Gospel music show tonight

The Community Council for the Performing Arts will present a Gospel Showcase this week on Thursday, May 3, Friday, May 4, and Sunday, May 6. The show is sponsored, in part, by the Nevada Daily Mail and Herald-Tribune along with the Pine Street Baptist and Pentecostal Assembly churches of Nevada. Under the direction of Allison Fast, the show features church choirs, soloists, ensembles and instrumentalists all expressing the joy of their faith through music.

This is a very family-friendly show. At least 17 participants, representing churches from Nevada, El Dorado Springs, Schell City, and Fort Scott, Kan., will perform throughout the weekend. Each show will be unique as each of the participants will be in only one or two shows as their time permits.

Soloists will include Teresa Sword, Cassie Moorhouse, Tim Wilson, AJ Pitts, Paula Gray, Tammy Clark and Kevin Williams. The Nevada United Methodist Men, not quite a double quartet, will be singing four part harmony. Another group, Men's 7, is from the Pentecostal Assembly in Nevada. The Jones Crew is a group composed of six family members and friends of the Apostolic Pentecostal Church of Fort Scott youth group. Kenny and Gwen Jones from the Community of Christ Church will sing a duet. Bonnie Cartmill, Crossroads Community Church, will be playing a piano medley of old spiritual songs. Another well-known ensemble will be the Blue Mound Sound, the Kunkel family, from Schell City. A trio consisting of Tim Wilson, Rick Baker and Randy Jones are members of the Church of God Holiness in El Dorado Springs.

The First Christian Church Chancel Choir will be bringing nearly 30 singers; the Pine Street Baptist Church includes at least 15 singers; and the Church of Israel Sabbath Choir includes singers who have been charter members from the early 1990s, many of whom now enjoy having their children sing along with them.

Each show will close with the audience being invited to join in on a final hymn. Show times are at 7 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, and 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $6.