First Baptist Church of Fort Lauderdale Footage

Ryan T. - Southfield, MI 
Sophomore @ Wheaton 
Publicity Manager & Choir Member 


March 13th we sung at First Baptist Church of Fort Lauderdale during the end of our spring break tour. This is a video of our performance on youtube... make sure to check it out! :D 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlxPZFrbUSE 

Psalm 150

Great times with friends and family

Haley H. - Williamsport, PA

Sophomore @ Wheaton 

Things ended up not working out with our second host families, so Grace, Mimi, Michelle & I stayed with Jocelyn Cox and her family. This little mix-up was the perfect testimony to the control that God has on our lives and the way he works seemingly stressful situations into absolute blessings.  Because things did not work out the way I had planned, I was able to spend precious time with amazing ladies from the Gospel Choir, getting to know them better and hearing how God has worked through their lives.  On top of that, the hospitality that was shown through Byron and Stacy Cox was incredible, and they made me feel so comfortable and welcome.  One night after a long day of leading others in worship with the rest of GC, all of us girls were sitting around the Cox's kitchen table with Mrs. Cox, and she shared her unbelieveable testimony with us- talk about amazing.  Later on in our stay I was so blessed by Mimi as we shared our life stories with each other around the Cox's pool after devouring plates of Jamaican chicken, macaroni and cheese, and mashed potatoes, compliments of the wonderful women at Rhema Church.  On top of all of this, I was so incredibly blessed by Jenna and Jocelyn's musical talent as they played songs on the piano and guitar and sang beautiful harmonies together. I was also blessed with a night of laughter as Mr. Cox shared all of his stories of the chapel pranks he and the rest of the Wheaton swim team used to try to pull off (unfortunately none of them were ever very successful). Everything about our short stay with Cox family was a gift from God.  If I learned anything from this experience it was that God truly is in control of every situation of our lives, and He works everything out for the good of those who love Him.  


Hallelujah- God is so good! 

One last picture of the whole choir and band outside of First Baptist Church of Fort Lauderdale before we headed
the airport.

(Left to Right) Haley H,  Mimi G, Grace A.

We're Back!

The view outside our 9pm flight from
Fort Lauderdale to Wheaton.

Ryan T. - Southfield, MI
Sophomore @ Wheaton 
Choir Member & Publicity Manager 


     Whats Up Fam, 
Were Back in Wheaton! Thats both good and bad thing. I don't think any of us are to excited about homework stacking up and finishing up post break midterms, however it is nice to be back with the Wheaton community. The last couple of days have been awesome! Wheaton has been rather sunny and the the temperature have reached the low sixties out here, but thats nothing compared to the normative eighty degree weather we experienced in Florida all last week!


Anyway, We just wanted to give a shout out to all the people who have kept in your prayers, and for all the people who helped and blessed us in florida--A Big thank you song in gospel  choir tradition to every bus driver, church, host family, pastor, musician, cook, minister, speaker, assistant, community member, and person we came in contact with! God's is Good, and that goodness is soooooooo Deep!


From the Mouth of the publicity manager (I), it has been awesome having the chance to try to put media on this blog, and watch the activity of those who read this. We have views from Singapore, China, Haiti, United Kingdom, Kenya, USA and other places internationally. 


Moreover, as time permits as a student im excited about editing the 220 gigs worth of Audio, video and photograph from tour. 220 Gigs! I excited to share it with you all but first i have to edit it, so stay tuned!


Blessings 

Live Web Streaming of Gospel Choir at First Baptist of Fort Lauderdale

Tiffany Egler
St. Charles, IL 
Assistant Director


Hey everyone!


               I just want you all to know that we'll be part of First Baptist of Fort Lauderdale's morning service; this Sunday at 10:30 AM EST. We are so excited to worship the Lord with them, and the church will be livestreaming the service from fbcnet.com! If you are unable to watch it during that time, it will still be up for a week after the service. Thanks so much for following up with us and supporting us as we journey through the rest of our tour!

FBCFL Main Sanctury

Much love, 
Tiff

Wheaton College At Westminister Academy

Ryan T. - Southfield,  Mi
Sophomore @ Wheaton 
Choir Member & Publicity Manager 


We've been all around Fort Lauderdale Florida over the past few days, preforming at schools, churches, and other facilities. It's has been an awesome experience! God is great, and he has show us many things along the way. I wanted to send a quick video out time at Westminister Academy, for their chapel time. The audio Clips a bit but be be sure to check out the picture in HD! 


Gotta Run


Ryan 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRkYOYV4QXs

An Inside Look: Liz S. & Kaitana A.

Liz S. - Washington Dc

Senior @ Wheaton

Major: Comm. Media studies

     For me, Gospel Choir has been a place of truly worshipping God through musical expression. Coming from a background of musical performance in both church and school choirs, I have been encouraged and challenged in choir not to make perfection the focus, but rather to offer a genuine and excellent sacrifice of praise to our Father God while inviting others to join us. The love that we have for God individually overflows to one another and unifies us as a choir and a community. I really enjoy both the times of deep, contemplative worship and joyful celebration as I lift up my voice with my friends to praise the Lord Jesus! The best part of Gospel Choir is that it is a group of believers surrendered to Christ, humbled by His grace, and excited to exalt the mighty God we serve through beautiful music and a lifestyle of praise.   

