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Workshop tunes in to music, ministry

Children and adults can learn the foundation of singing in a choir.

By JACKY HICKS, Neighborhood News Bureau
Published August 8, 2007

The choir always sings the first song at Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church, trolling hymns like We Shall Overcome or black gospels like We Don't Get in the Spirit Like We Used To, accompanied by an ensemble of piano, drums, organ and tambourines. It can be a spine-tingling performance.

But it is more than that, says assistant minister Al Baldwin, who is organizing Mount Pilgrim's inaugural Choir Workshop and Conference, Aug. 17-18. The theme is, "The reason why we sing."

"We don't just sing for entertainment, but we sing to render praises to our Lord," Baldwin said. "The workshop is basically to teach the foundation of the choir."

The conference will include a Friday evening prayer and praise night with Dominique Watkins, a speaker from Orlando who will discuss the difference between praise and worship. On Saturday, registration begins at 9 a.m., and the workshop starts at 10. Participants will be organized into an adult and a youth choir. Each will attend their own teaching sessions and will learn five songs.

On Saturday evening, the two choirs will regroup and join with several local recording artists, including New Dimension from Tampa, to put on a free concert called "Singing the Ole Time Gospel in an Old Time Way." The concert starts at 7 p.m. Participants will also be invited to sing at a Sunday afternoon service.

"It's like a weekend retreat," Baldwin said.

Registration is $10 for adults and $5 for ages 17 and younger. The cost covers a continental breakfast and a lunch on Saturday.

"We're not looking at denomination. We're not looking at race," Baldwin said. "We're inviting everybody."

Ebou Howard will teach the adult Saturday morning workshop, focusing on praise, worship and the role of the music ministry in the church. Howard led the worship team at New Life Christian Fellowship of Tampa for seven years. He has taught similar workshops across the Tampa Bay area and is planning a live recording of his first CD in October.

Howard said he will highlight what he calls "the dangers of worshipolatry" - as in idolatry - or worshiping worship.

"Worship is a lifestyle, not a concert event," Howard said. "We've lost our focus in the music ministry. Music has become entertainment. But nobody's lives are being touched by God. Nobody is being transformed."

Tra'vis King, director of music at Philadelphia Missionary Baptist Church in Lake City, will teach the Saturday morning youth workshop. King will focus on what it means to praise God and to have a relationship with him.

"I'll lean heavily on youth having a praise for God," King said, "having a worship experience and having a worship relationship with God."

Geneva Oliver, a member at Mount Pilgrim for 26 years, plans to attend the workshop. She has sung in the choir off and on for 10 years.

When asked why she sings, Oliver said:

"I like singing, and it's wonderful - singing for the Lord."

Jacky Hicks is a reporter for the Neighborhood News Bureau, a program of the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. She can be reached at (727) 327-2129.

Fast Facts:

Conference call

For more information or to register for the conference, call Al Baldwin at 754-0199 or visit Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church, 4000 Fifth Ave. S., St. Petersburg.

[Last modified August 8, 2007, 06:51:18]