its listeners. This audio recording that has now won Best Audio Recording of the Year, features over 400 celebrities
performing dramatized readings of the Bible.

“Last fall we were really blessed to hire an Assistant Director of Development by the name of Tony Calloway,” Peck said. “Tony comes from USC, and Tony has a good friend who is Chip Hurd (senior director of The Bible Experience). Tony walked on campus and she was blown away…withthe quality of the students and that passion the students had. Coming off of the Bible Experience which she was directing for twoyears, she really felt like God was directing her to be involved in activities that really were Christ centered.”

Hurd has been a prominent acting coach, director and producer in Hollywood for years and told APU she felt drawn to the university because of its intention to put “God First” in everything.

The idea of The Bible Experience was made a reality with the help and direction of Hurd, as well as producer Lou Buster Brown (producer of The Prince of Egypt) who, Peck says, shopped the project to celebrities and producers, and Zondervan, which sponsored and distributed the project. “We believe that we need to use all of the media, all of the tools that are available to us, to communicate the God message, and what better message,” Brown said. “The Bible is full of everything that the media has used to capitalize and make money on—betrayal, love, war, redemption, and all of these things that are germane to the Bible is what Hollywood has used to really feed off of, but it’s really the Word of God.”

The Bible Experience Live has fondly been labeled by APU staff as “The Lion King meets the King of Kings.” Artists featured included Pauletta Washington of Beloved, Nia Long of Big Shots, James Pickens Jr. of Grey’s Anatomy, Kim Fields Morgan of Living Single, Phil Morris, Cookie Johnson, and many more.

Chandra Wilson from the hit TV show, Grey’s Anatomy said one of the best parts of the experience was that it made her feel a part of something bigger than herself. “I felt like I was a piece of a whole…whatever that contribution to the whole is, and I loved that,” Wilson said. “I loved being a part because it made me feel like a part of something, as opposed to just having to take over.”

The Bible Experience Live has been performed twice before: the fi rst time at West Angeles Temple where it sold out, and the second in Africa where it again had a large turn-out of people. Peck says that Zondervan and Hurd are considering if this performance can be taken on the road in a more permanent
way.

“The best of what The Bible Experience and The Bible Experience Live does, really goes back to Deuteronomy,” Peck said. “It’s called the Shamah, and it’s in Deuteronomy 6:4. To me that commandment says that we are responsible for using whatever medium is given to us to communicate God’s truth. So whether the medium is Youtube, or an iPod, or Facebook, or social media, or whatever is next, as Christ followers, we’re responsible for using that medium to communicate God’s
truth.” Peck says that is the truly exciting aspect of The Bible Experience, the fact that disciples and scholars are advancing the work of God into the world through a new and very practical medium.

Performer Phil Morris unknowingly echoed Peck’s words when he said, “I heard the Bible in a way I had never heard it before,” and later, “I hope that they [the audience] have a greater sense of their own spirituality, their own sense of their own humanness,
and how we interact with each other and how the Lord would want you to express yourself with your brothers and sisters, and if they get that out of this evening then that’s brilliant.”