August 8 Singspiration

August 10 is a Singspiration—the evening’s message is primarily in the songs we’ll be singing. Just as we did in the spring, we’ll feature favorites from as many of our classes and small groups as we can. You can find our hymn supplement listed below, as well as a link to our hymnal index. Even if you haven’t joined a class yet, we’d love to hear from you.

Listen to our congregation sing Chris Anderson’s great hymn “His Robes for Mine” in our spring Singspiration.

Hymn Supplement

• Across the Lands

• All I Have Is Christ

• Almighty Father

• Before the Throne of God Above

• Behold Our God

• Beneath the Cross

• Bow the Knee

• Christ Is Sufficient

• Compassion Hymn

• Complete in Thee (Nyce)

• For the Sake of His Name

• Give Me Jesus

• God, Please Bless America

• God’s Word Shall Stand

• He Will Hold Me Fast

• Headed For Home

• His Robes for Mine

• How Deep the Father’s Love for Us

• I Am With You

• I Come Broken

• I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say

• I Run to Christ

• In Christ Alone

• In God We Trust, in God Alone

• It’s Still the Cross

• Jesus Strong and Kind

• Just As I Am (I Come Broken)

• My Jesus Fair

• O God, My Joy

• O Great God

• Oh, How Good It Is

• Our God Is Mighty

• Resurrection Hymn

• Relentless Love

• See, What a Morning

• Speak, O Lord

• Still, My Soul, Be Still

• The Call for Reapers

• The Haven of Rest

• The Perfect Wisdom of Our God

• There Is an Everlasting Kindness

• We Will Follow

• Wonderful, Merciful Savior

• Worthy of Worship

• You Are Always Good

• You Are the Christ

(Italics denotes alternate title)

Why Choir?

If you haven’t been to Morningside much, you may not yet realize why choirs are so important to us:

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)

We value hearing music presented by singers of all ages and skill levels (not to mention multiple ethnic backgrounds, rich and poor, and male and female). This helps model just a little of the beautiful diversity of the body of Christ.

Kids: We just started a preschool choir, and the children’s choir is singing again on Mother’s Day.

Students: The teen ensemble just sang last week!

Morningside Teen Ensemble sings “All I Have Is Christ” on April 25, 2021.

Rooted (ages 18-22) is leading this Sunday’s evening service.

Groups of Pursue young adults prepare music for us regularly.

And our regular choir—open to all teens and adults of all skill levels—sings every Sunday.

Our choir has been growing again, but there’s still room for you!

Solos and small groups are wonderful, and we enjoy hearing from them regularly too. (Sometimes during the pandemic that’s all we felt we should have!) But there’s something special about people from different generations and backgrounds working together to accomplish something that none of them—even the most talented—could have done alone. It’s a little bit like being… the church.

Some of these groups involve pretty significant time commitments, and except for the summers our church orchestra does require some real skill. But all the rest are really an extension of our congregational singing—which is the heart of our music ministry.

Kids, teens, Rooted, and Pursue all sing together every Sunday. And our young families class and our Morningside Seniors had congregational singing this week too. If you’d like information on how to have congregational singing in your group, we’d be glad to help!

Spring Sacred Recital

May 2

4:00 PM

Here’s something else we haven’t been able to do in nearly two years—hold a Sunday evening sacred recital. The last was in Fall 2019.

The return of Sunday PM services has increased opportunities for small and large vocal ensembles, but we have many more musicians that we hope to develop. (Any of our regular musicians could also be serving constantly in a smaller church somewhere around the world in the near future!)

A ladies ensemble sings “The Lord Is My Light” October 28, 2018, after singing it first at the Fall 2018 recital.

How does a sacred recital at Morningside work? It’s just a little different from our annual children’s Christmas recital. An hour before the evening service a few times a year, we meet in the auditorium to hear others proclaim in vocal or instrumental music how great God is and how they want to praise Him. Some of those testimonies we get to hear later in our regular services. We’d love to see you on May 2 at 4 PM.

If you’d like to participate, register here or find a print form at the Welcome Center. All ages and skill levels are welcome!

With One Voice Choral Festival (5/14/22)

With One Voice Choral Festival

May 14, 2022

7:00 PM

Rodeheaver Auditorium

Bob Jones University

Click for Calendar Info

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In May 2022, members of our choir and orchestra plan to participate in a choral festival rescheduled from May 2020. Our choir is preparing several new pieces as we get ready for it:

• The Church of God Is One

• Psalm 23

• Worthy Is the Lamb

• And Can It Be

• Immortal, Invisible God!

