NACC Praise Team - You are Awesome! We love you!

Matt and the Praise Team are outstanding worship leaders. During the past few years they have added instruments including accoustic and electric guitars, a base guitar and electric drums. The transition from Acapella only to a full band was smooth. I think our background as an a ccapplla has actually improved the quality of our praise and worship. Think about it. Most churches start with a full band (or key board - depending on tradition) and tend to sing the melody without a lot of harmony. But the NACC Praise Team has tight harmonies - it is absolutely beautiful. Five or six amazing singers blending their voices - they are awesome! Four years ago we had no instrumentsand sang only vocal music. Our long tradition of vocal music had several disadvantages (e.g. God likes instrumentation, invites their use, etc) which are a few of the reason we made the transition. But, what many people over look, are the advantages - tight harmonies has enhanced the quality of music. We have a great band and we also have great vocals - it's really unique! The following was written by a one of our praise team members who just got back from Nashville. I am not sure who wrote it. Jeanie put it in the bulletin and sent it to me so I could post it on my blog. We are so thankful to God for our Praise Team and Band. We are proud of them. Read the following paragraphs which describe their recent trip to Nashville to record. ____________________________________ This past week, our praise team..Matt, Kevin, Keri and Teresa traveledto Nashville, TN and recorded at Lipscomb University. This was byinvitation only. CD auditions were sent in from all over the UnitedStates. There were a total of 156 people invited (39 quartets fromacross the US) and only 11 quartets received an "A" rating. Our PraiseTeam was the only one from WV and was one of the "A" ratings. WE ARESO PROUD OF THEM AND WANT TO SEND OUT OUR CONGRATULATIONS.I asked Keri to write a description of the weekend. Please read aboutthis exciting two day event. We were one of less than a 1/4th of that number who were given an"A" rating and invited to participate anytime in the future with otherprojects (no audition necessary). In the past, they have not heldauditions and have recorded with many more participants, but thedecided to change things this year and the feedback from thoseorganizing the event was that they will never go back, since it wassuch a success to work with fewer (and perhaps more prepared) people. In total, we recorded 25 songs over two days and spent 8 hours in the"studio". We ended up recording each song at least 3 times (and somemore!) As you can imagine, this was ALOT of singing to do in a shortperiod of time. We sang all the songs in the Collins Auditorium atDavid Lipscomb University, on our feet so we could get our lungs fullof air! We were not individually mic'd like in the CD we made here, sothe CD itself will have a choral group sound to it. On a side note, wespent the night enjoying the lovely accommodations at Elam Hall atLipscomb and I think Matt and I should get 'extra credit', since wedrew the short straws and ended up on the top bunks!! :-) All the songs we sang (except maybe 2 or 3) were songs we knew andsongs we have been singing for the last 6 or 7 years, but when I spoketo many of the other participants, I was surprised to learn that thesewere not songs they sang at their churches - they were too "new" forlack of better explanation. It seemed like we were in the minority forhaving a praise team at our church. We met people from all over thecountry, but I remember meeting people from Oklahoma, Arizona,California, Ohio and Tennessee. We were the only WV gr oup there! The CD that we created is part of a series of recordings publishedby Acapella Ministries. The working title is current "Victorious God",although, they might change it to "Only God". Our song leader wasKeith Lancaster, former member and later producer for AVB (AcapellaVocal Band) and John Bynum was the project coordinator. The purpose ofthe project was to create a 'workshop in a box' for churches andworship leaders to improve and continue to develop their acapellaworship ministries. The CD, I imagine, will be for sale on it's own,but it will also be part of a set that will include sheet music and atraining tape (a very raw 4-part CD that can be used to teach peoplewho don't know how to read music how to pick out and hear their part). It was a full two days for us and I know we came back a littletired, but it was a very enjoyable and fulfilling experience. Our onlycomplaint was that we didn't get to hear ourselves singing, since wehad earphones in the whole time. When we were done on Wednesday, wetook off the ear phones and we sang 2 or 3 impromptu songs just forthe fun of it, and the experience of being surrounded by so manypeople using th eir talents to glorify God was both humbling andamazing. We were exhausted by this point, but I think we would havekept on singing if the opportunity had been there! I also think I speak for all of us when I say that we appreciatedthe support that we received from everyone, and also some of thefinancial support to make the trip more cost effective for uspersonally. This speaks volumes about how much everyone appreciates the music ministry at Norway, and although we get out and do thesethings, we know they would not be possible without God's guidance andthe support we receive from the congregation.