Rockin’ the pews

By Liz Barry

Published: February 25, 2008

Video: Ordained performs at Prayer of Faith Temple
Joshua Davis, lead signer for Ordained, wears one piece of bling - a thick silver cross. It thumps against his chest as he works the crowd.

Bodies surround the stage, swaying to the music. A young man chants “my savior” under his breath, tears streaming from his eyes. The air is charged with raw energy.

The party’s at an unlikely location for a Friday night: the Prayer of Faith Temple on Hill Street.

Ordained, a 12-person gospel group, is out in full force. The show kicks off their “No Greater Love” tour, which stops in Virginia, Indiana, North Carolina, Maryland and Washington, D.C.
Lynchburg-grown Ordained isn’t about traditional gospel; the group seeks to connect with a younger generation through beats and lyrics.

The group has seven original songs and four more in the works. Some are straightforward worship songs; others tackle social and relationship problems.

James Hobson, a student at Liberty University, plays the keyboard and writes some of the songs. “Christian music doesn’t really dig that deep because it’s all holly and jolly,” he says. “Our music breaks down the barriers and gets real.”
“My Miracle” tells the story of an abandoned child. “No Greater Love” incorporates a rap sequence punctuated by impromptu dancing and fist-pumps.

Fresh sound
It’s a cold outside but the church is heating up. The sanctuary has reached its 500-person max. Cardboard fans flap throughout the pews.

Tonight the crowd is a mix of ages and races.

“Young and old, black, white and purple,” says keyboardist James Hobson. “It doesn’t matter who you were; we were all on one accord in one moment.”

Lozarius Little came up from Longwood University in Farmville to see the show. He says that Ordained brings a fresh sound that is a welcome break from tradition for younger audiences.

“As young Christians, we have to step out of the box to show other young people our age it’s OK not to do tradition,” he says. “Their music is phenomenal. Their voices, and the way they can harmonize and sing out, they touch your heart when they sing.”

Jessica Snyder, a Longwood student, has seen the band play twice before. Tonight she wears a black T-shirt with “ORDAINED” in bold white letters on the front and song lyrics on the back: “2000 YEARS IN THE MAKING.” An avid gospel fan, Snyder connects with Ordained because she says their songs are “deeper than most.”

Bridging divides
Davis, a Heritage High School graduate and music major at Longwood, started the band two years ago with his cousin, George Taylor, a drummer and senior at E.C. Glass. The duo recruited musicians and before long, the four-person group grew to a 12-person ensemble.

Ordained is about bridging divides, whether between generations or races. They do this, in part, on an aesthetic level. Their songs blend the rhythms of black gospel with the more lyric-oriented Hillsong religious music, which has a mostly white audience.

“Business-wise, you’ll sell more albums if blacks and whites are buying them,” Davis says. “But more important for us is just to reach people. The more appealing your music is to more people, the more lives you’ll change or souls you’ll save.”

Taylor says the Christian message isn’t just something he preaches; he tries to live it. But, he says, it’s not always easy and it’s not always pretty, so he tries to incorporate the messiness of life into the songs.

“We’re trying to impact a generation,” says Taylor. He later adds, “The focus of our songs is Christ, but at the same time it’s about somebody that’s been through pain and hurt, and Christ was the answer.”

Ordained begins recording a three-track demo on March 1. In Lynchburg, their next scheduled performance is at E.C. Glass’s “Gospel Explosion” competition on March 22.

Lifted hands
A banner draped across the balcony reads, “Something is happening on the Hill.” The sign is telling: Tonight’s audience is the largest and most energetic yet.

After intermission, Hobson claims the mic. “To see about 550 people lift their hands up to worship,” he says, “it’s just amazing.”

Suffused with emotion, Hobson kneels prostrate on the ground. When he gets up, sweat glistens on his forehead and tears on his cheeks.