• Nothing But The Blood

Along with these new pieces we’ll do some of our long-time favorites: Only God, God of Heaven, New Every Morning, and Grace. We’ll also present the orchestrated congregational we learned in 2019 of His Robes for Mine, and festival participants will also get to participate in Joan Pinkston’s glorious orchestrated congregational of Crown Him with Many Crowns. We’ll join choristers from several churches from Greenville, Columbia, and Atlanta, and many of our orchestra members are invited to accompany. The congregation will get to sing along for several familiar hymns, and everyone will receive a gospel presentation.

“The Church of God Is One", demo recording with sheet music images

Seating is first come, first served—but there’s room for thousands. We hope you can join us! Contact music pastor Todd Jones with any questions.

You Spoke, We Sang

What a joy it was to sing God’s praises together Sunday night! Members of many small groups contributed, and we sang nearly twenty classic and modern hymns:

God’s Word Our Authority

• The Bible Stands

• How Firm a Foundation

God’s Character Our Delight

• You Are Always Good

• Behold Our God

• Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee

• Fairest Lord Jesus

• How Great Thou Art

• The Love of God

God’s Salvation Our Amazement

• Victory in Jesus

• His Robes for Mine

• I Stand Amazed in the Presence/My Savior’s Love

• Love Lifted Me

• Now I Belong to Jesus

God’s Blessings Our Testimony

• Complete in Thee

• The Wonder of It All

• He Hideth My Soul

• Love Lifted Me

• He's a Wonderful Savior to Me

• All That Thrills My Soul Is Jesus

• He Will Hold Me Fast

• Like a River Glorious

• When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder

We sang a couple in the morning service that several classes requested:

• In Christ Alone

• The Old Rugged Cross

Cousins Zach and Caleb Felber have sung together often, but Sunday night was our first time to hear from them.

We also gave our voices some breaks:

• The choir starting “You Are Always Good”

• A solo by Doug Lowery leading into “The Love of God”

• A duet from Caleb and Zach Felber: “Satisfied”

• Steve Cruice’s testimony of healing from cancer

Thanks to Steve Cruice, Kenneth Driscoll, Elizabeth Gilbert, Don Kruger, Rachel Lambert, Jim Mayhugh, Frances McLanahan, Ginny Nutz, Jeriel Ontoy, Linda Watson, and Bethany Webb for helping collect these favorites. And if you were there, thank you for your singing!

-Todd Jones, Music Pastor

Your Choice Matters

Some choices may not seem to matter much, but what we sing matters a great deal in eternity.

We’re building your song memory so that even without anyone helping you, without internet access, and even without a CD player (anyone have one of those?), you can sing to the Lord any day of the week. We’re praising the Lord for who He is and what He’s done, and we’re telling Him how much we love Him.

Morningside sings the final stanza of “This Is My Father’s World” on January 17, 2021.

Because what we sing matters so much, we take great care in how we choose the songs we sing and listen to together. The lyrics must be biblical, and we try to minimize any distraction that comes from the music itself or from the way we sing or play. If you’d like to see the history of our congregational singing since 2017, just contact Pastor Jones.

One of the Bible’s commands about singing, though, is to do it “in your heart” (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16). If you’re filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18) and allowing God’s Word to find a rich dwelling inside you (Col. 3:16), what’s in your heart is what we need to be singing. So from time to time we ask you what you’d like to sing. One of our liveliest social media discussions of 2020 was when we asked, “Share a song we sing that has helped you feel closer to God.” It’s not as if feelings are the most important part of worship—that’s not why we ask. But when your heart is engaged, some righteous emotions will be involved (see, for instance, Psalms 42 & 63).

March 28 is a Singspiration—the evening’s message is primarily in the songs we’ll be singing. That’s how much we believe in our songs. Not that they could ever take the primary place God’s Word itself must take in our worship. But we believe so strongly in their power to reinforce God’s Word that from time to time we take a fellowship-oriented service to celebrate what we sing in common.

This Singspiration we’ll feature favorites from as many of our classes as we can. We’d love to hear from you.

To the Lord: A Song Service on Prayer

Wednesday night I had the privilege of giving the challenge for our prayer service. I decided to have a song service on prayer itself, using the categories of biblical prayer that a godly man shared with me several years ago.

Charles Sturgill (1937-2020)

Brother Sturgill, as we called him, is with the Lord now. While I was at Stanley Heights Baptist Church (Chattanooga, TN), though, he was still a godly prayer warrior.

