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Joining Gospel Choirs
three portraits

Tracey Brown
Natasha Claxton
Howie Meloch

 
In our last issue, Alex Anderson, director of InterVarsity’s Black Campus Ministries, talked about the value of gospel choirs on campus. We asked for your stories and experiences. Here are three, and we’d love to hear more!

Gospel choirs can be a place of rich spiritual growth and ministry to others, as you’ll see in Tracey’s story below. But gospel choirs attract a variety of students who are at many different points of faith and life. Sometimes the high expectations for spiritual vitality can lead to frustration by those committed to the development of deeper faith, as in our second story. And some gospel choirs embrace the challenge of racial diversity that testifies to God’s love, as seen in the third story. Whether life-changing, frustrating or challenging, these three portraits represent gospel choirs where God works to transform his people, and God’s people respond by singing his praises to the campus world.

SINGING IN THE DEPAUL GOSPEL CHOIR

By Tracey Brown

I sing in the gospel choir at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. Through my brothers and sisters in the choir, I am learning what it means to have a relationship with God. I love the singing and the dancing, but I thank God most of all that I can know him and that he desires me to be his child. My life wasn’t always like this.

I was raised with the mentality that with hard work I could do great things and accomplish whatever I put my mind to. So I was bent on going to college, even though I got average grades in high school. In my family, going off to college was a rare experience. I had a dream that I would get an education to become an attorney, get married, start a family and make lots of money. But my journey was interrupted when God stepped in. I believe he stepped in when I stepped onto the campus of DePaul University in Chicago.

To this day I could not tell you how or why I chose to attend DePaul University. I didn’t know much about the college, but my mind was set on it anyway. Maybe I was interested in the campus because DePaul had a program for first-year students of color. Each student in the program was given a mentor to aid in freshman transition to DePaul. My mentor was Kelly Ballard, and she was in the gospel choir. Kelly asked me to come check it out, but it really wasn’t my thing. This was college and it was time to have fun and be wild, right? Wrong! Besides, I commuted two hours each way from school and the gospel choir met from 6:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. or longer. Then Kelly offered me a place to stay if I ever decided I wanted to go to choir.

I can’t remember the first rehearsal that I went to but I do remember the people and how they made me feel. I entered a room full of smiling faces that were mostly black, but with other races present as well. There was something about these people that got me hooked. Their focus was on God and ministering his word. When they sang, they sounded like angels. It wasn’t because they were the best singers, but because they opened their hearts to God when they sang. There was a peace among them and it was nothing like the gospel choir I had sung in at my high school, where we put on a good show and tried to forget about all the mean ways we had been treating one another.

The gospel choir at DePaul was different. They were willing to put aside who they were to praise God. They weren’t perfect. They never claimed to be “holier than thou,” nor did they say they were better than anyone else. But they did claim to be children of God, and they were proud of that. They knew they had struggles in life and they would never make it on their own. So together they built up and supported one another as they laughed and hugged, smiled and cried. I didn’t join that first night but I was hooked and was back the very next week.

My friends in the choir became a support system for me. They held me accountable for my life because someday God would do the same. When I moved on campus, they became the family that I needed to help me to grow and stand firm and be all God had called me to be.

The gospel choir was a new experience for me; they would pray and pray and pray, and I would wonder when it would all be over. They would start a song and create a new verse right in the middle of it. They would shout and dance and speak in tongues. And this was all foreign to me; I just wanted to sing.

Then InterVarsity stepped in. I attended the Vision 1999 conference for black student leaders and it was a weekend I’ll never forget. I cried, repented, and learned all about conviction. I knew it was time for me to make some heart changes. Reverend Brenda Salter McNeil was giving us our final directions before we left, but before she gave her closing prayer she said if there was anyone who couldn’t remember when they gave their life to Jesus to take control, now is the time. And I felt a tug on my heart but I didn’t think she could be talking to me. Then I felt as though she read my mind and spoke right in my spirit and said, “I feel there is a lady here who is struggling with this decision and now is the time to come to Jesus.” So I did it; I gave my life to Christ. This was the first time I did more than acknowledge his existence; this time I accepted him into my life.

