More than just singing: Workshop aims to revive interest in glory of church choirs
Music, to me, is a great part of church worship.
As a teenager, I became a member of the historic St. John Institutional Baptist Church in Overtown. It was always a heartwarming experience to get to church before the late Pauline Dunn directed the church’s five choirs to process into the sanctuary on the strains of a great anthem such as “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name.”
I can still see her, seated at the organ in the main choir loft just above the pulpit, waving her right hand gracefully to signal it was time for the choirs to start the procession. Once the sounds of the organ swelled and filled the sanctuary, and the choirs started processing down the aisles to their respective places, you just knew we were about to “have church.”
But church choirs seem almost to be a thing of the past. That is because many churches are replacing the choir with a praise team, a group of from four to six singers, who will kind of “warm up” the congregation with “praise and worship” songs at the opening of the church service.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I love “praise and worship” music. It gets the congregation involved. Who in the congregation can sit, without joining in as the praise team sings and the words of “How Great is our God” echoes throughout the sanctuary?
While many traditional Protestant churches still have a choir, the number of churches with full choirs seems to be dwindling. Indeed, the church choir, as I once knew it, seems to be on the way out.
Which is why the Rev. Gene Townsel, a longtime preacher, vocal coach, and choir director has organized the “3-Night Choir Revival and Workshop” to be held Oct. 5-7 at Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church at 1060 SW Martin L. King Ave. in Deerfield Beach.
‘Almost a memory’
When I spoke to Townsel, he remembered the same grand days of the choirs at St. John Institutional Baptist Church.
“As a child, I witnessed the power and majesty of the choir at St. John,” Townsel said. “So, it is very strange to me now to see that the church choir as I knew it is almost a memory.”
To revive interest in the church choir is one reason he is doing the workshop, but it is not the only reason, he said.
“The workshop is not just for singing. I want to try to put back in place what God ordained. As we look at the word of God [in the Old Testament], the tribe of Levi was put in charge of music in the temple. The workshop is to stimulate and motivate those pastors and music leaders to put back in place what God had ordained from the beginning,” Townsel said.
While praise and worship music serve to encourage the congregation to lift praises to God, Townsel said the choir music gives the congregation the opportunity to listen to the Word of God through songs.
He said it worries him that today some praise teams seem to be more into entertainment than worship: “The purpose of the workshop is to “…prick the conscience of the attendees as to what God had in mind for the purpose of music in His sanctuary.”
He said the workshop will present demonstrations about how praise and worship music is different from traditional choir music, as well as having information on how the administration of a church music department works.
“The gift of administration in the music department is very important,” Townsel said. “Church music administration is more than just singing.”
Fond memories
Townsel and I shared fond memories of the choirs at St. John. Our conversation reminded me that some of the most wonderful memories from my childhood, which started when I sang with the Junior Choir at New Hope Baptist Church, located back then at Northwest 15th avenue and 65th Street in Liberty City. This was several years before I joined St. John.
I was 11, when I first visited New Hope, at the invitation of my childhood friend Willie Mae Stephens (now Mae Whitman). We met at recess on the playground at Liberty City Elementary School. Although we weren’t in the same class, somehow, we connected, and she invited me to attend Sunday school with her at New Hope.
I loved church and was a frequent visitor at churches in the neighborhood. A good song from the choir and a good sermon would often find me making my way to the altar.
When I met Willie Mae, I was attending church in Overtown at Ebenezer United Methodist Church, which was then at Northwest Third Avenue and 10th Street. We had to take public transportation from Liberty City to Overtown to attend church. So, when I asked my mom if I could attend church with my friend, she was happy to allow me, and my brother Adam, to go because then we could walk to church.
On my first visit to New Hope, the Junior Choir was singing. They literally rocked the church! I was so overwhelmed that when the late Rev. James Brown finished preaching and “opened the doors of the church” (an invitation to join the church), I walked tearfully to the altar and placed my trembling hand in Rev. Brown’s great, big hand.
It was a glorious day. I was given the “right hand of fellowship” and became a candidate for baptism. The only problem was, a week before I was due to be baptized, a girl my age, from another church had heart failure and died just as she was being baptized.
I am still ashamed to admit, my faith failed me. I didn’t show up for baptism and didn’t go back to New Hope until I was 13, when once again, I was moved to “give my hand to the preacher and my heart to God.” And I became a candidate for baptism. Again.
My first time singing in the Junior Choir was on the Sunday that I was baptized. I have been addicted to church choir music ever since.
So, let me urge music lovers to attend Townsel’s choir revival workshop. The three-day event will feature the workshop sessions from 6-7:45 p.m. followed by a worship service at 8 p.m. Speakers for the worship service will be Bishop Jimmie Williams, Bishop Albert Moore, and Townsel.
Early registration, which ends Monday (Sept. 25), is $25 per person. On-site registration is $35 per person. The worship services are free and open to the public. To register and to participate in the workshop choir, call Townsel at 561-436-0868.
If you go, you just might become addicted, too. This is one addiction that is good for you and your soul.
Bea Hines can be reached at bea.hines@gmail.com
