Music has played a vital role in the worship services at Everett’s Second Baptist Church for more than a century.
So it’s fitting that, as the congregation looks forward to moving to a new building, a Gospel Explosion concert today will help carry the church into the 21st century.
The event, which begins at 6 tonight at the church, at 2801 Virginia Ave., Everett, is a combination music and worship service, featuring choirs and soloists singing traditional gospel songs.
It’s a fundraising event for the Second Baptist building fund and a free-will offering will take place during the service, said church member Vivian Curtis.
After more than 100 years in Everett, the congregation has outgrown its current building and is hoping within the next two years to buy a church building in Marysville that is being vacated by another congregation, Curtis said.
“We do need something bigger,” Curtis said, acknowledging that it’s difficult for some members to contemplate leaving Everett after so many years.
“It’s kind of hard, but changes do come up,” Curtis said.
In 2003, Second Baptist Church celebrated the 102nd anniversary of the first predominantly black church in the county. Over the years, the congregation has moved several times.
Tonight’s gospel festival will feature the youth and sanctuary choirs of Second Baptist, the Northwest Baptist Convention Choir, and soloists Ruth Laners from Bremerton and Gwen Davis from Oakland, Calif.
Gospel music reaches the soul, said Curtis, who sings alto in the Second Baptist Choir. “Amazing Grace,” “I’ve Decided to Follow Jesus” and other traditional gospel songs “just kind of grab you and pull you in,” she said.
For more information, call 425-259-6545.
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