Charles Sturgill prayed for me and my family for many hours, so when he shared these categories with me it really meant a lot.

1. Praying in Jesus’ Name

2. Delighting in the Lord

3. Longing for Him

4. Praying with a Psalm

5. Praying with a Song

6. Interceding for Others

7. Submitting Our Plans

8. Bringing Urgent Needs

9. Thanking Him

Those categories have become very helpful in my personal prayer life, and for Wednesday’s challenge I paired each with a Scripture passage and a congregational song. You can watch the service below. If you’d like a copy of the booklet we used, let us know. I look forward to leading another song service in March.

Todd Jones
Music Pastor

Worth Waiting For: A Long-Delayed Morningside Premiere

We had waited for this for nearly a year.

On March 8, 2020, we finished the second-to-last rehearsal before the Morningside premiere of Pepper Choplin’s “Worthy Is the Lamb.” We had one rehearsal left before presenting it the next Sunday night. We started preparing the slides. We were so close.

On March 13, the world ground to a halt. On March 15, we held one last in-person AM service together before beginning 8 weeks of online only. Instead of the night we sang a new song, it was the first night we didn’t meet. Over the summer, we got to learn two new songs for outdoor song services. But it was months before we had anything like a choir on Sunday morning.

As health risk worsened in the late fall, we were thankful to help present a combined Christmas program and take a few weeks’ break. But once we started in January, we were determined to start learning pieces on Sunday again.

This week, it all came together. Seven days after a snowstorm, we had the best attendance for choir and orchestra since that last in-person service. And with that encouraging group, we finally got to present “Worthy Is the Lamb.” And wow, it was worth waiting for.

Amen.

Song Meditation: "Lord of the Small" and the Providence of Music

"Lord of the Small" has always been a moving text for me. Well-known composer Dan Forrest used it in 2010 when asked to honor the memory of 10-year-old cancer victim Erin Buenger.

Erin Buenger (Bryan, TX) fought cancer for most of her short life. cncfhope.org/CNCF_Hero_Erin_Buenger

It was especially moving this week.

This past weekend many of our members attended unexpected funerals, including one of a teen. Sunday we celebrated our part in gospel outreach to "the wretch in the street," as the text puts it, through Miracle Hill Ministries.

Many of the songs we present to the congregation get chosen several weeks beforehand so that we can prepare them well, and this was one of those. Yet God directed us to hear it this week.

God doesn’t choose us because we were great (Deut. 7:7). Instead He chooses the people who are small and weak in this world to shame the strong, great ones (1 Cor. 1:27). Truly we have "been given so much and can so little give." Praise to the Lord of the small.

In Christ,
Todd Jones
Music Pastor

Dan Forrest · Lord Of The Small SSA

Lord of the Small

Praise to the Lord of the small broken things,
Who sees the poor sparrow that cannot take wing,
Who loves the lame child and the wretch in the street,
Who comforts their sorrows and washes their feet.

Praise to the Lord of the faint and afraid,
Who girds them with courage and lends them His aid,
He pours out his spirit on vessels so weak
That the timid can serve and the silent can speak.

Praise to the Lord of the frail and the ill,
Who heals their afflictions or carries them till
They leave this tired frame and to paradise fly,
To never be sick and never to die.

Praise him, O praise Him all ye who yet live,
Who’ve been given so much and can so little give.
Our frail, lisping praise God will never despise.
He sees His dear children through mercy-filled eyes.

-Johanna Anderson

Choirs, Choirs Everywhere: New Music Ministry Opportunities

Would you like to make music with us?

Along with regular rehearsals from our choir and orchestra and several other groups, we have new music ministry opportunities this spring. If you have preschool kids or attend prayer meetings, we’re trying to make room for you right away.

Preschool Choir

Many Sundays at 11 AM

Twice a month during the 11:00 hour, we plan to start rehearsing with our preschool kids. We look forward to hearing from them during the Easter season.

Evensong

Wednesdays at 6:45 PM

If you’re planning to attend each week’s prayer meeting and would like to minister with us that night, join us in our auditorium at 6:45 to practice a familiar hymn.

Regular Rehearsals

• Choir and Orchestra: Sundays at 9 AM

• Children’s Choir: Many Sundays at 11 AM

• Teen Ensemble: Many Wednesdays at 7:45 PM

• Pursue Ensemble: Many Sundays at 12 PM

For more information about any of these groups, contact Pastor Jones.

Christmas Music from Morningside Kids

As promised, over 20 of our Morningside Kids and middle school teens played for us last Sunday!

