Dr. Luke Gambill conducts the Carey Worship Choir as they sing "Hallelujah for the Cross" during chapel on Jan. 15.
William Carey University announced a new partnership with Word Music & Church Resources during chapel service Jan. 15 at Thomas Fine Arts Center.
Word Music is one of the nation’s largest publishers of church choral music. The company releases about 1,500 printed and online products every year to help churches create meaningful worship experiences. One of those products is sheet music. Worship leaders can shop music for their churches at Word Music’s website, wordchoralclub.com, and listen online to recordings of choirs performing different arrangements.
Usually, the recordings are performed by studio session singers. But in the case of two anthems (so far) arranged by WCU music professor Dr. Luke Gambill, the choir performing on Word Music’s website is the Carey Worship Choir.
“I’ve known Dale Mathews, president of Word Music, for decades. I used to work for him when he was the head of another large church music publisher and we stayed in touch over the years. Dale began hiring me as a freelancer to do arrangements for Word Music,” Gambill said.
“And now, the Carey Worship Choir is featured on their website. What’s really unique about our partnership is that worship leaders can hear a real choir singing, not professionals. Maybe they’ll think to themselves, if the Carey choir can pull off this arrangement, we can, too.”
The Carey Worship Choir is two years old. It was founded by Dr. Wes Dykes in 2018, shortly after he was named dean of the WCU’s Winters School of Music & Ministry Studies.
“The worship choir is an interactive experience because what they do is not ‘performance’ and the audience is not simply watching. We want them to actively engage with us in worship to the Lord,” Dykes said.
Anthems sung by the Carey Worship Choir on Word Music’s website are “Ain’t No Grave” and “Hallelujah for the Cross”
– which they performed during the chapel announcement. In mid-December the choir recorded a third song, “Love Came Down,” during a session at Temple Baptist Church. Also arranged by Dr. Gambill, it is scheduled for release in May or June.
The sheet music carries William Carey University’s logo and credits Dr. Gambill, Dr. Dykes and the Carey Worship Choir. It also includes information about three new degrees in the Music Studies in Worship program:
- Bachelor’s degree in music with a concentration in Worship Leadership;
- Bachelor’s degree in music with a concentration in Worship Technology; and
- Fully online master’s degree in Church Music.
For more information, visit www.wmcarey.edu or call (601) 318-6175.