ELCA NEWS SERVICE December 21, 2009 South Carolina ELCA Congregation's Christmas Eve Worship on TV and Web 09-281-JB CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Mt. Tabor Lutheran Church, West Columbia, S.C., a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will hold three Christmas Eve services Dec. 24. One will be broadcast live on local television and carried simultaneously on the Web -- intended especially for deployed military personnel in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq, many of whom are from U.S. military facilities in South Carolina and the southeastern United States. WIS-TV, Columbia, S.C., will broadcast Mt. Tabor's Christmas Eve worship at 7 p.m. EST. The broadcast will be carried simultaneously at http://www.WISTV.com on the Web. The station plans to rebroadcast the service on Christmas Day and make the service available for on-demand viewing on the Web site. The television broadcast and webcast are a "mission and outreach opportunity" for Mt. Tabor, said the Rev. Paul E. Aebischer, one of Mt. Tabor's two pastors. "The congregation is excited because Christmas Eve services are always beautiful. Once we got over our initial nervousness about this, the more excited we became about sharing this service with the community," he said. Anonymous benefactors have provided financial support for previous local Christmas Eve broadcasts, said Celie M. Addy, director of communications, ELCA South Carolina Synod, Columbia. The synod assisted in locating Mt. Tabor for this year's broadcast, she said. A simultaneous webcast was suggested during discussions with the station this year, Addy said. The synod and the congregation are asking members to contact deployed military personnel to invite them to watch Mt. Tabor's service. "We're very excited about the service being online," Addy said. "This is like a taste of home for the deployed personnel." "We are glad that some deployed military personnel will be able to watch. The congregation is very mindful of that," Aebischer said. WIS-TV staff and Mt. Tabor's worship leaders have had at least three production meetings to prepare for the broadcast, said Aebischer. A few pews have been moved out of the sanctuary temporarily to provide space for lights and scaffolding for cameras, he said. Tonight (Dec. 21), worship leaders, choirs and musical ensembles will rehearse the service with the production team. "It's been neat to have so many people in the congregation working for four or five weeks on a project," he said. The service will be a typical Lutheran Christmas Eve worship, with plenty of choral and instrumental music, featuring Mt. Tabor's youth and adult choirs, a handbell choir and a string quartet, he said. A musician with Palmetto Pipes and Drums will play bagpipes during anthems, Aebischer said. The congregation will also provide broadcast commentary to describe parts of the worship. About 280 people are expected to attend. The synod plans to work with the station and other Columbia-area ELCA congregations to host Christmas Eve worship broadcasts in future years, Addy said. --- A promotional announcement for Mt. Tabor Lutheran Church's Christmas Eve service is at http://www.sclutheran.org/ on the Web. Information about Mt. Tabor Lutheran Church is at http://www.mttaborlutheran.org/ on the Web. For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask] http://www.elca.org/news