Illumination – Magnify Church Fall Show 2019
In 2019 it was announced that the Fall Show at Magnify Church was cancelled after 20+ years of conducting this outreach event. This did not sit well with the worship arts community of the church, especially those that had been involved for most of those 15-20 years. While Kyle Warmington had only been there at Magnify a short time he highly valued this ministry and the impact of the shows. He immediately set a meeting with Vicki Modert and worked to understand the challenges, budget, process and the problems. He personally interviewed 15-20 different people heavily involved through the years in various areas and capacities of the worship arts ministry to understand the history and importance of this ministry to those involved.
The most consistent response he received from people through interviews was that this group of people were like their small group, their co-workers in Christ, “their people!” It was obvious that the most frustration was found in not being able to be around “their people” for the fall show process which spans over approximately a 6 week period of preparation and performances. The next most important piece that people hammered on was the importance of reaching their community with this opportunity to invite people to their church in such a unique and different way.
Kyle took this information along with budget data and compiled it into a proposal to help keep the fall show alive. He then hosted a large gathering of people at his house, inviting people from the worship arts community at Magnify Church to hear his proposal and gather any more data, thoughts or input about anything he was missing. In the meantime Vicki Modert had come up with a way to do a variation of the fall show that trimmed the budget and kept the show simple. That show was called Illumination (2019). It was during that show that Kyle met Eric Alderman, who had caught wind of what Kyle was doing and expressed quite passionately that he absolutely wanted to be involved and offered his help and specifically his skills in non-profit finance. That was very encouraging to Kyle to keep moving forward with what he was seeking to accomplish. Kyle also around that time sought the counsel, wisdom and experience of Doug Dietzman, one of the few actors that had been around most of the 20+ year history at Magnify Church. He met with the lead pastor to get some further insights and then set a date with the Magnify Lead Team to present a formal proposal to revive the Fall Show.
It became clear during that meeting with the Lead Team that the church did not allow staff members to fundraise and the budgeting process had changed significantly. Ministry departments were not allowed to go over their budgets without consequences and this was causing a lot of ministry areas to reorganize or reduce programs due to budget constraints. Doug Dietzman proposed to the Lead Team the idea of us forming a separate 501c3 organization to come alongside the worship arts team to help with show budgets. We made the commitment to stay away from general church funding by requiring gifts to be over and above regular tithes or seek the funding outside of the congregation. Magnify Lead Team was ok with that idea and shortly after that meeting, For His Glory Theater was formed by Kyle, Eric and Doug.
Tragically not long after that the COVID craziness blasted into the world and churches all over were suddenly empty week after week. The incredible social challenges that emerged from that whole ordeal made it look as though we might have no show again the following fall. However, God had a different plan! Over the summer of 2020 Vicki Modert had learned that one of the broadway rental sets for THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME was sitting idle at the Forest Hills Fine Arts Center in Grand Rapids, MI. She contacted the company that rented the script and sets for that show and began to dialogue with them about the possibility of making a deal. They were quite desperate to rent scripts after the loss of business due to COVID so she pitched the idea to Magnify Church leadership. She was given approval to proceed as there was a strong interest getting people to return to the building for Sunday morning services that had shrunk so significantly.
Vicki immediately called a meeting with For His Glory Theater to share this amazing opportunity and asked if we could partner for our first show together. FHG agreed to raise $15,000 of additional funds to offset the costs of the show and Magnify’s worship arts budget and ticket sales would carry the rest. Vicki then negotiated an incredible deal for the script and set rental and FHG worked with local businesses to transfer the entire set from Forest Hills Fine Arts center to Magnify Church.
In October of 2020 we were able to perform a fantastic set of performances of THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME and local churches and theaters were stunned that we were able to pull it off without a hitch. God truly protected us during the process and gave us our first successful show as a partnership. For His Glory Theater was born and in the most miraculous way – all glory to God!!
Over the next 4 years FHG Theater partnered with Magnify Church to bring Oliver (2021), Tale of Two Cities(2022), The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (2023) and Fiddler on the Roof (2024).
In 2025 Magnify Church was facing so many leadership challenges they didn’t have the overall bandwidth to host a show and we completely understood their circumstance.
FHG Theater started to build a relationship with Cornerstone University and H.I.S. Creative Academy with the ambition of trying to host a show. Those plans were not realized in 2025 however they began to reach out to movie producers for the idea of taking Christian films and translating them to the stage. In April 2026, FHG began writing a draft stage script adapted from the movie THE ULTIMATE GIFT and they have approval to move forward with the project by the production company that made the movie.
FHG Theater is currently working to hopefully bring this show to the stage soon.
Stay tuned….
THE ULTIMATE GIFT
Coming Soon ….