ALEXANDRIA, Ind. – The hundred or so people holding battery-operated candles Monday inside a small Baptist church didn’t all know one another, and they certainly hadn’t practiced singing “Silent Night” together.

But it sounded as if they had as a soprano voice at the back of the church rose in a descant above the sober choir. The group was recording a video Christmas card for Joey Martin Feek and her family as she battles Stage IV cervical cancer.

“This doesn’t happen everywhere. It’s a small-town thing,” Mike Owens, a member of the church who played the piano and organized the 20-minute taping, said.

Joey and her husband, Rory Lee Feek, gained fame in the country music world after appearing on the Country Music Television (CMT) reality show “Can You Duet” in 2008. They’ve produced seven albums and recently received a Grammy nomination in the Best Country Duo/Group Performance category for their song “If I Needed You,” from their album “Made to Last.”

Monday’s taping is one of several ways, including signs in front of local businesses, that locals have shown their support for Martin over the past several months. Martin returned to her Indiana hometown in October after making the decision to stop treatment on her cancer and live out her final days with hospice care.

“I think it will be very meaningful,” Owens said of the special video gift.

Owens admitted the event actually was the idea of one of Martin’s friends. He said it grew out of a candlelight prayer vigil on Nov. 5.

“That candlelight vigil really was for everyone fighting cancer,” he told the Anderson, Indiana Herald Bulletin. “This time, it’s specifically for (Martin).”

After warming up with the fight song from the local high school, the well-wishers recorded “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” and “Joy to the World,” to words projected on a screen at the front of the church.

“The Bible says to make a joyful noise. It doesn’t say anything about quality,” Owens quipped as he warmed up the crowd.

Afterward, many of those in attendance expressed hope for a miracle for Martin and her family.

“There’s power in prayer,” said the church’s pastor, Rev. Michael Deutsch, as he welcomed those in attendance and led an opening prayer. “Never discount the power of Christ and what he can do.”

Bibbs writes for the Anderson, Indiana Herald Bulletin.