NEW YORK CITY – In November, three Springfield churches sent their choirs to perform at Carnegie Hall In New York City with Christian artists Charles Billingsley and TaRanda Greene.
Choirs from Crossway, Ridgecrest, and Second Baptist, along with five other choirs from around the country, sang with Billingsley on Monday, Nov. 25.
Billinglsey was formerly a member of the Contemporary Christian Music group NewSong, and was worship pastor at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA.
Billingsley and the churches presented the world premiere of a Christmas musical, The Majesty of Christmas!
Joshua Hall, Director of Missions at the Greene County Baptist Association, says “My wife and I attended, and it was a wonderful experience.”
Mark Meyers, worship pastor at Second Church, describes how the trip came about for him, Ridgecrest Worship Pastor Rich Langston; Crossway Minister of Music Mark Mathes; and their choirs.
“The three of us are involved in a group of worship pastors from around the nation that meet once a year to network, do some training, and just get a little refreshed from the work of ministry.’
Phil Barfoot, CEO of Celebration Concert Tours International hosted a dinner at the event and explained that he was organizing the concert. He extended an invitation to the pastors to participate.
‘He pitched the idea ‘Springfield goes to Carnegie Hall,’” Meyers says. “We all thought it was a great idea and began to make plans for the trip!”
“Taranda Greene and Charles Billingsley,” Meyers says, “ are incredible artists in their own right but also understand ministry in the local church, and are strong advocates for the choir. We were honored and grateful to share the stage with them.”
Mathes of Crossway says “The experience was wonderful. After checking into our hotel, and many times during the days we were there, we had time to visit all the sights of New York City while at the same time rehearsing together to prepare for the big concert on Monday night.
Altogether there were eight churches from different states and a total of 300 voices singing. It was a night I’ll never forget.”
He says over 3,000 people attended the concert.
The three choirs also combined their voices for a concert the night before the Billingsley event, Mathes says.
“Our three church choirs added an additional concert on Sunday night and led worship at Gateway Church on Staten Island. That was a great night of worship. Several churches from the area attended.”
For Mathes, the highlight of the Billingsley concert was singing a song he wrote, Jesus Left His Home For Christmas. “What an honor to have my song chosen for the concert and then to get to sing it on the stage at Carnegie.”
“It was a trip of a lifetime and I believe the name of the Lord was lifted high in that hall,” Mathes says.
The choirs also experienced other ministry in New York, Mathes says. “Our choir members had several opportunities to minister to people as they walked the streets or rode the subway of New York City and even invited some to the concert.”
Meyers says the trip fostered cooperation between the three churches.
“It’s not very common to have the relationship that Rich and Mark and I have in the ministry within the same city.
‘So often churches have a sense of competition with one another and don’t want to do ministry together. We’ve really enjoyed working together and have developed a sense of community within our respective churches. This project has only encouraged that relationship. I’m glad to know and work alongside these men in ministry!”
The three choirs also performed Christmas music together on December 19 at Second Baptist.