59 thoughts on “GOH: Fare Thee Well”

    1. I couldn’t make it through the whole thing. The initial applause sounded like any other rock concert venue I’ve attended, though. I like this piece, and have performed it several times myself. However, the bit I heard was not bad – just a bit lackluster.

  2. The rabid applause and whooping and hollering at the thought of these four…err…performing is eerie.

    1. Do those kids really think this performance is good, or are they just sucking up to the faculty members?
      Either way, you’ve got to feel a little sorry for them, for not knowing better.

    2. With that sort of adulation, it’s hardly surprising he thought he could get away with anything.

  4. 1. Applause was pretty intense for these rock star faculty. They let the kids have fun once in a while, eh?

    2. Women not allowed in front thrones.

    3. Audience syncro-bible waving with similar wrist-action looks like they have an exact proper method for what also appears to be a bible forward under-wave, for lack of a better term.

    4. No mics in hands, too homo-erotic right?

    They did pretty well, words don’t do it for me, but enjoyable nonetheless. What is the context? Something just happened, or is the applause just for these guys?

  5. Waiving KJV bibles and chariots a coming……..not connecting the dots there as thats something to shout about. Pentecostalism creaping in?

    Formerly a part of a SG music group I’m shocked they would sing a song of this beat/rythem. I’m wondering if they ever preached against the top SG groups but yet will sing those songs. I’ve listened to FBCH radio station while driving to Chicago and they do sing SG but mostly its a flattened version without drums and obvious beats.

    1. Yeah, I was surprised, too, by the clapping, Bible waving, hands in the air, standing, whoopin’ and hollerin’, etc. It was almost like “can you top this”. It’s not that I don’t like excitement or being emotional about good music, etc., but it seemed contrived and a fake exhibition. OK, so I’m 69, but the 50s rock ‘n’ roll was hardly any different. So it “just depends”….huh? 😆

      1. Our brand of fundamentalism was reserved, formal, dignified, and orderly. I know I was surprised the first time I came in contact with Southern-style fundamentalism as well as HAC-brand church services.

      2. I still remember my very first chapel at HAC when I visited to check out the college. We were sitting in chapel, the door on the stage opened to let the speakers out, and everything went crazy…….thunderous applause, hooting and hollering, Bibles in the air, etc. It was so loud! My dad looked at me like “What on earth” and we nearly walked out.
        Then, for the music special, they used drums. 😯 We almost walked out right then as well, but decided to stay. Granted, the drums were used appropriately in a patriotic special (who does patriotism in mid-April?) but they were still drums.
        Looking back on it now, I have no idea how my dad ever allowed me to attend that college. I must have whined and begged a lot.
        I should have followed my first instinct and ran but not for the above reasons. 😀

        2. Panda Rosa you forgot to include the old timey megavibrato organ. You have to have one of those in fundy churches.

        3. Haha, that’s exactly opposite from me. My dad had been a HACer, but I hadn’t grown up in an HAC style hootin’ and hollerin’ type church. So when all the speakers walked out and everyone started acting like idiots, I looked and my dad and said, “Why in the world are they carrying on like that?” Come to think of it, I still wonder why.

  9. Looks like the students were having fun. Seeing your Bible teachers (especially ones who, other than K. Schaap, rarely sing in public) singing a silly song in chapel is probably pretty entertaining.

  10. Did anyone notice how the young man in the front stood before the song began and gave a “heil Hitler”?

    1. Yep, that salute was very common at HAC. I didn’t even catch what it looked like until you mentioned it.

        1. A few crazies always slip in. The boys doing it here are just mimicking the movements they have seen made by great evangelists in the heat of a sermon. They’ve all been taught revisionist history, so they wouldn’t have a clue if you tried to explain all that is associated with that gesture.

    1. Ok, here’s one of the places where the pentecostals (‘funecostals’, in my experience) diverge from the rest of you- the music is heavily ‘southern gospel’, with a LOT of rockabilly and’negro spirituals’ thrown in. There were drums, there were guitars, there was organ… one church we went to, the pastor’s wife played the vibraphone (an electrified marimba). There was a ‘worship team’, usually quartet, who led the choruses. During the music portion of the service, the musicians very deliberately manipulated voices and instruments so as to direct the emotions of the congregation. sometimes so much so that there was people weeping at the altar or dancing about ecstatically- long before the sermon. (When this happened, I knew we were in for a long service.) There was always someone who sounded a lot like Elvis, or a lot like Mahalia/Aretha. And as often as not, we would sing something that was actually a secular song, but someone had written ‘Christian’ lyrics for it. (I really hated those.) Were we allowed to listed to the original? Are you kidding?

