Making a joyful noise

Thomas Road Baptist Church hosted its eighth annual Night of Worship

The string section began to play softly, setting the tone for an evening filled with praise during the School of Music’s eighth annual Night of Worship Sunday, March 29.

The rest of the ensemble entered and the Thomas Road Baptist Church sanctuary was filled with sweet music as the massive sea of vocalists joined. The sound continued as the instruments and voices blended to reach a powerful crescendo. The music students captured the audience members’ full attention, causing them to sing along, clap, raise their hands and even shed a few tears.

Dr. Vernon Whaley, dean of the School of Music, shared that this year’s Night of Worship was planned around Psalm 40:5, which states, “You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.”

In addition to worship led by School of Music students, other Liberty ministry teams, such as LU Praise, also participated. The event also featured videos related to the theme and a brief message from Whaley.

Whaley encouraged the audience to not see this event as a concert, but as a time when they could corporately worship the Lord.

“I love Night of Worship, because it’s amazing how part of the School of Music can get together and just proclaim the testimony of Jesus Christ,” junior Dominique Richburg, a member of LU Praise, said. “I love LU Praise, because it gives me a way to use the talent that God has given me. Especially being a biology major, it’s cool to have the opportunity to lead people in worship and study science.”

Appropriately for Palm Sunday, LU Praise sang “God So Loved” based on John 3:16 by Hillsong. During the song, two men painted an outline of Jesus’ arms, feet and head on four canvases. They added red paint in the spots where his wounds likely would have been. The paint dripped down, bleeding across the canvases, and displayed Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

“It was a great experience having the whole School of Music come together and worship as one body, and it was great watching people in the audience genuinely sing out and praise the Lord with us,” senior David Stoeltzing, a participant in the evening, said. “I want to be a professional musician, because music is a language that speaks directly to the heart. And I feel, as a Christian, that the gospel message is the greatest message to convey.”

According to Whaley, there are currently 2,069 students in the School of Music, but he projected that numbers will continue to grow.

Whaley also mentioned Liberty’s School of Music consists of God-honoring faculty that seek to teach students musical skills, and, most importantly, how to share Jesus Christ through their music.

“We want all the work that we do, all the songs that we sing, all the teaching that we do to be done to the glory of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, so that every mountain that Jesus Christ brings us through and every trial that he has us face and that in every blessing, we can say, ‘Hallelujah,’” Whaley said. “And at the end of the day and at the end of our lives, we can say, ‘Lord I give you praise.’”

Whaley wants his students to appreciate what they have been gifted from talents to facilities and to use everything and anything to give praise to God.

“What is truly exciting is moving forward with God’s help, knowing the best is yet to come,” Paul Randlett, a Liberty alumnus from the class of 1993, said during one of
the videos.

According to Whaley, next year’s Night of Worship will be April 17, 2016 in the new music building.

GLOSSNER is a feature reporter.