Interview with Event Host

We gratefully had the opportunity to interview Liz Lockhart, a recent event host at St. John the Baptist in Savage MN:

Tell our readers about The Vigil Project’s recent visit to your parish...

The Vigil Project visited in Lent, March 2023, as the closing night of our parish mission "Friendship with Christ in Our Time." The first two nights leading up to TVP, our pastor, Fr. Ben Little, spoke about the challenges of living as a friend to Christ in our time and then how to cultivate a friendship with Christ (prayer, sacraments, Adoration). This fit beautifully with the final night of the mission which began with Mass and ended with music and Adoration by TVP. To be honest, we weren't sure how musical adoration would be received by the community as it's one of the first times we've offered such an interactive and dynamic Eucharistic adoration experience. We surrounded it with prayer, lots of marketing, good food and opportunities for building community beforehand. It ended up being a beautiful night of worship and an extraordinary musical journey. As the evening progressed, people began to "open up" to the music and prayer and we experienced beautiful examples of people demonstrating their faith and their "Yes!" to Jesus' call. It was a truly beautiful and spiritually profound experience!

What is your role at the parish ..

I'm the Director of Evangelization and Faith Formation at St. John the Baptist. I first experienced TVP through their Journey through Advent & Christmas which I purchased as the Advent materials for our entire parish in 2020. Especially during the pandemic at the time, I felt we needed a new way to reach people; a way that they could access at home that would be meaningful and joy-filled; TVP music fit this desire perfectly. I fell in love with the music of TVP through that endeavor and have continued to follow them since. I knew that I'd like to bring them to the parish at some point, so I just reached out and began a conversation to discover the art of the possible.

What was it like working with our team?

I definitely felt like I was expecting a group of friends to arrive rather than just a group of famous artists! We were excited to host them and made sure to have a special space for them to relax, ensured we had good food, and a place for them to pray. My colleagues and I approached it as welcoming friends to our "house" (the church) and Fr. Little actually opened up his house (the rectory) for them to use as a getaway during the day. TVP was wonderful and friendly. Together we worked through any kinks in the schedule, which always happens. It was a fabulous experience!

Photo: Fr. Ben Little blessing The Vigil Project’s tour bus.

What was it like to arrange an event for your community?

I reached out through the TVP website and was soon contacted by Greg who began the initial conversation. I told him what I was thinking, which was a visit at some point in the upcoming year or so. From that, he mentioned they would likely be in MN in early Lent and we decided to combine the visits. This got the ball rolling for planning for an Adoration night, which then enlarged to a parish mission event after discussions with my pastor. It all then began to come together. Soon I was contacted by Andrew to discuss the particular logistics to make it happen. He video called me from Italy and was very generous with his time to answer all of my many questions! Andrew continued to be my contact person, set up a shared drive where we posted details, answered questions, uploaded pics of the church to show where they'd set up and where they'd park, etc. It was all so very easy because of their clear and direct communication of their needs, not to mention the fact that they bring all of their own equipment! I could reach out to them directly instead of going through a third party agent. It made it all very doable with my busy schedule.

What about after the event? What happened in your community?

TVP brought prayer and music together in a way we hadn't prior to that night. The power of their music stirred souls and inspired a profound encounter with God! TVP's unique blend of talent, passion, and faith ignited a renewed sense of spiritual connection for our parishioners. Those who weren't present heard about it and were so sorry to have missed it. TVP was incredibly well-received and many are asking for more of them and their music and for more events like this in the future.

The night of TVP's visit, we learned of a couple who had traveled from Milwaukee just to experience TVP (about 5 hours). It was their first time to experience their music live, though they owned all of their CDs. They were a wonderful example of a faith-filled couple just in love with the Lord who wished to worship through prayer and music and TVP provided that possibility.

I am part of a Monday night adoration group of women at the parish who has music and singing interspersed with silence during our weekly prayer time. We now have several TVP songs on our Monday night playlist!

We hosted a women's retreat in April that included a speaker, brunch and the opportunity for adoration. As a result of TVP's visit, two of our parishioners provided music during adoration and sang one of TVP's songs (after receiving assistance from TVP on the musical arrangement). I believe TVP has opened our parish up to the willingness to experience music and prayer in a new way and that has helped us grow spiritually and has ignited a renewed awareness of the transformative power of music as part of an uplifting prayerful expression of love for Our Lord.