It was through the gospel choir and I-V that God worked to change me. That summer I did the Chicago Urban Project with I-V and learned not only what it meant to be saved, but more importantly how to live a life that is edifying to God and is an example that others might follow.

Since the DePaul gospel choir was started about six years ago it has grown from very few members with little music to about 35 members, with many musicians and a number of talented directors. The choir’s goal has always been to spread the Word of God and minister to our campus. Last year the choir added another element to the ministry: Alpha and Omega. This is a praise dance, step and drama team consisting of about ten people who praise God in ways other than singing. This group adds a powerful new dimension to our message.

Like all other organizations, the gospel choir has its share of problems. But we strive to stay in the will of God and work out our differences. We have personality conflicts and disputes, we get discouraged and we sometimes can’t tell if we’re coming or going. But we know that it is simply by the grace of God that we have made it this far, and he will continue to move us and elevate us. We have our cliques that we are not proud of, so we work on ways to get everyone comfortable with one another to the point where we can pray for one another. We do most of our ministry off campus and realize that our three concerts a year and weekly Bible study is really not enough to effectively change and touch the hearts of our fellow students.

We know we are going to face issues but we don’t give up. Instead we lean on each other and together we lean on God. We operate as a unit, humbling ourselves before one another, and stepping out of our comfort zone.

A good example was our Spring Concert 2000. It didn’t go the way we wanted it to, and afterwards we all could have pointed the finger of blame. Instead, it was a humbling experience, and we were all responsible for not being prepared. It is that heart to follow after God and be in line with his will that makes the choir unique. We aren’t all where we desire to be spiritually, but thank God we are far from where we used to be! In spite of the many differences we have and problems we face, the gospel choir remains a place of peace where singing is just the beginning of rich community.

Over the past school year a few of us have been working together to bring I-V and the gospel choir into a better relationship. We have the desire to do more things together because we realize how powerful the two ministries can be. However it is no easy task. We realize that the two organizations are different and the people are very different as well. Right now we are learning about each other to develop a good foundation, and we have plans to do activities and ministry together.

In the fall I will also be one of the choir’s chaplains who will be working closely with I-V staff and students and others to develop a more effective ministry for the members as well as the students at DePaul. It is so vital that this relationship between the gospel choir and I-V be correctly established and maintained. The two organizations together can really help make a difference on our campus. That’s what I want to see happen.

—Tracey Brown is a junior at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. Her major is psychology with a juvenile justice minor. She loves to praise the Lord through music and dance.

MOVIN’ ON

By Natasha M. Claxton

During my junior year of college, I “caught on fire for Jesus,” so I joined the gospel choir. Now, three years later, I’ve graduated and am on InterVarsity staff. It seems as if I have somewhat “outgrown” the gospel choir in my spiritual journey. At times I have felt out of place and frustrated by the lack of spiritual discipline I saw in others. I was reluctantly attending rehearsals, mostly to spend time with students in the InterVarsity chapter. I cared about the choir, but I wondered if my prayers would be more effective from a distance.

During the Black Staff Fellowship Conference this past year, Stan Parker preached about gospel choir outreach. Stan is on I-V staff with Black Campus Ministries at Michigan State University. He taught us to appreciate the testimony and the message that each student brings to the choir, whatever their spiritual history. He reminded me that God’s method of growth for these young Christians could well be different from the method that God has used with me. I must trust his work, then get in where I fit in.

I realized that my frustration with the gospel choir comes from my own unwillingness to meet the students where they are. The gospel choir for many students is a symbol of their commitment to transition, from worldliness to spirituality. Like me in my junior year, many students are just now catching on fire for Jesus. They’re not all “cold,” nor are they all “hot.” These lukewarm hearts are crying out for direction and assistance that only confirms that I’m in the right place. Each song they sing rings a hope of how they desire to grow closer to Christ. I don’t think college choirs were meant to be full of spiritual superstars. I think gospel choirs are a model of the church, the body of Christ, people in all stages of growth.

My perspective had to change before I could hear from God about my involvement in the gospel choir. I used to come to the gospel choir to “draw from the well.” Now, I come to serve at the well, as Jesus demonstrated in John 4. Now, at choir rehearsals, I am an on-site intercessor. My prayer is that God would help me hear the message that each heart is singing and hear his message of how he wants to develop his sons and daughters. He shows me how I can be a servant at the eternal well that will provide living water for thirsty people.