Kaitana A. - Bolingbrook, IL 

Junior @ Wheaton

Choir Member & Choir Secretary

Major: Math education

     Gospel Choir has been a place for people to come to be with family. I was first introduced to Gospel Choir my freshmen year at freshman worship. What drew me to them was how diverse it was. It was a beautiful representation of the body of Christ. Being in choir has been a great way for me to know great people on this campus, who have continued to bless me life in a way that I would never want to replace. 

Time Lapse of the Catamaran

Ryan T. - Southfield, Mi
Sophomore @ Wheaton 
Choir Member & Publicity Manager 


       So its ridiculous early right now, and I may or may not have have stayed up until now? :? Today, was one of our off days of tour, here in Florida. Today we spent the day on the ocean riding on a Catamaran! Fun for sure... We spent time hanging out, talking, swimming, and simply just relaxing. Here's a little time lapse Video I made of our experience.. Hope you enjoy. 
Today I was supposed to edit video of some of our past performances and experiences but I had a hard time with After Effect and Premiere Pro in the editing process... The documentation of the past few day will be up soon! Promise


Don't for get to tell your people about the blog ;)


In Godspeed 
Ryan


Heres the vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGY76PS-2Lw

An Inside Look: Michelle L.

Michelle L. - Whitinsville Massachusettes   

Freshman @ Wheaton 

Gospel Choir Member

     Hopefully you have been able to hear gospel choir sing “I Am Free.” This one song has been the theme song of my gospel choir experience so far.

What first drew me to gospel choir is the freedom and pure joy I found when I attended a gospel choir worship night at school. The choir did the dance to “Jesu Christo” and “There’s No One Like.” I grew up in a pretty conservative church so dancing while singing worship songs was a new concept to me. But as soon as the crowd got to dance with the gospel choir, I felt so free as I danced! I had never felt so happy singing a worship song and moving my body in a way that was also glorifying to Him.

Once I joined gospel choir I was confronted once more with my conservative roots. I wasn’t sure if I really fit in. But then Tanya prayed something I will never forget. In her prayer she said that we were all coming to Christ just as we were. It hit me so hard that God wasn’t expecting me to be charismatic; He was just expecting me to worship Him with my whole heart, no matter what it looks like. The freedom I felt was so overwhelming, I couldn’t help but cry. I had made expectations for myself that I thought I had to follow, but instead God just wanted me to worship Him just as I am.

This freedom has given me a chance to grow in God. I’m not as worried with how I appear when I’m on stage. Now I’m more focused on worshiping Him alone. 

A Quick Video

Phil C. - Southfield, Michigan 
Tenor/BassSecond Year member

     There was an air of incredulousness about the choir as we stepped into New Hope this afternoon to find a vast plethora of goodies ranging from Hot Dogs and Burgers to Spaghetti salad and about 15 different casserole dishes. I was full because it was about 4 o clock and I had already eaten roughly about 3-4 meals already, but nevertheless I decided to delve into the food once again. On the short trip from the door to the line I was lavished with the Churches positive affirmations and general spirit of good will. By the time I had my food I was in a fantastic mood and found myself in the most comfortable of spirits. Eventually Service began and we began to sing, it was our first official concert and I was eager to regain the vigor from tour last year but I had to focus on the right now. The right now at the time so happened to be a short background story about a younger member of the congregation who was terminally ill battling with cancer. We were told that he would come on stage and we would sing for him. I was a lil shook up because Several members of the choir including myself have had some upsetting experiences with people they knew passing from cancer. Tears were shed on that stage by some members and I unexpectedly began to connect with not just the kid who we were introduced to, but with the entire church and my fellow choir members who I am getting to know better day after day. I took that emotion and I threw it into my worship and while the crowd was at times quite passive from a kinesthetic point of view, They were not shy in their praise afterwards going so far as to invite us out to go to Haiti and visit their ministry and sing in the future! I didn't realize till later how much that affected me till I heard the sermon that the pastor had preached and when I saw the love with which he talked about their ministry in Haiti I was honored that he would think us worthy to help plant and grow the seed of Christ in the children that were over there suffering. 

After the Concert we went back to the house, (After a pit stop at Mcdonalds where we got tricked into singing, and a Walmart run soon after that) and hung out with our host family who we love and adore already even at this point of the trip and I consciously made the decision to let this tour stand in its own spotlight and not compare it. Because I realized that each tour has a special way that it works through its participants and I would be a fool to restrict its impact to just being as good as last years. I honestly can't believe that this is just the first day of tour and I am literally BEYOND excited for not only the impact that I can have on others but also the impact that others will have on me. I don't know a lot of the newer members of choir but already I sense the attitude and heart throughout the entire Choir. However all my talking really can't express the feelings I have as well as the video below does so watch, enjoy, and revel in the lords grace like I do every time I hear our choir sing this song. :-)

Phillip Charles Carr III

When I think about the Lord Snippet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb8hN3TAWlc

Finally Arrived! Tour 2011

Jerard W. - Chicago, Illinois 
Junior @ Wheaton College 
President & Pianist of WCGC 
Third Year member
    

(Left to right) Jerard, Phil, and Daniel wait for the 9am flight
with along with fellow GC peers.

