The idea for a “singing Christmas Tree” began in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1958 by the Charlotte Choral Society as a fundraiser for a charity. In 1963, Dr. John Gustafson, Minister of Music at First Baptist Church Van Nuys, California, began using it as an outreach tool at Christmas. In 1972, Millard Heath built a steel framed tree with choir risers for First Baptist Denton, Texas. Since then the Millard Heath company has built more than 200 “trees” for churches in more than 30 states and overseas.

In 1980, when Minister of Music Bill Roper and Pastor Dale Huff went to the finance committee to ask for funds to build a Living Christmas Tree, they promised that the tree would be used for five years and that would offset the investment. From the beginning it was a church-wide project, not just the music ministry. When the first tree was being erected, members of the congregation would come to the church and sit in the sanctuary just to watch!  

From the beginning, the purpose for the Living Christmas Tree has been to present the gospel to individuals who might never come inside a church for any other reason.  

The first year of the Living Christmas Tree, only three services had been planned. The first was comfortably filled, but after word spread on the second and third night, people who couldn’t find a seat were standing around the walls. The first year there was one additional presentation because the demand was overwhelming. That night people circled the block waiting to get in the building.  The demand for tickets was so great one year that counterfeit tickets were produced. Someone sent the story to Paul Harvey who used it on his radio program “The Rest of the Story.”

Originally, First Baptist Church Montgomery used one tree in the original Stakely Sanctuary. As involvement grew, two smaller trees were added. When the church moved into the new sanctuary in 2004, the original tree was rebuilt and made larger to accommodate 150 singers. One of the smaller trees was donated to another church and they are using it as a “transplanted” Living Christmas Tree to be used to the glory of God!