Texas Megachurch responds to backlash from viral Christmas show
Video of a Texas megachurch rehearsing for an extravagant Christmas show featuring a flying pack of drummer boys went viral this week, drawing more than 10,000 comments, including harsh criticism of the annual spectacular production.
Prestonwood Baptist Church hosts The Gift of Christmas, the annual “spectacular” Christmas show featuring a massive cast of nearly 1,000 people, choir, live orchestra, flying angels and live animals. Fourteen performances are scheduled for December 2-4 and December 7-11 at the Dallas-area megachurch. At the time of going to press, there are still tickets left for four of the performances.
The viral video was posted to TikTok by Tony Daussat on Sunday, November 27 with the handle @tonydaussat and the caption “Little drummer boy, but TX’d” panning through the church showing a rehearsal by a group of drummers that fly through space while playing. TikTok has garnered more than 1.7 million views at the time of writing.
Dialogue in the comments ranges from a slew of “Righteous Gemstones” and “Joel Osteen” vibes and other jokes to criticism of “church business” and religion in general.
Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas
Stewart F. Haus/Getty Images“I just love it in the gospel when drummer boys fly around the manger. It gives a certain dignity to the birth of Christ,” Eric Creeh said in a comment with more than 9,000 likes.
“Tell me the preacher has a private jet without telling me the preacher has a private jet,” Keith Becraft said in the comments, with more than 41,000 likes and almost 400 replies, using his own tonality.
A number of self-identified Christians also weighed in.
“I miss the simplicity of Christmas and it’s all about Jesus,” said Beth Brown Smith.
“My church still has a rotary phone and some of the hymnals are 50 years old. This is… different,” Wesley Long said, followed by a number of other users saying the same thing.
A church spokesman called the backlash “unfortunate” in an email to the Express-News.
“For more than a quarter century, Prestonwood Baptist Church has pulled out all the stops to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ during the Christmas season,” the spokesman said in the full email statement to Express-News. “We are grateful to have the opportunity to share this great celebration of our Savior with up to 75,000 people each year through The Gift of Christmas. At Prestonwood, we believe that Jesus deserves our very best, especially at Christmas. It is unfortunate that the enduring American tradition of the church Christmas program is now provoking the hateful anger of some. We pray that they too may know the joy of Christmas and the love of our Savior.”
Prestonwood has a membership of more than 49,000 members in three locations in Plano, Prosper and Lewisville, according to the church’s website.
In a follow-up video released Tuesday, November 29, Daussat clarifies that he is not a member of the Church but is a Texan. Daussat said he saw him originally posting the video on Facebook, which he thought was objectively funny, prompting him to share the video on TikTok.
“[It made me laugh], not because I despise churches, but because there are flying drummers at a Christmas show in a church. It’s objectively funny,” said Daussat.
