Vincent Zhou, a seventh grade Chinese American student, plays the piano for the S.O.U.L.S. youth choir during a recent practice at Callahan Road Baptist Church in Knoxville.
KNOXVILLE — Knoxville native and professional music educator Jill Hobby has a heart to see souls saved along with a deep love for children and music.
Twenty-five years ago, while serving as a choral director in Knoxville, she had a desire to see an international citywide choir in the city, but she “was hesitant to take the leap.”
God rekindled that desire 12 years ago, and she crafted specific plans for the international choir and applied for various grants to get it off the ground, but to no avail.
Finally, last year she made progress with one of the grant organizations, by making it to the second round, and was told she needed to establish a 501(c)(3) organization. Hobby did so, creating S.O.U.L.S (Sounds of Unity Lifting Spirits).
The organization became a reality in May when 33 students from six countries began rehearsing and have since held three concerts in the Knoxville area. The choir is free and open not only for Baptist students but also to students of different churches and cultures, Hobby said.
“We really want it to be a place where young people can come together and grow in their gifts that God has given them,” she said.
“We want to empower and equip them to use those God-given gifts,” she added.
The choir practices weekly at Callahan Road Baptist Church, Knoxville, where Hobby serves as church pianist.
The choir currently includes students from Knox, Anderson, Union, Blount and Jefferson counties.
There are already students from India, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Romania, Brazil, Zimbabwe, Netherlands and Moldova in the choir in addition to the students born and raised here in the United States.
Jill Hobby, a professional music educator and pianist at Callahan Road Baptist Church, shares a thank you note to the S.O.U.L.S. youth choir, compromised of students from several counties in East Tennessee.
“God is moving in the lives of these children,” Hobby affirmed. “They come from varying backgrounds but they genuinely like each other. The music and mission unify them.”
Hobby said it is exciting to see students from different economic levels, races and cultures come together through music. “God gave us music as a way to relate to Him and unify us together and worship is one way to do that.”
The name she chose for the ministry (S.O.U.L.S.) is about more than music. “When we sing music, it’s not just about hitting the notes. It’s about touching souls.”
Her desire for her students to know Christ is embedded into the way she teaches. “I want to teach the students how to study music to the point that the song actually says something to them first and how important that is in worship music in general. …
“I want students to know the saving faith of Jesus, but I want to do that through the medium of music and do that in a loving way. Hopefully, they’ll see the authenticity in me and the others that are a part of the group.”
The choir is comprised of students ages 9 to 18 and is comprised primarily of girls but does include boys. “We are very girl centric,” she laughed. “The guys we have are amazing but we need more guys.”
Practices include more than learning and singing songs, she said. “Teaching choral music today is very different than teaching it years ago where we had hymn singing and people held hymnals and they read notes and music.”
She observed that schools and churches do not teach harmony much anymore. Praise songs focus more on melody so there has been an extra level of instruction of trying to help the students to hear the harmonies, she added.
She utilizes the older students as role models and mentors. “When the young students don’t know something in the music, we make sure we have an older student sitting next to them to point out musical markings so that they learn those skills,” she said.
Hobby is pleased with the progress of the choir in just a few months, but she would like to add more students.
“Right now, 50 would be a manageable number but I want to dream big. I would like to see 100 students in the choir in the future,” she said.
Hobby is open to taking the choir to sing at churches in East Tennessee and even in other areas as schedules and funding permits. She asked for Tennessee Baptists to pray for her and the ministry as it grows and expands.
Anyone desiring more information about S.O.U.L.S. or knows of students who might benefit from the ministry can contact Hobby through the website at soulschoir.org or by e-mail at soulschoir@outlook.com. B&R
