Each Lenten season, Ann Crosby sees the hand of God in her rocks.

Crosby is the longtime prop chair for the Broadway-style "Atlanta Passion Play," which runs this weekend and next at the Atlanta Civic Center.

The Easter extravaganza presented by First Baptist Church Atlanta has an elaborate, rock-filled set that needs constant upkeep. These aren't, of course, just any rocks. They are the rocks on which Jesus is crucified. The perfectly round rock Jesus rolls away from his tomb. A basket of rocks Jesus stops a crowd from throwing at an adulterous woman.

Crosby helps create and maintain the rocks, which make up the solid foundation of her Christian faith.

"Before I worked on the play, I used to stand and stare at the production crew through the gap in the backstage door," Crosby said. "I so longed to be in there."

Finally in 1989, she had her chance. One of her first assignments was to create a rock and other scenery.

"I worked and worked. It was so hard. There was so much tiny detail," she said. "All I could think was what was so hard for me was easy for God. All he had to do was speak and there appeared a tree or a rock."

The transformative power of the "Atlanta Passion Play" must be palpable. Busloads of people from all over the region come to see the show —- some 800,000, according to the play's official count. There's a cast of more than 200, a crew of more than 400, and 50-plus musicians —- all volunteers who spend nearly an entire year bringing Christ's story to life.

"This is no bathrobe and towel on the head production," said the show's producer and founder John Glover.

The show, which has had a longer run than "Phantom of the Opera" on Broadway, is Glover's labor of love. As the church's music director back in 1977, he felt there were many Christmas productions, but few Easter plays. So he asked his sanctuary choir members to create a version of the "Passion" patterned after the "German Oberammergau Passion Play." In the end, some 200 church members got involved.

After the final curtain, Glover told the cast he'd reserved the Civic Center through 1990. No one really believed they could keep the show going that long, but the production has taken on a life of its own.

Glover and the show's director work on the play and other theater events for the church full time. The church even keeps its own donkeys, Naomi and Blackjack. They are joined by sheep, goats and ducks. This year the show's longtime director, Barbara Hall, hopes the ducks will behave.

"Last year they jumped right off the stage and into the orchestra pit and, of course, it was during a serious scene with Judas," Hall said, laughing. "The audience did love every minute of it. Ah, the joys of live theater."

First Baptist itself is a massive church, so it might be easy to get lost among the town-sized congregation. Instead, the play has made the church of 15,000 seem accessible.

"We really become a family," said Tamra Silvestre, who has been volunteering for over a decade. "Both figuratively and literally."

At least three couples are known to have met and married working on the "Passion."

"We have entire families involved in the show," Silvestre said. "Grandparents work alongside their grandchildren." In the past, Silvestre and her daughter worked in a number of capacities.

Silvestre runs audio, shapes sets and takes on bit parts. Her challenge now is to scrub the blood that "Jesus" shed last year out of the rocks for this year's show. "Trouble is, no matter how much paint you put on this one rock, it mysteriously always seeps through," she said.

Silvestre's painting partner is Ruth Fetner, a college student who has been involved in the show for years. "I have been a veteran rock painter for seven years now," Fetner said, dabbing orange paint on her pile. "It's not as glamorous as the Arabian princess I played, but it's good practice. I'm studying to be an art teacher."

The "Atlanta Passion Play" has gotten so big that only two weeks after the show runs, director Hall is back at it again. She rewrites it every year.

"To keep it fresh, we like to change the theme," Hall said. Christ's life may stay the same, but Hall writes in different miracles.

With this year's theme, forgiveness, Jesus encounters the woman at the well and preaches on the subject. He also rescues an adulterous woman from stoning.

Hall said the forgiveness theme is timely.

"We have forgotten how to agree to disagree," Hall said. "People are split into so many factions. There's so much anger in this world. We have to forgive one another. I want to remind people that God's love —- and in turn, our love for one another —- is our faith's foundation."

WANT TO GO?

The 2008 production runs at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. on Sunday, and at 7:30 p.m. March 14, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. March 15, and 3 p.m. March 16.

All performances are at the Atlanta Civic Center.

Tickets are $10-$15 and for sale by phone at 770-234-8400, in person at the church's box office, 4400 N. Peachtree Road, Atlanta, or online at www.AtlantaPassionPlay.org