(March 25, 2001)
Tavares Johnson’s dreadlocks will remain in place for months.
And the makeup needed to turn this 21-year-old hulk of African/Jamaican
descent into a sword-fighting demon will be applied 11 times during
the next eight days
 |
| Hours-long makeup
sessions transform Tavares Johnson into a sword-wielding demon
11 times in eight days, for the Hell’s Alternative: The Reality
production. |
"Mr. T" is in the makeshift makeup room on the campus of
the Church of Glad Tidings (Assemblies of God) in Austin, Texas, where
Master’s Commission students and staff are gearing up for their
annual presentation, Hell’s Alternative: The Reality, during
Halloween. The drama — with an elaborate set depicting heaven
and hell, human videos, television footage and a cast of 50 —
portrays the Rapture and communicates the victory that Christ won
when He died on the cross.
Edwin Ennis, 31, director of Master’s Commission, allows his
students to be creative, because he sees the potential in each of
them. "Pastor Edwin," as his students call him, says, "Master’s
Commission is uncomfortable for some. Even some parents get real worried.
They worried about their kids when they were in the world. Then their
kids got radically saved and came into Master’s, and they got
more worried because their kids started doing things that aren’t
your normal route for Christian young people."
Watching the makeup session shows how radical Master’s Commission
— a two-year program that is 24/7 for 10 months at a time —
can be. "The students will love it or will hate it," Ennis
says.
So what’s there to love? The 2000-01 class of 35, the largest
in the 4-year-old program, is eager to share.
Austin resident Chris Lerma, 22, now on the MC staff, says, "You
lay down your life and say, ‘Lord, just rip me apart and build
me back into what You want me to be.’ "
Or as Craig Masbruch, 23, a second-year student from Rockford, Ill.,
and former drug user, says, "Jesus broke me down and is reconstructing
me. Everyone wants friends who will die for them, who will devote
their entire attention to them. I have that in Jesus."
It’s "learning to have an intimate relationship with God,"
says Johnson, who is from Athens, Texas. He grew up in church and
was a youth group leader before joining MC. "You learn the ins
and outs [of being a Christian]. I knew when to raise my hands. But
then God really got hold of me and just turned my life around. When
I came [to Master’s], I was searching. Now I’m completely
focused on Jesus."
First-year student Elaine Zuniga, 19, from Corpus Christi, Texas,
has invited her parents, who serve as pastors of the Lord Is Peace
Worship Center, to view the drama. Elaine says the Spirit of the Lord
showed her that she needs to ask forgiveness for things she did against
her parents’ wishes while in high school. The daughter-parents
session ends well.
Arnaldo Zuniga, Elaine’s father, is thrilled that she is in
Master’s. "It’s deepening her conversation, her walk
with God," he says. "I love to listen when she calls. It’s
a gradual increase as God takes her to new levels. I am hearing her
speak in faith."
First-year student Stephen Dodd, 22, from Garland, Texas, is cast
in the role of God in Hell’s Alternative. Initially, he says,
he struggled with portraying God.
"Then God spoke to me: ‘You don’t play Me; you imitate
Me. That’s what children are supposed to do — imitate their
father.’ "
Makeup artists are finished. Intense prayer has gone up for months.
The sanctuary is filled, as Senior Pastor Vic Schober welcomes the
audience and warns about special effects.
Bob Pontius, 60, retired from the Air Force after 30 years, has counselors
in place. He says the mostly young crowd tonight is the target audience
he seeks. He is concerned they not have just a one-time emotional
experience, but that they form relationships.
In the counseling room, a 10-year-old girl says, "My parents
are getting a divorce and my father might have to go to jail. I need
someone to talk to." (She is one of 150 who made first-time commitments
during the 11 performances.)
"These Master’s Commission kids have such passion for the
Lord," Pontius says. "I’m thankful to be able to participate
in the harvest."
Reaching the lost is the focus of Master’s Commission students.
In the past year they have presented Hell’s Alternative in three
churches in Texas, at the invitation of pastors who traveled to Austin
to view it.
"Something is stirring in the spirits of this generation,"
Ennis says. "They aren’t looking for position or pay, but
are saying, ‘God’s called me. Where do you want me to go?
He’s going to provide.’ We are coming closer [to the end-times]
and there’s an urgency within this generation to reach the lost."
As Ennis gathers the students around him each morning for prayer
and worship, the atmosphere is safe for the students to reveal their
own struggles. "The thing that makes Pastor Edwin unique is his
servanthood," Lerma says. "Jesus came to serve, not to be
served, and that should be the attitude of His disciples. Some people
think the ladder goes up, because they are focused on position, not
on impacting lives."
The Master’s Commission creed calls these students "chosen
disciples of the third millennium … invading the halls of hell
as terrorists of the gospel." As they imitate their Father, many
in Austin — and literally around the world — are finding
an alternative lifestyle in Jesus Christ.
— Ann Floyd
