needs affecting our church music.

"’ The resolution was approved, and

in 1938 a committee was appointed to study the matter consisting of the
original signees, plus O. I. Purser, Roy Angell, and E. A. Converse.
One recommendation from the committee's report called for a
music ministry that paralleled the content and success of the Sunday
School program, one that had a well-established structure, had proven
itself consistent and reliable, and had under girded the extensive growth
in Southern Baptist churches. Through the work of the early pioneers
serving on that committee, the SBC realized the need for a structured
approach to increase the use and effectiveness of music in local
churches. Thus, the BSSB established the Church Music Department in
1941.*
The same year Dr. McKinney was appointed secretary of the
newly-formed department. Within four years, local churches used the
CMOD's services to such an extent that the BSSB voted to expand its staff
and support by offering to pay one-third of the salary of a full-time
Secretary of Music for each state. By the end of 1945, Arkansas,
Mississippi, Texas, Florida and Oklahoma employed full-time
secretaries to promote church music.^ By 1955, sixteen states had
program leaders whose responsibilities included a program of church

’Wesley L. Forbis. "The Sunday School Board and Baptist Church

Music," Baptist History and Heritage 19, no. 1 (January 1984): 19.
'Ibid., 19.
’Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention,
"Church Music Department," in Annual of the Southern Baptist
Convention (Nashville: n.p., 1945), 308.
music. Though this expansion slowed, by 1984 eighteen full-time music
secretaries were employed whose sole responsibilities were programs of
music.
Today, the now well-established CMD is a program within the
Church and Staff Support Division of the BSSB. Its purpose is as
follows:

To develop services and materials acceptable for use by Southern

Baptist churches, associations, and state conventions in
establishing, conducting, enlarging, and improving experiences of
congregational services, church music and performance groups,
music activity groups and study groups.
This purpose includes serving children, youth, and adults in their
choirs by providing materials and music to enhance spiritual and
musical growth.

Promotion of Graded Choir Work

Southern Baptists did not invent the concept of graded choirs;
they only coined the term. Several precedents led to the formation of
graded choirs. Although such work began in churches, graded choirs
also had roots in 19th-century cultural and educational activities. The
introduction of public school music in Boston in 1838 and the
establishment of two national music organizations—the Music
Teacher's National Association in 1876 and the National Federation of
Music Clubs in 1893—indicated a strong national interest in developing

10Wesley L. Forbis, Baptist History and Heritage 19: 21.

music materials appropriate for the differing grade levels and musical
abilities of children.* *
Graded choir work began late in the 19th century. In 1895
Elizabeth Van Fleet Vosseller and Bessie Richardson Hopewell
organized a children's choir a t the First Presbyterian Church in
Remington, New Jersey. The choir eventually grew into the
Remington Children's Choir School with an enrollment of over two
hundred children. Since each participant sang in his or her own
individual church choir, the school was a training ground for the
Roman Catholic, Methodist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Baptist
churches in Remington. *-
Early Baptist work was serendipitous. One of the earliest choir
programs graded by age started at the First Baptist Church of Bessemer,
Alabama in the 1930's. Dr. William J. Reynolds recalled this historic
event in a taped interview.*^ Reynolds is past chair of the CMD of the
BSSB and current professor of church music Southwestern Baptist
Theological Seminary, As explained by Reynolds, Dr. T. L. Holcomb,
president of the BSSB from 1935-1953, was invited by the First Baptist
Church, Bessemer, Alabama to preach one Sunday morning in 1936.
During the service, he observed five choirs sing. The choirs consisted of

“ William J. Reynolds "The Graded Choir Movement Among

Southern Baptists, " Baptist History and Heritage 19, no. 1 (January
1984): 55.
“ Ibid., 55-56.
“ William J. Reynolds. Interview by author. Tape recording.
Ft. Worth, 15 January 1996.