Julia Santiago – Loveland, Colorado … Campion Academy, Campion Seventh-day Adventist Church, and HMS Richards School in Loveland, Colorado, worked together to produce the annual Easter pageant “Journey to the Cross.” The interactive event drew over 800 visitors and had more than 100 volunteers for the five different showings in both English and Spanish, March 30.

The audience started the program at the church watching a skit entitled “Call the Man” in which each actor demonstrated different problems in the world such as abuse, war, violence, political strife, teen pregnancy, suicide, and death. In the end, Jesus is depicted comforting and helping each person.

Lillian Resz, a Campion Academy drama student acting in the skit, shared, “We can try to solve the problems of the world, but we can’t do it alone. We must call on Jesus to help us and that’s exactly what the presentation was about. Jesus came to solve each and every problem and make peace. This can happen in our everyday life as well.”

Then the group was led to the HMS school gymnasium which was set up as a market during Jesus’ era. People received a few coins that could be used to buy goods in the village. Students from Campion Academy helped in the village with their Bible classes.

The next event was the disciples calling everybody to follow them in Jesus’ triumphal entry, ending at the Campion Academy gymnasium where the audience watched an emotional act about the final events of Jesus’s life here on Earth. The play depicted the Last Supper, Gethsemane, the trial, death, and finally the resurrection of Jesus.

Ekenna Nwankwo, a Campion Academy senior who played the role of Jesus, commented, “It was a really great experience, especially getting to do it twice last year and this year. It opened my eyes to what Jesus really went through.”

Eddie Camacho, 2020 Campion alumni, portrayed Jesus in the Spanish versions of the play, and many bilingual Campion students also switched roles for this version. “It is important to have this option because there are several communities in the area of Spanish-speaking families,” explained Leandro Bizama, associate pastor of Worship and Evangelism at Campion Church. “We hope to help grow and reach their communities and having Spanish events in our programs provides a great way to do that.”

The ultimate goal of the event was to help people remember Jesus’ sacrifice and understand his love for us. The interactive program was able to impact people’s lives in a meaningful way.

Daneil Camas, Campion Academy senior, expressed, “I felt so overwhelmed with emotions that I ended up watching the play three times. I would have to say that this year’s [Journey to the Cross] was the best representation of Jesus’ sacrifice that I’ve seen.”

—Julia Santiago, Campion Academy Student News Team. Photos by Jeff Koska, Erik Stenbakken, and others supplied.