ATLANTA (ABP) — A new hymnal for Baptist churches in the works for four years premiered in Atlanta March 7. Choirs from five churches gathered for a Sunday afternoon service unveiling the Celebrating Grace Hymnal, a joint initiative of Townsend-McAfee Institute of Church Music of Mercer University and Mercer University Press.
"We could not have assembled a better team," J. Thomas McAfee III, a businessman and church-music proponent who initiated the hymnal product in 2006, said introducing a five-member editorial board overseeing the project to a packed sanctuary at Second-Ponce de Leon Baptist Church.
Thomas McAfee (center) introduces members of the hymnal's editorial board.
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McAfee, chairman of Hallmark Systems, Inc., a health-care company based in Macon, Ga., served as chairman and editor, overseeing primarily the business side of the 700-page hymnal's development, publishing and distribution.
Mark Edwards, retired longtime minister of music at First Baptist Church of Nashville, Tenn., joined the project in 2007 as vice president of music and worship resources, overseeing the music side.
Other members of the editorial board were John Simons, director of the Townsend-McAfee Institute; David Music, professor of church music at Baylor University in Waco, Texas; Milburn Price, retired dean at Samford University's School of Performing Arts, in Birmingham, Ala.; and Stanley Roberts, associate dean and director of choral activities at Mercer.
Instead of developing the hymnal from the top down, editors and board members took a grassroots approach. They traveled across the nation, held meetings with church leaders and sought new ideas of how to meet the music needs of churches today.
The finished product is a collaborative initiative of more than 50 leaders from the United States and Canada comprised of pastors, church musicians, composers, scholars and laity. All served as volunteers.
"Celebrating Grace is a hymnal built by Baptists for Baptists," Edwards said in a press release on the hymnal website.
McAfee said editors vetted more than 2,500 hymns for musical, theological and language standards. Selections include familiar hymns that have been sung for generations, along with newer works by distinguished church music composers and arrangers.
"A hymnal project these days involves more than releasing a book," McAfee said.
He said more than 850 supplemental music resources are available online offering churches a full line of music and worship resources for their music ministry.
Another important part of the Celebrating Grace hymnal, McAfee said, is the Worship Matrix, a trademarked interactive library of online resources developed over 30 years by David Bolin, minister of music at First Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, for his personal use and now expanded to enable worship leaders to developed balanced and cohesive services using Scripture, readings, music and prayers that complement and build on each other.
"It's truly a one of a kind and one of those things you just can't get anywhere else," McAfee said.
Participating in Sunday's premiere concert were The Georgia Youth Choir Festival and the choirs of First Baptist Church of Marietta, First Baptist Church of Griffin, First United Methodist Church of Milledgeville and Wieuca Road Baptist Church of Atlanta, Ga. They were accompanied by organ, piano, hand bells, brass quintet, and timpani, to lead the congregation in singing
Music ministers and church music directors followed up March 8 with a full day of workshops, master classes and demonstrations, followed by an evening concert featuring the Belmont University Chorale of Nashville, Tenn., the Mercer University Children's Choir of Macon, and the choirs of First Baptist Church of Macon, and Peachtree Baptist Church and Second-Ponce de Leon Baptist Church, both of Atlanta.
McAfee said the hymnal project would not have been possible without generous support from the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation in Houston and James T. & Carolyn T. McAfee Foundation in Atlanta.
Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.