      I listened to a lot of ‘gospel’ and ‘negro spirituals’, which Dad grumbled at, and I actually got away with listening to CCM, I think mostly because Dad was worried that I’d sneak in some heathen rock and roll. So I listened to Andrae Crouch, Keith Green, and Petra. 😆

      Interestingly enough, if I’m warmed up and relaxed (especially if I’ve had a drink) I can sound just like Mahalia. And my oldest daughter, who has a remarkably beautiful soprano voice, can mimic Aretha Franklin with a fair degree of accuracy. Very proud of my bunny. 😀

  14. I thought that today’s GOH was a deliberate follow-on to the last entry… news about layoffs and now “Fare Ye Well” (goodbye). It would even greater irony if these four men were included in the layoffs.

  15. Well, this certainly brings back memories. HAC was always good about knowing when to open the pressure relief valve and let the kids know when to blow off steam. Anyone know what year this was?

    2. I went to Europe when I was in (public) high school with a band and a choir, and I think that arrangement was the one we did. Our soloist was a coloratura soprano, however. It is a fun fun arrangement. Love that song – thanks so much for sharing.

      And that soloist gave me goosebumps, especially the Gabriel stanza. He has soul. Nobody else in the choir does, but he sure did.

  17. Anybody have a list yet about who will be singing “Fare Thee Well” in light of recent happenings?

    1. A lot of people want a full list – but then again when you think about it, this is a person’s personal job information. I’ve considered posting everything that I have heard, but I just can’t for the same reason, and also because I don’t have much more than rumor for a lot of people.

      Here’s what I know (with reasonable certainty) about who’s still at the college, and you can draw whatever conclusions you wish from that: Bro. Stuart Mason, Bro. Ray Young, Dr. Evans, Bro. Vogel, Bro. Stubblefield, Bro. Cowling, Mrs. Moffitt, Bro. Gray, Bro. Lutz, Bro. Mendez, Bro. Tutton, Bro. Collins, Bro. Bachman, and Bro. Cuozzo.

  18. Dear SFL Reader:

    Along the lines of Guilt Ridden’s comment, my first reaction at ‘Fare Thee Well’ was, ‘is this the faculty that is staying or going.’

    Pastor’s wife’s comment on the glorification of hillbilly culture is dead on the money.

    I admit that I’m a music snob, but I tried. I did try. With all my resolve, I made it through 68 seconds. That broke me.

    God’s dumb creatures do howl and squeal in their misery, and the day my dog sings like that, I’ll put her to rest. But this howling and squealing would put anyone in misery, and could potentially drive us barking mad.

    The actions of the congregation betray three traits:

    1. Ignorance.
    2. Ignorance.
    3. Ignorance.

    Christian Socialist

  20. I’m such a music person and I love this tempo of “Barbershop Christian (?)” music but what really gets me is that there is no way that they would have let the Echos of Grace or any other ladies’ ensemble sing such a foot-tapping and yes Bible-thumping song!

    Double standards! Or chauvinism!

    And by the way… I know Dave Hyles doesn’t sing, but from a distance Ken has really taken on his uncles no-to-pretty attributes. If I may be so bold, my apologies! 😯

    Live, Love, Laugh, SING… and yes clap your hands, snap your fingers and dance in the joy of The Lord!

    ~~~Heart 😀

  24. I love how the powers at be get to manipulate music standards. IFB hypocrisy at its best. 👿

    1. IFBNoMore,

      Isn’t that the truth! I remember a Valentines Banquet where the song “Only Fools Rush In” by Elvis Presley was part of the program along with one other that I cannot seem to recall at the moment. But yes, complete manipulation of music standards and that was when Jackie Boy was in his glory!

      ~~~Heart 😎

  27. What strikes me in much of the “preaching” and in this song is that it appears the performance is the key rather than the substance. I’m all for a good time but to them a sermon is “good” if it is loud and raucous, it doesn’t need to be biblical. I enjoy this this song and they did an ok job on it but it seems it was all about delivery…nothing aobut the song.

  29. The Biola univ choir was great, but the soloist was often flat, and they were a millisecond off of the beat when they began clapping! A bit of a musical snob? Why, yes I am……….

  31. Why are they all so badly dressed? You’d think that for men who are in the spotlight, they’d at least have their trousers properly hemmed!

  32. Stuart Mason should have sung THIS song during his special lay-off announcement the other day…”fare thee well, fare the well, to the peeps who i just fired, fare thee wellllllll”
    Also, was this taped after the schaap scandal? Just wondering how Ken Schaap can stand to be there anymore…

  33. I got 0:41 in and that was WITH the video muted. 😕 Now, for my unadulterated thoughts: 😈
    1) Kenny, wow! I know we haven’t seen each other since we were 15, but…yikes! As someone said above, you’re looking like Uncle Dave and that in no way is a compliment 😕
    2) Can Someone please explain the “Hile Hitler” gesture at the beginning? Is this a HAC thing? 😯
    3) The girls in the background on the stage look like this is the most “fun” they’ve had in a long time. My heart breaks for them. So, so sad. 🙁

  34. How these posts are. The reason you hear the applause is because THESE ARE COLLEGE MEN! They’re excited and love their leaders. Instead of tearing down those who are doing something for Christ, why don’t you folks go out and win some souls instead of seeking out Godly men to run down. Galations 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

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