Music & Worship Ministry
Billy Orton - Minister of Music and Worship

The Sanctuary Choir of First Baptist Church, Huntsville serves as part of the worship leadership team for FBC’s 10:30 AM Sanctuary Worship Service each Sunday (broadcast live on WHNT-19 television). The choir performs a wide-ranging repertoire and frequently is accompanied by the 45-member FBC Orchestra.

The choir is featured in several special presentations throughout the year, including Hymn Festivals, the Spring or Easter concerts, and the Living Christmas Tree, which are attended by thousands throughout the region. Last month the Sanctuary Choir performed the Brahms Requiem, a masterwork presented in thanksgiving, remembrance and celebration of the saints who have served Christ through the ministries of FBC for the past 200 years (1809-2009).

Two musical compositions have been commissioned for the choir during this Bicentennial Celebration year: an anthem by Michael Cox of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary entitled “Run the Race with Perseverance,” which was premiered on March 1, and a Christmas selection which is being prepared this summer by Camp Kirkland of Nashville, Tennessee for the 2009 Living Christmas Tree (December 17-20).

Blue Grass & Stained Glass Program

Our church website contains an impressive description of the stained glass windows of First Baptist, Huntsville. The pictures and words there assist the observer to understand the artistry and symbolism of the stained glass images. The website article begins with these words: "The Sanctuary at First Baptist Church is enhanced by stained glass windows designed to influence, to inspire, and to stimulate the worshiper. The sheer magnitude of the windows coupled with their designs tend to draw the viewer into the swirling colors and shapes that express the Christian message." The south window is bursting with creative energy and can remind us of Jesus Christ, "the firstborn of all creation." The artistry of the north window brings a contrasting sense of peace and serenity as we reflect upon eternity and God's glory and grace. "All will be well" comes to mind.

Today's program is an interesting coupling, is it not? The very notion of stained glass linked to bluegrass is a new and striking idea to many. The desire of our Music Ministry, however, is for the worshiper to delight in both! Our preparations this Spring have helped us to experience the joy and peace that occur when God's presence is acknowledged and God's name is praised, whatever style we employ as a means of worship. (Are you remembering that we were presenting Brahms' choral/orchestral masterwork, A German Requiem, just last year at this time?)

Early in our learning process I shared with the choir and band several definitions of bluegrass. Answers.com describes it as "a type of folk music that originated in the southern United States, typically played on banjos and guitars and characterized by rapid tempos and jazzlike improvisation." If you look it up in the dictionary, bluegrass has this definition: "any of the various grasses of the genus Poa, including many valuable lawn and pasture plants, such as Kentucky bluegrass, and also some weeds." (I smiled at that one!) But perhaps the most telling definition for our purposes today is from Bill Monroe, the "father of bluegrass music," who describes bluegrass music as "Scotch bagpipes and ole-time fiddlin'. It's Methodist and Holiness and Baptist. It's blues and jazz, and it has a high lonesome sound. It's plain music that tells a good story. It's played from my heart to your heart, and it will touch you. Bluegrass is music that matters."

All of this brings me to a word about that third stained glass window in our sanctuary, the one that holds high significance theologically, aesthetically and even geographically. Centrally located in the baptistry, just above the choir, this particular stained glass window depicts the cross. Using similar colors as the side windows, it artistically connects the south window's wonder at God's creative power with the north window's view of God's eternal glory.

The meaning of our music today, whether it be traditional bluegrass played and sung, or creative folk hymn arrangements shared chorally, or even sophisticated rhythms and harmonies of "newly composed" bluegrass, is that the cross of Jesus Christ stands at the center of all we do, say and become. Redemption in Christ is the thread uniting our presentation today. Bluegrass and Stained Glass indeed! Let's embrace both.

Billy Orton
Minister of Music and Worship
First Baptist, Huntsville

• July 18, 2010
    Older Childrens Camp Choir - Shake, Rattle & Roll
    |Video|Audio|
   
• July 18, 2010
    Choral Worship: Younger Childrens Camp Choir
    |Video|Audio|
   
• June 13, 2010
    Worship In Song: Mens Ensemble - All is Well
    |Video|Audio|
   
• May 23, 2010
    Offertory: Incantation and Dance - Eric Clark, Oboe
    |Video|
   
• May 16, 2010
    Choral Worship - Gloria - Bluegrass & Stained Glass
    |Video|
   
• April 04, 2010
    The Holy City
    |Video|Audio|
   
• April 04, 2010
    O Be Joyful for Christ, the Lord, is Risen
    |Video|Audio|
   
• March 07, 2010
    Choral Worship: Youth Choir
    |Video|
   
• March 07, 2010
    Prelude: All Offertorio, Sarah Sizemore
    |Video|
   
• January 24, 2010
    Offertory: Alla Siciliana & Allegro - Handel
    |Video|