World-record Nativity Was a Christmas Miracle
Christmas is a really special time of year for me. As a father, a husband, a son, a friend, and a Christian, I am always overwhelmed by the beauty and hope and connection the Christmas season brings to my life. This year, I find myself reflecting on miracles, specifically the miracles that I’ve witnessed in my own life. One that I love to remember is the creation of the Guinness World Record Nativity video that Harmon Brothers helped produce. It was nothing short of a Christmas miracle, actually several Christmas miracles.
In late October of 2014, Daniel and Jeff Harmon were in a meeting in Salt Lake when they were presented Jeff Taylor’s idea for breaking the world record for the biggest nativity ever. They came back to Provo and shared the idea with me. I was skeptical we could pull it off, there just wasn’t enough time to pull everything together (we would need to launch in six weeks). I was still excited to try. We started contacting various celebrities like Devin Graham, David Archuleta, The Piano Guys, Peter Hollens, Cute Girls Hairstyles, Studio C cast members, as well as many others, and were amazed to find that everyone we reached out to was able to be part of the project (with the sole exception of Lindsey Stirling, who was touring in Europe at the time). We then met with Sheri Dew who green lit the project and wrote a check to make it happen. Only two days after Daniel and Jeff came to me with the idea, we were already fully underway with funding and lots of influencers wanting to help.
The entire video was made in six weeks, start to finish. It was absolutely incredible. We were up against incredible odds and saw miracles throughout the process. There were so many people who felt inspired to volunteer their time and talents who were so necessary to the creation of this video. Some people traveled from other states to be background angels, 23 families sewed nearly 1,000 costumes in just one week, teenagers stepped up and organized the volunteers, Jay Davis had been searching for a new project and, when he found out about the video, brought out his team to recruit and manage the crowd, the overhead shots seemed impossible to get because of the weather, but after a prayer we had just enough wind stillness to get the shot… the list goes on and on of situations where prayers were answered, help was found, and people were able to accomplish nearly impossible feats.
I believe that the magic of Christmas is the love of God and the love we have for each other. I hope that you are inspired by this story of community and love and help and miracles, of people pulling together to create something beautiful against overwhelming odds, and that as you watch the video you will feel hope, peace, and love.
Merry Christmas from the Harmon Brothers family!
