OMAHA, NE (April 18, 2011) – A humorous performance of “The Preacher Mom” – an “updated” version of “The Music Man” – introduced Tammy Swanson-Draheim to the Midwest Conference Ministerium as the nominee for superintendent on Friday.
Ministerium president John Peterson was inspired to write the update because the composer for The Music Man, Meredith Wilson, was from Mason City, Iowa, where Swanson-Draheim has served as pastor of First Covenant Church since 2003.
Costumed Ministerium members sang songs adapted for the event. They ended by marching up and down the middle aisle of First Covenant Church here and singing “Eighty-Six Conference Churches.” Attendees laughed throughout the performance and joined in singing along with the final number.
Swanson-Draheim marched behind the actors during the grand finale and then went to the podium.
Her first words to the gathering were, “What in the world have I gotten myself into?” She let Peterson know, “There will be payback.”
The Ministerium needed little introduction to Swanson-Draheim because she has been a long-time member of the conference.
The modified lyrics of “Eighty-Six Covenant Churches” appears at the end of this story.
Earlier in the session, retiring superintendent Ken Carlson was honored with a new voice over and additions to the opening credits of the Superman television series that aired in the 1950s. The adapted video describes the retiring superintendent as “able to visit many churches in a single day” and reveals the hero’s disguise to be “mild-mannered pastor Ken Carlson,” who the video proves once had some mighty big sideburns. Click here to check it out.
Peterson wrote the new words and his son Tim adapted the video. Tim is the communication technologies director for Crossroads Covenant Church in Loveland, Colorado. Peterson’s daughter, Ashley, did the Photoshop work on Tammy. Robert Ecklund took photos at banquet and of the “marching band.”
Lyrics from “Eight-Six Conference Churches”:
Eighty-six churches from the conference
With their hundred and ten pastors in the lead;
They were followed by pews and pews
Of the finest delegates
Who came to meet in Omaha.
There were fifty crying children in the nursery
Screaming, Screaming louder than before;
These children cannot wait
To join their parents and celebrate
The good things that we all have in store.
Eighty-six churches from the conference
With their hundred and ten pastors in the lead;
They were followed by pews and pews
Of the finest delegates
Who came to vote for the preacher mom,
Shouting: “In it,” “In it,” “In it together,”
We’re all in it together with the preacher mom!
