**5. African American Church Congregations**

I have stated that Clear Creek M.B.C. is, in many ways, a typical, Southern, African American church, but what constitutes a typical, African American church of this nature is, of course, an even more complex issue (for more detailed discussion of this topic see [12], pp. 29–31). The depiction of the Black church as a monolith that emerged from the literature of Black theology of the 1960s and

1970s, (for a variety of core readings on this topic, see [14]) was challenged in the 1990s especially, by scholars of African American religion such as Milton J. Sernett [4], Hans A. Baer and Merrill Singer [5,6], scholars who sought to stress the variety of the African American religious experience. There persists, nonetheless, amongst both academics and local congregations, an acute awareness of momentous differences between black and white worship styles [7–10]. Moreover, Baptist congregations (which comprise the largest numbers of African American Christians in the United States) tend, probably more than any other non-racially designated denomination, to constitute themselves almost exclusively along racial lines.<sup>2</sup>

It remains to be emphasised, moreover, that Baptist associations or conventions are themselves constituted along racial lines: thus, the Southern Baptist Convention consists almost exclusively of white congregations, whereas the two National Baptist Conventions (Incorporated and Unincorporated) consist almost exclusively of black congregations.<sup>3</sup> As the first formal organizations where black people could congregate freely and exert some control over their lives, black churches have historically maintained their separateness from white churches. In the tradition of Richard Allen (1760–1831), who famously walked out of the St. George Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, PA in 1792, and established the first Black independent church—the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church—so the members of Clear Creek M.B.C. split with their parent Clear Creek Southern Baptist church in 1877.

#### **6. The Religious Context: The African American Baptist Service**

Because I have given detailed consideration to the typical structure of African American Baptist church services as manifest at Clear Creek M.B.C. elsewhere ([12], pp. 61–84), a brief summary will suffice here. Typically a Sunday morning service at an African American Baptist church, the main service of the week (some churches also hold Sunday evening services but, in my experience, these are not generally as well attended), begins at about 11 a.m., and has an expected duration of between

<sup>2</sup> The Baptists were the most successful denomination in converting slaves to Christianity for a variety of reasons, but not least their early evangelical efforts, and the Baptist emphasis on congregational autonomy, which had tremendous appeal for oppressed African Americans. From about 1700, it is clear that many slaveholders in the South were organising (or at least tolerating) religious instruction and places of worship for the slaves. The first specifically Black Baptist church in America was organized at Silver Bluff, across the Savannah River from Augusta, Georgia, in 1773, and other churches soon followed, most of them Baptist or Methodist. The Providence Baptist Association of Ohio, the first black Baptist group, was formed in 1836, followed by the first attempt at national organization in 1880 with the creation of the Foreign Mission Baptist Convention at Montgomery, Alabama. The American National Baptist Convention was organized in St. Louis, Missouri in 1886, the Baptist National Educational Convention was founded in the District of Columbia in 1893. All three conventions were merged into the National Baptist Convention of America in Atlanta in 1895 ([10], pp. 43–44).

<sup>3</sup> In 1915 the National Baptist Convention of America split into two (still separate) conventions: the National Baptist Convention of America "unincorporated" *i.e.*, not under the laws of the District of Columbia), and the National Baptist Convention of the U.S.A., Inc., "incorporated" ([10], pp. 43–44). Of the more than twenty pages devoted to a (very brief) history of the Baptists, and description of the various Baptist associations and conventions in this text, a single two-page section is headed "Black Baptists".

ninety minutes and two to three hours4 . Churches generally print up (or buy in) bulletins that give some information on the church, details of the pastor, church officers, weekly schedule of services, the Church Covenant (perhaps) and an anticipated order of the particular service. The service may include, or be preceded by, the Devotion, which is usually led by the deacons and consists of alternating spontaneous prayers and songs. A "Call to Worship" and "Benediction" generally frame the service, and formal structures such as "Announcements", "Recognition of Visitors", and the "Sick and Prayer list", designated choral numbers (as opposed to congregational singing), the sermon, and the "Invitation to Christian Discipleship" are rarely moved (as to sequence or order), but what transpires in between those structures is largely responsible for the elasticity of the service. There is, as might be expected, considerable variation in the duration of the sermon from one service to the next, even at the same church. This sense of flexibility is to be desired and cherished, as it reflects receptivity to the influence of the Holy Spirit, and a permeability that allows for the physical manifestation of the Spirit in the service. Traditional African American Baptists have explained to me that the time allotted to service is thus elastic, because what is important is that one be open to the working of the Holy Spirit, whereas trying to control the duration of the service would be contrary to this.

