Temple Music owners, Terry and Ginny Temple, appreciate the Prince of Peace community for partnering with them to bring music, theater, and dance to this corner of the world. They invite you to join the fun!

For more information, visit templeperformingarts.com or contact Sarah at templemusicstudios@gmail.com, (480) 695-7430

Prince of Peace / Temple Music Studios Partnership

Expanding God’s Work in Our Community by Pastor Rick

One of my favorite moments in life is when a great idea blossoms into action that meets a critical need. In early 2021, I sat down for lunch with my friends Terry, Ginny and Emily Temple expecting to catch up on life. By the time we stood up again, we had scratched out the basics of a new partnership designed to meet a huge need in our community – helping children rediscover confidence and joy after the massive social disruption of the pandemic. During the pandemic shutdowns, nearly all youth theaters were closed and children and families were struggling to find any outlet for their kids to jump back into semi-normal social functioning.

The Temples brought expertise in all aspects of children’s theater – choreography, voice training, sound and lighting technology and most importantly, a deep desire to help children thrive and grow on stage and in life. Prince of Peace brought less artistic but equally critical elements to the partnership - a campus in a great location, a dedicated group of volunteers and staff, a willingness to learn something new and most importantly, a desire to impact our community. Just as the world was opening back up, we decided to step out in faith and put on a children’s musical.

From that first show, Disney’s Aladdin Jr. in November 2021, we discovered two things:

1. We had hit on a huge need in our community. 78 children appeared on stage. Energized children and thankful parents descended on our campus, a welcome sight after our sanctuary had sat nearly empty for so long.

2. We had an entirely new group of people to impact with the love of God. Several children involved in that first show came to us suffering from depression and anxiety. The experience of jumping on stage and working together for a common goal created a space for healing. The adults working in the background served as caregivers as much or more than they worked as costume designers or sound techs or bartenders in the VIP room.

The individual stories started flooding in. Children coming alive after living through so many days at home and in online school. Children rapidly gaining self-confidence. Parents finding support working alongside other parents facing the same struggles. Our community needed this partnership. Our community needed us and I’m thrilled to say that we delivered at exactly the right time. I believed we had to keep going. Thankfully Prince of Peace’s leadership wholeheartedly agreed.

Now with seven shows under our belts and more to come, we still have incredible stories of changed lives each time the lights go down and children emerge onto the stage. In fact, the Temple Music Studios/Prince of Peace partnership put more children on stage in 2022 than any other theater company in Phoenix. I have met with theater families for spiritual counseling, to plan baptisms and funerals and to have a beer and talk about life. Teenagers from Prince of Peace are participating in shows, making new friends and inviting them to youth group. We may not see a ton of new people in Sunday worship from our efforts. However, we have found a new way to BE THE CHURCH for an entirely new section of our community. This is huge.

Five to six Sundays a year, the sanctuary will look very different with staging and backdrops set up. There will be times when sharing rooms with the theater children becomes an annoyance. We may even have a time when your pastor comes out in a lion costume to begin worship. My prayer is that when we feel disrupted by this partnership, we will remember the lives that have been impacted and celebrate that so many in the wider community are glad that we exist. On with the show!