DANIEL...pg 8
CAMP...pg 10
Vol 18, No. 1 •June 2018
News You Can Use
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Preacher credits gospel singing Church quartet enjoys time together to sing praises foundation for his call to ministry By Lucy Weber A Corinth quartet's dedication to music can be heard in their preparation. Inside the church building, the foursome is known as the First Baptist
choir rehearsal at 7:30. Their recent performance of two songs during a First Baptist service meant rehearsals amounting to "collectively 30-40 hours on the
Randy Richey, Phil Mathis, Colon McGee, & Sammy Allred Tobie Blanch, Calvin Brown, Marques Lanier, & Sedarian Berry
By Lucy Weber The Rev. Patrick Whitfield found his home in the pulpit through his love of gospel singing. Whitfield is now the pastor of New Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Plantersville, the church where he was baptized and attended until he was 21.
He has led other churches but began leading his home church in 2016. But his start in ministry began as a member of a gospel singing group. Whitfield first began singing with a group that appeared on several programs with Lee Williams and the Spiritual QC's. "I
Return Address: P.O. Box 1292 Corinth, MS 38835
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was moved by God to have my own group," he said. "I wanted to travel and to sing with a professional quartet." In December 1993, Whitfield founded the Converted Voices. Today, the gospel group is known as the New Converted Voices because of the change in singers. While Whitfield will occasionally sing with them at their request, his role with the new group that evolved from the original is as business manager/spiritual advisor. see VOICES pg 4
Church Quartet. Outside the building, when they perform at other churches and before civic groups, they are called "Forever His." "We're serious about our music. We're always working on new songs," said Randy Richey, one of the original members of the group formed about 14 years ago. "We're all good friends, and we enjoy singing." The singers in the quartet are members of First Baptist Church, and all four, tenor Colon McGee, bass Phil Mathis, lead Sammy Allred and baritone Richey, sing in the church choir. The pianist for the quartet is Cindy Mathis, Phil's wife. "We put a lot of time and effort into this. We spend hours practicing," said Richey, with rehearsals set each Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. before church
two songs. We'll go over and over and over them. "We don't look at it as a chore. We just love singing together," he said. "We've got a notebook full of songs." The members and their accompanist, who perform regularly at First Baptist, want to ensure their performances hit all the right notes. Richey said it's not unusual for the group to spend an hour on just one phrase or section of a song so it sounds perfect. The group, whose emphasis is in Southern gospel and contemporary gospel, is preparing for the annual concert at the church in the fall. "We have already started working on that now," he said. Richey, the owner of Dollar World in Corinth, said music has always been a part see QUARTET pg 4