Posted: 8/31/07
| Youth choirs from Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston, South Main Baptist Church in Pasadena, First Baptist Church in Abilene, Central Baptist Church in Marshall, First Baptist Church in Valley Mills and First Baptist Church in San Marcos gathered for Converge ’07. |
Combined youth choirs
‘converge’ on San Marcos
By George Henson
Staff Writer
SAN MARCOS—Youth choirs from six churches around Texas met in San Marcos to sound a note for unity.
Converge ’07 involved more than 150 teenagers from Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston, South Main Baptist Church in Pasadena, First Baptist Church in Abilene, Central Baptist Church in Marshall, First Baptist Church in Valley Mills and the host church, First Baptist Church in San Marcos.
“We see about 20 to 25 students in my choir, and my hope was to see them in a larger choir where they could learn more difficult and complicated music, exposing them to music we could never pull off with the limited number of voices on our own,” said Tim Lyles, minister of music and administration at the San Marcos church.
“It also gave them the opportunity to meet some other youth from like-minded churches around the state and really served as a good back-to-school event for churches involved.”
The gathering also provided First Baptist Church in San Marcos with a major event in its new worship facility. The church had met at San Marcos Baptist Academy the past two years until the church moved its present facility July 8.
“We just thought it would be a marvelous way to baptize the building,” said Bobby Miller, minister of music at South Main Baptist Church in Pasadena. “This will certainly be the largest group of voices in choir loft that building has seen.”
The choirs met and worked on five anthems for the Sunday morning service. Miller said the number of voices would expand all the individual choirs’ capabilities.
“All of these anthems are probably accessible to the individual choirs, but there is a confidence in numbers that should make it really great,” he said.
The germ of the idea for the gathering began to take shape in January when Lyles and Miller were together at an educational meeting.
The event that resulted from that conversation was received so well, plans already are forming to do it again next year.
Other churches that would like to join the experience can contact Lyles at tlyles@sanmarcosfbc.org.
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