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Our Whole School for Christ
The Atlanta Gospel
Movement on the Move
Spelman Spotlight November 15, 1979 Page 9
The Atlanta Gospel Movement
(AGM) is a gospel choir com
prised of students from all six of
the Atlanta University Center in
stitutions, Georgia State Univer
sity, Emory University, and other
colleges and universities in the
Atlanta area. Approximately 45
young Christian men and women
come together every Thursday
and Friday to fellowship one with
another and to rehearse. They
sing everything from old Negro
spirituals, anthems and hymns, to
contemporary gospel. Seldom a
Sunday passes that AGM does
not carry the Word of the Lord to
some church or other gathering.
The choir involves itself in
many charitable activities such as
concerts at the penitentiary and
half-way houses and giving
baskets of food at Thanksgiving
and toys at Christmas to poor and
needy families and children.
Planning to be more community
outreach oriented, performances
are being scheduled at various
senior citizen’s homes and or-
phanges around the city.
AGM is genuinely concerned
about the spiritual welfare of its
members. The members come
from various demoninations.
Each choir member has a “prayer
partner” with whom they share
their concerns through prayer
and a chapel committee, which is
made up of ministers within the
choir. This committee is
available for group and individual
counseling.
The group has personal ac
complishments that they are
proud of. Each year through hard
work and God’s blessings, the
choir goes on a 10 day tour
during the Center’s spring break.
Having toured the East Coast
twice, the Midwest, Florida and
Mississippi, the choir is looking
into the possibility of a more
Southeastern route, which would
include Houston, Dallas, Baton
Rouge, and New Orleans.
This past year, the choir recor
ded their first album entitled,
This Earth Shall Pass A way. The
depth of this organization is fur
ther illustrated in the fact that all
the cuts on the album, and
several songs that were not recor
ded, were all written and/or
arranged by the Director,
Richard Clements of Georgia
State Univ., former Assistant
Assistant Director, Rev. Noah
Merril of ITC Class of 79, Asst.
Organizt, Mr. William Green of
Morehouse College and Ass .
Pianist Rev. Oliver Wells, of
Morehouse College.
Membership in AGM is
opened until late fall and they are
always looking for new talent.
Musicians, keyboard or in
strumentalist, are welcomed as
well as vocal talent. No audition
is necessary. A simple desire to
sing, mixed with a strong desire
to serve God is the only
requirement of membership.
Rehearsals are Thursday and
Friday nights from 6:00 p.m. to
8:00 p.m. at the Grace Covenant
Baptist Church, corner of Chest
nut Street and Martin Luther
King Jr. Dr.
For more information on mem
bership and possible engagemen
ts please contact the Business
Manager, J effery Lawrence, P.O.
Box no. 130, Morehouse College,
Rm. 118 Graves Hall. Phone no.
588-9554.
AGM is a non-profit and self-
supporting organization.
Pibltcal inspiration jfor fCfjr Week
‘‘Look at what is
1. Open your eyes! Most of
us never get to enjoy life to
the full because, in effect, we
never get beyond the womb.
We have failed to open our
eyes. God wants us to open
our eyes, to use all of the
resources and gifts which He
has given us to make life
whole and sweet and full...
and rich!
2. Opportunity abounds!
Especially as members of a
“benighted minority race,”
we must be mindful that
“opportunity waits for no
man.” We must always have
our eyes open in order to
before your eyes. ”
—II Cor. 10:7
“look at what is before our
eyes” at every passing mo
ment. One opportunity
comes. Another comes and
goes.. .kaleidoscopically.
2. Look! The answer to
your prayer may be immedi
ately before your eyes! Look!
The things in your life you
have hoped for the most may
well be within your reach.
Look! The happiness which
seems to have alluded you
may be the most concrete of
realities which stare you in
the face. Simply “look at
what is before your eyes.”
If you are tired Of reading
books like Phycis, Contemporary
Economics. Government by the
People. Modern Spanish and
Chemical Principles, you should
drop by the Booktable located
outside the ,dining hall during
meal times. There is a book there
for you. You have the option of
purchasing, borrowing or maybe
. getting a book free.
The titles include Becoming a
Christain, Three Kinds of Love,
Hqw Do You Say "I Love You”,
How to Live with Your Feelings.
The Golden Cow and Rich
Christmas in an Age of Hunger.
The titles are enticing, aren’t
they? See you at the Booktable.
Each Week
SUNDAY
Navigators - Bible Study, 8:30 a.m., Thurman Hall Lounge,
Morehouse College.
Morehouse College Christian Fellowship - “Fellowship
Hour,” 11:00 a.m., Danforth Chapel, Morehouse College.