#### **7. A Brief Recent Overview of Clear Creek M.B.C**

When I conducted fieldwork in Mississippi in the 1980s and early 1990s, Clear Creek M.B.C. in northern Mississippi, had a part-time pastor—the Rev. Grady McKinney (1971–1991)—which would have been quite usual in this area of Mississippi, and the church had a small, largely familial membership of about 180. In the last decade or so, however, Oxford, and as a consequence the surrounding satellite communities (of which Clear Creek is one) have experienced significant economic growth and prosperity. Four-lane highways have been constructed for the first time in this part of northern Mississippi, and this has, naturally, greatly influenced both mobility and trade. Where the population in 1990 was about 10,000, today it is closer to 40,000, roughly 17,000 of those associated with the University of Mississippi. The demography of the area has similarly changed. Whereas in 1990 I recall there being one Mexican restaurant (but little else in terms of "international" cuisine), when I visited in November 2012 there were three Japanese restaurants, one Indian restaurant, one Middle-Eastern restaurant, two Thai restaurants, a Portuguese bakery, countless numbers of other Asian restaurants, both Chinese and Malaysian, and of course, many Mexican restaurants. Both to accommodate and as a result of these developments, many new housing subdivisions have been built in outlying areas, some modest, others very extravagant (with some of these latter inevitably suffering as a result of the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the United States).

Thus, not only the pastor, but the congregation at Clear Creek M.B.C. has changed considerably, drawing in a more diverse (but still African American) population, Yet even prior to the economic

<sup>4</sup> Whilst broad generalisations like this are always problematic, I base these observations on 10 years of living and conducting fieldwork in the United States (1981–1991), generally attending church services weekly, and on sporadic visits since then, most recently to Atlanta, GA (April 2012) and Clear Creek/Oxford, MS (November 2012). Most of my research was conducted in Kentucky, Mississippi, and Rhode Island, but I also attended at least occasional services at African American Baptist churches in California, Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maine (rather rare here), New York, and Pennsylvania.

prosperity and gentrification that came to the South in the late 1990s and early 2000s (perhaps latterly to Mississippi), a South that has also suffered from the sub-prime mortgage crisis that threatened to derail the American economy, many of the key musicians from my earlier fieldwork had already moved away from Mississippi in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Mississippi is, of course, historically the most economically deprived state in the Union, and these musicians migrated in search of (better) jobs, typically to the expanding urban metropolis that is Atlanta, Georgia.

Clear Creek M.B.C. has also been transformed. The church now has a full-time pastor—Eddie D. Goliday, Sr., (May 1998–present)—which has resulted in many more weekly church activities. The membership has grown to about 800, and a new sanctuary (roughly four times the size of the previous one) was built in 2002 (see Figure 1a,b). Note the phenomenal difference in terms of size between the two church buildings, not just in terms of mass, but in height and physical presence upon the landscape. In contrast to the relatively low profile of the older building, the new building soars skywards, with an imposing entrance enclosed in a brick tower, which is itself topped by a multi-tiered white spire.

(**a**)

(**b**)

**Figure 1.** (**a**) The Clear Creek M.B.C. Building, November 2012 (previous building to the left, portion of newer building on the right; (**b**) The Clear Creek M.B.C. Sanctuary, November 2012.

The new sanctuary contains a Baptismal pool with a glass front set relatively high into the wall of the church behind the podium (much like the one that I described for Main Street Baptist church in Kentucky ([12], p. 53), so that the membership no longer has to travel to a local outdoor pond during the summer months to conduct Baptism, but can do so any time. Along with an increase in the size of the Clear Creek M.B.C. church sanctuary in 2002, has come a need for increased technology: a new PA system, and two large video screens installed on the wall behind the choir stalls (so that members far removed from the performers at the front of the church, can see those individuals, and read key texts that are projected onto the screens).

A bus was purchased to transport members in need of it to church events (see Figure 2).

