Cover Story: Black Church Music

Cover Story: Black Church Music

Music has been a traditional staple within the black church. Combined with the spoken word, it has the power to inspire, transcend and transform. But accomplished ministers of music are becoming increasingly hard to find as talented musicians opt for greater fame and fortune outside the world of the church.

Bob Faw looks at the challenges facing the black church as it seeks to fill the musical void within its ministry. "It's a difficult thing to try to find someone trained," explains Dr. Gary Simpson, pastor of Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn, New York. "We are not training musicians in the music of the church, which the black church did all along its tenure. That kind of commitment is gone for the most part."

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