—Natasha M. Claxton is an InterVarsity® campus staff member at the University of Tennessee–Chattanooga. She likes to pray, play the keyboard, watch Veggie Tales and run.

GOSPEL CHOIR 101

By Howie Meloch

When I came to the University of Arkansas as an InterVarsity staff worker, I had a strong desire to develop relationships with people racially different from me. Fayetteville is a very homogenous city, where I could go for two months without having to interact with a person of a different race, so I looked on campus for the most consistent gathering of students of other races that I could be a part of. This happened to be the gospel choir and it also happens to be the most diverse gathering of students on campus. So I joined the choir, first to build relationships, second to put myself where I would be challenged in the area of racial reconciliation on a day-to-day basis, and third to build bridges that InterVarsity students in our chapter could walk over as they seek to develop reconciling relationships.

Inspirational Singers is a class. Students can earn one credit for attending the gospel choir twice a week. The choir is also open to others who want to participate. I have been involved in the choir for two years, along with two other InterVarsity students. Last year I served as an officer and this year I was elected choir chaplain.

The Inspirational Singers Gospel Choir’s heart and soul come from its director, Dr. Eddie Jones. Dr. Jones is a university faculty member who teaches both gospel and concert choir. He has a deep love for the Lord, for music and for students. Being one of the few black professors on campus, he has become a mentor and a source of strength for many black students. He has also been a mentor to me, as I have walked and sometimes stumbled along the path of reconciliation. And he has been my teacher, as I have sought to learn about African-American culture and music.

One benefit of having the gospel choir as a class is the permanence and continuity provided by Dr. Jones’s faculty position. As a professor, Dr. Jones has directed the choir for eight years, and his gifted leadership has added depth and purpose to the choir. He often shares his desire for us to learn and be enriched by African-American music. Each semester we attempt to sing a mix of songs, including spirituals.

One of Dr. Jones’s initial goals was to bring diversity to the choir. At the time of his arrival, there were only one or two non-black students per semester. Now the choir is composed of 30-40% non-black students. Most of the churches where we sing do not expect to see a racially diverse group. It is a testimony to the power of God every time we sing.

The mix of students provides a clear challenge for racial reconciliation. We still have a long way to go in the area of unity in the choir and how to deepen our relationships with each other, but we are moving ahead. I feel this is a key area of growth for the choir, and I am eager to be a part of the process.

One challenge that comes from the gospel choir being a university class and an organization is that we have to be careful with our actions. Arkansas is in a more culturally Christian area of the country, so we have the freedom to discuss the content and meaning of our music, pray before and after meetings, share our praises, pray for others and hold retreats. We are allowed to follow our purpose, which is to minister to those to whom we sing. However, the choir leaders realize that the freedom we have now can be taken away, so we continue to pray about what God has for the choir and its development.

Over the last two years, the partnership between InterVarsity and the choir has grown significantly. It started when InterVarsity offered the resource of Atlanta 98, InterVarsity’s black student conference. Next came the Bible dig-in that I led for the choir. Last year we had a joint retreat. This year some of the choir leaders have been talking about what we can do to help the other choir students grow in love for the Lord. Our choir has a tendency to preach a lot without doing much to lead people into a deeper relationship with God. We think a potential solution to this is to start some small-group Bible studies. This year I have volunteered to organize small groups led by choir members.

The choir has been such a blessing to me. Besides the day-to-day encouragement from other members, it has opened up a whole new realm of music and worship. It’s also encouraging to see some of my goals being realized, such as building relationships and being challenged in racial reconciliation. And I’m beginning to see connections developing that go beyond my own relationships. When I started on this journey three years ago I had no idea what to do, except to put myself in a place of diversity and begin to trust that God would lead. My life is a testimony that he does and will lead. Praise be to God!

—Howie Meloch has been serving students as a campus staff member for three years. He likes to visit major league baseball stadiums, travel with his wife, Camilla, watch movies, play the Djembe and read Student Leadership journal.