**Figure 2.** The Clear Creek M.B.C.bus, November 2012.

The church has a website, email contact, and a radio ministry (WOXD FM 95.5 each Sunday 4:00–5:00 p.m.), and recordings (both CD and DVD) are made of each service and may be purchased from a designated deacon. Because the physical distance within the church sanctuary is now so much greater, close ups of individual "actors"—prayer leaders, soloists, preachers, deacons—are projected onto two large video screens, as are such things as relevant quotations from the Bible. While the word "actors" and by correlation "audience" sits uneasily in this context, I use it advisedly in the sense of an individual committing an action, as opposed to implying any sort of make believe. In this regard, see ([15], pp. 2–3).

Despite all of these material changes, Sunday services at Clear Creek M.B.C. continue to be traditional and Spirit-filled. Rev. Goliday, Sr., is a powerful preacher, and the music ministry continues to be strong. One significant musical change is that a drum set has now been officially installed close to the other instruments (generally electric keyboard and acoustic piano): previously, partly because of the drum's close association with blues and "Devil's music", drums made only occasional appearances at Clear Creek M.B.C. (generally when other visiting churches brought them to accompany their music), and several members then expressed reservations about them to me.

## **8. Music in Clear Creek M.B.C Services**

As stated in the introduction, music is so vital in the services of African American Baptist churches that there are few moments in the service when some sort of music is not being performed

and, especially in southern churches, the whole service may be underpinned by a coherent tonal system. At Clear Creek M.B.C., this is particularly true. Sustained as an auditory or imagined presence, music acts almost as a timbral membrane for the presence of the Holy Spirit throughout the service (for more discrete explication of how church members view inspiration by the Holy Spirit, see ([12], pp. 111–40). The Holy Spirit is physically manifested (inspiration by the Holy Spirit) in the church membership predominantly (if not exclusively) in my experience, in a musical context. Thus music, in all of its various manifestations in a typical service—lined hymns, chanted prayers, congregational song, choral numbers, spirituals, Gospel pieces—facilitates the inter-penetration of the sacred into the secular, the divine into the profane. In some cases, this inspiration by the Holy Spirit may result in holy dance, or trance (this is more common among congregants, as opposed to individuals with designated roles—although I have seen deacons become inspired—and may appear to the uninitiated to be out of control). As Rev. McKinney explained it to me: "It's just something explode on the inside, and if a person haven't been born again, they wonder what is wrong with you" [16]. In the case of the preacher (or indeed musicians), control is more likely to remain with the individual: the preacher lends his voice to the Holy Spirit, who preaches through him, often in remarkably beautiful poetic and musical chant (for some examples, see [12], pp. 132–40, 194–204; [17], tracks 5, 7, 8, 9).

For the remainder of this article I would like to consider two musical instances or events from the Sunday morning service at Clear Creek M.B.C. on 4 November 2012.

#### **9. Clear Creek M.B.C Morning Worship Service, 4 November 2012 [18]**

With the slight exception of an earlier start—10:45 a.m., as opposed to 11 a.m., as it used to be—this service proceeded as previous ones that I had experienced. As this was a first Sunday, the service was also a Holy Communion day. The service began with a song and prayer sequence, listed in the bulletin as "Call to Order and Invocation, Pulpit Ministry". Intended to prepare the congregation for a Spirit-filled service, this sequence opened, as might be expected, with congregational singing of a favourite Baptist hymn, "Oh, How I Love Jesus". Led by Pastor Goliday, and performed in a swinging compound duple meter, 6/8 (with most people also swaying to the beat as is expected in holistic worship), all present—choir members, deacons, mothers of the church, the mission ministry and the pulpit ministry, as well as the entire congregation—joined in the singing, thus uniting everyone in a single "voice" as it were, reinforcing community and generating prayerful participation and integration from the outset. The lyrics of the song (see below), as well as the rather simple, limited-range melody, in combination with the primary colour, diatonic harmonies, and joyful and inclusive manner of performance, created a feeling of wellbeing and transported those present to the liminal, sacred space of worship. The alliance of text, music (the song was accompanied by drum set, tambourine, and piano), and central tenets of belief—the power of "the Word", the invocation of Jesus' name, and the assertion of His love—prepared those present to experience the encounter with the divine in a way that the absence of this type of musical performance could not, I would argue, achieve. Vocal music is recognised by the church membership and musicians alike as being uniquely powerful.
