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s- 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.