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Atlanta West Wins “Best Choir”
in America By Shohna Neumann
Verizon Wireless sponsored the national How Sweet the Sound (HSTS) competition to find “the best church choir in America.” In 2009, they decided that was Atlanta West Pentecostal Church.
Here’s my part in this story. I did, in fact, hitch a ride with some of the members of my church to Detroit for the Nationals Competition on Saturday, November 7, 2009. We straggled into our lodging at a modest 4 o’clock in the morning that same Saturday. We left at four in the afternoon to meet with dozens of family members and some of their personal friends whom they’d invited to come with us.
When we first entered the arena at 6:30 p.m., we were met with a very energetic atmosphere. People were bustling about towards their seats; they were knowingly throwing money away in the hopes of a dinner/after-dinner-snack; they were meeting with their guests and finding out where to sit down. Well, as a good hour-and-a-half wore on, it seemed to frazzle. Everyone, including me, was beginning to look at our watches and having it dawn on us that we’d apparently arrived 1.5 hours early for . . . nothing. But I digress.
One thing that many people took advantage of was that you could send a text to whatever designated number and it would show up (eventually) on two huge screens across the arena. So, as we drew closer to Donald Lawrence’s opening remarks, the mood started to pick up. People homed in on their seats and scarfed down that popcorn. Text messages switched from pictures of girls to “Take it home, Chicago!” and stuff like that.
Side Thought
One thing that nagged at me about HSTS is that the Ryan Seacrests of the competition make it sound like we could be listening to the orchestra for all of the “God” factor involved. Does that make sense? A church choir, from the dawn of time (or whatever), has been assembled to draw Christians in unity to a single praise of God. That is the point. People may have lost that point over the generations, but when you get a choir together, the point is to glorify God. Donald Lawrence is so polished that if you forget what you’re really listening for, you’d think the only thing we’re looking for is the bounciest choir with the best moves.
The Competition
As far as the actual choirs are concerned, I don’t really
remember the order or the exact songs too much. I had two favorite choirs. One
was your seemingly typical choir (at this point in the competition), but they
had some serious anointing on them! They sang, “I’m on the battlefield/ fighting
for the Lord.” Seriously, I could have danced in the aisles. The other one was
an all-white choir who sang, “Soon and Very Soon;” definitely a good choice,
because the audience loved singing along about heaven. There were one or two choirs I didn’t actually understand
the words, and they were very energetic, so the audience wanted to praise God
with ‘em. But it was tough. There were one or two choirs that I definitely wanted it to be over and/or wanted to fall asleep to. There were a couple of amazing choirs that I admired based purely on technical skill. There was a certain director in the second half of the 11 total choirs who made me tired just looking at him. Don’t get me wrong; our church choir director, Brandon Frazier, is totally on the ball. But this guy was giving it 250 percent, and that choir followed his every move.
The Judges
Let’s be honest, here. I was a little skeptical about mixing
up the judges from last time. Why keep 1 of 3 judges from regionals if you’re
going for an “unbiased” mix? And why bring in new judges anyway? Either way, I
ended up not minding. They chose Byron Cage, Dorinda Clark-Cole, and Marvin
Sapp as the finalist judges. They really impressed me. I usually ended up
agreeing with their conclusions. They said nice things like “great sound,” “keep
doin’ what you’re doin’”, “I love your energy, man!” In fact, one time Dorinda
Clark-Cole mentioned something about feeling God’s Spirit in the room after a
particular choir, and I got a bit antsy. I hadn’t felt much. Maybe I’m just a
heathen, and I’m sure God moved, I really am, but I was like, “If she thinks
this is anointing, how will it bode for us?” Anyway, Marvin Sapp is definitely my favorite. After he said that whole, “I’m gonna come to church one Sunday, and Imma slip in the back, and I’m just gonna allow some yokes to be destroyed offa my life from this ministry”; yeah, he’s awesome.
“Atlanta. West. Pentecostal. Chuuuuuurch!”
So Atlanta West got up, and all of a sudden I started wishing I had been praying like Daniel over us. Three times a day, three hours a day. Unfortunately, I had forgotten, and I started sending up desperate half-worded prayers to God, leaning on my equally desperate hope that He knew what it was I was asking. I didn’t even know I was asking. For us to win? For thousands of people to be slain in the Spirit? For the judges to feel Jesus so powerfully? All of it, and more, and I just needed God to do what He does best: the impossible.
The Results
Don’t misinterpret this next part, but every time Atlanta West has sung at HSTS (which is 4 times, so far), they win People’s Choice. People’s Choice is when Verizon customers text their favorite choir number to Verizon and they count it as $5,000 awarded. So I didn’t even question, exactly, who was going to get that. It’s not as bad as it sounds. You could tell everyone loved Atlanta West.
The Rest of the Story
To anyone who knows “stuff” I’ve neglected to mention, let me know. As for me, I hope God doesn’t stop here. He doesn’t have a history of doing that, so I want to see how far He takes it!
Videos on YouTube here.
ninetyandnine.com
Shohna Neumann remains thrilled at God’s goodness to Atlanta West UPC.
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