I Am Alive

This is the musical that started it all! A new telling of the New Testament Easter story through the eyes of those who walked with Christ.

As I think back on the creation of this show, I can't help but smile and laugh at how ridiculous it all was and all the miracles that made it a reality. Early Feb of 2025, we were discouraged by the roadblocks we had been encountering in our business endeavors and just wanted to create something! Since creation is the outlet that fills our souls with light.

Katie banged on the piano, singing loudly a few words that came to her mind, "I Am Alive". (She's crazy good at coming up with compelling hook lines.) I spontaneously jumped in and began singing more lyrics. There was an immediate sense of joy and liberation as we began to compose what would become "I Am Alive," the title song.

That weekend I went home and found that I couldn't stop thinking about the song. I wanted to compose an Easter song for my church choir to sing, and this felt like maybe it could be included.

So when I returned to the studio the next week, I shared some ideas I had for an intro with Mary Magdalene, and we quickly wrote out an entire song. The only problem was: it was clearly not meant for a choir.

Katie excitedly yelled, "We just wrote Jesus' Broadway song!"

I laughed and chided, "We aren't writing an Easter Musical."

When, to my surprise, Katie looked at me with serious eyes and said, "But what if we were?!"

I replied, "Then I know what the next song would be called, 'Apostles in the Garden', and it would be written for Peter, James, and John."

As though an invisible gauntlet had been thrown down, Katie said, "This is what that sounds like in my head."

I ran to get pizza for my children, came back, and said, "I've got the lyrics."

We wrote that song in 20 minutes. I told Katie, if we were writing an Easter musical, I would want to see it performed that year at Easter. About ten weeks away. Somehow, Katie agreed, though she would probably have the lion's share of work to do.

That night, we shared it with Aimee Bennett, our many-times collaborator and editor. She responded in tears, "You guys, you're always great at creation, but this is special, this is like, another level."

And so it was confirmed, we had to do this. As I developed an outline, did countless hours of research, and began writing the lyrics, I had an incredible thing happen. I began to discover something different and new about the Easter story. That if you look carefully, you will discover YOURSELF in the story. Whether that's in the mourning of a mother, the denial of a believer, the sorrow that comes as we fight the weakness of our humanity. This became the message that I focused on, helping everyday people find themselves in the greatest story ever told.

We wrote the show, sixteen full songs, in six weeks. Katie and Aimee made a mad dash at transcribing it into sheet music. We put out a couple posts on social media looking for a volunteer cast and we had an AMAZING group of angels show up and help us as we refined the show, fixed the errors and prepared to perform it on April 19th. More angels came and offered to help us finish transcribing, miracles upon miracles.

We found a local chapel that allowed us to set up on their stage and we put up registration forms online so that our guests could reserve seats.

More than 300 people registered to attend, so we split the event into two showings. And on the night of April 19th, 2025, "I Am Alive," the musical, was presented in two amazing, moving, inspirational performances.

To say this whole experience was life-changing doesn't even begin to touch upon how important this event was. We were changed, and new goals were set. I literally moved my family to continue this work. And of course, the feedback from audiences was phenomenal, encouraging, and eye-opening. We learned that we needed to raise our sights even higher and seek to spread this show worldwide. And since that day, we have been doing just that.

We are developing an adaptation of the musical program that will be fit for filming and presenting on the big screen. We are also preparing to finish the program and publish it for congregations around the world to use and enjoy!

We hope that if you have felt the excitement of creating musicals for God, you will join us in our mission to empower believers with more opportunities to use their talents to glorify and testify!

Please consider working with us, sharing your song on our Glorysong Podcast, or donating so that Glorysong Foundation can continue to move this work forward!