'Mark -- My Words' Brings the Gospel to Life this Weekend at WILLow LeaVes

Fans of Hope’s dinner-theatre offerings at WILLow LeaVes of Hope are invited out for a unique and inspiring presentation of the Gospel of Mark this weekend.

“Mark – My Words,” presented by JT and Tommy Oaks, will be offered at 6 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday, JT says.

Hailing from Knoxville, Tenn., JT and his father, Tommy, have made performing Christian-based songs and material a lifelong passion. For 30 years, the pair have traveled, written material and performed together; historically by invite only.

“When I was a kid, dad was a preacher at a campus ministry and he started getting invitations to speak and lead youth meetings and events,” JT recalls. “I grew up with him speaking and when I got out of college, I started performing with him full-time.”

And the pair’s upcoming visit to Hope isn’t their first.

“This will be the fourth or fifth time we’ve been there,” 54-year-old JT says. “I love Hope, it’s one of my favorite places on earth.”

Contrary to popularly held belief, working with one’s parents isn’t always torturous. If anything, JT’s opportunity to perform with his father on a regular basis is quite a blessing.

“I don’t think too many people get to work with their parents like I do,” JT says. “In fact, everywhere I go, people say, ‘How in the world do you work with your dad? We would kill each other.’ But we’ve always gotten along great and had the same vision for writing and performing and we both love theatre. It is just a natural fit and we work together well.”

Indeed, they do.

And the Oaks’ unique and powerful presentation of the Gospel of Mark is rooted firmly in purpose.

Seventy-six-year-old Tommy has always wanted to memorize one of the Gospels, JT says, and Mark was the shortest one.

JT, who works full-time as a composer and musician, says his father’s desire to commit the book to memory was, in part, a catalyst to how he approached their presentation of the Gospel.

“It is performed as a monologue and I’ve written a soundtrack to it,” JT says. “I will play it on piano behind dad as he does the monologue.”

Equating the approach as similar to a movie soundtrack, JT says the performance runs about two hours with an intermission.

“You will hear the entire book of 16 chapters,” JT adds.

Now that the Oaks have the Gospel of Mark down, their next project is focusing on the story of Noah, JT says.

JT regularly listens to movie soundtracks as a source of inspiration, he says.

“There is some brilliant writing in movie music,” he says. “I’ve always been inspired by film composers, and I had that in mind when I put this together. I tried to do it cinematically.

I think people are going to walk away with a better understanding of that book once they see it and hear it,” he says. “I tried to write a score that would support the story, highlight the characters and add some emotion to the scene that may be difficult to pull off completely if you were doing a straight monologue.”