It all started in November 2002 when I received a vision during a church sermon. At that time, Wesley’s current Minister was Jerome Brimmage. We were blessed to have him, and his wife Leslie, at our Church for seven years. He was, and still is a dynamite, charismatic spiritual leader. Anyway, during one of his sermons he mentioned his time in Lufkin when his second son played baby Jesus. He and his wife had the honor to play Joseph and Mary in what was known as “Evening of Old Bethlehem” in Lufkin, TX. Journey Through Bethlehem is a spin off of their program. He described in details what an overwhelming, yet awesome feeling it was to stand there, watching the people’s reaction as they strolled by the manger to get a peek at baby Jesus………That is when it hit me! How breathtaking would it be to create one here in Huntsville. What better place to start one. Our community has seven prisons, 77 churches and yet 63% of the people within this community do not claim a church. Therefore, this “Bethlehem” needs to be outside the church walls to reach out to those people.

My first reaction was to just forget about it, but God wouldn’t let go. So after about a week of this unwavering vision, I was talking to Reverend Brimmage on the phone and mentioned this vision. If truth be told, I was hoping he would talk me out of it. Oh no, that was not the case at all. Instead, he had my head spinning so fast that I couldn’t even get a word in to say NO! Anyway, within the next hour, Reverend Brimmage called Lufkin to make an appointment to meet with one of the “Old Bethlehem” chairpersons. It was several weeks later that we traveled to Lufkin to view their lay-out, costumes, storage building, etc…….From that point on, everything and everyone came together. It was all in Gods’ plan!

–Leslie Nevitt Michaelson (2009)