Apostolic Choir Electrifies Verizon Wireless Competition

My family and I attend Atlanta West Pentecostal Church in Lithia Springs, GA. For the last two years our choir has competed in the National How Sweet the Sound Best Church Choir competition sponsored by Verizon Wireless . You may well ask, "What is an Apostolic choir doing competing in something like that? Aren't we there to worship God and not just perform?" Well....yes. Can we do both? Our choir decided to try it out and see.

First, a video was sent in to the local HSTS committee and we were chosen to perform at the local Atlanta level. In 2008 the choir had no idea what to expect. Suffice it to say that they did super well and managed to secure the Best Large Choir, Best Overall Choir, and the People's Choice award. Since they won Best Overall Choir in the regionals here in Atlanta, the choir got to compete in the national competition. Here is their performance, for which they won the People's Choice award again!

Okay, fast forward to 2009. The local competition was held at Philips Arena in downtown Atlanta and was attended by over 10,000 excited, mostly Christian folk. As you know, each local church has its own culture, so we were all a little uneasy as we merged with other church-goers not of our "brand". With Hollywood type lights, celebrity judges, and cokes and popcorn, it wasn't quite Sunday morning worship service. There were to be eight choir performances, and ours was to go seventh. All the groups sang wonderfully, and there were moments of superbness as well as some genuine God worship. That is, until the choir from Atlanta West Pentecostal Church got up to sing. When they started to sing their selection, Anthem of Praise, it was as if the place was electrified by a huge heavenly lightning bolt. Every soul in the place shot to their feet with a roar of sound as the power of the annointing of the Most Heavenly God filled that arena. They absolutely killed the song, but still it was so much more than a performance! When it was over, the worship would not stop, and even the judges were dancing before the Lord. Check it out Here! The official website does not record the judge's remarks, but you can view them on youtube.

So many people who were there said that they had to check out that Pentecostal church to see what was going on. We have seen record attendance since then with a tremendous outpouring of His Spirit for the hungry. More about this later.

The choir will compete in the Nationals this year on November 7th in Detroit, MI. If you can go, go! You will not regret it!

What do you think of this choir?