The idea of this Gospel Musical Extravaganza Weekend was conceived in 2019 when a contingent of seven members from the Mount Fortune SDA Church attended the North Caribbean Conference’s Musical Experience in St. Thomas, USVI. These Musical Experiences occur every three years and are hosted by one of the islands in the North Caribbean Conference (NCC) of Seventh-day Adventist Churches.
Unfortunately, Anguilla has never had the privilege to host a Musical Experience. Consequently, I decided at the 2019 St. Thomas event to “feel out” the directors in order to gauge their level of interest in coming to Anguilla to work with us in 2020. Two of them answered a definitive “yes”, once the logistics could be worked out. But then, of course, the onset of Covid caused us to shelve that idea for 2020.
The catalyst for me putting the idea to Vernon “Rado” Rogers was as a result of the director’s series of questions and her offer to provide pertinent information. She asked: “Did you say Anguilla? Do you know Vernon Rogers? He is my brother who chaperones with my choir,” she said.
At that moment, I knew that I had made the right connection. Later that year, when Rado came home, I eagerly pitched the idea to him one Sabbath after church.
His eyes lit up with excitement. I shared the plan with him, and from there the wheels started to turn.
We began to compose a step-by-step blueprint detailing exactly what we wanted the extravaganza to look like.
Well, the weekend is here now, and the event gets underway. It is a jam-packed weekend with a variety of workshops for musicians, worship leaders and choristers. We have also incorporated two demo sessions that will run during the worship service this Sabbath, Saturday 23rd July. These sessions were added, seeing that worship is ineffective when the congregation sits passively and just listens to the praise team presenting songs.
It is our hope that after this experience the quality of music in Adventist Churches across the island would be elevated as our young musicians and worship leaders become better equipped musically to fulfill their roles in a more spirited and professional manner.
We have also opened our invitation for participation to non-Adventist musicians and worship leaders in order to build stronger bonds with other worship leaders and musicians of other denominations.
This Musical Extravaganza weekend officially begins on Thursday, July 21st with a musical workshop. Some of the topics that will be covered are: “The Impact of Effective Communication between the Worship Leader and the Accompanist(s)”; “What Happens in the AV Room Directly Affects The Worship Experience”; “Everything Matters”; “Skills and Techniques of Directing”; “The Role of the Musician in Worship”; “Lead Vocalist Coaching”; “Breathing Techniques and Intonation”; “How to effectively lead Praise & Worship”.
These workshop sessions begin at 7:00 on Thursday and Friday nights, July 21st and 22nd. The Saturday sessions will take place during the Sabbath service, on July 23rd, and our grand Gospel Concert will take place on Sunday evening, July 24th at 5:00.
On June 18th, past, our Music Ministry hosted a concert entitled, “A Taste of the Promise” which focused on the life of Jesus from His birth, to His life on earth, His death, burial, resurrection and the anticipation of His return.
“The Return” as our Sunday evening concert is called, has a similar thrust, with a greater focus on the Second Coming of Christ. We invite the general public to come out and be blessed. Doors will open at 4:00 p.m. and the concert will begin at 5:00. A freewill love offering will be collected.