Speiman College - Morning Worship, 11:00 a.m., Sisters
Chapel, Spelman College.
Morehouse College - Evening Worship, 6:00 p.m., MLK
Chapel, Morehouse College.
MONDAYS
Navigators - “Power Line,” a Rap Session, 7:00 p.m.,
Thurman Hall Lounge, Morehouse College.
TUESDAYS
Spelman Christian Fellowship -Bible Study and Fellowship,
6:00 p.m., Laura Spelman Lounge, Spelman College.
Words from
Norman R. Rates
Coliege Chaplain
on
Freedom
In his book From Slavery to
Freedom, John Hope Frankljn
points to the Renaissance and the
Commercial Revolution as two
occurances in history that con
tributed to the origin and growth
of slavery in the Western world.
The Renaissance freed men from
ignorance and superstition and
the Commercial Revolution
made accessibility to manufac
tured goods much easier and
more convenient than ever
before. But the acquisition of
new knowledge and enlighten
ment and the plentitude of
material things did not
necessarily improve men’s nature
where “fair-play” was concerned.
Instead, the ones who had
become free from religious,
economic, social, and scientific
bondage turned around and en
slaved others. The ones who had
been serfs and servants bought
serfs and servants for themselves.
What eventually resulted was the
rape of Africa for human resour
ces that could contribute to the
welfare of another people. And
slavery was the means whereby
plenty of free labor could be
acquired for making life easier
for others.
It was Thomas Jefferson who,
in later years, reflected in A
Testament of Freedom, that “The
God that gave us life gave us
liberty at the same time. The
hand of force may destroy them,
but cannot disjoin them.” And
even though it was acknowledged
that if you denied a person his or
her liberty you also denied them
their life, J efferson and other far
mers of this nation’s Constitution
failed to include the nation’s
slave population in this sen
timent. Thus, a nation that could
have been “Great” settled for
second best and just became
‘Grand”. However, the denial of
freedom for the slaves did not
quell the slaves’ desire for
freedom. The presentation of a
Christianity to the slaves that was
highly “otherworldly” with the
promise of “pie in the sky in the
sweet by-and-by”, did not satiate
the slaves’ hunger for freedom
“now”. For the slaves’ type of
Christianity through the Holy
Bible came to the same con
clusion s as that of Jefferson: that
God gave people life and liberty
at the same time, and now and
not just in the hereafter. Armed
with this message, one can then
understand the zeal with which
Harriet Tubman, Denmark
Vesey, Gabriel Prosser, and Nat
Turner pursued freedom for their
fellow Blacks. And only with the
Emancipation Proclamation did
the theory of the dissolubility of
life and liberty for “all” become a
part of this nation’s character.
Freedom for our forefathers,
then, was equated with religion.
To them, much like the people of
the Old Testament, it was God
who set them free. And a
freedom that is equated with
religion is a very potent factor. If
my reading of the present student
generation is correct, then, I sen
se an awareness of this truth on
their part. I hope I am not
mistaken. I hope that we, in the
throes of our Renaissance and
Material Revolution of the 1980’s
do not forget the past and go “a-
whoring” after materialism at the
expense of our spiritual heritage.
How prophetically appropriate is
the prayer of James Weldon
J ohnson:
God of our weary years, God
of our silent tears, Thou Who
hast brought us thus far on the
way; Thou Who hast by Thy
might, Led us into the light, Keep
us forever in the path, we pray,
Lest our feet stray from the
places, our God, where we met
Thee, Lest, our hearts drunk with
the wine of the world, we forget
Thee. Shadowed beneath Thy
hand, May we forever stand,
True to our God, true to our
Native Land. (Lift Every Voice
and Sing)
The freedom that any people
possesses must never be taken for
granted, it must never be abused.
Freedom, equated with religion
should make one more respon
sible and more responsive. It
should decry oppression in any
form and upon any people. It
should also lay heavy upon the
consciences of those who possess
it so that brothers and sisters still
in the bondage of ignorance and
poverty may become free from
their conditions through our
skills and concerns. May the
present generation of Black
students so cherish their freedom
that their religious convictions
may cause them to believe that
“to whom much is given, much is
expected in return.”
WEDNESDAYS
Campus Crusade for Christ - Discipleship Training Institute
(DTI), 6:30 p.m., Giles 18, Spelman College.
THURSDAYS
Atlanta Gospel Movement (AGM) - Choir Rehearsal and
Fellowship, 6-8:00 p.m., Grave Covenant Baptist
Church, Corner of Chestnut Street and MLK J r. Drive.
FRIDAYS
AGM Rehearsal and Fellowship (Same as on Thursdays)
AUC Christian Fellowship Services, 7:30-9:00 p.m., Danforth
Chapel, Morehouse College.