Bluefield College has sent 25 students to Europe this month for a music mission project with the Virginia Baptist Mission Board.
Twenty-five BC students who are members of two music ensembles are traveling in Italy, Austria and the Czech Republic, May 18-28 to share the gospel through song and music ministry.
“This has to be the largest group of Bluefield College students to go on an international mission trip in the history of the college,” said Bryant Moxley, head of BC's department of music and faculty advisor for the group of 25 music students. “It's definitely the first international trip for the department of music.”
The ensembles Variations and Praise Singers make up the mission team. Variations is an auditioned voice ensemble, representing a cross-section of the student body. The group specializes in different styles of music, including challenging works from the Renaissance to the present, from both classical and popular genres. Praise Singers is a small group of select students who sing contemporary Christian praise and worship songs.
Moxley said the students have learned Italian, German, Czech and Romanian to prepare for the trip. The 11-day mission, designed by the Virginia Baptist Mission Board in partnership with Baptist churches in communities in Italy, Austria and the Czech Republic, will take the BC students to three different countries.
Students will perform four separate music concerts in three days in Milan, three concerts in the Czech Republic and two concerts in Austria. The students will offer additional performances in local high schools, on street corners and in town squares and will serve in local churches meeting other music ministry needs.
Moxley said the students are grateful for “the powerful ways in which God provided the financial resources” through the generosity of churches, families, alumni, trustees, faculty, staff and friends who gave more than $51,000 over the past year to underwrite the mission.
Special to the Herald