“Pressing Their Way”

Whatever higher power being praised in voice and song last Saturday night inside the David Jones Gym almost certainly had no problem hearing.

More than 100 strong, the gathered threw down and raised the roof up in powerful harmony.

And though there were plenty of wires and cameras for recording and preserving the event, it was hard not to walk away from the evening feeling that nothing could fully capture the potency of the message.

Message of community, of faith, of belief that any struggle, any hardship, can be overcome by strength of spirit and faith.

Both were in abundance inside the gym.

The event was the recording session that serves as the culmination of Summer Music Camp, an annual two-week youth-oriented submersion in music and the roots of songs familiar and obscure, songs of faith, struggle and redemption.

Sponsored by the North Port St. Joe Youth Initiative, the Jessie Ball duPont Foundation and local churches in Port St. Joe, the camp carries the mission statement, "Preparing Tomorrow's Leaders for Musical Excellence."
This year the camp added today's leaders to tomorrow's.

In the past, the camp was for youth through their early to mid-teens, but this year it became a community event, as all those who wanted to sing and praise under the leadership of Elder David Woods, Jr. of the Church of God were invited.

And out they came, more than 100 strong, ranging in age from pre-school to eligibility for AARP.

"Once again we have made history here tonight," Woods said. "The young and old have come together, the community has come together. There is representation from just about every church, every one of the 16 churches in the community and that is a blessing.

"They've worked very hard."

This would qualify as something of an understatement, said several participants.

They gathered early each day and sessions typically extended until 10 p.m. and later each night. The group worked for nearly 10 full days, honing their voices into one ringing instrument.

And while originally one week of the camp was to focus on youth, the other week on adults, it early-on joined children and adults on an everyday basis.

"It was fun, real fun," said Eddie Fields, an adult who participated this year. "I've been in some choirs over the years, now, but this one is good."

The decision to broaden the program, said Minnie Likely of the North Port St. Joe Youth Initiative, was due in part to the simple absence of such opportunities, for children to interact and join in a fun and uplifting event with their parents, with other adults.

It was a way to ensure that for at least 10 days, the age gap would be bridged, a community brought together in a way often impossible in these hectic fast-paced and too often fractious days.

"This was a way to promote unity, to promote family unity and it will carry on, carry forward," Likely said. "There are very few opportunities for parents - adults and children - to come together in this kind of cultural program."

What a program.

In year's past, the recording session that officially marks the end of camp was held in a local church, just large enough to hold the children who participated and the adults who came out to listen.

This year, the choir was difficult to capture in a single photographic frame and they would have fit in no vestibule in Gulf County that comes to mind.

Dressed in black and white, lined up by Woods in front of the stage based on voice pitch, they presented an impressive sight, made even more so once the music started and they began to sing with a vibrancy and joyfulness that was infectious.

They recorded 11 songs, from "All of Me" and "Pressing My Way" to "The Best Thing" to "Struggle is Over."

There were soloists, leaders as Woods called them, but primarily they sang as one resounding buoyant voice that filled the raptors of the gym and had the audience standing, clapping, nodding and tapping.

Backed by a band that included Minister Paul Reed (keyboards), Minister Johnny Bullock (organist) and Brother Troy White (drums), they created a CD that certainly came close to the goal defined on the program, "Let's Make History Together to the Glory of God."
There will be plenty of glory to be heard on that CD, which is for sale at $7 per disc.

The smiles of joy on their face spoke to the fun and brotherhood the group had enjoyed the past two weeks and to a camaraderie across age groups that, as Likely stated, seems sure to carry forward for months and years ahead.