We heard from beginning strings students, advanced piano students, and just about everything in between. Players’ ages ranged from 6 to 13. In addition to piano, we heard violin, cello, French horn, classical guitar, and trumpet.

Thirteen families participated, and several joined for photos afterwards. Watch the video here.

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Some of the hard-working music students who played in the Morningside Kids Christmas Recital, December 20, 2020. Photo by Christy Perry.

This year we even had room for a couple of holiday guests, and lots of pictures are below.

Kids, parents, and teachers, thank you for investing in future church musicians! We look forward to next year’s recital already…

Watch this special music event with the kids of Morningside.

The Program That Happened: Christmas Carol 2020

As we said before, “Whether to celebrate Christmas was never a question for us.” This year, we walked away from the dress rehearsal still praying that we could celebrate with Majesty Music’s Christmas Carol. With poor health all around, would seven people actually get to come portray the Bailey family, Jamie, and Mrs. Johnson?

After the rehearsal, two readers stepped in to help. And as far as we can tell, the story came through—that God loves every human being and sent His Son to give them a chance to be part of His family.

One of those readers who stepped in, Zach Daab, had been helping direct the play during rehearsals.

Zach Daab and Kimberly Young as John and Carol Bailey, Christmas Carol, December 13, 2020

Calling the drama “a simple, yet powerful story about family and Christ’s love,” Zach said, “I feel honored to have been a part of it.”

Zach’s fellow director Corretta Grass has directed programs during health crises before. “It is always exciting to see how God orchestrates things in our lives!” she said.

He allowed people to move in and out of place gracefully and quickly and the music was such a blessing as well as the drama. I had seen it many times and knew it well, but tears were streaming down my face as the message of the drama and the beautiful music spoke to my heart!

-Corretta Grass, drama director

One person had even more work to do than Zach did, but she did get a few more hours’ notice. Jillian Webb had auditioned for the role of Jamie, and Saturday she got the opportunity to read it after all.

Jamie is hardly excited about staying with the Baileys.

And from children’s solos to our church choir and orchestra, musicians of all ages joined to help present the program’s message through song, including a great addition, “Christ Has Come for All.’

More pics coming soon!

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We praise the Lord for allowing this program to happen. We’d love to hear how the Lord used this in your life in the comments below or at feedback@morningside.org.

Worthy: 11/22 Praise Service

Every year, the United States of America formally recognizes the need to give thanks. This year, it’s November 26. (Every day should be Thanksgiving Day, right?)

This year, Morningside is also setting aside our November 22 service for formally recognizing something else that shouldn’t need formal recognition:

Our God deserves our praise.

Maybe we shouldn’t have to set aside times for formally recognizing that. But as often as we forget to praise God, maybe setting aside time just to praise Him might not be a bad idea either.

Like setting aside a day for thanksgiving.

Plans for our praise service include:

• Readings from Revelation 5

• “In Christ Alone” from our choir and orchestra

• “How Great His Love”

• “Is He Worthy?”

Morningside Baptist Church choir and orchestra lead the congregation in “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” November 8, 2020.

Several musicians and readers plan to help lead us before their holiday travels begin. We hope to see you there.

Music for a COVID-19 Communion

Morningside Choir and Orchestra presents “You Are the Christ” (Andy Gleiser and Reba Snyder Miller, 2013), October 11, 2020.

Last Sunday, "You Are the Christ" opened our 10 AM service with a more intimate mood than usual. But the 9 AM service began in a rousing fashion as the Morningside Singers presented "O Worship the King."

This week we celebrate Communion for the first time in many months.

Morningside Singers

Morningside Singers meet at 8:45 in the chapel.

• This Week: "Holy, Holy, Holy"

• Rehearsal: 11:00-11:45 AM, Choir Room

• Date pending: "Beneath the Cross of Jesus" (Koerts)

Choir & Orchestra

Meet at 9:00 in the auditorium.

This week we present "Holy Is He"/"Holy, Holy, Holy" to open the 10:00 service.

We'll also rehearse upcoming music:

• 10/25: Nothing Ever Can, Nothing Ever Will (Thin Blue Line Sunday, full orchestra)

• 11/1: In God We Trust, in God Alone (new for orchestra)

• Christmas Program, 12/13: "Christ Has Come for All"

Children's Choir

• Biweekly Rehearsal: 11:00-11:45 AM, South Wing

• Next Ministry: 11/15 AM, "Jesus Strong and Kind"

Programs

• 10/25: Thin Blue Line Sunday

• 11/1: Civil Leaders Sunday

• 11/22: Praise Service

• 12/13: Combined Christmas Program

Christmas Carol

Sunday, 12/13, 10:00 AM

This week's music devotion: "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken"

Copy + Paste

LAST WEEK WAS GREAT... WE STILL NEED YOU!

