[caption id="attachment_12114" align="alignnone" width="300"] Gospel Choir worships with fellow students during a performance last spring. (Provided by Camy Hanna)[/caption]
By Rebecca A. Schriner | Echo
Our chapel worship leaders are students, just like you! But they have the answers to many of your questions about what it's like to praise and pray in front of the entire student body. See what Gospel Choir Director Camy Hanna and student worship leaders Seth Lugibihl, Cassie Long and Kevin Boyers have to say about leading chapel worship this year.
Camy Hanna - senior (Gospel Choir director)
Q: How would you describe worship for Gospel Choir?
A: "It's a little bit different. It's not like somebody singing at you. It's somebody singing with you. It's more community-oriented. It's made for everyone to join in."
Q: How do you choose music?
A: "We usually have the cabinet, but this year we're going to have the whole choir pitch in and send ideas to me and just be open to receive anyone's style that they want to bring to the table. That will make it a little bit more diverse."
Q: What is your favorite part of being in Gospel Choir?
A: "My favorite thing about being in Gospel Choir is the escape our selection provides, to be able to be free to worship in the way that I want. Just being able to be a part of a team of people that wants to be the same thing."
Seth Lugibihl - sophomore
Q: How do you define worship?
A: "Worship is adoration to God through the Holy Spirit. It is done through our hearts through the way we live and act in every situation."
Q: How would you want your band to be remembered?
A: "We want nothing more than to be remembered as a group of people-musicians-who strived to reflect the love of God through worship to the student body at Taylor."
Q: Do you have a band name?
A: "After auditions the fall of my freshman year, we were always referred to as the 'freshman band' since every one of us was a freshman, and I guess that hadn't really ever happened before. Now we are the 'sophomore band,' so I'm guessing that trend will continue till we graduate."
Cassie Long - senior
Q: What is one of your favorite parts of being on a worship team?
A: "One of the best parts about the worship band experience is the chance to build relationships with people across campus that I otherwise would have no connection with. My band has always been another family for me and a great source of endless laughter."
Q: How do you want your chapel band to be remembered?
A: "Honestly, we don't want to be remembered as a band, and we pray that God will give us the humility to truly desire that. We hope throughout this year, people will remember the encounters they have with the Spirit during worship and not which band brought them to that place."
Q: Do you have a band name?
A: "No, but we jokingly refer to ourselves as Hillsong Upland."
Kevin Boyers - junior
Q: What is one of your goals for this year?
A: "One of our goals is basically to make people feel as comfortable as possible when they are worshiping and to make us feel like a part of the student body rather than a band playing music and leading worship to the student body, but we all worship together."
Q: What was one of the first feelings you had going up on stage as a member of the worship band?
"First time I was on stage, I remember looking out to see where my wing was sitting, and as soon as I walked up and grabbed my guitar five guys from my wing were screaming, yelling my name. It was kind of embarrassing but kind of awesome."
Q: Do you have a band name?
A: "Last year, Tyler Schnute ('16) was our band leader, and we always went by Schnute and the Blowfish. But now that he's graduated, we've been trying to think of a new one, but we haven't yet."
To answer a few more inevitable questions: Yes, sometimes it's intimidating and nerve-wracking to go on stage in front of the whole campus. Yes, the student worship leaders can see you in chapel and can tell when you skip. And yes, they're excited to sing and worship alongside you in chapel this year.
