Member Spotlight: Dan Stayskal of White Thorn Events

Why SMI? It was a matter of conscience for the Stayskals

Dan Stayskal of White Thorn Events continues to show that there is no limit to creative ways of spreading the Gospel.

One of those ways will grace stage and screen as White Thorn and Ballet Magnificat present Most Incredible Christmas, a “Broadway-style event inspired by extraordinary and familiar Christmas traditions from around the world.”

Taking place at 7 p.m. December 6 at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland, Florida, with in-person access as well as through livestream and on-demand viewing, Most Incredible Christmas tells “the story of a town’s contest to find the most extraordinary and incredible thing about the Christmas season.” (Go here for an opportunity to win in-person or online tickets.)

The production is right in line with White Thorn’s goal.

Gospel vision: “Our vision is to impact as many as possible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the arts,” says Dan, who owns White Thorn.

One way the company does this is by partnering with such groups as Ballet Magnificat, a premiere Christian ballet company in America. Founded in 1986 by Keith and Kathy Thibodeaux, Ballet Magnificat has the vision of reaching the nations with the Gospel of Christ through original works. The company performs in theaters, opera houses, concert halls, performing arts centers, church auditoriums, and civic arenas.

Finding Magnificat: An information technology guy by trade, Dan is the father of seven children, five of whom are girls. At one point, all his daughters were involved in ballet, but his oldest, Elizabeth, has taken it the most seriously. She spent years studying with the Florida Dance Theatre and eventually became a student trainee with a professional company while still in high school.

In 2016, Dan started looking for a place for Elizabeth to use her ballet talent for the Lord. He discovered Ballet Magnificat. Dan told her about it around the same time she had been praying and asking the Lord if she should continue with her ballet company to be a “light in our local arts community.”

Elizabeth fell in love with Ballet Magnificat and participated in their summer intensive. The program draws several hundred dancers from all over the world. She decided to audition with them and secured a spot in the trainee program. Since being with Ballet Magnificat, she has been promoted to the level that tours with the company.

When he first discovered them in 2016, Dan decided to bring the company to Florida and see how it would do. When he approached the local theater about bringing the company in, they laughed and said no one would come. That didn’t stop him. He rented the theater and told them this show would be different. The performance brought in more than 900 people, some of whom had traveled over 100 miles to get there, and Dan was asked when he would like to have them again.

“I fell in love with it,” Dan says. “The idea of what we were trying to do, presenting the Gospel through the arts—it just resonated.”

Christmas gift: A few years ago, Ballet Magnificat decided to make a Christmas production that would combine traditional Christmas favorites with the true meaning of the season. Most Incredible Christmas came from “the need for a piece that all ages will love with all the nostalgia of the Christmas season, but with a message that truly transforms and changes us,” Dan says.

In 2021, Ballet Magnificat wanted to get back on the road following COVID-19. White Thorn Events wanted to help but knew that selling tickets to see the show in person would be hard. They settled on a livestream production. Since they had never promoted an event nationally, the two entities partnered with Classical Conversations, a leading homeschool organization with over 50,000 members throughout all 50 states. They promoted White Thorn Events, which promoted Classical Conversations as part of the livestream pre-show and intermission.

“My expectations were that a handful of households would purchase a ticket, but we were shocked when over 700 households from all 50 states and five nations tuned in for the event,” Dan says.

“With that success, we learned that by partnering with several national nonprofit organizations, we could reach exponentially more households with our events, and ultimately with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

This year, Samaritan Ministries will be one of the nonprofit organizations promoted during the livestream of Ballet Magnificat’s production of Most Incredible Christmas.

Using gifts: Despite his own artistic abilities and interest in the arts, Dan didn’t know how those could be used to advance the Gospel until now.

“I love the idea that God’s gifts to his children can be utilized to create spectacular presentations that point individuals to Him,” Dan says. “At the end of an event, when individuals come forward to pray with the Ballet Magnificat performers, with some of them giving their lives to Christ, I realize that it was worth every hour, every minute, every sleepless night of planning and preparing for that event!”

Ballet Magnificat is different in two ways from other ballet companies.

For one thing, their ballets are atypical. They tell stories like The Hiding Place (the story of Corrie ten Boom), Stratagem (adapted from C.S. Lewis’s Screwtape Letters), Deliver Us (the story of Moses), Scarlet Cord (the story of the persecuted church under Communist Russia), and Light Has Come (the story of Jesus from the perspective of the angels). All of these performances have been promoted by White Thorn Events.

The other difference is in the dancers themselves. For one thing, they do not have a prima ballerina.

“These dancers are not dancing for their own fame or fortune,” Dan says. “They are all dancing to bring glory and honor to Christ, and that is why I believe so many people attend their events.”

Besides Ballet Magnificat, White Thorn Events has promoted multiple Christian productions such as The Thorn, a theatrical portrayal of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus; Petra; and David and the Giants.

The future: Dan has big dreams for White Thorn Events, such as increasing the number of live-streamed events. He’d also like to see White Thorn get more involved with new and original stage productions.

“Another dream I have is to launch a missions organization that will take small groups of ballet dancers around the world so that they can use their talents to portray the love of Jesus beautifully and powerfully to those who are in desperate need of His love,” Dan says.

Prayer requests:

• “As a family that we will continue to seek the Lord and obey His direction for our lives.”
• “For White Thorn Events that God will continue to use our ministry to reach the lost for Christ!”

To purchase in-person or online tickets for Most Incredible Christmas, go to WhiteThornEvents.com/most-incredible-christmas. Samaritan Ministries members can use the code SM20 for 20 percent off tickets.

Kathryn Nielson is a Communications Specialist at Samaritan Ministries.