education, Music

Traveling Singing (And Talking!) College Groups: PCC Update

73 Comments

Here’s the Proclaim Team from Pensacola Christian college doing what they do. Anybody who has been through performance classes at PCC will recognize that every gesture, tone, and movement through these performances are completely scripted. There’s not a twitch or a smile that hasn’t been planned and practiced.

then they sang this…

For more goodness from this group you can also check out these videos:

The Potter
I’m Free
A devotional in which we learn that the Sermon on the Mount was given not to demonstrate our position in the Kingdom but rather to help establish moralism and “make us better disciples.”

73 thoughts on “Traveling Singing (And Talking!) College Groups: PCC Update”

  2. Just by the power of tangential suggestion, you’ve gotten the “One More Night With The Frogs” song stuck in my head. Thanks a lot, Darrel! 🙄

    Now I’m going to have to sin by listening to some Megadeth to get it out of my brain. 😉

    1. Sorry about that, Darrell. George is right by my side as I post this early in the morning. 😀

  4. I agree with what was said in the top video, but I wonder about their millions of Bibles sold. Are they including heretic/non-English translations in their number??

    The second video muted itself partway through. THANKS, George!

    1. And from the song: “It’s critics are many and believers are few… but if you read it and find something wrong then there’s something wrong with you.”
      Bless your heart.

      So maybe the critics are buying it to keep the numbers up to keep it the #1 book?

  5. RE: the “I’m Free” song

    Freedom never looked so scripted, tightly monitored, and swiftly punished for any exercise of that freedom…

    2. But why don’t they match any more? Gotta say I’m disappointed in the devil-may-care way they dress without any thought of coordinating.

      Maybe they only get out their matching outfits for the BIG churches?

      1. I haven’t seen one of those groups since I was at school. The one time I saw one while I was a student I snuck out and hoped I didn’t get recognized.

        I don’t get how turning people that want to sing & be choreographed, into going through these robotic routines ever seemed like a good idea to anyone.

  6. “If you you find something wrong with the book, then there must be something wrong with you.” Or if disagree with my interpretation, application or the way I took the verse out of context, then there must be something wrong with you.

  7. By the way, the quote from the previous post if from the song, “This Blessed Old Book” which is the featured youtube video.

  8. what’s the point of these groups? just random “ministry”, or to convince high school kids to attend PCC? at BJU i was aware that groups went around to churches, but i really never cared enough to find out what they did there!

    1. They’re all about promotions. Get the pretty girls and good looking boys out to sing and caper about in hopes of getting some high-school students to attend PCC.

      The reps also stop by fundy schools across the country and talk to classes. They’ll even pitch PCC to First Grade classes. Start ’em young.

      2. It doesn’t seem to be as much of a beauty pagent as it was in the early 90s. Not that I’m not glad to see it, but the girl at the piano would have never been allowed on the team back then. Mrs. Horton controled how they did their hair, make up, clothes, jewelry and their weight. They HAD to be the prettiest girls to represent the school.

  9. Why, I thought the Sermon on the Mount was to teach us God’s Standards. Of course we will never live up to them, but it gives us that ladder of self-control to crawl back up.

    It seems the PCC choir has a deterrent factor? Don’t go here or you might be stuck in a traveling circus show.

  10. Personally, I liked the songs, much better than some of the college groups I heard when I was growing up in the 1980’s. Back then all you got was rehashed Carmen, Amy Grant, and Sandi Patty songs. Now that was scarier than any fundy college choir, trust me. 🙂

    1. I actually sang in a group that performed the 1980’s songs touring for a summer for a former fundy college (now conservative evangelical). It was the worst summer that I experienced…..On the church stage we were giving praise to God and acting like we were godly college students. Off the stage when we were traveling, all of us were constantly fighting and bickering.

  11. “If you find when you read it that something is wrong, then something is wrong with you”. Oh dear, twitch, shudder, twitch, shudder. The ultimate catch phrase in Fundyland, No doubt, the problem is YOU. 😈

    It applies to everything that doesn’t jive with what the fundys are selling.

  12. They can thank the Roman Emperor Constantine, Augustine, and Aquinas and the long defunct religion of neo-platonism for their Bible and the religion of Christianity existing to the present day.

    At the time Christianity was not guaranteed a future because the pagan religion of neoplatonism was just as prevalent and Aquinas was at one time a devotee of that group. When he converted after Christianity became legitimate (due to Constantine adopting it as an “acceptable” religion in Rome) he took with him many of the neoplatonist views of god and superimposed them on the fledgling Christian religion. To this day many Christians hold views that they would “go to the stake” for not realizing they have their origin in a pagan religion 😉

    In fact, we have written evidence that in the early days Christianity some of its proponents used as a selling point its familiarity of concepts and the fact that adding the Jesus god to their pantheon of gods was not such a big deal and could be done without much trouble.

  13. 😯 That’s just creepy. I watched about 10 seconds of the videos posted and had to turn it off. It gave me the shakes.

    You want to know the sad part? I was in one of these travelling sideshows for several months. Yup. The Epsilon Zeta Chi “Z Choir”. I eventually dropped out to spend more time with my girlfriend. That paid off it seems. She’s my wife. :mrgreen:

  14. What happened to the matching outfits? I know Maranatha’s teams ALWAYS had matching outfits. I thought that was the thing to do in these groups, that way the school always knew that a girl wouldn’t try to wear a skirt too short or neckline too low.

    1. It looks to me that only one pattern was used for the ladies’ outfits, just modified slightly. Note on the starting frame of the Blessed Old Book video. The bottom of the skirts are perfectly lined up.

  15. I can’t watch the video because I’m at work, BUT –

    I’ve always wondered how much these little traveling groups believe in the music they sing? I can somewhat admire the Pettit team or any other group that creates their own music in a semi – modern manner, but what of these groups that just sing old hymns? Do they REALLY believe they are reaching people (especially their own age) with another version of Bringing in the Sheaves?

    “I’m going to share with you my very narrow-minded version of how I got saved when I was 3 years old. The pastor called everyone to the alter, and during the 90th verse of Just As I Am my mom walked me down to the preacher and made me confess my sins to that guy I saw on flannelgraph during Sunday School. I had the outside covered, what with my hair cut above my ears, my kiddie suit, and my KJV children’s bible I had been given at my ‘dedication’. The pastor told me my Adamic nature made me a sinner – I danced too much. It was at that point I clearly remember my mom making me say a prayer and voila, I was saved! Praise God! If you’re hair isn’t cut above your ear, you dance too much, you come to church in jeans, CHECK YOUR HEART!”

  16. I will say that seeing something like this almost makes me wish I had gone to a conservative Christian college and studied Home Economics. But, then, who would play the piano at church!?

    1. CMG – the piano player at my old church played for EVERYONE at ALL TIMES. Never did she get a break (except for having surgery on her arm/wrist), and she NEVER got paid for the gig. The church gave her $100 at Christmas as a sort of “Thank you”. Typical fundy way of “paying” their people for the hard work they do.

      Are you paid, CMG?

      1. At our last church, I was the pianist. I played for both morning services, including the prelude, choir special, two special musics (every service), all congregational singing, the 5:00 p.m. choir rehearsal, the PM service which also included a special and a choir song, as well as cantatas. For congregational singing, I was accompanied by the organist, but the specials and definitely the choir were usually accompanied only by me on the piano. I LOVE playing the piano and did it with zero expectation of pay. However, it did hurt my feelings (as well as my sense of fair play) when an elderly deacon proposed giving a Christmas bonus to the ORGANIST because apparantly he’d grown up in a Presby church where they’d always pay their organist. I couldn’t believe my ears, seeing that the hours I invested in church music were WAY more than the organist, but I didn’t know how to express it without making it sound selfish. But to this day I still think it was enormously unfair.

        1. @PW. Boo on that guy from the Presby church. I’ve never understood the “mystique” that seems to exist about organists?! It takes a a lot of prep for accompanying choirs and cantatas and the lot.

          I am passing the SFL offering plate right now. Granted, it’s fake $$ but, it’s the thought that counts. 🙂

          Who else is in??? Come on…..

    2. Dear CMG, surely you have one or two or three younger sisters who have been taking piano lessons and are ready to fill in for you on a part-time basis. Or possibly a younger brother who plays the violin or the saw, or if he is a wee bit daring, the guitar. I’m sure if you brought it up with your mother, who could talk it over with your father, who could then discuss it with your pastor, you could take that home ec course via the Internet so you could use those new skills right away on tonight’s dinner. God’s grace to you (was gonna say good luck, but I realized that was just worldly).

  17. I realize now that when I was part of a Gospel team, I was clearly on the way out of that style of Fundamentalism. We chose our own music. The songs/hymns were heavily weighted toward loving God and loving neighbor.

    When, after a year of touring, our church asked us how many people we had brought to the Lord, our answer was: None, we don’t save anyone.

  18. The young man on yonder left doth sway like a storm tossed wave. The Spirit leadeth mine heart to believe that his testimony doth not have a sure foundation upon The Word.

    1. PCC isn’t known for their accomplished music program. That was actually the reason I chose to go to BJ (shudder) – no other approved college came near to the music program. PCC was one of the worst I saw, actually.

      1. Have you told PCC that they aren’t known for their music program? They think they are.

  20. This brings back LOTS of memories of my summer tour on the Oklahoma Baptist College tour group. I was the pianist. I GUARANTEE that the primary purpose of the tour group is to advertise the college and to recruit new members for the next school year.

    I was eventually forcibly removed from the end of our summer tour just because I made it known privately to the dean that I wouldn’t be attending the fall semester.

    That whole gig is absolutely about the “show” and only those totally committed and loyal to the college are allowed in the group. (At least in my experience this was the case)

    1. Having listened to many college tour groups, it seemed that almost all the young ladies in the group were engaged — is that on purpose? Or just a coincidence? (It used to be so common that I wondered if it was a requirement).

      1. From what I’ve seen it’s just coincidence. Our girls group (when I was there) had maybe 2 or 3 unengaged.

        Only two of our guys in the group were engaged. 😆

      2. Nothing promotes “Mrs.degrees” for a college better than a bunch of engaged ladies in the tour group. 😀

  21. I’m sure that they are intended to be an advertisement for the college.

    But I enjoyed the song, anyway. I don’t think I’ve heard it before. I’m not entirely comfortable with songs that moralize; I’d rather hear songs that lift up Jesus Christ.

  22. School’s music programs aren’t necessarily connected to their ensembles, but wow, that really hurt. I’m kinda offended at taking these not great songs and making them into some sort of polished performance. It’s like painting a pig’s toenails and putting a brass ring through it’s nose – it’s still a pig.

  24. I spent 3 years doing music groups at my fundy college. I can vouch for the fact that one of the main purposes is to recruit new students.

    I found it rather absurd that the girls were required to wear makeup when we went out (there were a couple of girls who didn’t normally and looked fine without it). The rationale was that they would otherwise look pale when standing under the lights of the platform (not that I remember any particularly bright platforms). This would not present a good image of the school. Nobody could give me an answer when I asked why the guys didn’t need makeup as well. 😈

    I had mixed experiences with music groups. The first one was the best when I was in an all male group. I was the ‘good boy’ of the group but soon got corrupted as well. We had nicknames for each member of the group: Elton (John), Jeffrey (Dahmer), Richard (Simmons), Liberache and his brother George. We called ourselves the Fab Five. I was the base singer for the group so I had the additional nickname of ‘Bottom Boy’. Yes, it was a double meaning. 😈

    1. LOL! I guess we were “too spiritual” to have nicknames like those. 😉 I did get the occaisional interrogation on some of the “wicked Southern Gospel” hymns I played though. 😎

      Did your group have to have matching “uniforms” as well? We only had two suits to wear over and over everywhere we went and all had to be in aggreement the night before as to which we were wearing the next day. 🙄

      1. Wow, TWO suits? We had one suit and matching ties that we always wore. We only went out a couple times a month though. Summer tour was another matter entirely though. However, each group got a new suit (generally black) so being in things for 3 years netted me 3 black suits and a greenish one.

        I think one of the groups I was in had two outfits for the female members. Same base color so the guys still had one tie to match both.

      1. I guess! I thought about downloading them this AM, and decided: “nah, who would delete these”…

  26. I sang in what was called the Tour Choir or Rejoice Singers all four years at PCC. The first 2 years it was directed by Joe Mims (an excellent director), but I always felt that we were sort of the “left overs” from when they chose the ensembles. The third year Joe Mims had left and Ty Thornton took over. I had to believe that he decided to choose the tallest/shortest and most not cookie cutter folks for the choir that year and I thought it was wonderful. It was a time when all the ensemble folks looked exactly alike! The folks on the tv crew had fits trying to fit us all on stage and get camera angles!

  27. Hey, when I was younger if I had seen one of these groups I would have signed right up! I just fell in love with that girl in the 2nd video. The one on the left. What pretty eyes!! That would have done it for me……..

  28. They seem so young and yet so old at the same time…what a waste, although I suppose there are worse things they could be doing with their lives….

  29. They seem so young and yet so old at the same time…what a waste, although I suppose there are worse things they could be doing with their lives….

  30. My brother was in a singing group for Grandrapids Baptist. The girls couldn’t hold the mic because it looked like a phallic symbol & represent oral sex! It was on these trips that he learned to play poker. They wouldn’t use money. Instead they used candy & tampons.

  31. Once a PCC drama team did a presentation at the school at which I was teaching. They got about half way through the drama, and the leader stopped in the middle of one of his lines and started talking about how the Spirit was moving him to stop right there and have the team members give some personal testimonies of how God was working in their lives through the story of the drama. He went on about how he could feel the Lord moving and even though the team wasn’t expecting this, he was counting on them to share their hearts. Of course they all did. And my, it sure was articulate. Some of the most well spoken testimonies I’ve ever heard college kids give. I went out for lunch with the team later, and I informed the team leader that I though his whole testimony thing was a gag that was planned well in advance. He denied it at first, but he wasn’t a very good liar, and he eventually admitted that it was planned and they do it in every school. Classy….

  32. This team came to my sisters church about a month ago and I was expecting something entirely different than what showed up… These kids are genuine, and really have a heart for God. Not once did they push pcc on anybody. The leader actually said pcc wasn’t for everybody and kids should follow Gods will and go wherever he leads. The group was willing to help out doing whatever…they went soulwinning and helped around the church…they were very nice people and I was def. surprised that they came from pcc.

  33. Good Gracious – 40 years since my first “exposure” to IFB’s, and nothing has changed (except no “granny” dresses now…) 😐

  34. Way to go Darrell! SFL “forced” them to make the videos private. Now none of us heathen can see them 😉

  36. Idolatry is my greatest friend, for in it to they worship a book, more than the author of it.

    When they ascribe attributes to it, reserved for the eternal one alone, I jump with glee, for they the blinded are my children indeed… YHWH is the Rock, the redeemer- as Isaiah said. NOT thy bible oh kjv-onlyist Do they sing to God the blessed old book, or God the creator of heavens and earth

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