This week's schedule is nearly identical to last week! We add only one thing: 8:45 chapel warmup for the Morningside Singers who practiced last week at 11 AM.

CHOIR & ORCHESTRA: 9 AM ("Only a Sinner")
MORNINGSIDE SINGERS: 8:45 WARMUP ("Crown Him"), 11 AM PRACTICE
BOTH SINGING EACH SUNDAY

“We Will Follow” (Chris Anderson and Greg Habegger, arr. James Koerts), Morningside Choir & Orchestra, Sept. 20, 2020.

40 joined us for choir and orchestra last Sunday. Then another 20 rehearsed with our newly named Morningside Singers for next week's 9 AM service.

Choir & Orchestra

Choir & orchestra (9 AM rehearsal, 10 AM weekly ministry) continues for all this Sunday, 9/27. We'll distance as much as possible, and please consider your health risk when deciding whether to come.

• Weekly Ministry: 10 AM Service (Schedule)

• Weekly Rehearsal: 9:00-9:45 AM (9/27: Choir Room combined rehearsal)

• This Week

  • "Only a Sinner" (full orch.)

  • New song: A38, "I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say"

• Next Week: "No Other Name" (video)

Morningside Singers

• Weekly Ministry: 9 AM Service

• This Week: 

  • "Crown Him…" (Living Hymns #13, VV 1, 3, 5)

  • 8:45 warmup (chapel) with hymnal

• Weekly Rehearsal: 11:00-11:45 AM, Choir Room

• Next Week: "Nothing But the Blood"

Children's Choir

• Biweekly Rehearsal starts 9/27! (11:00-11:45 AM, South Wing)

• Next Ministry: 11/15 AM

• Contact Elain Goslar for more information

Parents and Students

We plan to start assisting with child supervision and transportation next week, October 4. 

Bring Them In

If you would like to join our music ministry, please come to the choir room at 9 AM for choir/orchestra. or 11 AM for the Morningside Singers. We are open to all singers high school and above and would love to speak with instrumentalists as well.

Did You See These?

Last week's music devotion: "Love as I Loved"
This week's music devotion: "I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say"

All Hands on Deck

MBC CHOIR & ORCHESTRA
WELCOMES YOU BACK

WE NEED YOU THIS SUNDAY!

Over the last few months we have adapted to COVID-19 and to multiple schedule changes. Thank you very much for your flexibility. Now it's time to get back to some regular music ministry. 

On Sunday mornings we want choir and orchestra members involved in 1 worship service, 1 small group and our music ministry. Please choose your schedule to make that possible.

10 AM Choir & Orchestra

• Resume @ full capacity this Sunday, 9/20

• Weekly Rehearsal 9:00-9:45 AM Begins

• Open to all high school and above

The choir and orchestra start this Sunday singing “We Will Follow.”

1. Meet at 9 AM in the Choir Room - choir/orchestra combined rehearsal

2. 10 AM weekly ministry plans

   • Sing in the first half of every service

   • Return during invitation to help lead congregational singing at the end of every service

9 AM Service Attendees

You will be receiving a separate message tonight. If you don't receive one, please contact me.

Orchestra, Parents, and Students

We are working to resume split rehearsal, choir nursery, and transportation assistance very soon.
We want to have you back with us this Sunday at 9 AM.
If you know someone who wants to join the choir/orchestra, please bring them to the choir room with you at 9 AM.

Hope to see you this Sunday at 9!

We know that not everyone will be able to attend, and we urge those with high risks of complications from COVID-19 not to participate. Our singers will continue to distance from each other as much as possible.

Just About Full

It’s still nothing like our full choir loft of just a few months ago. But on August 16, we got to listen to 23 singers present “All I Have Is Christ.” Placing everyone presented a good challenge.

Next week we plan to present the choir’s beloved arrangement of Charles Wesley’s great hymn “And Can It Be?” We hope to have a group of similar size. A few spots are left. Would you like to join us?

While it’s great to see the involvement grow, we still have to exclude most of our choir and orchestra members each week. So after the morning services on August 23rd and 30th, we plan to practice “Our God Is Mighty” in preparation for a 9/2 outdoor song service like the ones we had this spring. We’d love to see you there!

To allow social distancing for 23 singers during “All I Have Is Christ” on August 16, we used the platform and steps.