How do you make a church concert so unforgettable, so unique, so indescribable that people keep coming back year after year? Miki and Eric Chelton are here to tell us about it.

The concert is unique with how it is set up in the first place. Instead of having a tedious three-hour concert where one ensemble comes up at a time to sing and then leave, the Cheltons wanted to rapid fire that process. In 2008, the church Christmas concert was incredibly long, over two hours.  “We knew something had to change,” said Miki Chelton. They had done a concert in their college where an ensemble would start at the beginning of the concert in the front of the space. While they were singing, the next ensemble would sneak in the back under cover of darkness. The first ensemble would finish, and the lights would go out on them and come up on the second ensemble. This would happen over and over again, with various ensembles popping up in various areas of the room.

The Chelton’s decided to bring this tradition to Christ United Methodist Church. One problem, though: How would the lights work? Eric Chelton had a plan. He used various lighting in the church to his advantage. He mapped out all of the lights, knowing how each of them functioned and what worked where. He recruited three other guys to help him. One controlled the lights up in the front of the church, one in the lightbox, and one in the balcony. He used all the lights he had at his disposal, which worked great for a time. However, as more ensembles came, the more lights he needed. He added two side spotlights that shine down right underneath the balcony. “We literally used flashlights one year,” Eric Chelton said. A very handy choir member said they could make the spotlights that have been used since.

While Eric Chelton worked on the lights, Miki Chelton worked on the spacing and sound aspects. Some people

are a part of multiple ensembles, so she had to make sure no two ensembles in a row had the same person in it. This proved especially difficult this year, as many were a part of more ensembles than usual. Once she worked out a good order for the concert (and double-checked it worked with all the directors), Miki Chelton could start the fun parts. She wiped out the dollar tree of clip-on lights and bought 800 glowsticks.

The glowsticks are what make the collage concert safe. There is a lot of moving around in the dark. In order to see the edges of tables, corners of doors, and paths in and out of the sanctuary, glowsticks are lined on everything. But the glowsticks aren’t the only thing that has to be set up for the concert. Saturday morning, Miki Chelton and her daughter, Luci, enter the church to begin set up. They cover all the stained glass windows with curtains. They cover the back glass door with black vinyl and open one side of each side door and hang black fabric over that side. Other people also come in to set up all of the bell tables and place the bells everywhere they are needed.

Everything is set with great purpose by the Cheltons. Every curtain, glowstick, and light is placed with care. 17 ensembles and twenty pieces are sung in nearly an hour, which normally would take forever because of the transitions for each ensemble. Months of planning and years of trial and error have created a tradition that will last for years to come.

Gallery • 3 Photos

Isabella Chelton

Hand bells are set on the tables