     The Wheaton College Gospel Choir has finally touched down in the beautiful state of Florida. After an early morning trip from Wheaton, 58 of us are here in Ft. Lauderdale and ready to get this tour started, and it already has. After arriving at our host church, New Hope Community Church, we disbursed into our host homes, but a small portion of the choir went to be a part of a birthday celebration at Rhema Word International Ministries. Through step ministry, gospel rap, and some awesome jams from the band, we were able to celebrate with them and eat some really good food at the same time. Tomorrow we will return to Rhema Word for their morning service, from which we will also be doing an evening concert at New Hope. This is just beginning, and now that we are all rested up, we are ready to give God the praise He deserves, minister to His people here in Florida, and have a little fun too. 

Goodnight everybody!

Palm Trees, Green Grass, and sitting on the curb.
Florida.

Jerard reaches for the sky as the weather in  Fort 

Lauderdale is surely a change up from Wheaton. 

It was 31 this morning in Wheaton and snowing, 

Fort Lauderdale was in the mid-70s today.

An Inside Look: Haley H.

Haley H. - Williamsport, PA

Sophomore @ Wheaton 

     There are days when I feel like I'm the only one who's struggling, days when I'm completely surrounded by people, but still feel so alone.  The level of intimacy and trust that I've found within gospel choir has been a constant source of affirmation in my life that, depsite all of the lies that get thrown at me on a daily basis by other people, the media, and even my own messed up head, has assured me time and time again that I am never alone.  The willingness that I've found within other members of gospel choir to expose their own insecurities, tear down the fronts that they build up, and lay their deepest struggles on the line in front of everyone has been such a blessing and has helped me stay grounded on what is real and what is truly important, especially in a place where there is a constant pressure to appear to have it all together.  Coming in as a sophomore transfer has made it especially hard to find a little niche for myself within the Wheaton College community, but joining the gospel choir has provided a place for me to fill.  Every member of the choir is vital and needed, and what a blessing it is to belong. 

An Inside Look: Jim Hudson D. T

Jim Hudson D. T - Lewisville, North Carolina 

Sophomore @ Wheaton

Second Year Choir Member  

     It's been difficult to be in Gospel Choir sometimes, especially when I first started. There's no music so everything is learned by ear, which has been difficult - I sometimes still don't know whether I'm singing the right words for some songs, I never know if I'm singing the right notes, and as a tenor there's a lot of high notes, too much and too high. Gospel Choir also requires commitment, a lot of commitment. Practice is twice a week for two hours, and we do a good number of concerts at churches, schools - wherever they want us to go and it can be draining. Now onto the style of worship itself. I've always liked the genre, how it sounds, the rhythm, and movement of the songs, but Gospel music - I discovered - was more than that. It required more of me, of each individual - up on stage and those in the audience. It wasn't a forceful "requirement" (although sometimes I definitely felt like I was being forced to pull on something inside me that I felt wasn't there), but the nature of worship itself, regardless of style, pulls from you something more than just an emotional or mental response. It's easy to worship God inside my head because that's how I grew up and it's also going to be easy worshiping God with my body if that's the way I grew up. Culture affects how we worship and in what contexts we are comfortable in. Thus, worship - in spirit and in truth - is influenced by our culture, but it also transcends it. Singing and dancing can easily happen in our heads or with our bodies, and yet it isn't worship, even if we are singing the right words - "These people honor me with their lips, but their heart if far from Me. They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commands of men." (Isaiah 29:13) Worship comes through something else, from the heart, or, in the original Hebrew, from our levav - our thoughts, emotions, and something even deeper and bigger than that, our life.. It is more than just singing, moving, dancing, and the right combination of words. That's what God has taught me in my time with Gospel Choir. And with worship everything else (all my complaints) get put in its proper place and seen through the right lenses. "There's no music and so everything is learned by ear" and so everything is taught by ear too - PRAISE THE LORD for Miss Tanya, Tiffany, and Jerard, for the genius that lies within them! Gospel Choir requires a lot of commitment - to worship! We are called to live as living sacrifices of praise. It is the purpose of our bodies, minds, and souls. And the hours on the bus, in soundcheck, and waiting to get on stage really builds community. There's a sense of family that grows each time.This is Wheaton College Gospel Choir through the lens of one guy in it; someone favored with the opportunity to worship God twice a week, as a follower of Christ, and as a part of the body of Christ.

Photo Stream Launched!

Ryan T. - Michigan
Sophomore @ Wheaton 
Choir Member & Publicity Manager 


Hey Fam, Its been a while...  We plan to hit you with more content really Soon. The Past semester has been great and the start of this one has been great as well. We leave for tour in less than 48hrs!


Anyway, We just wanted to let you know that the Photo Stream has been launched on Flickr. Just a photographic taste of the past Concerts, hangouts and such. Be sure to check it out! :D


Check it here: