What do cereal, gospel music, Mickey Mouse, and the Assemblies of God have in common?
Beats me.
But if you were at the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church here in Chicago, Illinois, on July 16, you would have heard 8 youth choirs belting out their best for Jesus in a Kellogg-sponsored “Gospel Sing-Off Youth Choir Competition,” where the just-announced winner, Evangel World Outreach (Assembly of God), harmonized their way to a $10,000 check and a “magical vacation” to the Walt Disney World Resort. (Evangel’s choir beat out 38 other regional finalists to win the top prize.) Once there, they’ll get to rhapsodize once more among the likes of:
- Kierra “KiKi” Sheard,
- Audio Adrenaline
- tobyMac
- Casting Crowns
- Nicole C. Mullen
- MercyMe
- Steven Curtis Chapman
- Kutless
- CeCe Winans
- Newsboys
- Donnie McClurkin
- Mark Schultz
- Matthew West
- Tree 63
- Big Daddy Weave
- SuperChic[k]
- Stellar Kart
- Further Seems Forever
- Vicky Beeching
- And a new quartet from Seattle called Witherspoon (no, not the actress).
This would would be at Disney’s little-known “Night Of Joy” Christian music event, held next month on September 9–10.
Congratulations to the kids of Evangel A/G. I guess you’re big time now? Pass “Go,” skip the whole Teen Talent brouhaha, and go straight for the Mouse. At least you’re going to eat better at Disney than you did to get ready for the competition. (Teams had to submit “100 original UPC/bar codes from select Kellogg’s, Cheez-It, Famous Amos, or Keebler products” with their contest entries.)
Good thing the 1996 A/G boycott of Disney is long over, eh? If only we’d known about this Disneyfied Gospel music gala (which has been running since 1983), we might not have gotten so het up over that whole “Gay Day” thing.
Let’s just hope it’s not really “magical.” Potterphobes just might rise up in arms and Pat Robertson could call down more “terrorist bombs … earthquakes, tornadoes and possibly a meteor.”
[tags]BlogRodent, gospel-music, pentecostal, teen-talent, evangel-assembly-of-god, worship-music, disney, disney-world, competition, boycott[/tags]
yea my name is jelissa and im in the evangel youth choir. we had mad funn in disney world (it was my first time on a plane) that hotel was raw to. i never experienced that much high quality treatment before. but i just thank god for that special oppurntunity he gave us.