Homecoming starts with a bang during Gospel Explosion

Kachelle Pratcher
Blue & White Flash / Staff Writer

Jackson State University opened up its 2012 Homecoming Week “One Nation Under the Blue” activities with the Fall Gospel Explosion Concert on Oct. 14 in the Rose E. McCoy Auditorium.

The event was hosted by the JSU Interfaith Gospel Choir and featuring the RUF Praise Team, Sunday Best competitor Ashford Sanders and gospel recording artist Jonathan McReynolds.

The concert opened up with greetings from SGA president Brian Wilks and mistress of ceremony, alumni Jerrica Stimage. The explosion was filled with great performances, tears rolling down your face and excitement throughout the auditorium.

“This was my first time attending a gospel concert and I must say I was really engaged with every performance and song along to every song I knew,” said Torin Adams, a freshman business administration major from Jackson, Miss.

The fully engaged audience was cheering, shouting praises and you could feel the energy that moved through everyone that was in the room.

Sanders, who performed from a stool on the stage, expressed to the audience that he had recently had surgery but that didn’t stop his talent from showing.

Sanders had the crowd on its feet by singing various songs that the audience loved.

“I had the time of my life. I was upset that I missed church this morning but I was able to make up for it with tonight’s gospel explosion,” said Knesha Thomas, a junior accounting major from Anguilla, Miss.

McReynolds gave the audience a different feel, opening up with an R&B song by Usher with the words changed to make it a catchy gospel song. He captured the audience with his smooth soulful sound and his skills on the guitar while performing his hit single ‘I Love You’.

The finale to the gospel explosion was Jackson State’s Interfaith Gospel Choir that took the audience to every feeling imaginable.  The choir’s upbeat songs and energy on the stage was an exciting sight for the audience.

Practicing every week since school started, Interfaith is known to stimulate and enhance the quality of the spiritual outlook of JSU students through traditional and contemporary gospel music.

“Performing with interfaith was a great experience. It was a chance for students, including myself, to sing God’s praises together. I enjoyed it,” said Kristi Williams, a junior biology pre-med major from Jackson, Miss.