Churches hosting Christmas productions aren’t inherently controversial, and modest holiday shows are generally well-received. Reactions shifted, however, after a Texas megachurch staged an especially lavish Christmas production. Many viewers felt the scale of the event crossed a line, with the spending appearing excessive.
The church in question, Prestonwood Baptist Church, drew swift backlash once footage of the show began circulating online. The production closely resembled a high-budget Broadway performance, complete with elaborate lighting and acrobatic performers flipping through the air while a choir sang on stage. For critics, the spectacle itself wasn’t the issue—it was the sheer extravagance behind it.
The person who shared the video of the Texas church couldn’t help but write, “Megachurches doing everything but helping people.” Another video showed an additional part of the show. They had people dressed up as angels flying in the air at one point too. A third video showed Santa on his sleigh, and he was also flying in the air. I don’t know why they have this obsession with the ai,r because they also had people in the air playing drums as well. They even had a woman singing on top of a flying platform. There is no way this didn’t cost a lot of money.
People Reacting to the Texas Church’s Christmas Show
Since the Texas church’s Christmas show was extravagant and most likely expensive, a lot of people criticized the church for spending money on this rather than helping people. That’s encouraged many to demand to tax the churches as one person wrote, “TAX THE CHURCHES‼ Greatest Showman is NOT biblocal, so it’s a PRODUCTION and therefore not eligible.” Another person joked and said, “separation of church and broadway.” Other comments were quite extreme as one read, “lowkey giving demonic.” Another comment even claimed, “this isn’t a church ya’ll.” Someone else added, “totally not a cult or anything.”
More people came after the Texas church for the money they were spending. One person told one of those who attended, “They begged for your last dollar after all this too.” That was when they responded and said, “they had a row of iPads in the lobby so you could pay tithes on your credit card.” Several people also commented on how such a church chose to spend money on a show rather than help people, as one person wrote, “Someone call them and ask for baby formula.” Another person then said, “Well there goes the formula budget.” Someone else also added, “That one fly rig is worth $20k. It cost $4 a day to feed a hungry child.” Many definitely believed that the church could have used this money for better things.
