INDIANAPOLIS—Pastor Glenn Purnell felt the spiritual foundation of traditional Chinese culture was eye opening as portrayed by Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company.

The pastor of Bethlehem Temple Church had just finished watching the presentation of 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture when he spoke to a reporter. Celebrating his father-in-law’s birthday, Pastor Purnell, his wife, and in-laws saw the performance at Clowes Memorial Hall on March 9.

“Just the sheer choreography was excellent, excellent, some of the best I have ever seen. So, I really enjoyed it,” he said.

According to the company’s website: “Sophisticated dance techniques, an orchestra joining instruments from both the East and West, beautiful costumes, and a stunning back drop—this is Shen Yun at first glance.

“But digging deeper, one discovers a sea of traditional Chinese culture. Mortals and divine beings merge on stage as one. Principles such as benevolence and justice, propriety and wisdom, respect for the heavens, and divine retribution, all come to life, washing over the audience.”

Not only did Pastor Purnell agree with the foundation of the spiritual message he saw, he also felt we need this kind of spiritual renaissance today.

“There is a lot of truth that has been lost in the modern culture. And so I think that this show brought some of that back … home,” he said.

More specifically, we need it in America.

“I believe that we need to have a spiritual foundation and bring God back into our society. Because we have eradicated the spiritual foundation out of our schools, out of our homes, out of our country.

“So I think that this has a very powerful message, very powerful message,” he said.

Reporting by Sally Sun and Sharon Kilarski

New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit Shen Yun Performing Arts.

Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.