WCU Hosts Mississippi Baptist Camps
Hattiesburg, Miss., July 8, 2013 - William Carey University hosted the four-day Mississippi Baptist All-State Youth Choir and Orchestra (MBASYC&O) camp June 10 - 13, as well as the Mississippi Baptist Convention HeartSong Camp June 25-28. Both were held on the Hattiesburg campus.
The MBASYC&O began in 1991 when Graham Smith, director, and Susan Clark Luttrell, choir coordinator for the Church Music Department of the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board, decided to design an organization to strengthen, Mississippi Southern Baptist high school students both musically and spiritually. The choir has grown from 40 members in 1993 to over 118 singers, and they have been presented in concert in churches throughout Delaware, Maryland, Mississippi, and the southeastern U.S. The annual MBASYC&O rehearsal camp at WCU is followed by a six-day concert tour, and this year, the students performed at the Harrison and Hancock county jails as part of their ministry, in addition to the concerts presented at various Mississippi churches.
During the HeartSong Camp, over 300 7th-12th graders participated in activities designed to assist them with discovering how to use their musical and artistic talents in worship and ministry. The camp included a talent show, creative worship services, combined voice rehearsals, and workshops on voice, band, keyboard, guitar, art, banner making, drama, interpretive movement, and music reading. The students also performed a music and drama production of "Change the World," written by Dennis and Nan Allen, for family, friends, and church members on their last night. On June 28, interested 9th-12th graders auditioned for the 2014 Mississippi Baptist All-State Youth Choir and Orchestra (MBASYC&O).