The South Carolina Baptist Convention recently celebrated 50 years of statewide worship and music ministry with a commemorative concert that recalled some of the defining Christian worship songs of the past half-century.
The concert took place Nov. 13 at First Baptist Church, Greer, and featured the voices of the South Carolina Baptist Singing Churchmen, SeraphSong (a women’s choir) and some long-serving South Carolina ministers of music. The hand bell choir from Greer First Baptist also was featured, as were organist Matt Limbaugh and pianist Paula Joye.
Tom Westmoreland and Jim Gill, the only two men to serve as statewide worship and music directors in the department’s 50 years of existence, narrated the program, which featured music spanning the decades of the ’50s through the 2000s.
Audience members smiled warmly as the songs reminiscent of their respective generations filled the sanctuary, including
– from the ’50s: “Every Day with Jesus” and “His Eye Is on the Sparrow”
– from the ’60s: “To God Be the Glory” and selections from “Good News”
– from the ’70s: “Do You Really Care” and “He’s Everything to Me”
– from the ’80s: “Because He Lives” and “Majesty and Glory”
– from the ’90s: “Worthy of Worship” (conducted by Mark Blankenship, minister of music at Hilton Head Island First Baptist Church, who composed the music) and “Midnight Cry”
– from the 2000s: “Shine, Jesus, Shine” and “Majesty.”
Westmoreland and Gill have written a series of articles that recount their impressions of the evolution of church music since 1956, when Westmoreland took the helm as convention church music director. The articles can be found at the SCBC website, www.scbaptist.org/worship.
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