A beloved annual Christmas production is returning once again to Newton County.

Mack McKibben’s “O’ Come Y’all to Covington” is back for one night only this December at the Covington First United Methodist Church. The show will take place this year on Saturday Dec. 21, with free tickets available starting Dec. 12.

When describing what the play is in a nutshell, McKibben summarized the production to a lighthearted, fun event but with a powerful message.

“It’s just a good, comical [play],” McKibben said. “But yet it turns and has a twist at the end and no one sees it coming.”

It’s something that McKibben looks forward to each year the Christmas season rolls around.

“It’s just been the highlight of my Christmas for my whole family,” McKibben said. “It’s a good, wholesome family event.”

Throughout the production, a live choir of 40-50 people as well as live music keeps the crowd singing along to many Christmas tunes and hymns. The main character, Michael the Archangel is played by none other than local musician, comedian and storyteller Andy Irwin.

McKibben put over just how important Irwin is to the overall production.

“It would not be the play without Andy Irwin,” McKibben said. “He is just absolutely hilarious. But he gets serious toward the end and you get to see a different side of him.”

This will be the 16th year the production will be held. But despite the long-standing rapport in the community, the play almost never made it out of the drafts of McKibben’s notebook. According to the longtime music store owner, he tried to write the play for close to 25 years.

“I would pick that thing up out of the drawer every year and I would start it,” McKibben said. “And about the third day I would just say “Nah, I’ll just take this on next year.”

That all changed after Doug Gilreath, a senior pastor with the Covington First United Methodist Church, visited the store while McKibben was working on the play. After one conversation inside of McKibben’s store, Gilreath and the Methodist Church wanted to see the play come to life.

“He [Gilreath] opened the doors to the church and invited us to come there and take a big chance on this production,” McKibben said. “And every single time we do it it’s sold out. We have the best time with it.”

While the show has been a mainstay for Covington entertainment for nearly two decades, McKibben and company don’t have any physical goals they’re looking to reach this year. Rather, he said the goal sought out for this show was reached on its first year.

“I got a call after the performance [in the first year],” McKibben said. “And the last performance we did I got a call the next day… He said, ‘You don’t know who I am, but I need to tell you what happened… As we were going home my 9-year-old son asked who the character was at the end, that was redeemed.’

“He said. ‘Why did that happen, Dad?’ He said he had to pull that car over and he and his wife gave that boy to the Lord.”

Entertaining the masses of Covington, but connecting the audience with the true reason behind the season is McKibben stressed is what this event is about.

“The mission of this is not to be theatrical,” McKibben said. “The mission is to tell people about the birth of Christ and each life. It’s not just 2,000 years ago birth, he must be born again in our lives.”