Praise and worship music is an important asset to many faith communities. Through the music groups of the Baptist Collegiate Ministry and St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church Campus Ministry music has become a fundamental part of praise and worship at Nicholls.”Any music ministry helps to bring the congregation and community into the spirit of the church,” Ivy Cavalier Jr., St. Thomas Aquinas’ staff member and founder of Abundant Praise (St. Thomas’ music ministry group), says. “Hopefully what we do is bring people into a closer relationship with Christ.”

Jonathan La Fleur, family and consumer sciences junior from Thibodaux, said, “The goal of the music is to lead people into worship and have them respond to that.” La Fleur serves as worship leader for the Baptist Collegiate Ministry and as lead vocalist for Unmerited Favor.

While prayer has been expressed through song for centuries, those who listen to Christian rock express their concerns that praise of God is not the central message of all Christian rock music performances. “Christian rock can be more about self-glorification than glorification of God, but that’s not true in all cases,” Erin White, vocal music education major from Houma, said.

Many musicians, however, work very hard to keep prayer and the worship of God at the center of their songs and performances.

Christina Torres, marketing junior from Thibodaux, and vocalist in Abundant Praise, said, “When I’m trying to pray, and I can’t think of what to say, I’ll find a song that fits how I’m feeling and I sing. That’s how I pray.”

Clay Melvin, general studies sophomore from Thibodaux and guitarist for Unmerited Favor, agrees. “Music as a whole is a great way to express how your heart feels. It has always been a way of expressing our love for Christ. The music itself isn’t that different from secular music. What makes it spiritual is the nearness that it has to God.”

Students who listen to praise and worship music also believe that God and prayer remain a central focus in today’s Christian music.Tiffany McCullough, psychology freshman from St. Louis, agrees. “It’s my favorite genre to listen to. All music really helps me to pray.”

Students are not only performing praise and worship music, they are also writing it. Many student songwriters have been deeply influenced by their faith.

The members of the band Unmerited Favor write and perform original music during the Baptist Collegiate Ministry’s worship services.

LaFleur said “The band all came together to write this song, named ‘How Deep How Wide.’ We just all added our own thing. Sometimes we will learn old hymns and put our own twist on a classic.”

According to band members, performing Christian rock music can be rewarding. “There is nothing I don’t love about it. I love singing and singing to praise God,” Torres said.

Musicians agree that audience reaction, participation and emotion are also important parts of performing praise and worship music. “Performing is always about seeing how the audience responds to the truth of the songs. It’s not so much about how well I played, but seeing how God affects others,” Melvin commented.

While both Abundant Praise and Unmerited Favor perform at Thibodaux area youth rallies and religious retreats, their main focus is playing for worship services at St. Thomas and the Baptist Collegiate Ministry.

Abundant Praise performs during services at St. Thomas every Sunday at 7 p.m. Unmerited Favor performs during services at the BCM every Tuesday at 7 p.m.