CARA MORNINGSTAR/Sun-Gazette Sara Johnson, Lexi Gresh, Staci Rudolph and Melanie Cobb speak to the audience during the Secret Keeper Girl Masterpiece World Tour performance recently at Community Baptist Church, Montoursville.

The Secret Keeper Girl Masterpiece World Tour, an interactive traveling performance for young girls to celebrate their faith in God, made a stop at Community Baptist Church in Montoursville recently.

The performance is aimed at bringing preteen girls and their mothers out for a night of fun, singing, dancing and learning about Jesus Christ.

“It’s an event for moms and their 7- to 12-year-old daughters. Sometimes we have aunts, grandmothers and even dads come too. It’s all about building a stronger connection between mom and daughter, aunt and the daughter or the female (role) model and daughter,” said Aubrey Brush, road manager. “We want them to help those girls have that connecting experience with that important person in their life before they hit their teen years.”

She said research shows stronger connections help make children more comfortable talking about bigger issues with their parents later on in life.

‘Good enough’

The tour also aims to talk about faith.

“It’s all about how God has created this world. God has created each girl and each mom in that audience for a special purpose in a special way, and he looks at what he’s made and what creation is and says it is good,” she said.

She said because God has made everyone to be special, the girls in the audience cannot look at themselves in the mirror and say, “I’m not good. I’m not good enough.”

“That’s a lot of the message we are trying to send to them. You are a masterpiece created by God,” she said. “Who He made you to be is good enough. That’s what we want them to leave here knowing.”

Melanie Cobb, lead teacher of the performance, said the show is like the energy of a Hannah Montana concert with bright colors, balloons, singing and dancing.

“It’s sort of like a concert, but it’s also like a conference because we do teaching times where we talk about their worth and their value,” Cobb said. “They have value and worth not because of how they look or who likes them but because they are created by God.”

A fun experience

Cobb said the experience is meant to be fun.

“We always have a fashion show, and this season, we have a mother-daughter fashion show,” she said. “It’s sort of a fun time to bring the audience in.”

She said there are many times meant to help the young girls bond with the person who brought them. In between singing and dancing, they tackle topics to help young girls’ self esteem.

“It’s a time to start some conversations that we hope will last a lifetime. We have them talk about things like, ‘What’s one part of you that you wish was different or that you need help believing in?’ “ she said. “Let’s talk about it. Let’s pray about it together. It’s starting those serious conversations that moms and daughters need to talk about.”

Going the distance

Elizabeth Guzman, of New Jersey, brought her 8-year-old daughter Samara Guzman to the program.

“I’m always trying to find something that’s biblically sound, and it’s hard nowadays. It pretty much brings up friendship, self-hood, biblical messages for their age and so we drove three hours for this,” she said. “We don’t have anything like this close to home, so we wanted to get out and have a good time.”

She said she wanted her daughter to enjoy being a girl and being created in God’s image.

“They’ll one day be young ladies, wise old women, even mothers … This gives a nice foundation to that,” she said.

Tasha Melton, of New Jersey, also drove three hours to bring her daughter, Gabby Melton, 11.

“Doing it together as a mother and daughter is special,” she said. “It’s a special time for us. It’s a special thing for mothers and daughters. It’s great for them to learn about themselves as girls, growing in Christ and the importance of that.”

She said she knows her daughter will grow up but wants to remind her that it’s OK to still be a child.

“In today’s age, you don’t have to succumb to worldly images. You can still be a sweet girl. You can still grow, still have fun. You can still be pleasing to God,” she said. “I cherish this time as mother and daughter … and helping her learn about herself in Christ.”

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