Practice session – Hendricks accompanies the CSU ensemble “New Vision.”Although a newcomer to the Charleston Southern University campus, Allen Hendricks is not new to the Charleston area. Hendricks, his wife Miriam and twin daughters Sarah and Lauren moved to the Low Country in 1996 when he accepted a call as minister of music at Summerville Baptist Church.
Last fall Hendricks came on board at Charleston Southern as an adjunct professor, and in January of this year joined the faculty full time as the director of New Vision Ensemble and instructor in the Endowed Horton Chair of Church Music. Hendricks welcomed this new opportunity for ministry as the next step in God’s plan for his life. “When I was called into the ministry,” Hendricks said, “I thought at some point I would teach in higher education.”
Hendricks grew up in First Baptist Church, Easley, under the musical leadership of Sidney Buckley
“He (Dr. Buckley) modeled for me what a minister of music should be and encouraged me through my teenage years after I announced my sense of calling to music ministry,” recalls Hendricks. “It is now an interesting parallel in our lives that he also had a ministry in the church and in the university.”
Charleston Southern’s musical ensemble, New Vision, is thriving under Hendricks’ leadership. This 12-member group of students follows a busy travel schedule to different venues, sharing their testimonies, talent and love for the Lord. This semester their performance schedule included worshiping at churches in Greenwood, Hartsville, and Florence, as well as performing at the South Carolina Baptist Convention Senior Adult Convention in Myrtle Beach in March.
In the future Hendricks plans to incorporate an international mission trip at least every four years for the New Vision members. As a member of the South Carolina Baptist Singing Churchmen, Hendricks recently had the opportunity to be involved in mission trips to Taiwan and India. His experiences there encouraged him with a heightened sense of reaching other nations with the gospel through music
“It’s amazing how many doors music opens. Words you may not be able to speak, you can sing those same words all over the world,” Hendricks said. “I want these students to have that opportunity.”